Daily Search Forum Recap: July 5, 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 Search Console reports seem to be back to normal again. Reddit did not block Google from crawling or indexing. Google says request indexing does not change canonicalization. Google says if you are using a CDN and want to maintain one robots.txt file, you can redirect one to the other. Google updated its image SEO best practices. Google is testing a longer search bar for longer queries. And I posted the SEO video recap - subscribe!

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google Search Console Performance Reports All Caught Up
  Google seems to have fixed the Google Search Console Performance Reports last night at about 7:45pm ET. I posted a short update in my story yesterday, but waited until this morning to post a new story that it is fixed because sometimes I've seen it recover and then slip back. But it still seems to be showing recent and fresh data even the next morning.
• Google Search Console Performance Reports Catching Up But It's Not Done Yet
  As you know, Google Search Console's performance reports were significantly delayed this week. But as of this morning, the reports are beginning to catch up. Google said last night it would take them "at least 2-3 days to fully catch up" and reprocess the data. So if you are seeing weird data, look away and come back on Monday.
• No - Reddit Is Not Blocking Google Search
  Today being July 4th, I normally would avoid writing stories here but there are a lot of rumors out there that Reddit is blocking Google Search from crawling and indexing its content. It is not true - Reddit is not blocking Google Search.
• Google: Request Indexing Does Not Change Canonicalization
  Google's John Mueller said on that using the request indexing feature in Google Search Console's URL Inspection Tool does not change canonicalization. The question that was asked is if it can help speed up URL removal for a 301 redirected URL.
• Google: Using A CDN & Want One Robots.txt File, Redirect Yours To The CDN
  Do you use a CDN for some or all of your website and you want to manage just one robots.txt file, instead of both the CDN's robots.txt file and your main site's robots.txt file? Gary Illyes from Google said that all you need to do is redirect your main robots.txt to the CDN and control it on the CDN.
• Google Updated Image SEO Best Practices For Embedded Images
  Google has made a small update to its image SEO best practices documentation, specific to the "Use HTML image elements to embed images" section. The update seems relatively minor but the changes to the wording was done for a reason.
• Google Search Tests Long Search Bar Variations
  Google is testing a longer search bar, so I guess you can enter in a longer query into the search box. Google is also testing it in a gray color and other variations.
• Italian Google Product Expert Code T-Shirts
  Here are some fun t-shirts a few Google Product Experts wore at the Google Product Expert Summit the other day. It says if product expert and Italian then do it better.
• Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Search Console Difficulties, Google Ranking Volatility, Zero Click Study, Google Ads & More
  This week, I posted the monthly Google Webmaster report and we had more search ranking volatility over the weekend. Google Search Console had huge delays...

Other Great Search Threads:

• If you open a second location for your business relatively close to the first location, the first location tends to appear for branded searches even if the searcher is closer to the new location. This is a type of local filtering, Colan Nielsen on X
• The fresh data for this report is currently being reprocessed, and is likely to take at least 2-3 days to fully catch up. We'll let you know here when it's fully resolved. Thanks for your patience., Google Search Central on X
• Fact from a few days ago: you can have invalid lines in the robots.txt file and parsers won't care one bit, they'll just skip them., Gary Illyes on LinkedIn

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google Ads completes auto-migration of location extensions to assets
• Meta’s ad attribution update gives clearer view of conversions
• Google launches Merchant API Beta with new features
• Google announces new Display & Video 360 features
• How to build a high-performing paid search team
• 12 SEO metrics to add to your digital PR measurement program

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

• Discovering the Benefits of Using GA4 Alternatives for Your Website, CIO Look

Industry & Business

• Alphabet Shutters Mineral, Licenses Ag Tech to Berry Producer Driscoll's, Bloomberg
• OpenAI’s ChatGPT Mac app was storing conversations in plain text, The Verge
• A Hacker Stole OpenAI Secrets, Raising Fears That China Could, Too, New York Times

Links & Content Marketing

• 5 Content Marketing Ideas for August 2024, Practical Ecommerce

Local & Maps

• A behind the scenes look at emoji reactions in Google Maps, Local Guides Connect
• Google Search API Leaks Part 5: Local SEO Enhancements, Location3 Media
• Google Quietly Releasing Top Requested Google Maps Feature to More Users?, AutoEvolution

Mobile & Voice

• A Siri divided against itself cannot stand, Macworld
• Apple Intelligence will reportedly get a Google Gemini integration this fall, Windows Central
• This AI cloud: How Google Gemini will help everyone build things faster, cheaper, better, ZDNET

SEO

• 10 Game-Changing Benefits of Working With an SEO Agency, BruceClay
• Using the Page Rank Report in SEOTesting to Boost Organic Clicks, SEOTesting
• How Does Perplexity Work? A Summary from an SEO's Perspective, Ethan Lazuk
• Investigating Reddit's robots.txt Cloaking Strategy, Merj
• The Google API Leak: Unveiling the Search Giant's Inner Workings, rbdrodeo
• How to Use Google Trends for Keyword Research and SEO (2024), 99 Signals

PPC

• Avoid Campaign Drift to Keep Your Clients Happy, PPC Hero
• Location Auto-migration Complete, Google Ads Developer Blog
• Should You Remove Redundant Keywords?, Adalysis
• The Pros and Cons of Using AI for Your Google Ads, Group Twenty Seven

Search Features

• Declare your AIndependence: block AI bots, scrapers and crawlers with a single click, Cloudflare
• Google Notes on Search will let you ignore theming, Android Authority
• Yandex Enhances Product Display in Search Results, Russian Search News

Other Search

• Fourth of July 2024 Doodle, Google Doodles

Feedback:

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