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 Search Algorithm Ranking Update Possibly Around April 16th
Last Thursday, April 16th (the last day of Passover) there may have been a Google search ranking update. There was 100% chatter and some of the rank checking tools notices blips in changes on that day. Google has not confirmed any update but there may have been a small one. - Vlog #63: Ari Nahmani On Hyperlocal SEO & Organic Search In E-Commerce
Now I am off to Israel, specifically Jerusalem, and I met with Ari Nahmani, the CEO of Kahena Digital Marketing. He lives in Tel Aviv but his office is in Jerusalem, his company has about 20 people. SEO in the old days is a different world now he said... - Google Testing Too Many Searches Related To Options
You've all seen the searches related to box at the bottom of the Google search results page. Well, here is a version of it where Google is showing way too many options in that area. Instead of two rows of related searches, Google added a third row. I cannot replicate this but Ankit Srivastava shared a screen shot with me on Twitter. - Google: Limit HREFLANG Implementations To Where You Have Unique Content
Google's John Mueller said when it comes to hreflang implementations and translating your pages, it is better to do less than more. He said 140 regions seems like way too much, he said on Twitter "I'd recommend limiting yourself to the number of regions you have unique, human-written, high-quality content for. Less is more." - Google: Too Many Heading Sections Is A Waste Of SEO Time
Google's John Mueller responded to a thread on Reddit saying that having too many heading sections, like as deep as H6, can be a waste of time for SEO. He said "Having this many sections is almost never going to make sense, and changing anything in the last level is never going to change anything with regards to SEO. This is a waste of time when it comes to SEO." - Peter The Greeter From Google Staying Positive & Staying Home
Peter the Greeter is someone we shared a lot of photos from over the past couple of years. But now he has no one to greet at the GooglePlex, since almost everyone is working from home. But he is stay
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Can Google read content loaded in js, WebmasterWorld
- Hackers Steal $25 Million in Cryptocurrency, WebmasterWorld
- I bet some of this (which pages need hreflang) could be determined by reviewing the SC performance report by country/language. My hunch is most people do much more than they need. How do you pick them?, John Mueller on Twitter
- I think you're too worried about links :), John Mueller on Twitter
- If it looks like spam, it's probably spam., John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- What Google’s Search Relations team has been doing in response to COVID-19 [Video]
- Replay: Digital commerce panel on Live with Search Engine Land
- Google allows retail chains to Post at scale via GMB API — will it last post-COVID?
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Google Data Studio Tutorial Intro, Towards Data Science
Industry & Business
- Pitching During a Pandemic, Go Fish Digital
- SEO Agency vs. Full Time Employee: Pros and Cons, iPullRank
- Australia in move over Google, Facebook news content, RTE
Local & Maps
- Enhanced Features Support Fleets as Delivery Demand Surges Amid COVID-19, Bing Maps Blog
- Tips for learning at home with Google Earth, Google Blog
- Google is now listing COVID-19 testing centers in search results, The Verge
- How Apple and Google's Social Distancing Maps Work, Wired
Mobile & Voice
SEO
- How to Start Your SEO Career in 4 Steps, Seer Interactive
- Should You Change Your SEO Strategy for COVID-19?, Seer Interactive
- Your Guide to COVID-19 Structured Data, Schema App Tools
- The Vital Part Of SEO Tools Nobody Talks About, Pole Position Marketing
- Why Site Speed Still Matters (Revisited), Moz
PPC
- 5 Tips: How to Create the Best Lawyer PPC Landing Pages, DAGMAR
- Choose the Right Paid Search Attribution Model, Seer Interactive
Search Features
- Chrome 83 Beta: Cross-site Scripting Protection, Improved Form Controls, and Safe Cross-origin Resource Sharing, Chromium Blog
- Google marks when cities say 'thank you coronavirus helpers', 9to5Google
Other Search
- Two weeks of Doodles to thank essential workers, Google Blog
