Daily Search Forum Recap: August 5, 2020

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:

August 2020 Google Webmaster Report

Last month was not that slow of a month, while we didn’t have any confirmed Google search algorithm updates, we had several unconfirmed ones and some felt pretty big. Google also said it will weight business names less

Google Featured Snippets Without Borders – A Bug Or Feature?
I had a few reports yesterday of Google displaying featured snippets but without borders. It seems like a bug to me but who knows, maybe Google is testing borderless featured snippets and search results?

Google: A Lot Of Negative Reviews Can Hurt Your Site
The other day I reported that Google said negative reviews on the web about your brand or business won’t hurt your rankings in Google search. Yesterday, I was on the video call with John Mueller and I asked him this question and brought up the Decor My Eyes case from ten years ago. He then said he can see if a brand has a ton of negative reviews, algorithms would pick up on that and the site might not rank as well.

Google For The Umpteenth Time: Quality Raters Do Not Directly Impact Search Results
I have covered Google saying that its quality raters, which are third-party consultants who are not even employed by Google directly, do not have any direct influence in Google search rankings. I reported Googlers saying this countless times and I didn’t report Googlers saying it as well because I covered it countless times.

Google: Many Manual Actions Are Algorithmic Now & Not Used
Google’s John Mueller said that many of those manual actions are probably not used anymore. Why? He said because many may have been automated and done algorithmically. I did ask John for a list but he refused, go figure.

Google Doodle That Was Pulled Down Is Now Live: Wear a Mask. Save Lives.
The other week I reported Google posted a Google Doodle about wearing a mask to help save lives and then Google pulled down the Doodle. Well, today, August 5th, it is back up and live. It leads to a search around [covid-19 prevention] with three pieces of advice, (1) wear a mask, (2) wash your hands and (3) socially distance from others.

Google Pasta Logo
Here is a photo of the Google super G logo made up of different colored noodles and pasta. I cannot tell if the noodles are cooked yet or not. But it does make the G logo look super tasty.

Other Great Search Forum Threads:

Google Ad Measurement and Personal Data Change Over Privacy Shield, WebmasterWorld
Having URLs that return noindex is fine. Search Console is just warning you in case you weren’t aware that you have a noindex on those pages., John Mueller on Twitter
Uncommon SEO Knowledge #1 HTTPS I think most people know HTTPS is a very lightweight ranking signal for Google. Here’s what you might not know about HTTPS and things that may be useful to know as an SEO., Patrick Stox on Twitter

Search Engine Land Stories:

How search data can inform larger online business decisions

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