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:
When Google Says I Don’t Know, They Might Know.
Google’s John Mueller said on stage at BrightonSEO last Friday that sometimes when Google says “I don’t know” they actually do know but they don’t know the proper PR way to answer the question yet.
Google: It Is Hard To Measure If Publishers & Content Producers Are Happy
Again, at the BirghtonSEO conference, John Mueller was asked about how do they know if they are doing a good job with making publishers happy. Do they have metrics to determine if they are doing a good job. John Mueller said they do look to make publishers happy but the metrics behind that are complicated.
OMG: Google’s Internal Alert System
At the BirghtonSEO conference last Friday, John Mueller was interviewed by Hannah Smith – and one thing she brought up that was new was that Google has an internal system to deal with big issues called OMG. The way the Q&A went with that question was kind of funny.
Google Search Algorithms Are Designed To Be Granular But Older Updates Were More Broad
Google’s John Mueller said on Twitter that when it comes to Google’s search algorithms they try to go as granular as possible. But in the older days, the older Google updates may have been broader, he said.
Google: Use Site Command For Checking Individual URLs
Google’s John Mueller said on Twitter that you can use the site command to check individual pages and see if they are indexed. Generally Google tells SEOs not to depend on the site command but with the URL inspection tool and other Search Console issues, Google is saying you can use it to check specific URLs in the index.
Orchestra At The GooglePlex
This past weekend there may have been an event at the Google headquarters, the GooglePlex, that involved an orchestra. Here is a selfie from one of the bass players in that orchestra.
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
Are you seeing a drop in images indexed / shown in Google Images? If not, maybe it’s just Fetch & Render being picky (we prioritize speed over completeness there, but for indexing we cache extensively).… https://t.co/P41ozaBO, John Mueller on Twitter
Hmmm I think the design of ‘people also ask’ is looking different……, Dan Shure on Twitter
If you do use a CDN, I’d recommend using a domain name of your own (eg, https://t.co/fWMc6CFPZ0), so you can move to other CDNs if you feel the need to over time, without having to do any redirects.… https://t.co/8HgS76HYjR, John Mueller on Twitter
Seeing Reserve with Google via TripAdvisor…, Mike Blumenthal on Twitter
Sounds like a good time to review operators and exact matches @Bing as well – we currently have both the + operator and the double quotes. Do folks have any preference for one or the other? And if so please comment with the r, Frédéric Dubut on Twitter
That’s correct. Google Images shows the URL of the landing page, so usually that’s less of an issue anyway.…, John Mueller on Twitter
‘See outside’ photo not representative of clients actual location, Local Search Forum
Search Engine Land Stories:
Why we shouldn’t forget about PageRank in 2019
Make your content better with social media and marketing automation
Apple News, Google News, Google Newsstand: What marketers need to know
De-indexing bug hits Google Search Console reports, tools
Explore the SMX Advanced agenda
How to appear in local services listings in Google Assistant and Google Home
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
A Beginners Guide to Google Data Studio for Marketers, weDevs
An overview of all Google Data Studio Chart types in 2019, Michael Howe-Ely
Gathering insights in Google Analytics can be as easy as A-B-C, Google Blog
Industry & Business
Google Quietly Disbanded Another AI Review Board Following Disagreements, Wall Street Journal
How we’re supporting economic opportunity in Iowa, Google Blog
Links & Promotion Building
Best Internal Linking Structure & Strategy To Boost Your SEO, Cognitive SEO
Local & Maps
7 Little Known Things About Google Local Guides & Editing Listings on Google Maps, Sterling Sky Inc
In Search SEO Podcast: The Hidden World of Local SERP Features, RankRanger
Mobile & Voice
Canalys: Global smart speaker installed base to top 200 million by end of 2019, Canalys Newsroom
The Google Home Hub will apparently be rebranded as ‘Google Nest Hub’, Android Central
SEO
What are Google’s unique ranking factors for the eCommerce industry?, Search Metrics
BrightonSEO April 2019 – Keynote Recap – John Mueller Q&A, DeepCrawl
Schema.org is hard; we’re making it easy, Yoast
Yoast SEO 11.0: Structured data awesomeness, Yoast
PPC
Mumzworld reaches a 300% return on ad spend with Google Analytics, Google
Search Features
Apple News+ is off to a rocky start, report claims, 9to5Mac
Shopify Apps make AMP easy and effective for eCommerce, The AMP Blog