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 On Mega-Menus: Nothing To Be Concerned About, Yet...
John Mueller of Google posted on Twitter asking "How do you feel about "mega-menus" on ecommerce sites?" He then followed up saying there is "no secret announcement lined up" around Google penalizing e-commerce sites with mega-menus. - Rumors That Shortnames Causing Google My Business Suspensions
There are a lot of rumors and suspicions that Google My Business suspensions are due to the release of the new shortnames feature. I am not sure if that is true, we covered the suspension issues well before the launch of the shortnames release and we even covered this rumors earlier as well. - Some YouTubers Angry That Google Search Shows Videos From Non-YouTube Sources
Often you see people complaining that Google is favoring their own properties over third-party properties. Like showing Google My Business Listings over Yelp or Google Job listings over results from Indeed or showing YouTube videos over videos from other providers. But here, we have a YouTuber upset with Google that Google is showing videos from third-parties and not YouTube. - Google Autocomplete Lightens & Hides Search Results As You Type
It looks like Google has rolled out a new search user experience in the desktop search results. When you start typing your query and Google shows you search results, those search results will be lightened up, the transparency will go down and be less visible as you type. - Google Search Recommends Google Assistant For Jokes
If you go to Google and search for [jokes] on mobile, Google will recommend you give the Google Assistant a try. At the top of the search results it will load a box that simulates the Google Assistant directly in Google search by sharing a joke with you right at the top of Google search. - Google Lollipops
Who doesn't like lollipops? Who doesn't like cake pops? Who doesn't like Google branded cake lollipops? Well, some of you probably don't like it. But here is a photo of one from an event at the Go
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Well this is a rather nice featuređź‘ŤYou can share the links to your reviews - when someone clicks the link it takes them to a nice display of the review, with a clear link through to 'place details' https:, Claire Carlile on Twitter
- FWIW the disavow is only necessary for the site with the canonical URLs (but it doesn't harm to do the rest if you're unsure).… https://t.co/xaHMFlvJUO, John Mueller on Twitter
- Hey Shalini! Thanks for the offer, but i think I'm doing alright. Appreciate the offer though!…, Gary Illyes on Twitter
- I know Google has tested desktop 'Events' but now I see them consistently, but only when the entity is brought up via a carousel or Related Search Box... not when it is the initial query. (Not sure how long this has been going, Mordy Oberstein on Twitter
- It looks like Google My Business has introduced a new review links feature to the dashboard for businesses that have added a profile short name. @rustybrick @mblumenthal https://t.co/XBnodiqg2P, Brian Jensen on Twitter
- If we assume that a page doesn't change frequently, we might crawl it less, but that's fine (more crawling doesn't mean better ranking). Overall, a 304 is more a sign that we can crawl a site more (since the bandwidth & open re, John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Bullish forecast predicts 31 million Americans will ‘shop’ on their smart speakers in 2019
- SMX replay: Create dashboards that inform and persuade
- Untangling attribution’s web of confusion — a primer
- What two big studies tell us about the state of local marketing
- Yoast SEO 11.6 updates how-to structured data block, following Google’s changes
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Building Bridges Between Marketing and IT: Google Tag Manager Custom Templates, E-Nor
- Democratizing data analysis with Google BigQuery, Twitter Blog
- Firebase SDK: How It Can Help Your Google Marketing, Bidalgo
- Give your website visitors the experiences they deserve., Google
- The Case for Structured Campaigns, E-Nor
- Why Your Digital Marketing Strategy Depends on Data, Pantheon
Industry & Business
- Cruz to hold hearing on Google's alleged anti-conservative bias next week, TheHill
- Google to acquire cloud storage company Elastifile, CNBC
- Meet the Google Doodle dude, BBC News
Links & Promotion Building
- Link Building Fundamentals, Search Engine Journal
- How To Perform Advanced Content Gap Analysis With Rank Ranger, RankRanger
Local & Maps
- Google Street View car 'sends hare flying across road after smashing into animal', capturing horror on in-built cameras, The Independent
- How to add your business to Google and Google Maps, Business Insider
Mobile & Voice
- Google Assistant again outpaces Amazon Alexa and Apple Siri in voice results, CNET
- Google Assistant tests compact interface for 'next generation', 9to5Google
- Amazon's Alexa will give medical advice from the NHS, Engadget
- Google Assistant Enables Heineken Beer Deliveries by Voice, Voicebot
- Google Fit has been broken for months, with no sign of a fix, Android Police
- How to make calls with Google Home and Google Nest Hub, 9to5Google
SEO
- A Crowdsourcing Evaluation of Clustered Search Results, Go Fish Digital
- The High Cost of Ignoring SEO, Practical Ecommerce
- Web Design Practices That Frustrate SEO Pros, Search Engine Journal
PPC
- How to Do Keyword Research Like Randy Ray, SEO Theory
- Improve ad effectiveness with ad customizers, Microsoft Advertising
- Stranger Things for Digital Marketing, PPC Hero
Search Features
