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 Tests Large Slideshow Images For Local Pack Results
Google is testing large images that you can swipe through in a slideshow mode for the local pack results. We saw this being tested for hotel related results but now some are seeing it for normal local results as well.
Is GoogleBot Able Scroll Down Your Page?
Another debate came up based on what Google’s Gary Illyes said at PubCon and what Google’s John Mueller said previously. Gary Illyes said GoogleBot is not able to scroll down your page, whereas John Mueller said GoogleBot can scroll a bit.
Google: We Render 98% Of Crawled Pages But It Can Take Weeks
Google’s Gary Illyes said at PubCon that they are able to fully render 98% or more of the web pages they crawl. With that he also added rendering takes longer than normal crawling and indexing. He said it can take days to a few weeks to fully render a page from the time it was crawled.
Google: Do Not Use Hashtags In URLs
You know I just reported yesterday that Google’s John Mueller confirmed that the AJAX crawling scheme has really been deprecated. The same day, Gary Illyes from Google in one of his slides at PubCon said “no # in URLs” and said on stage “do not use hashtags in URLs.”
Google Supports Noscript Tag For Images But Not Sure About Web Content?
Yesterday at PubCon, Gary Illyes from Google said you can use the noscript tag as a way to give Google more content around your lazy loaded images. I was always under the impression that Google ignored the noscript tag, at least for the past few years. In fact, John Mueller said it as recently as the other day.
Chrometoberfest Cake
I am not sure what Chrometoberfest is but someone at the Google office baked a blue cake with it printed in white frosting on it. It says Chrometoberfest on the cake – so maybe it is a new thing?
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
Breathtaking! You have some serious talent. 😃…, Bing on Twitter
Chrome 70 Released for for Windows, Mac, and Linux, WebmasterWorld
Google’s @methode refused to talk about Google algorithm updates, he said talk to @searchliaison about those #pubcon, Barry Schwartz on Twitter
Now with a simple search on the Map, you can find electric vehicle (EV) charging stations near you: 🔋🚘👌 → https://t.co/wNyNb6BUza… https://t.co/7t4c1LFbvm, Google Maps on Twitter
Google Lifts Restrictions Over Android Pre-Installed Services, WebmasterWorld
Have Apps Killed/Killing Traditional Websites Especially On Mobile?, WebmasterWorld
Search Engine Land Stories:
5 ways ignoring SEO could affect your bottom line
Editor’s note: Congratulations, Barry Schwartz, Search Personality of the Year
Is Google rolling out a new more graphics-heavy design for local pack results?
Google My Business Insights adds branded search reporting
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Send event nonInteraction field as custom dimension to Google Analytics, Mikko Piippo
Industry & Business
Google’s China search engine would stain reputation, Yahoo Finance
SearchLove 2018 – Event Recap – Part 1, DeepCrawl
Local & Maps
25 Words That Will Cause Your Google Posts to Fail and Filter Your Google Reviews., Sterling Sky Inc
A better way to share your ETA with Google Maps, Google Blog
Mobile & Voice
Google Assistant shopping adds Best Buy and Nike, 9to5Google
SEO
23 SEO & Search Takeaways from Google’s Gary Illyes, Search Engine Journal
Recent Search Results Findings: Your SERP Features Roundup, Seer Interactive
BrightEdge Recommendations: Taking Your SEO to the Next Level, BrightEdge SEO Blog
What Are The Top Sites In The World & Where Does Yours Rank?, RankRanger
What is this little thing we call the Visibility Index?, SISTRIX
WWW vs Non-WWW Preferred Domain Name URL | Which One Is Better?, Cognitive SEO
PPC
Changes to the URL Performance Report for YouTube video placements, Google Ads Developer Blog
Announcing The Art and Science of broad match on Bing Ads webcast, Bing Ads Blog
