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 Search Console bug showed pages as being indexed when they were not indexed. Google said that there are tons of SEOs and site producing terrible content and that content is not worthy of being indexed, let alone ranked. Google explained that sometimes your site’s business model is just no longer relevant. FAQ rich results had a massive drop in the Google Search results this week. Affiliates are scrambling to get their rankings back after the product reviews update, some are swapping out their tracking links. Google is testing a larger live stream box for some queries.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
Google Fixes Search Console Bug Labeling Pages As Indexed When Not Indexed
Google just announced that it fixed a bug with Google Search Console that labeled pages as being indexed when they were not indexed. Google said this bug “affected many properties”.
Affiliates Swapping Out Dofollow Tracking Links After Google Product Reviews Update
One space that seemed to be hit the hardest by the last Google Product reviews update – the July 2022 update – was the affiliate space. Some affiliates are scrambling to make changes to see a return of their rankings and one change I see affiliates are talking about are swapping out dofollow affiliate tracking URLs with other tracking URLs.
Google: Tons Of SEOs & Sites Produce Terrible Content Not Worth Indexing
Google’s John Mueller said on Twitter that “lots of SEOs & sites produce terrible content that’s not worth indexing,” when someone was complaining his content was not indexed. “Just because it exists doesn’t mean it’s useful to users,” he added.
Google: The Model Your Site Was Built On Is No Longer Feasible
Google’s John Mueller explained that for some sites, the model and fundamentals the site was built upon are “just no longer feasible.” He explained this when someone asked how long it would take to see recoveries after a Google algorithm update. John said “fundamental quality issues” can take longer than just a month to resolve and sometimes never.
Google Search Displaying Far Fewer FAQ Rich Results Today
Rank Ranger reports show a significant drop again with the rich results for FAQs in the Google search results. Earlier this month 31% of the results the company tracked had FAQ rich results, now it is down to only 18% of those search results.
Google Tests Larger Live Stream Box In Search Results
Google’s live stream box in search was mostly found in carousels or thin list view interfaces. But now Google seems to be showing them in a more prominent manner for some queries. Maybe this is not new but
Outdoor Foosball Table At Google NYC
Have you ever seen a foosball table designed to be used outdoors? Well, Google has one on a rooftop at the Google New York City office. You can see a piece of glass is covering the top of the table to
Other Great Search Threads:
Google Local Services Ads advertisers with multiple accounts are having problems creating unique review links. If a review link is created in 1 account, then you try to create a review link in a 2nd account, the system ofte, Len on Twitter
Automatically changing your site’s links seems like a recipe for disaster, but I guess some people like to live dangerously in the hope of some ea, John Mueller on Twitter
I had a blast at the Search Central meetup São Paulo yesterday! What a fun audience 🇧🇷 Stay tuned for more events, the Search Relations team is working on it!, Daniel Waisberg on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
6 fundamental truths about SEO
Senator claims Google isn’t doing enough to block ad scams
Google Merchant Center will no longer remove listings missing return or refund policy and insufficient contact information
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
How to Create a Bar Graph in Google Sheets, Databox Blog
Where is the bounce rate in GA4?, Hallam
Industry & Business
Australia’s news media bargaining code pries $140 million from Google and Facebook, Poynter
Google still failing to clamp down on ad ‘scams,’ senator charges, Washington Post
Google Wants Out of Restaurants’ Online Ordering Trademark Suit, Bloomberg
Google wins defamation battle as Australia’s high court finds tech giant not a publisher, The Guardian
Links & Content Marketing
44% of Marketers Only ‘Moderately’ Confident in Their Data and Analytics, KoMarketing
Four Warning Content Localization Flags to Be Aware, Rank Ranger
Local & Maps
15 Best Tools for Local SEO, seoClarity
At Last, Online Travel Planning Is Becoming (a Little) Easier, New York Times
Mobile & Voice
Apple researching wearable glove input device, to simplify interactions with AR & VR, AppleInsider
SEO
How SEO Split-Testing Outperforms Untested Website Changes, SearchPilot
How to address irrelevant image thumbnails in SERP, Oncrawl
How to handle losing SEO tests, SearchPilot
Keyword Cannibalization: How to Find & Fix it, Conductor
Law Firm SEO: How to Leverage Search Engines to Get More Clients, Semrush
Putting local stadiums, aquariums, and museums on the map with Yoast Local SEO, Yoast
The fundamentals of site migrations for SEO, Wix SEO Hub
Screaming Frog SEO Spider Update – Version 17.0, Screaming Frog
How to Use Chrome to View a Website as Googlebot, Moz
PPC
Announcing v202208 of the Google Ad Manager API, Google Ads Developer Blog
Financial Services Advertising in Brazil, India, and Portugal (August 2022), Google Advertising Policies Help
Google Is Creating A Panel To Feed Its Conversion Models, AdExchanger
How To Find Long Tail Keywords, Go Fish Digital
AdExplainer: How To Use Attention Metrics, AdExchanger
Search Features
Bringing readers even more local news, Google Blog
Other Search
Making robots more helpful with language, Google Blog
Feedback:
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