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:
Vlog #13: Joy Hawkins On Local Ranking Factors, Google Maps & Local SEO
In episode #13 of the vlog series at the Search Engine Roundtable I interviewed Joy Hawkins (@JoyanneHawkins). Joy Hawkins been doing local SEO for over 13 years, all local…
Google Confirms Featured Snippets Anchors & Highlights Feature On Desktop
On Friday we reported that Google was testing an AMP feature on desktop without AMP. This feature will take a searcher from a click on a featured snippet to that web site, anchor that user down to the appropriate text and highlight that text.
Google: Web Site Traffic Is Not A Ranking Factor
Want some pure myth busting from Google? Well, here it is. Google’s official Google Webmaster Twitter account said “traffic to a website isn’t a ranking factor.” This is in response to an SEO asking if it is.
Moving To A New Domain To Escape A Google Penalty Might Not Work Says Google
This isn’t exactly new, news – I covered this in 2014, but with the news around Dejan getting hit badly by a manual action, his plan is to move to a new domain and not redirect the old domain to the new. But John Mueller from Google rained on his parade, if you can call it a parade, by saying Google will find you.
Google Wizard of Oz Easter Egg
When you do a search for [wizard of oz] in Google on desktop or mobile and then click on the the red shoes to make them click three times, a barrel roll happens in the search results and much more.
Martin Splitt Laptop Headbang
Here is a GIF I made from the latest Google webmaster hangout of Google’s Martin Splitt taking his laptop and soften doing a headbang with it. It was a question around link juice of course.
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
@karpidis_int Hi Andreas! In general, 307 is what Chrome shows when a HTTPS site with HSTS is accessed as HTTP — it’s not actually a redirect, it just skips the HTTP version directly. Most sites use 301 redirects to inform, Google Webmasters on Twitter
Baidu stock surges despite 62% profit drop, WebmasterWorld
You seem to be loading the video via an iframe from a page with a robots noindex block on it, which I imagine is making it difficult for us to determine what title to show for it. You might try other ways of embeddi, Danny Sullivan on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
How brick-and-mortar retailers can succeed on Amazon
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
TMAI #177: Smart Analytics Suggestions, 3., Mad Mimi
Data Studio Showdown: Dashboards vs Reports, PPC Hero
Navigating the Google Ad Data Transfer for BigQuery, Bounteous
Industry & Business
Google bans political discussion on internal mailing lists, CNBC
Report: Google has dropped to number three for smart speaker shipments, Android Authority
Links & Promotion Building
6 Link Building Opportunities That Big Brands Often Miss, Search Engine Journal
Local & Maps
Google Local Testing Splitting CTA’s From Main Business Profile on Mobile, Mike Blumenthal
Google Maps fake locations are very satisfying to find and make., Slate
Google Maps in Android Auto adds some helpful new buttons, Android Police
Mobile & Voice
LG’s smart home app adds voice control through Google Assistant, Engadget
SEO
How Google may do Query Rewriting by Looking at a Searcher’s Prior Queries, Go Fish Digital
Lead Volume vs. Lead Quality By RuthBurrReedy, Moz
PPC
Restricting Payments account usage across manager account hierarchies, Google Ads Developer Blog
What to Do When your Campaign is Limited by Budget, Seer Interactive
Search Features
AI-powered grammar tools from Google and others make sentence-parsing a thing of the past. Parents and teachers wonder if kids will suffer., The Washington Post
ARCore renamed to Google Play Services for AR, adds support for Note10 and more devices, Android Police
