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.
If you have examples of Google using poor titles in the search results, you can now report them to Google. But I got to say, I doubt Google didn't test this and see a huge positive to the new title algorithm - but if you see examples of ways Google can improve it, send them to Google. Google Merchant Center and Google Manufacturer Center now have a sync feature. Google says clicks on newsletter links won't help your SEO. Google said your mobile and desktop pages don't have to be exactly the same but should serve the same purpose and function. SEOs are more likely to canonicalize duplicate content issues than anything else.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Google Search Opens Complaint Thread For Title Changes
Google has opened a dedicated thread where you can post examples of poor titles that Google has created in lieu of your HTML title tags. The thread asked you to include the the URL of the page, the title shown, the device type used and any additional feedback, and if possible a screenshot. - Google: Clicks On Newsletter Emails Don't Help You Rank Better In Search
Google's John Mueller said that no, clicks on newsletter emails do not help your SEO or help you rank better in Google Search. He did add that "it's good to have multiple separate sources of traffic to your website, and not everything needs to have an SEO effect." - New Google Merchant Center & Manufacturer Center Sync
Google is sending out emails to those who use both Google Merchant Center and Google Manufacturer Center that they can now sync the data between the two platforms. The email says if you link the accounts Google will "continuously synchronize products from Merchant Merchant Center to Manufacturer Center." - Google: Mobile & Desktop Pages Don't Have To Match But They Must Fulfill The Same Purpose
Google's John Mueller said again that your desktop pages and mobile pages do not need to match exactly. But what they really need to do is "fulfill the same purpose." He said the mobile and desktop "pages don't have to be exactly the same." - Survey Says: Most SEOs Canonicalize Their Duplicate Content Issues
Sophie Brannon posted a Twitter poll asking SEOs "what do you do with your content duplication issues?" The survey had just under 1,000 responses, which is a lot for a Twitter SEO poll. The results showed that most SEOs canonicalize their duplicate content issues. - Laying On The Google Logo
Here is a person laying on the Google logo in the Dublin office. They have those massive Google logos in the lobby that people can rest on. They even have mats on them to rest. This is an old photo
Other Great Search Threads:
- Anyone else seeing Google putting Wikipedia pages on page 1 for brands/products with plenty of more helpful pages getting pushed to page 2? I guess they think "product query" intent is research., Melissa Fach on Twitter
- Google is flagging and suspending products. They will suspend products inside of a suspended business profile too. https://t.co/EdmbMJmvPM, Jason Brown on Twitter
- If you want to share the site or examples of titles you think are an issue, that would help. Also interesting to understand what happened in the week before. Not sure one week is a trend., Danny Sullivan on Twitter
- If you wanted to copy Google, you could also just have your code follow the robots.txt directives, like other well-behaved scripts. We have lots of documentation & even an open-source parser to make, John Mueller on Twitter
- It's tricky. There are costs (infrastructure, code maintenance, resources, support, debugging) & there's value-add for users. If after a while you realize it's not as strongly-positive, it's worth fixing. Ma, John Mueller on Twitter
- To be honest, I'm not quite sure what we're missing from search from looking at your site. My recommendation would be to take a step back and to make sure that your site has significant value of its own, is o, John Mueller on Twitter
- Usually not. Meta-tags, structured data: maybe. Speed, rendering, mobile-friendliness, accessibility, browser & device compatibility: maybe. Some HTML errors don't fall into those categories, but evaluating them i, John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Coloring the black box: a new look at managing Smart Shopping campaigns
- Calling all future-focused search marketers, submit a pitch for SMX Next!
- 10 powerful reasons to enter the Search Engine Land Awards
- Title changes in Google Search causing distress; Wednesday’s daily brief
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- How to Install Google Analytics on Your Website, DreamHost
- Should You Place The GA Tracking Code In The Header or Footer?, Data Driven U
Industry & Business
- Deepcrawl announces Craig Dunham as new CEO, DeepCrawl
- Google, Microsoft plan to spend billions on cybersecurity after meeting with Biden, CNBC
- Googlespeak - How Google Limits Thought About Antitrust, Zyppy
- Target hires Google retail exec to head media biz, Ad Age
- Analysts: Google to pay Apple $15 billion to remain default Safari search engine in 2021, 9to5Mac
- UK to overhaul privacy rules in post-Brexit departure from GDPR, The Guardian
Links & Content Marketing
- How Content Marketing and SEO Work Together, RankRanger
- Are They Feeling It? 22 Expert Ideas for Connecting With Your Audience, Content Marketing Institute
Local & Maps
- Google Maps could be getting another big Waze feature — but why do both apps exist?, Tom's Guide
- Google Maps is trying to be painfully clear about how crowdsourced data powers navigation, Android Police
Mobile & Voice
- Better video performance in Web Stories, The AMP Blog
- Google Home will let you delay the start of Assistant Routines, 9to5Google
- A decade and a half of instability: The history of Google messaging apps, Ars Technica
SEO
- 10 Ecommerce Marketing Strategies & Tactics to Improve Sales, Semrush
- Internal Linking for Mobile-Only Indexing, Moz
- SEO Split-Testing [Case Study T002] “Adding an Emoji to The Title on Recipe Pages“, Semrush
- Evaluating SEO Across Multiple Countries, Searchmetrics
PPC
- How to Improve Google Shopping Ads ROAS with Priority Bidding, WordStream
- How to Research Keywords: A Step-By-Step Guide to Keyword Research, Orbit Media Studios
- Report: Marketers Struggling with Both Paid & Organic Search, KoMarketing
- Should You Reassess Your Match Type Strategy? Revisiting Google’s Recent Changes, Merkle
- The changing landscape of global travel, Microsoft Advertising
- Why MSV Is Declining In Importance, Seer Interactive
Search Features
- Google News Showcase launches in Colombia, Google Blog
Feedback:
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