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: Word Count Isn’t Indicative Of Quality
One of the things I see so often in the SEO space is that SEOs say you need your pages to have a word count of X for Google to want to index and rank it well. The truth is, that is not true – if it was…
Google Image Search Tests White Tiled Design & Layout
I am seeing reports of Google testing a new look for their image search results. This one looks more white and tiled format then the other. A Google Web Search Help thread that started back on May 29th was the first to spot this and now more and more are seeing this new layout…
Google My Business Showing Competitors Google Posts
As a way to encourage businesses to use Google Posts more, Google is now showing some businesses the Google Posts from their competitors in the Google My Business dashboard. Google is playing on the fear of missing out, FOMO, emotion…
Google Shows Their Dictionary Widget For Branded Free Dictionary Query
If you do a search for the popular [free dictionary] in Google, first Google will show you their dictionary box and then Google will show you the result for The Free Dictionary search result…
Search Community Heart Broken Over Loss Of Jordan Kasteler
Yesterday the search community got the gut wrenching news that Jordan Kasteler has passed away. Everyone was floored, shocked, saddened, and deeply upset by the news. Jordan Kasteler has been part of our industry since he was a kid…
Noogler Cake Pops
How cute and awesome do these cake pops look? They are in the shape of the Noogler, new Googler, hats and I suspect they were given out at an orientation of Nooglers? Merrin Collins shared this photo
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
Everytime I check back in on @googlewmc search operators I learn something new. Did you know you can put @ in front of a word to search social media? https://t.co/0WbncXNjEb, Jamie on Twitter
Progressive Web App instead of responsive for mobile first index?, WebmasterWorld
Small Experiment: New Explore Tab on YouTube, YouTube Help
There’s a lot of speculation about how our internal systems work, and a lot of that is just that: speculation :-)…, John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
Google releases speakable markup for news publishers interested in Google Assistant
Attend SMX East with your team to save big on SEO & SEM training!
Smart content execution will net a lot of inbound links
Google Image Search tests bridging mobile design to desktop search results
BrightEdge and Searchmetrics settle patent infringement lawsuit
Here’s why you should start thinking of content marketing as an SEO strategy
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Annelieke’s Analytics: 16 months of Google Search Console data, Yoast
Industry & Business
Alphabet reports Q2 revenue of $32.7B, up 26% YoY, and net income of $3.2B including EU fine; excluding the fine, net income was $8.3B; stock up 4%+ (Alphabet), Techmeme
Alphabet-owned Google continues dominance, Ad Age
Links & Promotion Building
Citation Flow vs Trust Flow (& Trust Ratio), What is it?, Social Patterns
A Simple Guide to Turning (Unlinked) Brand Mentions into Links, ahrefs.com
Local & Maps
Yelp will roll out restaurant hygiene scores in the US, CNN Money
Mobile & Voice
Alexa, turn up the bass! Amazon rolls out equalizer controls for Echo devices, CNET
Hey Google, what’s the latest news?, Official Google Webmaster Central Blog
SEO
Breaking Down Silos In Process & People: Five Ways To Integrate SEO-PPC To Maximize Your ROI, Seer Interactive
Do 404 Errors Hurt Google Crawling, Indexing & Ranking?, Search Engine Journal
Google Search Quality Rater Guidelines Updated: Beneficial Purpose, Creator Reputation & More, The SEM Post
Google Suggests HTTP URLs over HTTPs URLs in the SERPs, Bill Hartzer
How To Steal Featured Snippets With Your Blog, Search Engine People
Research: How the Top 50 U.S. eCommerce Companies Dominate SEO, Go In Flow
SEO Friendly Domain Migration – Case Study & How To, Builtvisible
Website Redesign SEO: A Post-Launch Checklist, Pure Visibility
Why SEO Is Important to Any Business Nowadays. Top 21 SEO Benefits, Cognitive SEO
PPC
How to Navigate the New AdWords UI, Seer Interactive
How to Project Budgets for PPC Accounts with Sporadic Spend, PPC Hero
Search Features
Sen. Orrin Hatch Reminds Google That He’s Not Dead, HuffPost
Other Search
CEO Sundar Pichai: Google Translate handles 143 billion words daily, Business Insider
A milestone for Chrome security: marking HTTP as “not secure”, Google Blog
