Daily Search Forum Recap: February 19, 2019

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.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Google Algorithms Detect & Adjust Rankings For YMYL Queries
The Google white paper I just covered mentions explicitly that Google’s algorithms can detect if a query is related to YMYL, your money your life, related content and then adjust the weights of the ranking algorithm for those specific queries. There has been some debate in the SEO industry if Google is indeed doing this so now this should clear that up.

SEO Tidbits From Google Fights Disinformation White Paper
On Friday, Google published on their blog about fighting disinformation and posted a 30 page white paper. Truth is, there is nothing really new in this white paper that we have not covered over the years but it is getting some attention and I wanted to just highlight some points of interest in web search ranking for SEOs.

Fake Google Maps Edits Cause Major Business Disruptions
Anyone can edit a business listings details on Google Maps and local. So if you have a competitor and you want to close them down, or shut their business hours, or change their web site address or worse, you can do that. The business owner may notice an email about the change, only after the change was implemented. Then they need to go in and update their listing and wait days for Google to update it in the search results.

Bing Algorithm Ranking Update? Bing Says Nothing Out Of The Ordinary.
I spotted a rare forum post at WebmasterWorld from an SEO that noticed significant ranking and indexing changes at Bing. It is rare to see an SEO talk about this stuff with Bing and then it is rare to see others chime in. So I asked Frédéric Dubut from Bing who said “nothing out of the ordinary” has happened recently there.

New Way To Submit Questions For Google Webmaster Office Hours Hangouts
As you know, Google’s John Mueller and friends need to move off of Google+ for managing the questions and notifications of upcoming Google webmaster office hour hangouts. So John said they are now trying the YouTube communities where you can post questions and thumbs up those questions directly within the scheduled YouTube Live video.

New Gym At Google Dublin
Google has opened up their refreshed gym at the Google Dublin office the other day. Supposedly it has been closed for reconstruction and now it is finally open. I am seeing a few photos from Googlers

Other Great Search Forum Threads:

I get that some sites are awesome “salespeople” and will sell anything related to anyone, but sending someone to a place where you know it’s not available seems like trolling.… https://t.co/SHEIn6E2dR, John Mueller on Twitter
What are some topics around ecommerce sites that we should cover better (or address specifically) from a web-search point of view?… https://t.co/yZVI2HzrsG, John Mueller on Twitter
FWIW a quick way to see if Googlebot really can’t get through is to use the mobile-friendly test. Blocking fake Googlebots is fine.… https://t.co/q1Qsu8eLhz, John Mueller on Twitter
Hreflang to deindexed pages… alternative solutions?, WebmasterWorld

Search Engine Land Stories:

2019 Martech Trends You Need To Know
Want to speak at SMX Advanced? Here’s how
Google may use different ranking weights for YMYL-type queries
Google Actions vs. Alexa Skills is the next big App Store battle
Personalizing customer experiences at scale

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