This past month was actually fairly slow with Google Webmaster big news. The biggest topics we had were two possible Google updates to their ranking algorithm that went unconfirmed. We also were told we can remove authorship safely now, because Google doesn’t use it but it doesn’t mean Google knows who the author is or is not. RankBrain is used all the time now but you still can’t optimize for it.
Panda hasn’t fundamentally changed and it still rolls out slowly over months and months. Google said they ignore keywords in the new keyword TLD portion of the URL. Google added more filters to Search Console, including rich results option. And on the ad side, the biggest thing is they went green this month.
Here is the report from last month and the ongoing WebmasterWorld thread is slowish with some complaints about July 4th traffic.
Larger Google Updates:
Some Google Update Chatter : Potential Google Update
Google Algorithm Update Brewing? We Got Early Some Chatter.
Google: With Authorship Gone; It Doesn’t Mean We Know Who Wrote An Article
Google: It Is Now Safe To Remove Authorship Markup, We Don’t Use It Anymore
RankBrain Used In All Google Searches & Impacts Search Results A Lot
Google: There Is No RankBrain Score & You Don’t Optimize For It
Google: Panda Still Rolls Out Over Months After Refreshing Scores
Google: Panda Has Not Fundamentally Changed But Does Get Ongoing Tweaks
Google Ignores Keywords/Content In TLDs
Google’s John Mueller Replies More Reports Of Zombie Traffic
Search Console:
Google Search Analytics Adds Compare Options Across Queries, Pages, Countries, Devices & Search Types
Google Search Analytics Adds Compare Queries Option
Google Search Analytics Get Rich Result Filter In Search Console
Google Search Console App Crawl Report May Show Drop In Index Count & Errors
Google Search Console To Give More Historical Data
See The New Google Search Console Mobile Usability Report
Google: Links Found In Google Search Console Are In Google’s Index
Google Manual Actions Recoveries Will Display In Search Console Within Days
SEO:
Google Basics: One URL = One Piece Of Content
Google: Breaking Head Section Can Make Hreflang Unrecognizable To Google
Google: Search Engines Tend To Not Support Pages Dependent On Hashtags
Google: Changing Sitemap URL Location Has No Impact On Ranking Or Crawling
Google: Product Pricing Is Not A Ranking Factor
Google: Hosting The Same Content For Multiple Clients On Different Sites Dilute Its Value
Google: It’s Rare We Don’t Find Content On The Web
Google: AdSense Penalties Do Not Impact SEO Or Rankings
Google: We’re Still Working On Mobile Only Index
Google: Structured Markup Not Used For Featured Snippets
Google PSA: Not In Google’s Cache? It Can Still Rank.
Google: Rewriting Product Descriptions Won’t Help You Win
Google: Do Not Do Extended A/B Testing With The Same A/B Test
Google: Crawl Spikes Not A Sign Of An Upcoming Algorithm Updates But…
Google: Even Quality Algorithms May Wait To Show Webmaster Won’t Repeat Offense
Google: Crawl Rate Change After Switching To CDN? Let Us Know.
Google Zombies Or Likely Buyers? Does Google Show Them Different Results?
Google: No Plans For Disavow Link Testing Tool
Google Wants To Make Spam Reporting Easier; Let Them Know How
Google’s John Mueller On Flat (Not Growing) SEO Traffic
Google: Migrating To A Keyword-TLD Won’t Improve Rankings
AMP:
Google Launches AMP Validator Web Tool
Google’s Gary Illyes: Implement AMP & Pay Attention To Assistants & Bots
eBay Tries AMP: Google Encourages All Web Sites To Try Out AMP
Google Writes About AMP Logo Guidelines
Watch The Google AMP Hangout & Give Feedback
Google News AMP Referral Source To Get Proper Attribution?
User Interface:
It’s Official: Google AdWords Labels Are Going Green
Google Expands Your Health Search Queries To Related Queries
Google Tests Larger Font Sizes In Search Results & Expands Card Style Test
Google Image Thumbnails On People Also Search For Feature
Google Speed Test Tool In Search Results
Google Mobile Search Dropping Custom Date Range Search Filter
Google Home Page Testing Gray Background
Matt Cutts Responds To Claims Google Manipulated Hillary Clinton Search Results
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
