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:
April 2020 Google Webmaster Report
Well, it has been an interesting month to say the least. I mean, tons of COVID-19 related changes have been made to Google search and local – tons…
People Search Visually In Google Images But The Image Is Not What They Are Looking For
Google’s John Mueller said that many people use Google Images to search visually but what they are looking for is not the image but rather something else. He said on Twitter “Lots of people search visually in Google Images, and the image is just a snippet for the result, it’s not the thing they’re looking for.”
Google: Spammers Would Love To Know Which Links It Labels As Spam
Google’s John Mueller said on Twitter “spammers would love to know which links aren’t recognized as spam.” That is why Google does not label which links they know are spam in Google Search Console. Google has said this before but sometimes it needs to be said again.
Google Featured Snippets Not In Position One
Brian Freiesleben shared a screen shot of a featured snippet showing up not in the first position of the Google Search results page but lower down on the page. Back in the old days, I thought featured snippets can show in multiple locations but I can be wrong. Maybe since the new deduplication change, it stopped?
Google Posts With Special COVID-19 Updates
If you login to Google My Business, click on Posts, you have a new option to write a post specific with COVID-19 information about your business. Google said on Twitter “COVID-19 update posts will appear at the top of your business profile in local search.”
New Google Maps Logo Statue Being Installed
Early February, Google launched a new Google Maps logo, a map pin, with the Google logo. Here is a photo from February 25th when Google had this new Google Maps pin statue installed at the GooglePlex
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
Google’s Waze now gives a clear warning about unnecessary travel https://t.co/HDt9tl6nfH, Matt Navarra on Twitter
Question About Auto Registration and The Effect On SEO : TechSEO, Reddit
We’ve been hearing from sites that are struggling to keep up with a much higher load of traffic in recent days. If that’s something you’re struggling with, https://t.co/kzkvJE0pUI has a great new guide on how to help an, Google Webmasters on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
SMX Overtime: How to run effective top-of-funnel search campaigns
Marketers surveyed say they would choose Google Ads over SEO if they had to
SEO for recreational and commercial vehicles in a COVID-19 world
Support for SpecialAnnouncement schema is coming to Google search
Should you continue to solicit reviews during the outbreak? Local SEOs disagree
Paid search ad copy strategies during coronavirus
Did you know that over 60% of organic site visits come from mobile?
Google Ads ends monthly campaign budget test
The Tiger King used illicit SEO tactics to mislead searchers
Video: Dawn Anderson on Google BERT and what comes next
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
3 Ways to add Annotations to Data Studio time series charts, Medium
Google Analytics 101: Fundamentals of Google Analytics, Cardinal Path Blog
Here’s how you can track conversions of your paid campaigns accurately with Google Tag Manager, Tatvic
Industry & Business
Google Hangouts Meet usage surges amid coronavirus, 9to5Google
Google providing Wi-Fi, Chromebooks to California students, 9to5Google
How Much Water Do Google Data Centers Use? Billions of Gallons, Bloomberg
Marketing in a Recession: Budget Cuts – The Scalpel vs The Sledgehammer, Seer Interactive
Local & Maps
Human-Friendly Driving Directions Based Upon Personalized Landmarks, Go Fish Digital
Mobile & Voice
Introducing Google Pay’s new Business Console, Google Developers Blog
Yandex Voice Assistant Alice is Now a Music Critic, Voicebot
SEO
How to make the transition to the block editor (from the classic editor) in WordPress, Yoast
Quick Tip: How to Diagnose Cloaking, iPullRank
SERP News: COVID-19 Means Major Changes to Google’s SERP, RankRanger
Why Every SEO Should Be Using Google Sheets Query Function, Distilled
B2B Marketers: Illuminate Your Unseen Content with SEO, Online Marketing Blog
Discover the Changes in Search Due to COVID-19, BrightEdge SEO Blog
PPC
Evolving consumer behaviour in key verticals, Microsoft Advertising
Search Features
Google highlights viral nature of 3D animals in new ad [Video], 9to5Google
Transform your photo in the style of an iconic artist, Google Blog
Other Search
Improving Audio Quality in Duo with WaveNetEQ, Google AI Blog
