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 said when it comes to web search, the images you have on your pages don't matter. Google changed its Merchant Center unique product identifier policy and made it less severe. SEOs are split on if they do black hat SEO or not. Google has a new method to remove images of minors from search, it comes with a new policy and tools. And Brave Search published how it ranks sites, including using click data.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Google: We Don't Care About The Image For Web Search
Google's John Mueller said that when it comes to web search, Google does not "look at the specific images on the page" for web search or ranking purposes. For image search, Google does but for web search, John said no. - Google Lets You Remove Images Of Minors From Search With New Tool & Policy
Google announced a new policy and tool to allow you to remove images of minors, kids and teens under the age of 18, from Google Search results, both images and web search. This is likely a welcomed feature for many parents, many teens and reputation management companies. - Poll: SEOs Split On Doing Black Hat SEO
Marie Haynes ran a poll that asked SEOs "do you do any SEO you'd consider Blackhat?" The results were pretty 50/50, about half said they do not do any black hat SEO and 28% said they do, and 23% said they do "maybe a little" black hat SEO. - Brave Search Uses Click Data In Search Ranking Algorithm
Brave made some big news the other week when it announced it is replacing Google Search as the default in its Brave browser with its own search engine. The thing is, Brave documented how it does ranking and it actually said it uses click data for ranking purposes. - Google Merchant Center Unique Product Identifier Limited Enforcement
In September we said Google Merchant Center would enforce that all products would have unique product identifiers (UPI) within the product feed. If there was not UPI, Google would immediately disapproved and no longer showed in free listings. That is now changing to limited performance enforcements. - Google Swanky Office
Here is a recent set of photos from the Google New York City office that showcases some of the more "swanky" rooms at that office. Swanky was the word used by the person who posted it on Instagram.
Other Great Search Threads:
- Bing updated Sitelinks Search Box below the sitelinks, Punit on Twitter
- If it helps, we were very deliberate in sharing what the other major updates were about, when they began and when they ended. That was done to help people do isolation, if they wanted, Danny Sullivan on Twitter
- One could argue that if you're specifying the link, it's not "fully natural" (cleaner would be either nofollow or just the company name/URL as anchor), but in practice, as long as you're not doing this at scal, John Mueller on Twitter
- re shorter URLs better for SEO? 📊 In this episode of #AskGooglebot, @JohnMu gets to the bottom of whether or not URL length actually makes a difference in your website’s search ranking. Watch now → http, Google Search Central on Twitter
- That's just the way you encode the "&" symbol - that's fine., John Mueller on Twitter
- The cached page is just a cached copy of the HTML page that was served - it's not an indicator of what's given weight in search. Repetetive content like that in headings seems more like inefficient / sub-par HTML, b, John Mueller on Twitter
- For normal sites & natural growth, I'd just let the site get crawled & indexed on its own. Having to use this tool often is usually a sign that something else on the site is quest, John Mueller on Twitter
- Lighthouse Performance: 21 How much of a negative impact is this?, Reddit
Search Engine Land Stories:
- In 2022, retailers will lose half of sales on backordered items unless they compensate with experience, according to Forrester
- YouTube ads are the breakout star of Google’s Q3 earnings report
- Google makes it easier to remove images of kids from the search results
- Interpretation of complex and foreign topics; Wednesday’s daily brief
- Core Web Vitals: SEOs aren’t sold the work was worth it
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Calculated Metrics in Google Analytics - (What You Need To Know), Data Driven U
- What Makes a Good Micro Conversion, Portent
Industry & Business
- ACCC moves to end Google’s dominance in mobile phone searches, The Sydney Morning Herald
- Google, Snap Among Tech Effort to Improve Workforce Diversity, Bloomberg
Links & Content Marketing
- The Beauty of Link Graphs, Majestic Blog
- Why the Future of Demand Gen Lies in Self-Service Content Experiences, Content Marketing Institute
Local & Maps
- 4 improvements Google Maps should make for cyclists, The Next Web
Mobile & Voice
- Android 12 is so last week: Meet Android 12L, now in developer preview, Ars Technica
- Apple lets devs promote in-app events on the App Store, Engadget
- Grammar Correction as You Type, on Pixel 6, Google AI Blog
SEO
- E-Commerce: Build the Perfect Category Page, BrightEdge
- How an Agency Created an Effective Technical Content Brief for a Bakery Client, Semrush
- How to Invest in SEO, Moz
- SEO Checklist: 101 Ways to Improve Your SEO in 2022, Jeff Bullas
- The T in E-A-T: What is Trustworthiness? How can you achieve it?, Yoast
- Google Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines Checklist, BruceClay
- Robots.txt Easter Eggs - Make Your Robots Directives Fun For Humans!, Onely Blog
PPC
- How to Use Your Google Ads Account to Create Relevant Ads, Semrush
- Link your Zapier account in the Google Ads UI, Google Ads Help
- Maximize reach and efficiency with Video reach campaigns, now available globally, Google Ads Help
- What You Need to Know About Google’s New Enforcement System, Screaming Frog
- Give first-party product feedback, Microsoft Advertising
Search Features
- Answer: Are these documentaries difficult to find?, SearchReSearch
Feedback:
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