Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Google Knowledge Panels Can Show Competitors As Alternatives
So you get this fancy knowledge panel for your company name and/or product names and people search you on Google and can see how amazing your business is in this knowledge panel. But then all of a sudden, Google decides to show "alternatives" or competitors right in your knowledge panel. - Google Search More Critical Of E-Commerce Sites That Sell Medical Equipment
Google's John Mueller said in the Friday webmaster hangout said that "especially for medical topics, anything that's a little bit more critical" Google is more selective and critical over. He said he would see an "medical e-commerce site kind of falling into that category." - Google New Label For Local Business Reviews Now Live
Back in December we reported Google was testing a "new" label in the local business reviews for reviews about a month old. Well, that new label seems to be live now in the local reviews for all to see. - Microsoft Advertising Automotive Ads For Bing
Microsoft announced a new form of ads on Bing Search under Microsoft Advertising named Automotive Ads. Microsoft said this is currently an "open beta" available to advertisers in the United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK). - Google My Business Suspension Email Notifications
In July 2020 Google told us they would begin to notify businesses when they are suspended from Google My Business. Instead of just being suspended and being labeled as such in Google My Business, Google would send out email notifications. Well, now I am seeing reports of such suspension email notifications. - Google Atlanta Tower Miniature Model
Here is a photo I found on Instagram of the Google Tower in Atlanta, Georgia. It is a model of the building, the ones they show off at real estate meetings and such. There are more photos that I emb
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Despite being mobile friendly, what could be the reasons for Google to use a desktop crawler as a primary crawler, Reddit
- Google News Showcase, our new product experience and licensing program for news, is rolling out with over 70 local, national and independent publishers in Italy starting today. 1/ https://t.co/u7fB39ImRX, Google News on Twitter
- Most sites don't have issues with "crawl budget", so I wouldn't worry about that. With images, you'd need to set up redirects, and if you get a lot of traffic from image search, I'd expect that to be shaky for, John Mueller on Twitter
- Sitemaps are generally an optional thing, and they aren't site-specific. Any type of site can use them. For news, same thing though only matters if your content is deemed relevant as news. And yes, Danny Sullivan on Twitter
- We're not using (well, when it's live) them as "page experience" on desktop at the moment. We do use a lot of the individual items everywhere though, and in particular interstitials could run into that (above th, John Mueller on Twitter
- Yeah, I suspect there's an aspect of "interesting but edgy content" which works in magazines & in search, but which might result in Discover being a bit more cautious., John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Advancing Privacy and Data Control with Google Tag Manager Server-Side Containers, Bounteous
- How to Work on a Draft in Data Studio While Viewers See a Published Version, Seer Interactive
Industry & Business
- Google likely to return to working in-office in U.S. in April, 9to5Google
- Google Promises Not to Muzzle Staff on Pay, Settling Labor Case, Bloomberg
- Google skips April Fools' Day 2021, the second year in a row, 9to5Google
- The Emotional Intelligence of Google CEO Sundar Pichai Exclusive Interview, Inc
- Women in SEO: Reflections on the Past, Present, and Future of Women in the Industry, Moz
Local & Maps
- Breaking free of your GMB "Independence" Ranking Issue, Local University
- How to Get More Photos on Your Google Listing & Why It's Important, Whitespark
- Porsche adds Android Auto starting with 2022 model year, 9to5Google
- Google Maps restores compass when navigating on Android, 9to5Google
Mobile & Voice
- Apple adds two brand new Siri voices and will no longer default to a female or male voice in iOS, TechCrunch
- Microsoft Shuts Down Cortana App for iOS and Android, MacRumors
- Google Home, Nest speakers get new Casting sound, 9to5Google
SEO
- Finding 404’s using Majestic, Majestic Blog
- Understanding Core Web Vitals and Google Page Experience, Pure Visibility
- What CMOs Need to Know About Google’s Page Experience Ranking Update, BruceClay
- The Ultimate No-Brainer SEO Guide for the C-Suite (CEO, CMO, CTO, etc.), iPullRank
PPC
- Wasteful Wednesday #25 - Keyword of the Week "Scholar", Seer Interactive
- Become an April 2021 Celebrated Partner, Microsoft Advertising
Search Features
- How fact checkers and Google.org are fighting misinformation, Google Blog
- Some first numbers on how News Showcase is working, Google Blog
Other Search
- Google Describes a Machine Learning Model For a Searchable Index, Go Fish Digital
- Spot misinformation online with these tips, Google Blog
