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 Search Console Performance Report Discover Feed Data
Google Discover, formerly the Google feed, is a great source of traffic for many web sites. But there is no real good way to see in Google Search Console or Google Analytics how people are finding your web site via Google Discover. Well, that looks like it may change soon.
Google Tests More Graphical Google My Business Dashboard
Google is experimenting with a new dashboard for the Google My Business section. The new dashboard shows larger cover images and photos that you can change for your business.
Google Algorithm Update Tools Going Off – Is It A False Alarm?
The automated tracking tools that look for Google search algorithm updates and large ranking changes are going wild over the weekend. I personally think it may be a false alarm. Why? Well, with Google dropping tons of pages from their index by accident, it can cause massive fluctuations in the search results and thus set off these tools.
Google Search Console Performance Report Gets Android App Filter
I was checking stuff in Google Search Console and I see a filter in the search appearance filter within the performance report for Android apps. It seems it is showing data from March 29th. I’ve never seen that filter there before but it seems to be there now.
Google Still Working On Reindexing Pages That Dropped Out Of The Index From Thursday
On Friday we reported on an issue where SEOs began noticing that Google was removing tons of pages from their index. It seemed to have started on Thursday but Google did not confirm the issue until Saturday morning. The issue is now into day four or so and it is not yet fully resolved.
Google Expands Audience Reviews To Music
We have seen audience reviews in the Google search results panel for TV and movies but now Google is expanding it to music. Or maybe Google had it for music for some time but we haven’t seen examples of it yet.
Google Impact Challenge Dancers
Looks like some of the Googlers in the Dublin office had a Google Impact Challenge event, where it appears Googlers put on shows from singing to dancing. Here are some I found on Instagram from the n
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
Amazon to Launch 3,236 Satellites for Low-Latency, High-Speed Broadband, WebmasterWorld
Grammarly Adds Junk Code to WordPress Posts and Pages, Local Search Forum
This works fine when searching for news. Sort by date is there. I’ll check on web search. But the option to narrow to particular date ranges is working.… https://t.co/vVT82uTpU6, Danny Sullivan on Twitter
Tons of New Image Spam Sites, BlackHatWorld
Search Console unable to load pages properly, WebmasterWorld
URLs are case-sensitive. There’s usually no need to redirect the wrong URL to a working one, unless you see a large number of people getting confused. Returning 404 for wrong URLs is fine.… https://t.co/Gu9icyrOJ9, John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
Google’s de-indexing issue still not fully resolved but Google is working on it
Google: De-indexing problem now fixed, result of ‘technical issue’
More signs that Amazon is attracting bigger search ad budgets
‘Rich Answers’ coming to Google Assistant
Here’s how to use Google Tag Manager’s new Trigger Groups
Paid social, even print tops SEM as marketing priorities for SMBs, survey finds
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Rail Europe accelerates page load speed by 20%, Google
How to Grant Access to Google Analytics in 7 Steps, Orbit Media Studios
Industry & Business
Google Needs to Grow Its Cloud Business—Very Carefully, Wired
The Google AI Ethics Board With Actual Power Is Still Around, Bloomberg
Does Google meet its users’ expectations around consumer privacy? This news industry research says no, Nieman Journalism Lab
Links & Promotion Building
Content Marketing Success, Stone Temple
Local & Maps
Alternative Navigation Apps to Apple Maps That Work With Apple CarPlay, CarPlay Life
Finding Google Local Spam at Scale, Mike Blumenthal
Google Maps’ Incident Reporting Adds Slowdown Option for Traffic Jams, Digital Trends
Mobile & Voice
New types of answers from your Google Assistant on Android, Google Blog
Google Assistant now shows ads in some answers, Android Police
Google Assistant’s worst feature is still having to say ‘Hey Google’, The Verge
SEO
Canonical Tag Negative SEO Still a Problem with Google, Bill Hartzer
The One-Hour Guide to SEO: Keyword Targeting & On-Page Optimization – Whiteboard Friday, Moz
Using Schema Markup for Local Businesses | Schema Reviews, Hallam Internet
PPC
Google Is Serving Ads on Very Expensive TVs [Updated], Gizmodo
Google Publishes New Guide on Linking Google Ads and Google Analytics, Social Media Today