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 ranking volatility may be slowing but is this the calm before the storm? Google spoke about top-level domains for SEO, it is a good listen. Google Merchant Center has this new "collections" feature to group products. Google Business Profiles now has automated FAQs. Google hotel results has this comparison sites carousel and filter option. Plus, I have part two with Fabrice Canel of Microsoft talking about generative AI, content, and IndexNow.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Google Search Ranking Algorithm Volatility Finally Cooling?
For the past few months, Google's search results have been very volatile, but over the past couple of days, it seems, at least to some rank-checking tools, the volatility is cooling and calming. - Google Search On Top Level Domains: Spammy, Keyword Rich, Coming Soon Page & More
Google posted a new Search Off The Record podcast all around picking a domain name and SEO. This was recorded by John Mueller, Gary Illyes, and Martin Splitt of Google. They spoke about checking if the domain is spammy, the price of TLDs, whether you should add keywords to your domain, and launching a new domain with a coming soon page. - Google Business Profiles Automated FAQs Feature
Google Business Profiles seems to be rolling out a new FAQ feature where Google will automatically create FAQs based on your Google Business Profile details and your website. - Google Merchant Center Collections - Group Products Together
Google Merchant Center is rolling out a new feature named "collections." Collections let you group up to 100 products together in the same collection. Google said collections, "Collections allow you to associate products and other creative assets with one another. You can combine images, videos, and text to create richer experiences for your customers." - Google Hotel Search Results Comparison Sites Carousel & Filter
Google seems to be testing a new hotel search feature that lets you compare sites using a carousel and a new search filter. The carousel shows you comparable hotels that you can click to see more, bringing up a "compare sites" filter to browse more hotel options. - Vlog #233: Fabrice Canel On Generative AI Content & IndexNow
In part one, we learned more about Fabrice Canel of Microsoft Bing and spoke about indexing quality. In part two we dig more into of the concern around content generation through generative AI tools and IndexNow... - Google's John Mueller Mail An SEO $3.50
It looks like Google's John Mueller mailed an SEO named Assaf Cohen $3.50 from Zurich to Tel Aviv. Assaf Cohen is the Tech SEO Team Lead at Wix and John said he would chip in $3.50 if Nati Elimelech,
Other Great Search Threads:
- Announcing ChatGPT for Android! The app will be rolling out to users next week, and you can pre-order in the Google Play Store starting today, OpenAI on Twitter
- Questions from the inbox: Does rel=noopener have an effect on SEO? No. It has nothing to do with SEO. Also rel=noreferrer. These are security / privacy things, use them where appropriate, or get help from a web-developer if you're unsure., John Mueller on Twitter
- Questions from the inbox: I have an >6 month old niche site with 200 optimized posts that won't rank on Google but is doing OK on Bing & Yandex. How can I get out of the Google sandbox?, John Mueller on Twitter
- Sometimes there is no technical answer, no best practice checklist to follow. Sometimes what's needed is a lot of persistence, hard work, knowledge, experience, clarity, cross-team collaborations, and sometimes, money. To succeed as a business, there's no, John Mueller on Twitter
- Precise basically is very “afraid” to say something wrong. So, in teaching situation, it punts to the external sources., Mikhail Parakhin on Twitter
- Technical SEO - it matters a lot. I double-checked some sites regarding SD usage. One had a performance report trending towards zero over the course of 3 weeks. Cookie banner loaded with JS, no other content loaded for Googlebot. Soft 404s everywhere., John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Google updates Misrepresentation policy with key information on building trust
- The latest jobs in search marketing
- An SEO guide to understanding user intent
- How to use ChatGPT to uncover keyword variations other tools miss (prompts included)
- Why using AI to create YMYL experts is a REALLY bad idea
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- GA vs. GA4: Evolution of Analytics for Modern Marketers, DevDiscourse
- Google Boosts Ecommerce Analysis In GA4 With 30 New Metrics, Search Engine Journal
Industry & Business
- Google Must Pay $339 Million in Texas Video Casting Patent Fight, Bloomberg
- How Do the White House’s A.I. Commitments Stack Up?, New York Times
- Publishers want billions, not millions, from AI, Semafor
Links & Content Marketing
- How I grew organic traffic by 84% by repurposing existing content, Matt Tutt
- 5 Ways ChatGPT Can Improve, Not Replace, Your Writing | WIRED, Wired
Local & Maps
- Google Finally Starts Investigating This Mysterious Google Maps Bug on Android Auto, AutoEvolution
- Google Maps vs Waze — which navigation app is best?, Tom's Guide
- How to Use Google Maps on an Apple Watch, The Tech Edvocate
Mobile & Voice
- Apple Vision Pro: Will Developers Sell VisionOS Apps for the $3,499 Device?, Bloomberg
- Google Assistant's first generative AI feature could summarize long articles, Android Central
- iOS 17 Beta Adds Two New Siri Voices for British Users, MacRumors
- Siri vs. Bixby: How Do Apple and Samsung's Voice Assistants Compare?, Make Use Of
SEO
- What Makes Schema App Semantic?, Schema App
- Four simple tips for writing great SEO tickets, Gus Pelogia
- HTML Redirects: What They Are & How to Set One Up, Semrush
PPC
- Google Ads Improves Brand Settings, Practical Ecommerce
- Google ads: Tech giant under fire for taking advertising money from far-right group Britain First, Yahoo News
Search Features
- Bing Preview Release Notes: Multimodal Visual Search in Chat and Bing Chat Enterprise, Bing Search Blog
Other Search
- Transformers: the Google scientists who pioneered an AI revolution, Financial Times
Feedback:
Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.
