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’s John Mueller: “Why Not Put A Date On It”
As you all know, I am a huge fan of dates on articles and blog content. I even suggested Google should penalize pages that do not put dates on articles. Google has not gone that far, yet – but John Mueller seems to be a fan of dates on articles as well.
Google: If You Want Your Images To Rank Then Use Alt Text
Google’s John Mueller said this morning on Twitter that if you want your images to rank in Google Image search, it is extremely helpful to Google if you add alt text to your images. The advice itself is not new, it dates back over 10 years ago but this is a nice reminder from a Googler.
Google Ads Restricts Third-Party Technical Support Providers
Google announced late Friday that they will begin restricting ads from third-party technical support providers due to an increase in misleading ad experiences. Google will roll out a “verification program” to validate these technical support providers are legit.
Google Search Console Now Defaults To BETA Version
When you go to the main Google Search Console home page at google.com/webmasters and click the sign in button, you are now taken to the new BETA version of the Google Search Console. You are no longer defaulted to the old version of the Google Search Console.
Google Displays AMP Icon Within Story Image
Google is showing the AMP icon in the carousel within the story image, as opposed to outside of the story image. You can still see both versions depending on the type of snippet you are looking at.
Google Cloud Pool Table
Here is an image of the Google Cloud office, with a customized red pool table with the Google Cloud logo printed on the felt. It was posted on Instagram in one of the Google offices. This photo was s
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
It looks like your site is currently publishing rewritten content from other sites (eg https://t.co/XBIlCRU1Ln vs https://t.co/2nvK0HOaal ) — why would we need to index your version? I’d recommend taking a step ba, John Mueller on Twitter
Google Makes Ethereum Dataset in BigQuery, WebmasterWorld
September 2018 AdSense Earnings & Observations, WebmasterWorld
This is crazy already, I’m trying to work here! Is this ALSO new? Ads under a headline where you can see “why these ads” are here? cc: @rustybrick @sergey_alakov #GoogleAds… https://t.co/mIKUqtq097, Mordy Oberstein on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
European publishers accuse Google and Facebook of ‘plundering’ their content
Google Search Console out of beta, adds more features
Find anomalies in your campaign spending with this Google Ads script
Google’s somewhat-new guide to totally excellent ads
How to use IF functions to speak to different audiences
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
SEO Quick wins: finding meta data optimisation opportunities with Data Studio, NotProvided.eu
Industry & Business
Europe’s news agencies blast Google, Facebook for ‘plundering’ content, Phys
Google’s Doors Hacked Wide Open By Own Employee, Forbes
Links & Promotion Building
Always Be Linking: 9 Places B2B Marketers Might Miss Link Opportunities, komarketing.com
How to Build High-Quality Links at Scale via Guest Blogging [Webinar], Search Engine Journal
Local & Maps
A significant design change is in the works for Google Maps, BGR
Researchers use AI to scan through Google Maps images to estimate obesity on Earth, Firstpost
Mobile & Voice
Amazon’s Plan to Reach 500 Million Indians: Speak Their Language, New York Times
Ryan Germick leads Google Assistant personality or Home Smart Speaker, CNBC
SEO
Are content blocks the future? And, what’s the benefit for SEO?, Yoast
Ask the Expert: John Doherty Answers Your SEO Monitoring Questions, DeepCrawl
Featured Snippets: Tips and tricks on reaching the top, Distilled
Higher Education SEO: How BrightEdge Can Help Your School, BrightEdge Blog
How to Optimize Pins for Pinterest SEO & Make Money, Adam Riemer
How to Update Sitemaps After You Change Your Content, Search Engine Journal
Unwrapping the Secrets of SEO: The Ultimate Guide to Website Speed – Part 3, Searchmetrics SEO Blog
PPC
5 Reasons Why You Should Use Emoji in Your SEO & PPC Strategy, cognitiveseo.com
Creating PPC Reports in Optmyzr, PPC Hero
Save time with new Reporting enhancements, Bing Ads Blog
Why Quality Content Is the Key to Successful PPC Campaign, Online Marketing Blog
Other Search
Chrome’s turning 10. Here’s what’s new, Google Blog
Google celebrates 10 years of Chrome w/ birthday edition Dino Game easter egg, 9to5Google
