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 Algorithm Update On September 11th
I was offline the past two days but when I came back, I saw a nice amount of chatter of a possible Google update starting around September 11th. Most, not all, of the tools are showing significant volatility and there is some chatter. The chatter is not too extreme but some of the tracking tools are off the charts.

Google: Try For A Few 100MS For Time Spent Downloading A Page Metric
Google’s John Mueller hinted that you should aim for your “Time spent downloading a page” metric in Google Search Console to be less than a few 100 milliseconds. He said he has seen some less than 100 milliseconds and some way over 1,000 milliseconds.

Google Tests Related Images Hover Interface
Here is another test Google is trying in their search results. This one shows up in mobile image search where it seems to show the sticky header but also this “related images” hover over that when you click on it, takes you to different images.

Google Instant Apps In Mobile Search Results
Sometimes, espesially on Android devices, when you search Google, you may see a link for “instant apps.” This actually dates back to 2015 when Google let you try apps without installing them, they called it app “streaming.” But I guess now they call them “instant apps.”

Google Tests New Video Search Results Box
Here is a screen shot of a new user interface for videos showing up in the mobile search results. Normally you get a carousel of videos, but here you see a large video at the top, with two videos below and the option to show more videos.

Google Pole Ball Sitting Room
Google’s Asia Pacific offices has a room that is pretty interesting. You can see poles coming down from the ceiling, with balls attached to them. There are also multicolored strings coming down from

Other Great Search Forum Threads:

Aside from our home page ribbon, searches for 9/11 on Google today bring up a special American flag banner., Danny Sullivan on Twitter
Consistency is the foundation of a lot of technical SEO…, John Mueller on Twitter
Google Challenges Global Extension to ‘Right to be forgotten, WebmasterWorld
Google info and cache operators don’t match 301 redirects, Google Webmaster Help
GSC not showing clicks on keyword level, WebmasterWorld
Title Tag Length vs Google Ranking: High ranking webpages tend to have shorter page titles (8 words, or 50-55 characters) Not a new study, but very, very relevant via @matthewbarby https://t.co/leUfclooGk… https://t.co/SlJYpzyDNg, Cyrus on Twitter
URL has been removed from the index 5 weeks after initial launch – URL inspection tool in Google still indicated that it is “Indexable” – Robots.txt testing tool in old GSC mentions tha, Alexis Sanders on Twitter
Yeah, I know what you mean — the practice is pretty terrible, imo. If you’re going to build your web presence for the long run, you need to know what you’re getting yourself into, and ideally have as much as possible under you, John Mueller on Twitter
Link-building with widgets, regardless if you use Java, Iframe, JavaScript, web-component, ActiveX, dynamic-SVG, or whatnot, is generally a bad idea. https://t.co/UkmgusC3nj… https://t.co/tFbPTI4pSH, John Mueller on Twitter
Those pages will be quite disappointed to find out they’re doing so much work to happily serve great content, only to be ignored in the end.… https://t.co/vHmyD4gf8i, John Mueller on Twitter

Search Engine Land Stories:

Play ‘Brand Offense’ to win at search
How keyword match types work after the new close match variants change
Google’s latest change has search marketers rethinking keyword match types
Hurricane Florence query shows Google delivering zero search results again in web search
EU approves controversial copyright directive aimed at Google, Facebook, Twitter

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

Analytics & PPC TV Test Leads to 69% Increase in Conversions, Seer Interactive
Google Analytics Reports That Drive Content Marketing Success, State of Digital
How Can I Use Conversion Funnel Analysis To Understand My Customers Better?, 32 Degrees Digital
The New Recipe for Using Goal Values in Google Analytics, Orbit Media Studios

Industry & Business

Susan Wenograd Joins the Aimclear Team of Marketing Rockstars, aimClear Blog
Tech Investors Prepare to Say Goodbye to Facebook, Google, Wall Street Journal

Links & Promotion Building

8 Common Link-Building Myths That Are Holding Back Your Website, cognitiveseo.com
Google Explains Why Charity Sponsor Links are Sometimes Spam, Search Engine Journal

Local & Maps

New Google Street View Fleet to Hit Aussie Streets, Official Google Australia Blog
Google Maps can now calculate the carbon footprint of an entire city, BGR
Local Business Transparency & Empathy for the Holidays: Tips + Downloadable Checklist, Moz
Ok Google: How to optimize for voice search, Innovation Enterprise

Mobile & Voice

Google Assistant can speak Danish and Norwegian, Android Police
HomePod adds phone calls, improved Siri, search by lyrics in software update, appleinsider.com

SEO

3 Ways to Improve ROI for Your B2B SEO Strategy, KoMarketing
Faceted Navigation and SEO, Stone Temple
Google Webmaster Hangout Notes: September 7th 2018, DeepCrawl
How to Use Search Ranking Reports to Check Your SEO Strategy, Search Engine Guide
Step-by-Step Guide: SEO Pruning with SEMrush, SEM Rush
Yoast SEO 8.2: Automatically add structured data with Gutenberg content blocks, Yoast
The Essential SEO Checklist, Hallam Internet
UK retail. Search Visibility and Opportunity Report., SISTRIX

PPC

Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads, Recode
Geo-Targeting: Local PPC Strategy and Actionable Tips, SEM Rush
The Big, Vital, All-in-One Guide to Keyword Difficulty, WordStream
What is a Google Audience and How are Audiences Determined, PPC Hero