Daily Search Forum Recap: April 4, 2019

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:

• April 2019 Google Webmaster Report
  This may have been one of the busiest months for Google SEO related topics we've seen maybe ever? We had several unconfirmed Google updates but also a big core update confirmed by Google on March 12th. Google keeps dropping features from the old Search Console and adding new ones to the new Search Console. Google doesn't support rel=prev/next, stopped supporting the info command and is testing a new icon based search results design.
• Google Image Search Tests New Preview Screen Again
  Google is once again testing a new user interface for the image search preview image window. This is similar to previous tests but this one takes the right hand window look and keeps the black background interface versus the white background interface.
• Google Video On Making React Web Apps Search Engine Friendly
  I got to say that these videos from Martin Splitt of Google are now above my head. He is getting into the details around how React, a JavaScript library for building user interfaces, and how to make web apps and sites using that framework search engine friendly. Basically a video on SEO tips for React.
• Google Said Their Speed Update Resulted In A Faster Web
  Google has posted on their webmaster blog that the results of announcing and launching a new algorithmic ranking factor - the Speed Update, resulted in an overall faster web. Google said they "observed improvements on many pages across the web" in terms of speed of slower sites.
• Hugh Masekela, South African Trumpeter Gets Google Doodle On 80th Birthday
  Today on Google's home page on most Google.com home pages is a special Google logo, a Doodle, for the South African trumpeter - Hugh Masekela. He was born on April 4, 1939 in Witbank and passed at the age of 78 on January 23, 2018 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
• Instagram Model In Google G Logo Apparel
  Okay, maybe this guy isn't an Instagram model - I have no idea but he is showing off the G, Google logo, apparel in this photo. He got the t-shirt, the jacket and the umbrella.

Other Great Search Forum Threads:

• Nah…, John Mueller on Twitter
• "Coming Soon" locations and reviews, Local Search Forum
• A trailing slash - eg, https://t.co/X8fnXafatE vs https://t.co/pl2RiEcv3E - does make a different URL, so they could be indexed individually. Trialing slashes make a difference, when it's not just the domain name.… https://t., John Mueller on Twitter
• At some point we'll have to migrate these things to the newer Google API infrastructure. I don't know when that will be, but APIs can change over time, even if the functionality were to stay the same.… https://t.co/415ArDDgrb, John Mueller on Twitter
• So long, farewell, AdSense, goodbye, WebmasterWorld

Search Engine Land Stories:

• The New Rules to Win Customer Loyalty and Increase Online Sales
• Google warns SEOs to expect increases in issues in Search Console enhancement reports
• Bing Ads launches new action extensions to highlight calls-to-action

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

• Using the CrUX Dashboard on Data Studio, web.dev
• Data-Driven Marketing Revisited, E-Nor

Industry & Business

• Google Play to prompt Europe about browser, search choice, 9to5Google
• Google's remote work employee survey, Fast Company
• Google’s brand-new AI ethics board is already falling apart, Vox

Links & Promotion Building

• 8 Content Distribution Ideas to Meet Your Brand’s Goals, Moz

Local & Maps

• Easily Choose Your Route with Bing Maps Traffic Coloring, Bing Maps Blog

Mobile & Voice

• Google Duplex rolling out to non-Pixel, iOS devices in the US, 9to5Google
• Android TV casting from Google Assistant is still broken nearly one month later, Mobile Syrup
• Google Assistant Finds Deeper Integration In Chrome OS, Chrome Unboxed

SEO

• Google’s Technical Ranking Factors: SEO Strategy & Tactics – Part 1, Search Metrics
• Prerequisites to Learning SEO - What, Raven Blog
• What is keyword stemming?, Yoast
• How Long Does It Take to Rank in Google & How To Speed it Up, Cognitive SEO
• How to Rank Higher on Google (The Beginner's Guide), Raven Blog

PPC

• The Future of Google Ads Keyword Targeting, Metric Theory
• A Beginner's Guide to Shopping Ads, Search Engine Journal
• A Complete Guide to PPC Ad Formats, Search Engine Journal

Search Features

• Google at 20: A Shift from Text to Images, Stone Temple