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.
Google is experimenting with YouTube Shorts for SEO help content. Google is testing inserting keywords from queries in shopping ads. Google says keywords in domains are overrated and to ignore black hat traffic. Google said it is fine to link to WhatsApp numbers on your site. Plus my weekly SEO video recap is live.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Search Ranking Updates, Google News Updated, SEO, Ads, Local & More
This week, we had some interesting tremors and ranking shifts from an unconfirmed Juneteenth Google search ranking update that really spiked a day or so ago. Google News revamped its design…
Google: Ignore Black Hat Traffic, We Do.
Google’s John Mueller said it is safe to ignore black hat traffic, he said it is just spam and there is no need to worry about it from an SEO perspective. He said on Twitter that black hat traffic is just spam and you should ignore it.
Google Tries YouTube Shorts For SEO Help Content
Back in March, Gary Illyes and friends hinted that they may try creating short form video content for the Google help documents. Well, Google’s Alan Kent produced one of the first ones on the topic of why it is important to specify image dimensions.
Google Shopping Ads Tests Inserting Material In Ad Title From Query
Google is testing a dynamic keyword insertion feature for Google Shopping Ads where it may insert the material in the product if used in the searcher’s query. I do not know if this is 100% new or not but it might be.
Google: Keywords In Domain Names Are Overrated
Google’s John Mueller said once again that “keywords in domain names are overrated.” He and Googlers over time have said this numerous times over the years and he said it again. Instead he said “pick something for your business, pick something for the long term.”
Google: WhatsApp Phone Numbers On Your Site Is Not A Bad SEO Practice
Google’s John Mueller said on Twitter that it is not a bad SEO practice to link to your WhatsApp number on your site. This is despite what some SEO toolsets say, linking to a WhatsApp number, phone number or fax number is fine and Google does not judge your site differently based on the type of number you link to.
Aurora Morales Recording In A Google Studio
Aurora Morales of Google has done a nice number of videos for Google, specifically on the publisher monetization front. She did a nice number of those while at home since COVID. She now said she is b
Other Great Search Threads:
It sounds like you have one thing to fix at least. Usually technically duplicated content doesn’t cause quality issues though, so you definitely want to look beyond j, John Mueller on Twitter
Oh, just saw the rest — those are essentially fake URL parameters (rewritten dynamic URLs), and I’ve often seen them cause problems. We can index them, but in general, I’d use URL parameter, John Mueller on Twitter
Alright, I screwed up. The first attempt at the Technical SEO office hours, uh, didn’t quite work. I am currently looking for a better way to get them going and will let you know when I found one. Currently experimenting wi, Martin Splitt on Twitter
Yeah, these are (unless otherwise labeled) all organic results. SEO is about more than the old-school text-link-to-a-webpage :-)., John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
TikTok commits to updating ad policies to better align with EU rules
Twitter launching Branded Likes
Googlebot will crawl and index the first 15MB of content per page
Twitter launches Campaign Planner
NBCUniversal, Google competing to help Netflix deliver ad-based option
Google Analytics 4: A guide to the Traffic Acquisition Report
Top 4 data challenges among agency clients
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
9 Marketing Analytics Tools to Eliminate Guesswork, Ahrefs
Italy’s data watchdog latest to warn over use of Google Analytics, TechCrunch
Marketing KPI Dashboard: How to Create One and Which Metrics to Include [12 Free Templates], Databox Blog
Predictive Metrics in GA4 – From Reporting to Predicting, Data Driven U
What is a Data Dashboard? Definition, Benefits, and Examples, Databox Blog
Industry & Business
Alphabet and Meta Have an Ad Revenue Problem. What It Means for Their Stocks., Barron’s
Google and Meta Get Caught Up in Europe’s Energy Politics, Bloomberg
Google Cloud customers and partners grade CEO Thomas Kurian, Protocol
Google’s Plan for 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Ran Into Headwinds in 2021, Wall Street Journal
It’s time for more transparency around government data demands, Google Blog
Russia’s Yandex opens public access to AI large language model, Reuters
SEO on the Beach 2022 Recap & Highlights, Oncrawl
Yandex Completes Purchase of 93% of Its Convertible Notes, Yandex
Yelp CEO shutters some offices, says hybrid work is “hell”, Washington Post
Alphabet is spending billions to become a force in health care, The Economist
Links & Content Marketing
What Link Building Strategy Do Search Engines Implicitly Approve?, SEO Theory
BERT Semantic Interlinking Tool updated to add Visualisation and more, tl;dr Marketing
Local & Maps
A Look at Google Local Results without ‘Self-Preferencing’, Near Media
Mobile & Voice
5 new features for Chrome on iOS, Google Blog
Google is notifying Android users targeted by Hermit government-grade spyware, TechCrunch
Google is releasing Fuchsia for the Nest Hub Max, 9to5Google
Google now lets you set difficulty levels for ‘Word of the day’, 9to5Google
Amazon Launches AI Programming Assistant CodeWhisperer, Voicebot
SEO
Analysis of the May 2022 Google core update, Marie Haynes
eCommerce SEO Test Where The Site Lost Rankings After Marking Entire Stock As Out Of Stock + More Findings, tl;dr Marketing
From Blogger to professional SEO – How Blogging is a good way to learn Search Engine Optimisation, Web Marketing School
Google’s Things to Know SERP Feature, RankRanger
How to choose a focus keyphrase for product descriptions and categories, Yoast
IndexNow: What it is and how it benefits you, Yoast
The Cost of SEO Services in 2022, iPullRank
Almost Half of GSC Clicks Go to Hidden Terms – A Study by Ahrefs, Ahrefs
PPC
PPC Landing Page Examples: Why is A Landing Page Crucial For PPC?, PPC Expo
Other Search
Chrome 104 Beta: New Media Query Syntax, Region Capture, and More, Chromium Blog
Feedback:
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