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.
A German study looks to see if Google Search (and Bing and DuckDuckGo) is getting better or worse. Google Ads lays off more ad reps as advertisers and agencies grow more frustrated by lack of human support. Google spoke about text within images for SEO. Google Search is not showing news boxes for some election queries. Bing is testing a shadow affect for snippets.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
Is Google Search Is Getting Worse? German Study Published Says Kinda
A study released by the Leipzig University, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and ScaDS.AI in Germany asked if Google Search is getting worse. The 16 page paper, downloadable as a PDF over here says that Google has slightly improved in some areas but there is still a lot of spammy content within Google Search.
Advertisers & Agencies Frustrated With Lack Of Google Ads Support
Advertisers and agencies seem beyond frustrated by the lack of support from the Google Ads support team. Nicola Agius covered it incredibly well, she said, “Google Ads customer service has plummeted to an unacceptable all-time low, according to search marketers.”
A recent post on Reddit asked about the impact of having a website where most of the text was within images. Would Google be able to read the text, what is the SEO impact and would the text rank in the search results?
Google Search Not Showing News Boxes For Some Election Queries
Google Search may not be showing news boxes, like top stories, for some election types of queries. So if you search for [iowa caucus] or [2024 United States primary elections] and others don’t seem to trigger news boxes.
Bing Tests Shadow Effect On Mouse Over Search Result Snippets
Microsoft is testing a new style for when someone hovers their mouse cursor over a search result snippet in the Bing Search results. Bing will add a shadow effect to that snippet on hover over.
Here is a photo of some more Google product expert swag. I see some pens, and some sort of round metal container, maybe that had a t-shirt in it?
Other Great Search Threads:
Google is trying something new for the 2024 Election. They’re working with @AP on this “Live” format that updates within Google. Great for Google, but even harder for Publsijers to gain clicks with more people getting thei, Shalom Goodman on X
Help! Internal spam search results being crawled / indexed by Google, and spam backlinks, Reddit
Little tip – To prepare for the third-party cookie phaseout in Chrome (3PCD warnings), enable JS rendering & error reporting via ‘Config > Spider > Rendering’ & use the lower ‘Chrome Console Log’ to see ‘Cookie Issue. [WARN_THIRD_PARTY_PHASEOUT]’ warnings, Screaming Frog on X
Search Engine Land Stories:
Best of SearchBot: Create a social post for a vehicle recovery company
Take your career to the next level: Become a search marketing master in 2024
YouTube denies ad blocker crackdown is causing browser slowdowns for Premium users
Want to set your 2024 SEO priorities? Run these GA4 reports
Growth marketing 2024 playbook: Focus on customer lifetime value
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
How to Track Scroll Depth in Google Analytics 4, Semrush
What Is an Analytics Dashboard? [With Examples & Tips], Semrush
Industry & Business
Google’s Defense Against OpenAI Talent Grab: Special Stock, The Information
Thriving in an age of continuous reinvention, PwC
Google lays off hundreds of employees in advertising sales team, Reuters
Links & Content Marketing
More SEO Backlink Data, Majestic
The Realist’s Guide to Follow Up Emails, The Upper Ranks
Local & Maps
New Google Maps feature keeps you guided when you’re in a tunnel, Android Central
Pay-to-use toilet gag reveals how Google Maps can track people, Crikey
Mobile & Voice
5 games to play on Android tablets and foldable phones, Google Blog
Apple gets FCC approval for Apple Vision Pro, AppleInsider
Apple revises US App Store rules to let developers link to outside payment methods, but it will still charge a commission, 9to5Mac
Apple TV+ unveils groundbreaking, immersive originals from today’s biggest storytellers set to debut on Apple Vision Pro, Apple TV+ Press
Apple Vision Pro App Store Launches, MacRumors
Apple Vision Pro hands-on, again, for the first time, The Verge
Apple Vision Pro hands-on, redux: Immersive Video, Disney+ app, floating keyboard, and a little screaming, Engadget
Google Bard drops ‘Assistant’ in possible rebrand, 9to5Google
SEO
12 Biggest SEO Trends to Watch in 2024, WordStream
6 steps to perfect your SEO webinar & conference Q&A sessions, Wix SEO Hub
Keywords 101: What to know before building a keyword strategy, SEO For Journalism
Ranking in Search for Your Most Wanted SEO Phrase, Chris Garrett
What should I do with my old site?, Google Search Central YouTube
Where are your strategic pages and are they being crawled?, OnCrawl
Does SEO’s reputation linger?, SERP’s Up SEO Podcast
IndexWatch 2023: UK Visibility Winners, SISTRIX
What a Keyword Phrase Is & Why It Helps Your SEO, Semrush
PPC
Make yourself heard: Optimizing PPC campaigns for voice search, DAC
What are marketers prioritizing as Google starts to crumble the third-party cookie?, Digiday
Other Search
Google now admits it tracks you in Chrome’s incognito mode following $5B settlement, Android Central
Feedback:
Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.
