It is time for the Google webmaster report, where I summarize the most important SEO and webmaster-related Google topics for the past month. Google completing the long rollout of the December 2022 helpful content update and link spam update may be the biggest news for the past month. Don’t fret, we did have several unconfirmed Google search ranking algorithm updates this past month.

Google Search Console’s experimental content ideas may be going away on March 28th. Google also updated the performance report metrics this past month.

I posted a ton of SEO topics related to Google Search including linking to multiple providers for the product reviews update, Google’s current take on AI content and rankings, an issue with preferred language in Google Search and how Google was upset with some linking agencies. Google also performed a ton of user interface test, more on that below.

Of course, on the business end there was some big news with mass Google layoffs and the DOJ suing Google again – so make sure to catch up below.

You can also catch up with the January 2023 Google webmaster report if you missed it.

Here are the top headlines for the past month:

Google Algorithms:
Google’s Helpful Content & Link Spam Updates Done Rolling Out On January 12th
Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update Kicking Off Or Tail-End To Helpful Content & Link Spam Updates?
Unconfirmed Google Update Impacting Product Reviews Sites On Thursday, January 26th?
Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update On Wednesday?
Weekend Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update – Saturday, January 14
Google: Longer Google Algorithm Updates Aren’t Necessarily More Intense
Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update Signals On January 3rd & 4th

Google Search Console:
Google Search Console Content Ideas Going Away March 28th?
Google Search Console Insights Achievements Section
Google Search Console Search Performance Product Results Clicks & Impressions Spike

Google SEO:
Google: Linking To Multiple Providers In Product Reviews Might Give A Small Ranking Boost
Google Reiterates Guidelines On AI Written Content After Bankrate AI Content Writer Gains Attention
Google Search Issue With Search Results In Preferred Language Due To Mobile-First Indexing
Google Blasts Agencies That Sell Links & Disavow Link Services
Google: Spammy Links From Porn Sites Are Not Something To Prioritize
Google: Nofollow Site Credit Links Footer Links If You Control Them
Google: Google Quality Updates Can Impact Crawling & Indexing
Google Search Still Does Not Have Optimal Keyword Density
Google: Firewalls or CDNs Issues Are The Most Common Reason For Blocking Googlebot
Google: Search Console Verification Does Not Impact Your Ranking
Google: If You Redesign Your Site Your Rankings May Go Nuts
Google: Don’t Use Relative Paths In Your rel-canonical
Google Parses img Elements Even When Enclosed Within Other Elements
Google: No Preference Between Connected Structured Data In Graph Array Or Disconnected Individual Elements
Google Will Ignore Robots.txt Rules If It Serves A 4xx Status Code
Google Publishes A New SEO Case Study, This One From Vimeo On Video SEO
Google’s John Mueller: More About Head Section & JavaScript
Google Site Name Documentation Clarifies M-Dot & WWW Are Considered Domain-Level
Google Updated The Googlebot’s IP Addresses In JSON File
Google Drops 110 Character Limit From Article Headline Structured Data
Google Search Research Paper Says SEO Practices Tends To Be Very Low Quality

Google User Interface:
Google Search Instances : For Recurring Events & Festivals
Google Knowledge Panel Recent Images Carousel
Google Search Tests New Location Override Feature
Google Tests More Card Box Like Buttons In Search
Google Search Result Snippet Scrollable On Some Browsers
Google Search Tests Order Online Button At Top Of Snippet
Google Search Drops Playable Podcast Rich Snippets
Google Search Perspectives & Opinions
Google Search Tests Trending Stories From Country/Region
Google Search “Popular Next Steps” Option
Google To Sunset Google Optimize On September 30, 2023

Google Local:
Google Business Profiles Products Price Ranges & Custom Call To Actions Going Away
Google Maps 360 View For Popular Business Profiles
Google Business Profiles Attribute Details Beta
Report: Dealerships Can List Auto Inventory On Google Business Profiles
New Google Maps Posting Restrictions For User Generated Content (Reviews, Photos & Videos)
Two Justifications In The Google Local Search Results
Google Discontinues Google Posts Insights
Google Maps Tests Business Photo In Round Map Pin

Google Business:
The Google Layoffs Are Sad For Many But The Fear May Be Worse
DOJ Sues Google Again To Break Up Its Ad Business Over Monopolistic Actions
Report: Google Pushing Advertisers To Use Agencies & Third Party Resellers

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