Last month was not that slow of a month, while we didn’t have any confirmed Google search algorithm updates, we had several unconfirmed ones and some felt pretty big. Google also said it will weight business names less. in its local search ranking algorithm. Also Google confirmed an issue with its navigation and site command searches for a few hours last month.

Google moved the deadline for mobile-first indexing to next March because of COVID. Google Search Console added a news filter to its performance report and said it will retire the structured data testing tool. Google launched knowledge panels in image search results. And Google has launched a $50 per month plan for Google My Business.

There is a lot more going on, so see the handpicked stories below. The ongoing WebmasterWorld thread is a bit chatty on the latest Google ranking shuffle. You can also catch up on last month with the June 2020 report.

Here are the topics below:

Google Algorithm Updates & Issues:
Signs Of A Small Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update Around July 6th
Google Search Ranking Update On July 23rd & 24th
Google Ranking Update & Fluctuations July 31st & August 1st
Google Local Algorithm Weighs Business Names Too Highly; Google To Fix This.
Google Site Command & Navigational Query Operators Failed Yesterday

Google SEO:
Google: Forget Everything You Read About Link Juice
Google: Links Are Not The Most Important SEO Factor
Google: A Lot Of Negative Reviews Can Hurt Your Site
Google: Negative Review Sites Don’t Hurt Your Sites Search Ranking
Google On When Comments Can Hurt Your Blog & When You Should Block Them
Google Deadline For Mobile-First Indexing Now March 2021, Not September 2020
Google: Spam Reports Not Used For Manual Actions
Google Discover Help Document Updated With E-A-T Mentions & More
Google: Many Manual Actions Are Algorithmic Now & Not Used
Google Clarifies Structured Data For Multiple Items On A Page
How To Improve Google Indexing? Create Great, Unique & Compelling Content.
Google: Multiple Fact Checks Rich Results May Not Show In Search
Google On How It Measures Web Vitals
Google’s John Mueller Says Don’t Use Loading Screens & Delay Users
Web Stories Image Thumbnails In Google Mobile Search Results
Web Stories Also Get More Exposure In Google Image Search
US Congress Investigation Suggests Google Uses Clicks & User Data In Search
WordPress 5.5 With Google Sitemaps Integration In Its Core
Google Pruning The Rich Results & FAQ/How To Schema Results?
The Google Indexing Issue From A Month Ago Was A Crawling Issue

Google Search Console:
Google Search Console Performance Reports News Filter
Google Structured Data Testing Tool Going Away; SEOs Are Not Happy
Google: We’re Planning On Expanding The Rich Results Test Tool
Google Search Console & Rich Results Test Tool Supports Image License Structured Data
Google Sending Work From Home Telecommute Markup Notifications
Google Search Console Video Structured Data Reporting Tweak

Google User Interface:
Google Image Search Knowledge Panels Now Live
Google Top Stories Tests “For Context” Section
Google Mortgage Search Results Box For You To Compete With & In
Google Home Smart Displays How-To Tutorials, Like Recipes
Google Adds Games To Search Results
Google Tests Search Refinements When You Scroll Up
Google Featured Snippets Without Borders – A Bug Or Feature?
Google Tests Thick Gray Borders Between Search Results
Google Tests “Also In The News” Box Under Top Stories
Google Tests Categorized Sections For Search Results Again
Two Google Search Boxes – Seeing Double…
Google Tests New Interface For Local Q&A Box?
Google Brings Back The Twitter Carousel
Google Removed Twitter Results From Search
Google Showing Large Image Packs For Queries
Google Tests Blue Shaded Related Search Buttons
Google Tests Boxed In Related Searches User Interface

Google Local & Google My Business:
Google My Business Upgraded Profiles; $50 Per Month
Google Adds Call Button To Local Panel On Desktop Results
Google Local Panel Displays When Hours Were Last Updated
Google My Business Adds Black-Owned Attribute For New Icon
Google Local Pack Carousel With Products
Google My Business Will Notify Business Of Listing Suspensions
Google My Business Notification For Duplicate Listings
Google Local Panel Listing With Two Phone Numbers
Google My Business Products Section Design Updated
Google Maps Tests Local Listing Carousel In Footer

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.