Daily Search Forum Recap: September 30, 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.

The Google Search ranking volatility won't calm down, we have another volatile weekend. Google may have penalized the Forbes Advisor site. We have another interview with Google's Danny Sullivan, this one done by Aleyda Solis. Google Search Console recommendations are not fully rolled out yet. Google updated its Google Shopping interface. Google Local Service Ads has TCPL (Target Cost Per Lead).

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google Search Ranking Volatility & Shuffles This Weekend
  Google will not, refused to, calm down, and the ranking volatility, the shuffling of the search results, remains constant. This weekend, probably starting on Friday, September 27th, through the whole weekend, we are seeing even more signs of movement and volatility.
• Did Google Hit Forbes Advisor With A Search Penalty Over Site Reputation Abuse?
  Google may have hit Forbes Advisor with a manual action, downgrading its rankings over maybe the site reputation abuse policy. Lars Lofgren wrote about this marketplace, as he put it, on September 18th and then a week or so later, it looks like it was hit by a Google manual action.
• Another Interview With Google's Search Liaison: Big Brands, UGC Content, AI Overviews & Future
  Danny Sullivan, the Google Search Liaison, has been interviewed again - this time by Alyeda Solis. It is pretty similar to my interview with Google's Search Liason, but this one is recorded and available for everyone to watch.
• Google Search Console Recommendations Not Fully Rolled Out
  About 8 weeks ago, Google announced Google Search Console Recommendations and rolled it out to a limited number of properties within the platform. Google said the roll out will be slow and yea, it is slow. Daniel Waisberg from Google confirmed on Friday that it is not fully rolled out yet.
• Google Local Service Ads TCPL (Target Cost Per Lead)
  Google seems to be rolling out a new bidding option for Local Service Ads named Target cost-per-lead (tCPL) bidding. Target cost-per-lead (tCPL) bidding is a semi-automated smart bid strategy. You set your desired average cost per lead, and Local Services Ads automatically adjusts bids to aim for that target.
• Google Shopping Interface Updated With Expandable Refinements
  Earlier this month, we reported that Google was testing a new Google Shopping Search interface. Well, Google may have rolled it out now. There is the new logo, with a more e-commerce like interface and then these large search refinement boxes.
• Big YouTube Button & Glowing Blocks
  Here is a photo from the Google offices in Tel Aviv of a guy sitting on a really big YouTube button, next to a stack of glowing red blocks.

Other Great Search Threads:

• I think there's a bug with the roll-out of video enhancements for Google ACA. We're seeing accounts suddenly opted in to text assets, and also a ping pong situation where you cannot uncheck both text assets and video enhancements. De, Mike Ryan on X
• The algorithm tries to follow the audience so if there are two videos on the same topic and the audience has developed a deeper relationship and ascribed greater authority to the creator/channel for one of the videos to the, YouTube Liaison on X
• Well this is new... Registered for Google Ads event next week "AI-powered Creative Solutions for Google Ads" The registration form asked me to list 5 of my clients. That's a hard no. #PPCChat, Julie F Bacchini on X
• What's interesting is WP Engine hasn't even ranked in the top 10 either in the US or UK for "wordpress" nor does it now (in the US, it occasionally ranked on the second page), IrishWonder on X
• Just saw this today, has anyone ever seen this before? Is Google pushing local businesses to develop apps for Google Play to attract local customers?, Molly Youngblood on X
• Sharing some more thoughts around the "?srsltid=" parameters showing for URLs that aren't Product Detail Pages. This keeps coming up since my post a couple of months back (later confirmed by Google) and there's an expectation that an a, Brodie Clark on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• The latest jobs in search marketing
• 15 AI tools you should use for SEO
• How SEO can work with digital marketing teams

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

• What is an Engaged Session in GA4? | A Comprehensive Guide, SEO Testing
• Analyzing GSC Data Anomalies via Python and GSC API, Decode Digital Market

Industry & Business

• “Not a good look”: Google’s ad tech monopoly defense widely criticized, Ars Technica
• How Google Defended Itself in the Ad Tech Antitrust Trial, New York Times
• Key takeaways from the ad tech trial, Google Blog
• OpenAI Is Growing Fast and Burning Through Piles of Money, New York Times
• Trump: Google should be prosecuted over search results, CNBC
• Apple not investing in ChatGPT, Apple Intelligence integration unaffected, AppleInsider
• OpenAI’s Complex Path to Becoming a For-Profit Company, Wall Street Journal

Links & Content Marketing

• Navigating Content Marketing Amidst the Rise of AI — Whiteboard Friday, Moz

Local & Maps

• Google Maps improves home and work addresses on Android Auto, 9to5Google
• Schools on Google Maps are Being Renamed Hawk Tuah Schools, Bill Hartzer
• Android Auto is widely rolling out Google Maps incident reporting, 9to5Google

Mobile & Voice

• Apple considers changes for Apple Vision Pro line, AppleInsider
• Apple to rebrand tvOS, add smart displays to next-gen HomePods, AppleInsider
• How Voice Search & Visual Search are Changing Marketing & SEO, Level343
• Meta Steps Up Pressure on Apple Vision With Orion AR Glasses and Cheaper Quest 3, Bloomberg

SEO

• AI crawlers are hammering sites and nearly taking them offline, Fast Company
• JSON–LD vs Microdata Revisited, Search Pilot
• Proving the value of organic investment in SEO, Blue Array SEO
• Unpacking NerdWallet's SEO: 10 Things I Discovered , Ahrefs
• Website duration performance based on category durations, Kopp Consulting
• SEO Dashboard in Google Sheets, Hobo
• 8 SEO Hiring Managers Share Their #1 Interview Question, Ahrefs
• Real Estate SEO: 6 Things You Can Do to Compete With Big Sites, Ahrefs
• SEO for Ecommerce Product Pages, Practical Ecommerce
• Srsltid impacting Core Web Vitals via TTFB caching, RUMvision

PPC

• Upcoming changes to search and display campaign reporting in the Google Ads API, Google Ads Developer Blog
• Update to Gambling and Games Policy, Brazil (September 2024), Google Advertising Policies Help
• Video Link Attribute for Google Merchant Feeds, PPC News Feed

Search Features

• Microsoft’s more secure Windows Recall feature can also be uninstalled by users, The Verge
• August Brings Significant Changes in AI Overviews Rollout and Behavior, BrightEdge

Other Search

• A rare opening against Datadog, Matthew Lynley

Feedback:

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