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 had a large indexing issue on Friday, it affected new content across all sites it appears. Google Ads is super delayed as of Friday afternoon, Google is working on fixing that as well. To top it all off, Google Analytics 4 real-time is delayed and buggy and Google Merchant Center is also having issues. Google has this new Discover feature for destination searches that show TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube stories. Bing Search has a section called Bing Experts that are not from Microsoft. Microsoft Bing is testing “see your ad here” in the search results. Microsoft Bing is testing video playlist buttons in web search. Google Product results have this number of highlights feature. And I posted my weekly SEO video recap summing up the bigger search news in around 10 minutes.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Google Search Indexing Issue Morning Of July 15th
There is a confirmed indexing issue in Google Search as of prior to 7 am ET this morning. None of the articles I posted this morning on this site are showing yet in Google Search, even when I search for it by the exact title or do a site command. Google is not indexing new, freshly published, content as of earlier this morning.
Confirmed: Google Ads Advertiser Console Delayed
So while Google Search is currently having massive indexing issues, the Google Ads advertiser console is having issues loading ad spend and other data. Google confirmed the issue saying “affected users are able to access Google Ads, but may not have access to the most recent data.”
Google Discover Stories With TikTok, Facebook, YouTube For Destination Queries
Google is testing a new format for destination queries that not only shows things to do but now showed this story format “Discover” section. Google embeds stories from TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and possibly other platforms for this section.

Google Product Results Carousel With Highlights
Google Shopping results have shown top highlights for products some time but now it seems Google is testing showing the number of available product highlights in the carousel of product results in Google Search.

Bing Search Featured Snippet With “Answered By Bing Expert”
Microsoft Bing is testing a section under its featured snippet answers named “answered by Bing expert.” Bing will show an answer pulled from the source website, put the author’s name by the answer, and call them a “Bing Expert.”
Microsoft Bing Video Playlist In Web Search Interface
Microsoft Bing Video search results has had a playlist feature since at least 2020. But now it seems Microsoft is testing displaying the playlist icon in the Bing web search results, not just the video results.

Bing “See Your Ad Here” Spot
Microsoft is testing in Bing Search a link named “see your ad here.” I guess this is promoting Microsoft Advertising’s search ad platform to encourage advertisers to bid on those keywords for that query.
Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Volatility, People Also Ask Drop, Search Console Hidden Queries, Google Ads Features & Much More
We had more volatility from Google Search on July 10th. Google shows half the number of people also ask boxes in the search results. Google Search Console anonymizes many queries…

Google Product Experts Awards
A few weeks ago, Google hosted a Google Product Experts summit in person in the Google New York City office. Google shared a photo of some of the awards they handed out at the event. They are Google

Other Great Search Threads:

Banned from being Google Local Guide: Why?, Local Search Forum
In episode 42 of SOTR, @okaylizzi and @methode sit down with @rustybrick! They talk about productivity hacks, balancing RustyBrick and Search Engine Roundtable, and more. Check it out!, Google Search Central on Twitter
Microsoft to power the sale of ad space on Netflix, WebmasterWorld
Nothing lasts forever, not even permanent redirects., John Mueller on Twitter
Noticed Google made some nice clarifications around structured data warnings and errors in GSC this morning – especially the note of “optimized for more relevant queries”, Brian Freiesleben on Twitter

Search Engine Land Stories:

How content consolidation can improve your SEO performance
Google launches Ad Creative Studio to customize video and display ads
The state of attribution modeling in paid search
How to do a schema markup audit

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

A GA4 Checklist: How to Migrate and What You Should do Now, Builtvisible
Dashboard Presentation and Storytelling: 6 Best Practices to Start With, Databox Blog

Industry & Business

Google Ad-Tech Concessions Unlikely to Avert DOJ Antitrust Suit, Bloomberg
Google Beats Bid to Revive ‘Local Guides’ Contract Breach Suit, Bloomberg
Google’s Stock Split Explained, Morningstar
How Barry Schwartz Created RustyBrick, Search Off the Record
San José affordable homes project with early Google backing begins, City of San Jose
Will Google’s shiny and quirky Bay View campus be enough to lure workers?, Washington Post
You raises $25M to fuel its AI-powered search engine, TechCrunch
Google Parent Alphabet Names Goldman Veteran Marty Chavez to Board, Bloomberg

Links & Content Marketing

How to Find and Fix Broken Links at Scale, seoClarity
Be Careful Where You Put the Emphasis on ‘Do More With Less’ [Rose-Colored Glasses], Content Marketing Institute
Trust in Link Building, Majestic
Tutorial on How to Build a Tool for Writers to Pull Striking Distance Keywords from Google Search Console Data from Inside Notion, tl;dr Marketing

Local & Maps

Apple Car details: Design, skepticism, EV, more, 9to5Mac
Google Maps energy-efficient routes for electric cars, hybrids, 9to5Google
Celebrating six years of creating memories together, Local Guides Connect

Mobile & Voice

Apple’s first AR headset rumored for 2023, with improved version hitting in 2024, AppleInsider

SEO

Building a Budget for SEO: How Much Does SEO Cost?, Local SEO Guide
Guide to assessing a drop in Google organic traffic, Marie Haynes
How long does it take to see results from SEO?, Hobo
How to write an SEO-friendly product description with Bertha, Yoast
Programmatic SEO: Self Scaling Landing Page Systems, SammySEO
Hiding XML Sitemaps, ohgm
SEO for Lawyers & Law Firms: The Complete Guide, Ahrefs

PPC

Collaboration and customization in Ads Creative Studio, Google Blog
How to Manage Performance Max Campaigns Profitably?, PPC Expo
Inflow’s Winning PPC Strategy for eCommerce: 76% Google Ads ROAS, Go Inflow

Other Search

Google Chrome OS Flex is now available for PCs and Macs, The Verge
Towards Reliability in Deep Learning Systems, Google AI Blog

Feedback:

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