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: If It’s Not Obvious Which Links Hurt You Then It’s Not Hurting Or Helping
Google’s John Mueller posted one of his classic tweets the other day around links. He said to an established SEO when he was asked which links should they disavow. John said “If it’s not obvious to someone like you, then those links are probably neither helping nor harming, so it wouldn’t matter if you had them disavowed or not.”
Google Search Console Manual Actions Now Back After Disappearing
Yesterday we reported that Google Search Console had yet another bug, this time with your manual actions disappearing without any good reason. Google fixed the issue within 24 hours and if you had any manual actions that were gone yesterday, they are probably now back and visible within Google Search Console.
Google Search Console’s Lost Data Directly Related To Indexing Bug
I was confused as to why Google Search Console lost 16-days worth of data if the indexing bug lasted from April 5th to April 11th. Furthermore, if the indexing bug started on April 5th, why did Search Console have data loss from April 9th through April 25th? Shouldn’t there be a one-to-one overlap in dates to the data loss?
Google Buggier Now More Than Usual? Google Responds.
I was asked by someone on Twitter last week if Google is more buggier than normal these days, with the indexing bugs, Search Console issues, cache date issues, mobile-friendly notices and the list goes on and on for April. So I flipped the question over to John Mueller of Google and he said “I wouldn’t say it’s more often.”
Google Ads & AdSense Confirmed Reporting Delays
Both Google Ads and Google AdSense are having reporting delays. Google has confirmed the delays with the Google Ads (formerly AdWords) platform saying “Reporting Issue – Google Ads reporting for April 30 and May 1 (Pacific Time) is incorrect. We will update this message when the issue is resolved and the data is corrected.”
Google Welcomes The San Francisco 49ers
Here is a photo from Adrian Colbert, the safety for the San Francisco 49ers, at the Google offices in Mountain View, California with some of his team at the GooglePlex.
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
Google New Auto-Delete Location History and Web & App Activity Tool, WebmasterWorld
I wouldn’t define it exactly, that’s why i didn’t in the post 🙂 But think about what happens when you as a user loads a page and it keeps hopping; when do you become frustrated? When will your bff become frustrated? How, Gary Illyes on Twitter
Recognizing soft-404s is hard, which is partially why we’re showing the status in Search Console like this. Sometimes small tweaks just fix it (like here), sometimes it’s worth submitting feedback.… https://t.co/VUA9CPguYr, John Mueller on Twitter
Text that is duplicated is duplicated text, regardless of where it’s hosted. In general, it doesn’t mean we’ll demote or take manual action on a site that has some duplicated text, but it’s better to have it be unique, compelli, John Mueller on Twitter
There’s nothing special about a page created through WordPress compared to a page created by hand in a text editor — use the tools that work for you, when creating content online.… https://t.co/oYbjQhMNAN, John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
Don’t rely on Google Ads reporting for Apr 30, May 1
Multi-brand digital initiatives: Thinking web system, not web site
Google bringing call intelligence and automation to SMBs, for $39 per month
Microsoft Advertising is no longer just chasing parity with Google Ads – it’s building unique ads features
You can now automatically set your Google history to be deleted
DuckDuckGo proposes the “Do-Not-Track Act of 2019”
Data, Data Everywhere — But Where are the Campaign Insights?
7 SEO best practices you should be doing regardless of what Google says
Local SEOs mixed, some peeved at idea of paying for Google My Business services
Some April Google Search Console data lost, manual actions disappeared
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Is Direct Traffic an Indicator of Brand Strength?, Portent
Real-Time Personalization in Google Optimize, E-Nor Analytics
Industry & Business
Google employees protest retaliation with international sit-in, The Verge
Google now has more than 100,000 employees, CNN
Satya Nadella Remade Microsoft as World’s Most Valuable Company, Bloomberg
Links & Promotion Building
How to Build Hundreds of Links to Your Blog in 5 Minutes a Day, Problogger
Local & Maps
Google Hotels Prompts Trivago to Increase Advertising in 50 Global Markets, Skift
Lompoc’s bus system is now on Google Maps, KEYT
Mobile & Voice
Alexa in-skill purchasing, which lets developers make money from voice apps, launches internationally, TechCrunch
AMP as your web framework, The AMP Blog
Google opens Android infotainment system to third-party media apps, Engadget
Swipe for more: Tiles on Wear OS by Google, Google Blog
Visual Search – Could It Be The Next Big Thing?, PPC Hero
Chrome OS unifies Google Assistant and device searches, Engadget
Google Assistant speakers adding personalized preset buttons, 9to5Google
SEO
Announcing the New Moz SEO Essentials Certificate: What It Is & How to Get Certified, Moz
Hreflang Tags Guide: Make Your Site Speak Your Customer’s Language, Conductor
Trust Metrics at Google, Go Fish Digital
Best Free SEO Tools to Help You Improve Your Rankings, Cognitive SEO
How to Get Image Snippets on Mobile, Siege Media
Key SEO strategies for building your site traffic outside of Google search, Search Metrics
PPC
Apple will soon be blitzing your iPhone with ads, because it’s profitable, ZDNet
What Else Is Affecting Your PPC Advertising?, PPC Hero
Search Features
Set it and forget it: have Google automatically delete your data, Google Blog
