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:
- Microsoft Advertising Editor Has Been Redesigned
Microsoft announced that it has redesigned the Microsoft Advertising Editor, formerly known as Bing Ads Editor. This is available for both Windows and Mac. - Google: We Do Not Penalize Sites Using Old School HTML & Tables
Google's John Mueller had to say on Twitter again that Google does not penalize sites using old school HTML, like old table designs or invalid HTML. He said "no, we don't penalize sites that use old-school (or invalid, table-designs, etc) HTML." - Hey; Bing Has Been Doing The BERT Thing Since April
I mentioned this before, but did you know that Bing has been using BERT since April of this year. That is about 6-months prior to when Google started using it. Also, Bing said in this blog post that BERT like "models are now applied to every Bing search query globally." Google only applies it to English queries in the US right now, and all featured snippets. - Google: GoogleBot Won't Request Google Analytics & Many Other Ad Scripts When Crawling
Martin Splitt of Google said on stage at SMX East that Google won't request Google Analytics and many other ad scripts when crawling your site. This saves in terms of resources and crawl efficiency. I asked Martin later on to list out all the things GoogleBot won't crawl specifically, because it is useful to know. - Did Google Just Confirm The Weekend Google Algorithm Update?
A bunch of folks are asking Googlers like Danny Sullivan and John Mueller if they can confirm that Google did an update over the weekend. Both Danny and John basically said Google is always making updates. - Google Wellness Day Presentation?
Here is a photo of a guy named Fionn McSwiney giving a talk at the Google Dublin office about fitness and wellbeing. This happened on "wellness day" at Google he said. Hard to see how many Googlers
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- If good news takes the scenic route, buckle up for an awesome ride! @JohnMu shares it all in this episode of Google Search News. 🗞🏞 Site Kit, a new WordPress plugin Search Console updates Upcoming events, Google Webmasters on Twitter
- It's easy to get bogged down in this one aspect, our systems are pretty adaptive, it's possible this is more of a theoretical problem than an actual one. You could check crawling to see if we're rea, John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- 2020 SEO trends that will influence your work
- How to use new Google Ads Combined Audiences
- Google Maps becomes more ‘social’ with Local Guides follow feature
- Get More Value Out of Your First-Party Data
- Local SEOs still seeing volatility in ranking with Google’s latest algorithm update
- Video: Learn more about John Mueller, webmaster trends analyst at Google
- Redesigned Microsoft Advertising Editor now available
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Industry & Business
- 34 Ways the Wall Street Journal Got Google Wrong, Warschawski
- A new home for Japan’s startups, Google Blog
Links & Promotion Building
Local & Maps
- Google Maps tests a social networking feature with the ability to ‘follow’ Local Guides, TechCrunch
- Google Maps adding options to flatten 3D buildings, pay for EV charging, SlashGear
Mobile & Voice
- Google Assistant Ambient Mode rolling out to more phones, 9to5Google
- Spotify adds recommended commands on Google Assistant, 9to5Google
- You can now control your Xbox One with Google Assistant, What Hi-Fi?
SEO
- Does Google Want You To Make Poor Decisions?, Blind Five Year Old
- Google BERT Update: What Is It and Why Does It Matter?, BrightEdge
- Google Webmaster Hangout Notes: November 15th 2019, DeepCrawl
PPC
- Google AdSense Removing iOS and Android Apps, Bill Hartzer
- Google Policy Ad Disapprovals: A Story of False Flags, PPC Hero
