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.
Today is April Fools so be careful when reading any stories today, to be clear, I didn't not write any jokes today - so the news below is real even though John Mueller of Google gave advice on how to increase your DA. Google also confirmed that using the date filter in search does not show you historical rankings. Google search is testing an image pack preview directly in web search. Google Ads is testing expandable more links in the snippets. Google said its algorithms are never lazy and never take time off. Finally, I posted the weekly video recap - it is a good one with a ton of important information - so check it out.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Google Product Reviews Volatility, Local Search Ranking Update, New Search Features, MUM & BERT Expands and Search Console News
We are finally seeing ranking volatility in the search results related to the product reviews update after not seeing much early on. Google also released a local search ranking update that supposedly corrected the Vicinity update from December... - Google's John Mueller Gives Advice On Increasing Your DA - No Joke
Google's John Mueller posted a response on Reddit with his advice on how to improve your site's DA, domain authority. He said he was "torn" with his response since DA is not a Google metric, is not used my Google and has no impact on your rankings. But he offered his advice, nevertheless. - Google Ads Listing With More Expandable Link
Google Search has these "more" links in the Google search ad listings that expand to show more ad extensions. I am not 100% sure if it is new or not but I personally cannot replicate this, so maybe it is new? - Google Search Date Filter Does Not Show You Historic Rankings
Google's John Mueller confirmed an unusual SEO myth that said that the date filter in the Google Search tools will show you how pages ranked in the search results during that date range. John confirmed this is not true, all it does is filter search results that were published around that date range. - Google Tests Image Search Pack That Loads Images On Right On Click
Google seems to be testing a web search feature for the image pack that keeps you within web search when you click on a specific image. Punit shared a screenshot the other day (not on April Fools) of how Google placed the larger image preview on the right of the web search image pack results. - Google: Our Search Algorithms Aren't Lazy & Don't Take Time Off
Google's John Mueller responded to a complaint that Google's search algorithms around crawling and indexing are being lazy. John said on Twitter "algorithms like those used for crawling & indexing don't take time off to play pool or to drink more coffee; they're always working." - Riding In A Google Bike Basket
I have posted countless photos of Google bikes in the search photos section of this site, but here is one where a human is in the basket of a Google bike. It does not look comfortable but I guess it
Other Great Search Threads:
- JohnMu might have more specific advice, but if those are helpful articles for your readers, then you should be leaving them for your readers. If they were "thin" because they were never really meant for readers, Danny Sullivan on Twitter
- An update. You'll now find a "Find image source" link at the top of the image (currently in English, coming to other languages). For the near future you can opt to use Google Images rather than Lens by going to, Danny Sullivan on Twitter
- From the new Search Console URL Inspection API, to changes in ranking factors, @JohnMu has updates for you. 📰 Watch our latest episode of #GoogleSearchNews to hear what’s new → https://t.co/JSNaX4zXmK ht, Google Search Central on Twitter
- Geotargeting is relevant when folks are looking for something local - which isn't always the case for informational content. Eg [machine repair] vs [machine repair manual]. It won't remove the visibil, John Mueller on Twitter
- Huge #LSA problem: Creating a new custom LSA review link is causing ads to completely disappear from Google Screened results. I just created this link for 7 accounts and 100% of them have disappeared! Is this broke or will the ye, Len on Twitter
- People try to abuse our systems in lots of ways, and sometimes they think it works, I don't see that as a conflict of interest. Our guidelines are pretty straightforward though. Can you drive faster th, John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Toxic links & disavows: A comprehensive SEO guide
- Facebook confirms ‘massive ranking failure’
- How paid search marketers can address brand measurement challenges and grow in their careers
- Google’s Privacy Sandbox ad technology testing begins
- Facebook ads ‘Interest Categories’ may be up to 33% inaccurate
- Google launches new highly cited label in search and improved about results for rapidly evolving topics
- Microsoft took down 3 billion ads in 2021
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Save Your Business From Churn: 9 Churn Risk Factors to Identify, Databox Blog
- Using Micro Conversions To Increase Leads, Portent
Industry & Business
- Attacking rival, Google says Microsoft’s hold on government security is a problem, NBC News
- Google’s next US antitrust issue: Google Maps, Ars Technica
Links & Content Marketing
- How To Train Content Marketers at Scale, Siege Media
- Confessions of a professional clickbait writer, The Boston Globe
- How Strategic Content Planning Helps You Say Yes – and No, Content Marketing Institute
Local & Maps
Mobile & Voice
- Google Assistant Will Answer Questions With YouTube Videos on Google and Android TV, Voicebot
- Google updates Glass Enterprise Edition 2 w/ Fast Pair, Meet, 9to5Google
- How to set up delayed actions in Google Home's Assistant Routines, 9to5Google
SEO
- 11 SEO Myths That Will Damage Your Rankings in 2022, BrightEdge
- Bulk internal linking with Screaming Frog and Google Sheets, Sagi Shtrosberg
- Document Processing Using Structured Key-Value Pairs, Go Fish Digital
- SEO Implementation: A Guide to Implementing SEO Changes, Semrush
- Does Traffic Affect SEO?, Dan Rich
PPC
- All the Great PPC Tactics from Fire Team's 2022 Marketing Madness Bracket, PPCChat
- Managing Expectations by finding Good Comparisons, SEO MBA
- March 2022 update to Display & Video 360 API v1, Google Ads Developer Blog
- What to Expect from Privacy Sandbox Testing, Chromium Blog
- 4 Tips To Optimize Your Google Display Ads, DealerOn
- Why Google's Topics ad test post-cookies may face hurdles, Ad Age
Other Search
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