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: Our Systems Cannot Determine Accuracy Of Content
Danny Sullivan from Google said on Twitter "Machines can't tell the "accuracy" of content. Our systems rely instead on signals we find align with relevancy of topic and authority." So Google cannot determine the accuracy of content, I guess. - Old Google Search Console Is No Longer Available
Google after two years of launching the beta version of the new Google Search Console and opening that beta up a year ago, Google has finally removed access to the old Google Search Console. There are still ways to get to some of the legacy reports but you can no longer access the main old dashboard anymore. - Google Discover Feed Now Showing Restaurants
Recently, I guess the past couple of weeks or so, the Google Discover feed started showing restaurants you might be interested in. This is obviously important if you help local restaurants with their Google My Business listings. - Google Shows Way Too Many ✅ White Heavy Check Marks
If you do a search for [cars on ebay] you may see the Google search results polluted with those green white heavy check marks unicode. It is actually pretty annoying to even look at. Gabs shared this screen shot on Twitter, but what I see is not that bad. - Bing Tests Scrollable Tabs Search Result Snippets
Bing seems to be testing a new design and layout for the search results snippets. The new layout looks like a carousel of tabs that you can horizontally scroll through when looking at a specific search result. Here is a screen shot from @Philcomputing. - The Google Search Console Team
Here is a photo of most, if not all, of the folks on the Google Search Console team. I suspect this is from the Google Tel Aviv office, because I think that is where the team resides. I've been to th
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- If the live test is OK, you're good to go :). Sorry for the confusion in the report there!, John Mueller on Twitter
- Places Autocomplete service now adds more place types in the Autocomplete response. Check out our quick JavaScript example to learn how you can get Google place type icons into your app → https://t.co/FCihBzvh8H ht, Google Maps Platform on Twitter
- This is new, Google Images changed it from “animated” to “GIF” in the drop down filter - :-) https://t.co/2w937vh9pY, Barry Schwartz on Twitter
- 50 US States launch Google competition probe, WebmasterWorld
- NeMO Google Assistant Challenge: call for ideas organized by @CentroNemo Clinical Center with the support of Google Italy to bring the power of Google Assistant to those who need it the most. https://t.co/zALgMikWiC via @YouTub, Zineb Ait on Twitter
- You can use Google Tag Manager to add structured data, but it's always best to implement it directly on the page itself. It's faster to be seen, more stable, and easier to test with your own tools., John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- The 4 optimization techniques from Google you can use with Amazon Ads today
- Nearly 50 states’ attorneys general join in antitrust investigation of Google
- Call Tracking Demystified: Uncovering new opportunities for search marketers
- Now you can easily find negative keyword conflicts in Microsoft Advertising Shopping campaigns
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- #GTMTips: When Click Variables Are Undefined, Simo Ahava's blog
- New Features in App + Web Properties in Google Analytics, Adswerve
- The Data You’re Using to Calculate CTR is Wrong and Here’s Why, Moz
Industry & Business
- Brave accuses Google of sidestepping GDPR, Naked Security
- Texas attorney general leads Google antitrust probe, CNBC
Links & Promotion Building
- Adult Spam Links - Should You Disavow Them?, Search Engine Journal
- Report: 89% of Marketers Now Using Video as a Part of their Content Strategy, KoMarketing
Local & Maps
- Squeezed by Google, TripAdvisor switches up media strategy, AdAge
- Who Keeps Updating My Google My Business Listing?, Sterling Sky Inc
Mobile & Voice
- Bixby: The most important voice assistant you've probably not heard of, AdNews
- Google Assistant and Tile will help you find lost items more easily, Android Community
- Made by Google kicks off 'Switch to Pixel' ad campaign, 9to5Google
SEO
- SEO at Scale - Building the Foundation of Success: In Search SEO Podcast, RankRanger
- Weekly Wisdom with Ross Tavendale: Zero Budget SEO, SEM Rush
PPC
