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.
Did you know that most SEOs said the pandemic resulted in an increase in demand for their SEO services? Google local might have a bug with double ad placements (update, this is not a bug). Google had to say that URLs with UTM parameters on them are not by default paid links. Bing migrated the Bing News PubHub into Bing Webmaster Tools. Google Chrome is rolling out Journeys, which is browser history improved.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
Survey Says: The Pandemic Brought An Increase In Demand For SEO
Joe Hall posted a Twitter poll asking the SEO community how the pandemic impacted their SEO business. The poll had 614 responses and most said that the pandemic has brought an increased demand in SEO.
Google: Links With UTM Parameters Are Not By Default Paid Links
John Mueller of Google has to say on Twitter that just because a link has UTM parameters on them, it doesn’t make it a paid link. He said “links with UTM parameters are just links.” “They’re definitely not considered paid links,” he added.
Google Local Pack With Double Ad Placement Bug? (Not a bug)
We’ve seen Google legitimately test two ads in the local pack but what Iampk spotted on Twitter and some were able to replicate seems like Google placing an ad unit spot twice in the local pack. Like this is some bug where Google decided to not show two ads, but ads two ad features to the local pack – it is a subtle difference.
Bing News PubHub Moved To Bing Webmaster Tools
Microsoft Bing has moved the Bing News PubHub to within Bing Webmaster Tools. Bing News PubHub is a way for publishers to submit their site for approval in Bing News and also check on the status of their approval. It is no longer available at pubhub.bing.com – it has been moved to Bing Webmaster Tools.
Google Chrome Journeys Rolling Out
Back in October 2021 we reported that Google was testing in Chrome something called Journeys. Journeys will cluster all the pages you’ve visited related to your previous browsing history so you can easily view them without having to sift through your browsing history.
Google Pillow Swag: Google TV & Chrome
Satyajeet Salgar from Google shared a photo on Twitter of some recent (the past year) of Google pillow swag he accumulated. This looks like a Google TV pillow and a Chrome pillow.
Other Great Search Threads:
First time seeing that keywords have to go into a review process when you add them to custom segment audiences. #ppcchat, Greg on Twitter
Note if you do not add video assets yourself in the performance max campaigns Google will do this for you. These videos are 19 secs long and are very generic. You cannot delete these automatically created video’s. #ppccha, Alex van de Pol on Twitter
New pagination in Google SERP on Mobile. Is it new?, Pradeep on Twitter
So many ways to use the new indexing API data. Find how popular each path on your site is (super-mini log analysis?) 1) Crawl with @screamingfrog 2) CTR-A, CTRL-C from Search Console tab, paste into sheet 3) See avg days, Mike Richardson on Twitter
Robots.Txt is for controlling crawling., John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
SparkPost Global Survey reveals 74% of marketing leaders concerned with impending privacy changes
Microsoft Advertising launches Cruise Ads
Google adds Journeys to Chrome: search your history by topic
Google launches revamped Search Ads 360
Bing News PubHub moves to Bing Webmaster Tools
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
How to Find Which Device Users Search For You On: Google Analytics, Measure Minds Group
Industry & Business
Chip Errors Are Becoming More Common and Harder to Track Down, New York Times
Links & Content Marketing
82% of Internal Linking Opportunities Missed – Case Study, InLinks
How I Built Links for InLinks, Dixon Jones
5 Steps To Find and Work With Quality Freelancers, Content Marketing Institute
Content Marketing Priorities for B2B and B2C Companies in 2022, Search Engine Journal
Local & Maps
‘Apple Car’ needs Machine Learning to make driving decisions fast enough, AppleInsider
Get a slice of these Google Maps pizza trends, Google Blog
Google Releases Android Auto 7.3 for All Users, AutoEvolution
Hyper-local ads targeting made easy and automated with Radium, Google Developers Blog
Linking to your Google Business Profile doesn’t work, SearchLab Digital
Mobile & Voice
Google Assistant is getting a new design on Wear OS, 9to5Google
Google Revamps Text-to-Speech Interface, Voicebot
Apple AR headset to run ‘realityOS,’ come with App Store, AppleInsider
SEO
Google CTR Stats – Changes Report for Q4 2021, Advanced Web Rankings
Google Search Console URL inspection API in Data Studio (free dashboard template), Lazarina Stoy
Yoast SEO 18.1: More fixes and enhancements, Yoast
Everything Publishers Need to Know About URLs, SEO for Google News
PPC
19 PPC Influencers You Need to Follow in 2022 (& Their Best Advice), WordStream
Create a Slack App: Lookup Search Volume and CPC for a Keyword, iPullRank
RSA Optimization Series: Part 1 – RSAs vs ETAs, Adalysis
Does it really matter if a cruise ship was raised “cage-free”?
Search Features
Finding answers gets better with Chrome, Google Blog
Treats, trends and touchdowns — it’s game time, Google Blog
News Showcase is launching in Poland, Google Blog
Other Search
150th Anniversary of the State Historical Museum, Google Doodles
Ask a Techspert: What does AI do when it doesn’t know?, Google Blog
Robot See, Robot Do, Google AI Blog
Celebrating Toni Stone, Google Doodles
Feedback:
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