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 has confirmed that it made a change to show your HTML title tags 87% of the time versus 80% of the time since it made the change a month ago – I wonder what it was previously. Google said making changes to your site for accessibility reasons wont result in a penalty. Google said a mobile intrusive interstitial penalty won’t lead to indexing issues, it will lead to ranking issues. Google said the sitemap ping tool does indeed still work. I also posted the weekly SEO video recap. Have a good weekend.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Long Ranking Update, Title Improvements, SEO & Quality & More
Last weekend we saw a long and large Google search ranking update lasting for about four days…
Google: We Now Use Titles 87% Of The Time vs 80% & Here Is Why
I’ve been asking Google for a month now how big of a change was the title change – where did it go from and to? Well, Google did tell us it uses HTML title tags 80% of the time but it didn’t tell us what that number was before. Now Google changed it to use it 87% of the time. What was it before the change, I am not sure.
Google: We Don’t Do Anything Special For All -Caps Headings
Google’s John Mueller said on Twitter that he doesn’t think that Google does “anything special with all-caps headings.” So if you want to shout your headlines in UPPERCASE, go for it.
Yes, The Google Sitemap Ping Tool Still Works
Google’s John Mueller was asked on Twitter if the sitemap ping tool still works or not. John said that he is “not aware of any changes there, and the URL seems to be responding to get requests as usual.” In fact, the official documentation still has this as an option.
Google: Intrusive Interstitials Don’t Impact Indexing But Can Impact Ranking
Google’s John Mueller said on Twitter that mobile intrusive interstitial elements won’t generally impact indexing but it can have a ranking impact. This goes back to the old Google Intrusive Interstitials Mobile penalty.
Google: Accessibility Site Changes Aren’t Against Our Webmaster Guidelines
Google’s John Mueller made it sound like making site changes in the spirit of accessibility won’t result in a Google penalty or violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. John said on Twitter “I don’t see a problem.”
Acrobats At Google Kirkland, Seattle
Here is a photo of a group of acrobats from the Down To Earth Aerials outside of Google’s Seattle office doing their thing. I found this on Instagram over the weekend. Here is also a video of them in
Search Engine Land Stories:
Google explains why it made the title change to the search results
5 ways data can help you understand your buyer’s journey now
How to test your content site strategy for continued improvement
More Google Ads campaign changes this month; Thursday’s daily brief
This isn’t just any tech event…
Google Ads will combine Smart and standard Display campaigns
Why SEO right now?
New technology from Apple & others help me plug in; Wednesday’s daily brief
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
58% of Hacker News, Reddit and tech-savvy audiences block Google Analytics, Plausible Analytics
Marketers Continue to Struggle With Data Quality & Strategy, KoMarketing
Google urges holding companies to buy analytics firms, Ad Age
Industry & Business
Google hosting Search On 2021 livestream keynote Sep 29, 9to5Google
Google’s support of the news industry in Japan, Google Blog
Tech Giants Used ‘Loopholes’ to Duck Merger Reviews, FTC Says, Bloomberg
Links & Content Marketing
Why You Can’t “Test” Content Marketing, Siege Media
How to update your content in 10 steps (and make it better), Yoast
Local & Maps
Amanda Jordan: What Local SEO Demands Now, Street Fight
Celebrating Latinx Heritage Month with Google Maps, Local Guides Connect
Google Maps weird voice bug swaps Indian accent randomly, 9to5Google
Mobile & Voice
Apple TV and HomePod gain support for Italian Siri with tvOS 15, 9to5Mac
SEO
9 Trendy Podcasts In Technical SEO And Data Science, OnCrawl
Black Friday: Last minute SEO fixes to ensure success, Builtvisible
How to Make Sure Your Writing Meets Top SEO Standards, Jeff Bullas
SEO Website Migration Guide, BruceClay
What is Schema Markup & 6 Easy Types for Small Business, WordStream
Core Web Vitals is a ranking factor, SISTRIX data
How Our Website Conversion Strategy Increased Business Inquiries by 37%, Moz
More Words Does Not Mean More Traffic or Better SEO, Adam Riemer
SEO Split-Testing [Case Study] “Moving Description on Category Pages”, Semrush
Tackling 8,000 Title Tag Rewrites: A Case Study, Moz
What is Google Discover & How Do You Optimize For It?, Seer Interactive
PPC
Google Ads announces new Display campaigns, Google Blog
How to Prepare for Google’s New International Ad Taxes Starting Oct 1, Amsive Digital
AdSense Management API v1.4 Sunset Reminder, Google Ads Developer Blog
Changes to Google Search Terms Report: What to Know (& Do!), WordStream
Google to Sunset Expanded Text Ads, Making Responsive Search Ads the Way of the Future, Tinuiti
Search Features
Google.com dark mode is rolling out to everyone, Ars Technica
Other Search
Toward Fast and Accurate Neural Networks for Image Recognition, Google AI Blog
Feedback:
Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, you can follow us on Facebook and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel or just contact us the old fashion way.
Note: This was pre-written and scheduled to be posted today, I am currently offline for Yom Kippur.
