Daily Search Forum Recap: October 16, 2023

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.

We are seeing big swings with the Google search rankings this weekend, the second big batch of Google volatility since the release of the core and spam updates. Google is testing the Discover feed on the desktop home page. Google drops the host group documentation from its visual elements gallery. Google is going to consolidate local search photos guidelines. Google Search now lets you set your food preferences. Plus, I posted another vlog with Chris Long on SEO strategy and testing.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Google October Core Update Heated Weekend Volatility
We are seeing high levels of volatility and SEO industry chatter over the weekend, starting late Friday, October 13th, through Saturday and Sunday. I suspect this is from the Google October 2023 core update and maybe some movement from the Google October 2023 spam update, but less from the spam update.

Google Drops Host Groups From Visual Elements Gallery Since Indented Results Are Gone
Last week, we learned that Google officially dropped indented results from its search results interface. With that Google, on Friday, removed the “Host group” section from its visual elements gallery help document.

Google Tests Discover Feed On Google Home Page
Google is testing the Google Discover feed on the Google.com desktop home page interface. This test is currently in India, Google confirmed, and is just an experiment. Google’s Discover feed shows in the Google mobile app and you can turn it on within the mobile browser interface but Google kept the desktop interface clean, until now.

Google Consolidating Local Search Photos Guidelines
Google will make the “existing Local Services Ads photos guidelines on the same page as the Local Services platform policies,” the search company announced. This goes into effect on November 13, 2023.

Google Search Set Your Food Preferences For Restaurant Results
Google Search is testing a gear setting icon on its local places results to let you set your food preferences. This setting would then show you restaurant results that better match those food preferences.
Vlog #245: Chris Long On SEO Strategy & SEO Testing

In part one, we learned about Chris Long and his experience working with Bill Slawski. Then, in part two, we spoke about helping people with SEO on LinkedIn and using Facebook for a career change. Now, in part three…

Cool Google Sneakers
We have posted tons of different pictures of various Google shoes and sneakers here before. But here are pretty cool ones. They look like Nikes, with the Google logo, Google colors, the dinosaur, bin

Other Great Search Threads:

Best Way to Remove “Located in”?, Local Search Forum
Google Ads serving/spending issue finally resolved after a few days, Barry Schwartz on X
Noticed two “People Also Searched For” sections on Google Mobile search. Bug or feature/, Shameem Adhikarath on X
SGE also shows the Reviews Mention snippet for you tube video we have seen for local businesses as well as., Khushal Bherwani on X
FYI if you’re using WordPress with the Simple SEO plugin, John Mueller on Bluesky
Ahrefs is preparing to stop renewing around 15% of legacy subscriptions consuming the most data so we can serve everyone else better. Somewhere around 2 years ago, account sharing and data scraping became a big issue, Dmytro Gerasymenko on X
Helpful Content Update, by Ad Network In our database, we have these # of sites: – 7,186 Mediavine – 3,658 AdThrive/Raptive – 774 Ezoic – 331 Freestar How many were hit by the Helpful Content Update?* Let’s do Mediavine first., Mike Futia on X
Seems reasonable to block those who scrape against your wishes., John Mueller on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

Google Ads serving/spending issue resolved after almost 3 days
The latest jobs in search marketing
What is RGSP? Google’s Randomized Generalized Second-Price ad auctions explained
How communication issues prevent you from getting buy-in for SEO
5 reasons Amazon Ads is better than Google Ads for ecommerce

Feedback:

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