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.
Just an update for you, the Google search results are still very turbulent, I take a look back at the past few weeks. Google said word count per section is simply not a thing. Google says you can, if you want, use a single robots.txt file for all your international sites. Bing sill be switching to the new BingBot user agent for 100% of all crawls soon. And Google spoke about making Mastodon more search engine friendly.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Google Helpful Content Update & Link Spam Update Still Making SERP Turbulence
As you know, the December 2022 helpful content update and the link spam update are rolling out now. In fact, it seems like the helpful content update needs more time to do its thing. Taking a look at the past few weeks, the Google Search results, it has been pretty volatile. - Google: Our Search Algorithm Doesn't Look At Words Per Section
Google's John Mueller said on Mastodon that the Google Search ranking algorithm does not look at words per section or the word count in different sections of your page. - Google: You Can Use A Single Robots.txt For All Your International Sites
Gary Illyes from Google said on LinkedIn that if you want to you can use a single robots.txt file for all your international sites. He added that he is not saying this is a good idea, but rather, technically, you can implement your robots.txt this way. - Bing Will Fully Switch To The New BingBot User Agent In Early January
Since April, Bing has been slowly testing a new BingBot user agent, slowly rolling it out to more percentages of crawls over the year. Fabrice Canel from Microsoft said while the new BingBot is still only doing 50% of all crawls, it will move to 100% of all crawls in early January. - Google Comments On Making Mastodon More Search Engine Friendly
There is an interesting thread on Mastodon where Danny Sullivan and John Mueller, both of who work at Google, talk about making Mastodon more search-engine friendly. The thread was started by Gabe Rivera of Techmeme, when he wanted a way to search Mastodon. - Google Developer Groups Shades
Here is a box of cheap promotional sunglasses or glasses with the GDG logo on them. This is for a Google Developer Groups event of some sort.
Other Great Search Threads:
- Grab your coffee or tea and tune into this week's Google Search News video. @okaylizzi joins @JohnMu to bring you updates about: - Search Guidelines - Site Names - Ranking Systems Learn here, Google Search Central on Twitter
- Put your hand up if your site got hit by the most recent Link Spam update, but you've never built a link., Gary Osburg on Twitter
- I don't know much about SXG, but I'll ask around (given the holidays, it might take a bit)., John Mueller on Twitter
- We are looking into this. A bit more here, Google SearchLiaison on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Microsoft to go fully live with new Bingbot user-agent change in January 2023
- How the TikTok algorithm works: Everything you need to know
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Industry & Business
- Alphabet links more of CEO Pichai's pay to performance, Reuters
- An update on our clean energy progress in 2022, Google Developers Blog
- Our ongoing commitment to human rights, Google Blog
- Q&A: Barry Schwartz, Publisher of Search Engine Roundtable, Practical Ecommerce
- Tech giants ditch office space in London and Europe, Financial Times
Links & Content Marketing
- ‘Bah, Humbug!’ Why Negative Content Turns In Such Positive Results, Content Marketing Institute
- Building Links for Domain-Level Authority vs. Page-Level Authority, 3Q/DEPT
Local & Maps
- Apple has two big CarPlay problems, AppleInsider
Mobile & Voice
- Apple Pulls iOS 16.2 Option to Upgrade to New Home Architecture, MacRumors
- Apple pulls new Home app architecture in iOS 16.2, 9to5Google
SEO
- Can ChatGPT Be Used for SEO?, SiteVisibility
- Daily SEO Fix: Monitoring Local Markets, Moz
- Don’t relabel your old content as new; it’s a lousy SEO tactic, Yoast
- Search and SEO in 2023: What do the experts predict?, econsultancy
- What Is a Subdomain? Definition, Examples, and How To Set One Up, Semrush
- What Is A/B Testing? When to Run an A/B Test and Why, Semrush
PPC
- Inside Google’s Ad Display Network Black Box: Porn, Piracy, Fraud, ProPublica
- Policy update: Merchants can serve N95 masks on Shopping, Google Merchant Center Help
Search Features
- 8 things we launched in 2022 to support your health, Google Blog
Feedback:
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