Last month in the Google webmaster, SEO and search world was pretty busy to say the least. We had a few unconfirmed Google updates but on top of that we had the product reviews update rollout and the delay of the page experience update. At least Google gave us a nice new shiny product experience report in Google Search Console.

Google released regex features to Search Console reporting filters. Google also made changes to how it measures CLS. We can now report indexing issues directly to Google but keep in mind, some of those may be a quality issue with your site.

Google spoke about how it recognizes authors, gave advice on how to optimize images without damaging your rankings and updated the image reporting in Search Console a bit. Google Discover has a set of new guidelines you need to comply with. And the Google News publisher center updated its design.

Google had the nerve to add links back to itself within the featured snippets. It is removing the Q&A on Google feature in India and is testing showing local car inventory in its search results.

Meanwhile, the Daily Mail sued Google for ranking issues; Google spoke about its spam fighting efforts and a seasoned Google engineer spoke about the adversarial and evolutionary relationship with SEOs.

The ongoing WebmasterWorld thread is currently talking about the latest unconfirmed update and if you missed last month’s recap read it here.

Here are the more important stories to catch up on over the past month or so:

Google Algorithm Updates
Google Web & Local Search Ranking Algorithm Updates Over Weekend
Google Ranking Algorithm Update; Is It Product Reviews Related?
Local SEOs Not Seeing Unusual Google Local Ranking Fluctuations

Google Product Reviews Update
Google Product Reviews Update: A New Search Algorithm Update Hits The Shelves
Google Product Reviews Update Was Really Big For Affiliates & Review Sites
Google Product Reviews Update Still Seems To Be Rolling Out (Now Done)
Google: User Generate Content Products Reviews Will Have A Hard Time Ranking Well
Google Product Reviews Update May Impact Your Discover Traffic
Google Products Reviews Update Refreshes Won’t Likely All Be Announced/Confirmed

Google Page Experience Update
Google Page Experience Update Is Not Launching In May 2021
Google Gains New Page Experience Report In Search Console
Google Has Changed Cumulative Layout Shift Metric

Google Search Console
SEOs Rejoice: Google Search Console Gains Regular Expressions & More Data Filters
How To Report A Google Search Indexing Issue
Google Search Console Performance Report Image Metrics Algorithm Updated
Google Search Console Drop In Valid But No Change In Invalid Might Not Be Bad

Google SEO
Google: A Page Needs To Pass Quality Checks For Indexing
Google On How It Recognizes Authors Without Authorship
Google Advice On How To Optimize Images While Not Hurting Image Search Rankings
Google Adds More Details To Robots.txt Specifications Help Document
The Layer On Top Of Google Search Web Rendering Service
Google: Trust Seals On Your Site May Not Help With Communicating E-A-T
Google Merchant Center Product Data Specification Updates

Google Discover, News & Web Stories:
Google Discover New Guidelines Won’t Show These Types Of Content
Google Search Might Be Having Temporary Issues Serving Web Stories
Google News Publisher Center Design Updated/Tweaked

Google User Interface:
Google Adds Links To Featured Snippets Leading Back To Google Search Results
Q&A On Google Officially Going Away But Question Hub Not Impacted
Google Related Searches With Text Icon Near Graphic Icon
Google Search Results For Products Get Larger
Google Search Cameos For Product Searches

Google Local::
Google Tests Local Car Listings From Dealerships
Google Boosts Travel Search Tools For A Post Pandemic World
Google My Business: Edit Your Profile, Hours, Photos & More From Web Search
Google Local Updates Adds New Indicator & Photo Updates From Visitors
Google Tests New Local Finder Design & Push To Use Chat Button
Google My Business: Phone Numbers Not Allowed In Google Posts
Google Local Search Trends With COVID-19
Google My Business Bug Dropping Some Businesses In The Middle Of The US

Misc Google
Daily Mail Sues Google Claiming Organic Ranking Drop Due To Not Selling Google Ads
Google Webspam Report 2020: More Spam, More Blocking, More Of The Same
Google and SEO: The Adversarial and Evolutionary Tale

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.