Daily Search Forum Recap: June 28, 2024

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.

Google's June 2024 spam update is now completely rolled out, I have all the details. Google posted an interview with Elizabeth Tucker on how Google measures search quality. Google expanded Product Studio to more countries and added file uploads and new themes. Menu items and popular times may be Google local ranking factors. Google Ads now supports a special WordPress conversion code method. Bing's people also ask can be generated using AI. And I posted the weekly SEO video recap.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google June 2024 Spam Update Finished Rolling Out
  Google has completed the rollout of the June 2024 spam update after a seven-day and one-hour period. This update started on June 20, 2024, and was completed on June 27, 2024. This was a broad spam update, not a link spam update, and it did not automate the site reputation abuse policy.
• How Google Measures Search Quality - Interview With Elizabeth Tucker
  Elizabeth Tucker, Director, Product Management at Google Search was a guest on Google's Search Off the Record podcast where Lizzi Sassman and John Mueller of Google asked her about search quality, how Google measures it, and so much more. I will post my notes below but the two things that stood out to me are:
• Report: Menu Items & Popular Times Are Google Local Ranking Signal
  There is a new report out that says menu items and how busy you are during Google Maps popular times are both ranking factors and signals for Google's local ranking system. Claudia Tomina posted the details on her blog and told me she tested this across numerous businesses.
• Bing People Also Ask Now May Include AI Generated Content
  Microsoft may now include AI generated content within the Bing Search people also ask sections. Bing is labeling some of the people also ask boxes with the disclaimer, "Includes Al generated content."
• Google Product Studio Expands To More Counties, Adds File Uploads & New Themes
  Google Product Studio, which is part of Google Merchant Center Next, now works in the UK, India, and Japan. Google also added file upload support to Product Studio and additional seasonal-themed templates.
• New Google Ads WordPress Conversion Google Tag Code
  Google seems to be rolling out new WordPress specific conversion code for Google Ads. This seems like a Google Tag code with easier set up for WordPress sites.
• Google Super Mario Game Room
  Here is a photo of one of the rooms at the Google office, the GooglePlex, where they have a room for gaming. The theme of the room is Super Mario Brothers. Look at the desk, the walls, etc.
• Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google June Spam Update Done, Continuous Scroll Gone, AI Overview Links Improving, Google Ads Query Matching Update & More
  This week, Google completed the rollout of the June 2024 spam update over a 7-day period. Google has dropped its continuous scroll interface for the search results. Google is testing placing link cards at the top of the AI...

Other Great Search Threads:

• Google is updating its Business Profile terms of service, Barry Schwartz on X
• The entire position of this section is about as un-neighborly in tone and stance as possible. This is not how a company should think about real world local busin, Miriam Ellis on X
• While we are not there yet, this is a big step in LLMs replacing compilers. It will get us near-perfectly optimized code, reversing decades of efficiency sliding. On the flip side, with the perfect Disasm available to everyone, I l, Mikhail Parakhin on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google June 2024 spam update done rolling out
• A guide to Google Ads for regulated and sensitive categories
• Multinational SEO vs. multilingual SEO: What’s the difference?
• Reimagining search in the AI era: Insights from ex-Bing Search director

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

• How to Backup & Visualize GA3 Data for Free, Measure Minds Group

Industry & Business

• Amazon Is Investigating Perplexity Over Claims of Scraping Abuse, Wired
• Google ‘keyword warrant’ in Minnesota now part of national privacy debate, KSTP
• Google Faces the Growth of AI-Powered Search. One Rival Is About to Get Bigger., Barron's
• EU Competition Commissioner says Apple’s decision to pull AI from EU shows anticompetitive behavior, Euractiv
• Record Labels Sue A.I. Music Generators, Inside the Pentagon’s Tech Upgrade and HatGPT, New York Times

Links & Content Marketing

• 11 HARO Alternatives for Link Building in 2024, Semrush
• 7 Content Automations Used by Real Content Pros, Ahrefs
• Repurposing Content: How to Get More Mileage From Your Existing Content, Ahrefs
• Local Links vs. Industry Links for Local SEO: Which Is More Likely to Stick?, Local Visibility System

Local & Maps

• AI Use Hurts Google, SMB Response Times, Local AI Review Tool, Near Media
• Google Maps Satellite Image Appears to Show US Prototype Underwater Drone, PetaPixel

Mobile & Voice

• Google's AI Assistant Gemini Now Integrated into Messages App, Gizbot News
• Surface Pro Copilot+ review: The best Surface tablet ever made, no thanks to AI, Engadget

SEO

• 9 Surprising Takeaways From Analyzing HubSpot's SEO Strategy, Ahrefs
• A Complete List of Google's Autocomplete Signals in Chrome, Dejan Marketing
• Does Google Know if Content is Accurate? A review of a page struggling to rank behind potentially inaccurate & unhelpful content., Marie Haynes
• Is OSO, organic search optimization, the new SEO?, Yoast
• The Ad Experience Report in Google Search Console: Why It Fails Site Owners, How It Provides A False Sense of Security, And How It Could Be Improved, GSQI
• SEO Reporting for Agencies (With Real Report Examples), Ahrefs

PPC

• Mac users served info-stealer malware through Google ads, Ars Technica

Search Features

• Google launches Gemma 2, its next generation of open models, Google Blog
• Google Vids has started rolling out, and early results are mixed, Android Police

Other Search

• Zuckerberg disses closed-source AI competitors as trying to 'create God', TechCrunch
• How AI Revolutionized Protein Science, but Didn’t End It, Quanta Magazine
• OpenAI's ChatGPT and Microsoft's Copilot repeated a false claim about the presidential debate, NBC News

Feedback:

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