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 Search Ranking Algorithm Update Signals On Wednesday
Over the past 24-hours or so, maybe piggy backing off the weekend update or maybe a tremor to a previous core update or maybe both, Google seems to be doing another ranking and algorithm update. The chatter is not massive but there are 100% folks noticing an update.
Google My Business Listings Drops Email Tooltip Feature – Bug or Feature?
When you saw a review from a “Google User” in your Google My Business listings, a local review from a user who has not set up a real Google account, you were able to hover your cursor over that name and it would show you an abridged version of the email address.
Google Change Of Address Tool: Merging Is Not Moving A Site
Google’s John Mueller said merging one site into another is not the same thing as a site moving from one domain to another. You should not use the change of address tool when doing a site merge, it should only be used when moving a site fully to a new domain.
Google Recipe Rich Results Image Disappearing For Some?
Back in July Google fixed a bug with recipe rich results but that bug may be resurfacing according to Lisa Bryan, a food blogger. She said starting around October 15th her site, and others, started to see the images of their recipes disappear from Google’s search results. Forcing a new crawl fixes the issue temporarily and then it may disappear again.
Google’s Weird Looking French Search Results
As you know, Google had to remove the full snippets from many Google France search results pages. So Google might just show a brief title and then a URL. But the description snippet portion for many sites is gone. It looks weird and Google knows it, they’ve been testing it and communicating about it.
Original Google Earth / Keyhole Team When They Were Acquired
Brian McClendon shared a photo last week of the original team that built Google Earth. Google acquired Keyhole 15 years ago and this is the photo they took of the team from that day. Brain said on Tw
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
A new series: Search for Beginners! Are you (or do you know someone) who is interested in learning the basics of creating an online presence? If so, then this new animated series is for YOU! Watch th, Google Webmasters on Twitter
I think even with verification there wouldn’t be much Search Console could do, other than remove the site completely — the site-move tool requires redirects to be in place. It’s a bad sit, John Mueller on Twitter
Well, search changes over time, the rest of the web changes over time. Not changing anything on your side doesn’t mean other parts of the "online world" don’t change., John Mueller on Twitter
Fake News Sites and "Authority", WebmasterWorld
It depends — all of these are organic search features. There are different signals that let us know when we might show individual search features. You can use SD to be eligible, but it does, John Mueller on Twitter
You need to move your hosting away from that raspberry pi first., John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
Conditional ads – customized ads made easy
Featured snippets display on desktop 13% more often than mobile, study finds
Video: Eric Enge on building and selling his SEO agency
Survey: 97% of online adults transact with businesses they find on Yelp
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Google Analytics: Introduction to Cross-device Reporting, Practical Ecommerce
Improve Google Analytics Bot Detection With reCAPTCHA, Simo Ahava’s blog
Using Google Data Studio to Calculate Statistical Significance, Anvil Analytics
Why CMOs Need to Be Trained in Tech in Order to Lead, The Coloring In Department
Industry & Business
Google Sweetens Search-Engine Remedy After EU Pressure, Wall Street Journal
The State of SEO Careers in 2020 and Beyond w/ Eli Schwartz, Siege Media
Google Accused of Creating Spy Tool to Monitor Employees, Bloomberg
Microsoft Q1 2020: Bing Search Business revenue makes surprise rebound, MSPoweruser
Links & Promotion Building
Discover Opportunities with Site Explorer Backlinks, Majestic Blog
Dofollow, Nofollow, Sponsored, UGC, SEO Book
Local & Maps
Why police are concerned over new Google Maps ‘speed trap’ location feature, ABC News
Mobile & Voice
Google Assistant Now Supports Cantonese on Android and within Actions on Google SDK, Voicebot
SEO
Google’s Top Search Results Spotlight a Narrowing of the Open Web, Bloomberg
Resolving Shopify Duplicate Content Between Collection & Product Pages, Path Interactive
PPC
Microsoft Advertising Masters: Retail-Staying ahead of the competition, Microsoft Advertising
Google crackdown on exploitative debt service ads, Your Money
Other Search
Developers: Get Ready for New SameSite=None; Secure Cookie Settings, Chromium Blog
Making support accessible: why Google joined Be My Eyes, Google Blog
Google testing gesture navigation for Chrome OS tablets, 9to5Google