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 My Business: Phone Numbers Not Allowed In Google Posts
Google has posted a new content policy within its Google Posts help documents that specifically disallows businesses to add phone numbers in the content of their Google Posts. Google Posts show up on your local knowledge panel in Google Search and you can share messages with customers that way.
Google People Also Search For With Local Businesses Maps
Google is now able to show in the “people also search for” query refinement feature local business listings and map results. Valentin Pletzer noticed this and posted a screenshot on Twitter which you can see here.
Google Local Search Trends With COVID-19
The other day Google posted a blog post named the latest local shopping trends; local is now digital. In this blog post, Google shared a lot of trends the company tracked with local searches in 2020 due to COVID-19.
Google Merchant Center Product Data Specification Updates
Google posted a list of changes or updates rolling out now and in the upcoming months for the Merchant Center product data specifications. Google said “this year’s updates focus on improving the quality of product information across free listings and Shopping ads.”
Google: You Can’t Reduce Your Google Rankings In A Specific Country
A site owner on Reddit asked if there is a way to remove his site from Google Search in a specific country, specifically Indonesia. John Mueller of Google said there really is not way of doing that, he said “you can’t reduce your rankings in one country in Google.”
Just Some Ahrefs Swag
Ahref, the popular SEO link tool, posted on Twitter that it will be giving some folks some of their Swag. They wrote “Who wants this pretty box with some Ahrefs’ swag and goodies?”
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
Cross Linking, WebmasterWorld
I’m not aware of any changes in that regard., twitter.com
Massive Negative SEO Attack – What to do?, WebmasterWorld
The sites that have URLs indexed with # URLs is a tiny number (and afaik manually created a while back; not like #!). If you use # URLs, they’re almost certainl, John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
Finding the best social media platform for your audience and business
Google updates Merchant Center product data specifications
Amazon now accounts for more than 10% of U.S. digital ad market revenue; Wednesday’s daily brief
Google Search Console adds regular expression support and more data filtering to Performance reports
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Analyzing genomic data in families with deep learning, Google Open Source Blog
Tracking Single Page Applications in Google Analytics 4 Properties, Bounteous
Industry & Business
Alphabet shareholder pushes Google for better whistleblower protections, The Verge
Google I/O 2021 will be virtual and free to attend, 9to5Google
The woman who took on Google and won, BBC News
Links & Content Marketing
Earn Press Coverage for Your Brand in 5 Steps [Case Study], Moz
Local & Maps
Google Clarifies Phone Numbers Are Not Allowed in Google My Business Posts, Local University
Mobile & Voice
How HomePod mini could become one of Apple’s most important products, AppleMagazine
SEO
Analyzing Core Web Vitals – Marcus Tober, Searchmetrics
SEO Share of Voice by Space Ownership: What It Is and How to Measure It, Portent
What Are Core Web Vitals & How to Improve Them, Inflow
PPC
Master Bid Strategies: Google Search Ads 360, PPC Hero
Other Search
YouTube is social media’s big winner during the pandemic, CNBC
