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.
We are seeing signs of another Google search ranking algorithm update brewing. Google finally fixed that indexing issue that started over a week ago. A “legit” guest blog post led to a Google manual action for unnatural links. Microsoft pulled back Bing Deep Search. Gogole is testing up-and-coming stores. Google slowed the dynamic search ad crawler.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update Brewing February 7th and 8th
I am seeing signs of a new Google search ranking algorithm update brewing. It started yesterday, Wednesday, February 7th, and is going into today, Thursday, February 8th. There is an increase in chatter within the SEO industry and also some, not all, of the tools are showing spikes in volatility.
Legit Guest Blog Post Leads To Google Manual Action, Says Site Owner
Over the past few days the SEO industry has been chattering it up about how a site received a Google Search manual action for unnatural links for a “legit guest blog” post. But when you look, this manual action only affected “some pages,” not the whole site.
Microsoft Pulls Back Flighting Deep Search
Microsoft has stopped fully testing Bing Deep Search in the wild, saying they stopped “flighting” it for searchers. Now Bing Deep Search is in some sort of “shadow flight” to a very limited number of users.
Google Slows Dynamic Search Ad Crawler To Every 3 Weeks vs 2 Weeks
Google has updated its managing crawl budget guide documentation to say that the crawl frequency of the Dynamic Search Ad targets. It use to be every 2 weeks, 14 days, and now it is every 3 weeks, 21 days.
Google Search Carousel: Up-And-Coming Stores
Google has this new product or shopping-related box in the search results named “Up-and-coming stores.” This box seems to show trendy stores in the Google Search results as a carousel you can swipe through on your mobile phone.
We saw this before but here is another view of this room with an absolutely massive speaker wall. It is branded with the YouTube logo and theme.
Other Great Search Threads:
It has arrived… #GoogleGemini, Andy Simpson on X
Hi Kirk, I don’t have timeline specifics to share. The team is continuously working on adding new tools as well as features from the classic version to GMC Next., AdsLiaison on X
There are many days that I get disheartened about graphs being too complex to use as an interchange format. My world (structured data at Google) revolves around graphs but humans just have a lot of problems reasoning about higher dimensional data. Somet, Ryan Levering On Mastodon
I haven’t looked at detail into the setup (and I’m not the spam team), from my understanding of how it works (it’s not a link marketplace, $1 doesn’t buy you a link), it’s perhaps just being abused by link-chasing “SEO-spammers”, and not inherently bad. Y, John Mueller on X
Search Engine Land Stories:
Microsoft Copilot updates: New design, image editing tools and video highlights
Want to speak at SMX Advanced? Now’s the time to submit your session ideas
Google investigating ‘brutal’ Local Service Ads tactic destroying leads for businesses
Value-based bidding: Why it’s key to boosting your Google Ads
Product page SEO: A complete guide
SEO and UX: Finding the strategic balance for optimal outcomes
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Pageviews in Google Analytics 4: The Complete Beginner‘s Guide, Semrush
Search Ads 360 and Display & Video 360 linking for subproperties and roll-up properties, Google Analytics Help
Industry & Business
Judge dismisses Apple & Google antitrust class-action case, AppleInsider
Denmark orders schools to stop sending student data to Google, Bleeping Computer
Kara Swisher: How Silicon Valley Tech Bros Ruined Media, NY Mag
US says leading AI companies join safety consortium to address risks, Reuters
Links & Content Marketing
5 Content Marketing Ideas for March 2024, Practical Ecommerce
Local & Maps
Brand Beacon Report 2024: The Secrets to Multi-location Marketing Success, BrightLocal
Google Maps redesigning directions search, drops fullscreen UIs, 9to5Google
Mobile Local Marketing: 6 Strategies to Drive Local Customers, Semrush
Real Estate Agents: Do Business Hours Impact Your Google Rankings?, SEO Savvy Agent
Mobile & Voice
Apple Develops a Foldable Clamshell iPhone, The Information
Vision Pro Teardown Part 2: What’s the Display Resolution?, iFixit News
SEO
9 Best Enterprise SEO Blogs to Read in 2024, Measure Minds Group
How To Interpret SEO Correlation Studies ft. Erika Varangouli, iPullRank
10 SEO Keyword Research Steps for Successful Organic Search, JumpFly
Google’s Core Update vs. Helpful Content, Practical Ecommerce
Save Google Inspection URL data into Google Cloud Storage, GOKAM
PPC
Deprecating Commissions Bidding Strategy, Google Ads Developer Blog
Search Features
Delivering Copilot for everyone, The Official Microsoft Blog
6 Google AI tools to help you find the perfect gift, Google Blog
Apple releases an AI model that can edit images based on text-based commands, Engadget
Feedback:
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