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 Updates Search Console API Infrastructure: What You Need To Know.
Google announced this morning it has been upgrading the infrastructure for the Google Search Console API. Google said this is an infrastructure change and that “API is backward compatible and there are currently no changes in scope or functionality.” But there are a few things to note.
Google Asking Searcher: How Fast Did This Site Load?
Google is now asking some searchers how fast a site loaded after visiting the site and jumping back to the search results. Taylor Berg posted a screen shot on Twitter of this in action the other day, here it is.
Google Easter Egg For Cha-Cha Slide
This is a few days old but I keep meaning to post it and other things keep coming up that are more important. But that is it, this is too important to leave for yet another day. Go to Google and search for [cha cha slide] and then click on the sparkling microphone. Make sure your sound is up and have fun.
Google: Heading Elements (Tags) Order Does Not Matter
Google’s John Mueller was asked if putting an H5 before an H1 on a page would end up hurting the page from ranking well in Google. John said “nope” it won’t end up hurting the page from ranking organically in Google Search.
Bing Webmaster Tools Will Expand Image & Video Reporting
Bing said that it will soon be expanding its reporting on image and videos. Bing Webmaster Tools has a search performance report but it currently does not let you filter the data by vertical; i.e. web, image, video, news, etc.
Google Japan YouTube Space With Chabudai (I Think)
Here are some older photos that I found on Instagram from the Google Japan office. This is the YouTube Space there and you can see it is all decked out in Japanese culture, not that I know anything a
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
We don’t differentiate by code-source. Often automatically generated content isn’t really great content, and we have a lot of practice with "non-great" content. Personally, I’d see these new techs as tools, and, John Mueller on Twitter
Do you miss the Webmaster Conferences? We do too! 😢 Next week we’ll be announcing a brand new and different event coming up at the end of August. 📅 Registration will be opening up next week! 📅 https://t.co/ju, Google Webmasters on Twitter
I wouldn’t worry too much about how Google recognizes good sites, I’d worry about how users recognize good sites., John Mueller on Twitter
Unfortunately, scraping our search results is against our terms of service, so there’s not much I can help with there. Sorry!, John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
Google updates Search Console API infrastructure
Why SEO right now?
SEO myth-busting: What is not a Google search ranking factor
Google extends lead forms to YouTube, Discovery campaigns
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Did You Know You Can Find Website Bugs Using Google Analytics?, Your Marketing People
How to Get All Your Ad Data into Google Analytics, CXL
Industry & Business
Censys, a search engine for internet devices, raises $15.5M Series A, TechCrunch
Google’s Search Monopoly Complicates a Mental Health Crisis, Bloomberg
Baidu Search Banned in India in Latest Round of New Delhi Crackdown, CapitalWatch
Links & Content Marketing
A much-improved internal linking tool in Yoast SEO Premium: What’s new?, Yoast
Local & Maps
Apple Maps’ Street View-like feature expands outside the US to Japan, Engadget
How to Embed a Google My Business Listing Onto a Website > Local SEO Training, Pigzilla
Mobile & Voice
Apple and Google’s COVID-19 tracking system will make its full US debut in new Virginia app, The Verge
SEO
5 Times When SEO Siloing Can Make or Break Your Search Engine Rankings, BruceClay
July 2020 Winners and Losers, Searchmetrics
Youth Oriented Content Scores at Google?, Go Fish Digital
5 common SEO KPIs you should be ignoring, State of Digital
PPC
Generate high-quality leads, Google Blog
Update to Other restricted businesses policy (October 2020), Google Advertising Policies Help
Wasteful Wednesday with Wil Reynolds #10 – Keyword of the Week "Manuals", Seer Interactive
Search Features
Find new faves faster on Android TV, Google Blog
