This week, Google confirmed the November local search update and said the reason for the changes were because Google added neural matching to local search for the first time. Google may have also done a small Google search core update this week. I posted the monthly Google webmaster report. Google updated the Search Console messaging interface and I like it. Google News Publisher Center might have a bug with the inclusion request. Google said BERT does not impact indexing. Google said it is not about the type of page but the quality of the page. Google can handle some seriously heavy JavaScript, so don’t worry. Google commented about the need for SEO. Google said they can ignore links from sites as a whole. Google is testing package delivery right in search. Google Images dropped the custom date range filter. Google Ads added examinations beta and a way to share keyword planner ideas. Larry Page and Sergey Brin stepped down as CEO of Alphabet and put Sundar Pichai in charge. I posted a vlog with Jeff Selig from Overdrive Interaction. And this week was my 16th anniversary on writing about search. That was this week in search at the Search Engine Roundtable.

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Search Topics of Discussion:
Google Confirmed The November 2019 Google Local Update – Here Is What We Know
December 4th Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update. Maybe?
December 2019 Google Webmaster Report
Google Updates Search Quality Raters Guidelines On December 5th
Google Search Console Updates Messaging Interface
Google News Publisher Center Request Inclusion Feature Broken?
Google: BERT Does Not Affect Indexing
Google: Type Of Page Less Important Than Quality Of The Page
Google: Only Insane CPU Usage Will Limit How It Renders JavaScript
Do Effective & Efficient Web Sites Really Need SEO?
Google: We Ignore Links From Sites Where Links Are Unlikely To Be Natural
Google Tests Package Tracking Directly In Search With Opt In
Google Images Dropped Custom Date Range Filter
Google Ads Explanations Beta; Explains Large Performance Changes
Google Keyword Planner Now Lets You Share Keyword Plans
Larry Page & Sergey Brin Hand Sundar Pichai CEO Role For Both Alphabet & Google
Vlog #29: Jeff Selig On Early SEO Days, Google Algorithms, International SEO & More
16 Years Covering The Search Industry

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