Daily Search Forum Recap: May 21, 2020

May 21, 2020 - 4:00 pm 1 by

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: Noindex Won't Hurt Your Site From Being Indexed After It Is Removed
    John Mueller from Google was asked if it is true that Google will remember that a page or site had a noindex directive set. And if it remembers that, even if the page/site removes the noindex, that it will make it harder for that page/site to be re-indexed. John said that is not correct.
  • Google: Unlinked Citations Usually Do Not Help With Search Rankings
    Google's John Mueller was asked if "unlinked brand citations can help in defining trust of a website / brand?" In short, when someone says the Wall Street Journal said X, but does not link to the Wall Street Journal (see what I did there WSJ, who rarely links to those it cites), is Google able to pick up on that and assign some credit to the WSJ even though there is no link.
  • Is Google Digging Out Of Reconsideration Request Backlog?
    Marie Haynes, who does a lot of Google SEO penalty recovery work, said just yesterday she received two reconsideration request approvals from ones submitted back in February and March. In January, we asked if there were longer wait times for these reconsideration requests, I guess maybe there were and now maybe is getting through them all?
  • Google My Business Business Reinstatement Request Adds File Uploads For Proof
    Ben Fisher noticed that the Google My Business local business reinstatement request form added a new field. You can now upload a file that shows proof that your business should be reinstated in Google My Business. The form added the ability to upload a file, like a PDF or screen shot, with such proof.
  • Google Knowledge Panels: What They Show, Where They Come From & How To Fix Them
    Danny Sullivan of Google did another one of his explanatory blog posts on the Google blog. This one is on explaining how knowledge panels work in Google Search. In this post he explains what knowledge panels are, what information these panels can show, where they source the information, and how to fix issues with them.
  • Ancient GoogleBot - Figura
    John Mueller, who often prints 3D GoogleBots, shared this photo from the Google Arts & Culture Twitter account. It shows what would look like an ancient GoogleBot but really is Figura from Cultura Qu

Other Great Search Forum Threads:

Search Engine Land Stories:

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

Industry & Business

Links & Content Marketing

Local & Maps

Mobile & Voice

SEO

PPC

Search Features

Other Search

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google June Core Update Done, Local Ranking Update, AI Mode Updates & AI Calling Businesses

Jul 18, 2025 - 8:01 am
Google Maps

New Google Business Profile Check Edit Status

Jul 18, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google: Login Service Pages Are Hard To Rank In Search

Jul 18, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google

Google AI Overviews For Movie Queries

Jul 18, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Rolling Out Smart Bidding Exploration To Some Advertisers

Jul 18, 2025 - 7:21 am
Bing Search

Bing Tests Sitelinks With Light Gray Underlines

Jul 18, 2025 - 7:11 am
Previous Story: Google: Noindex Won't Hurt Your Site From Being Indexed After It Is Removed
Next Story: Google Branded Roomba