Daily Search Forum Recap: February 26, 2024

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.

This weekend we had massive Google ranking volatility reported by the third-party tools but chatter was not that high. Google Analytics has a Polish referral spam problem. Google Ads updated is change history page for some. Google Search is testing a “most-read articles” carousel. Google reviews has this “beta questions” section, do you know what it is. Will Google make a content deal with Quora next, some signs lead to that.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Massive Volatility Reported – Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update?

I am seeing some massive volatility being reported today after seeing a spike in chatter within the SEO community on Friday. I have not seen the third-party Google tracking tools show this much volatility in a long time. I will say, the tracking tools are way more heated than the chatter I am seeing, so something might be off here.

Google Analytics Referral Spam From Poland – Complaints

There is a large thread in the Google Analytics help forum with complaints from site owners of being flooded with fake referral traffic originating from Poland. This seems to be the typical referral spam issue and it started around February 17th or so.

Google Ads Tests New Change History Page

Google Ads is testing a new change history page that shows more details on the changes made to your ads and campaigns. It now documents the change overview by user and by performance as a toggle.

Google Most-Read Articles Search Carousel

Google Search is testing a new carousel named “Most-read articles.” I guess Google is using click data to see which articles are being read the most. Or maybe Chrome or Google Analytics data? Maybe?

Google Reviews Disclaimer For Beta Questions

Now when leaving a review on a business within the Google local and maps results, the disclaimer has a notice about “beta questions.” It reads, “For beta questions, your answers may not be displayed publicly during the experiment and may only be visible to you and/or others participating in the experiment. We may delete answers after the experiment.”

Google To Make A Content Deal With Quora Next?

Last week, Google revealed it signed a deal with Reddit to access its content using an API so it can get the content faster and in a structured format. This deal costs Google $60 million annually. There is now speculation that Google might make a similar deal with Quora.

Concrete Steel Plant At Google

Here is an interesting plant that is at the Google Kirkland, Seattle office. It is a concrete, steel ball with a plant embedded within it. I wonder how that works.

Other Great Search Threads:

There’s a bug in the Google SERP city knowledge panel. It’s picking a random mobile number as the area code. See the screenshots for reference. sharing a few screenshots for a reference CC:-@JohnMu, Vijay Chauhan X
Hi Jaclyn, I don’t think anything stands in the way of making videos out of text from a Search POV. It’s common to have audio/video & text versions of the same content (for example, audio books). You know your audience best, and how they like to be inform, John Mueller on X
Indexing API for non-job/event websites?, Reddit
Is G**** happy with 301+410 responses for the same URL?, Reddit

Search Engine Land Stories:

Lookback: Google Panda algorithm update launched 13 years ago
Google: Don’t punish us for our success in Search
Best of SearchBot: Guide me through a technical SEO audit
Google investigating Local Services Ads bug
LinkedIn publishes actionable steps before third-party cookie deprecation
How to speed up site migrations with AI-powered redirect mapping
The latest jobs in search marketing
Project management for in-house SEO teams: 6 best practices
Google SGE testing and development is ongoing, growing

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