Google: Links Are Not Mandatory For Ranking In Google Search
Google’s John Mueller said again that having links to your site is not a requirement and not mandatory for ranking in Google Search. He said this back in 2015 as well, but said again in 2021 that links are not a requirement to rank.
Daily Search Forum Recap: December 14, 2021
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 said its ads platform is not impacted or affected by the Log4j 2 vulnerability, but if you use API…
Google Maps Busy Area Now Live
A few weeks ago, Google announced a new feature named busy area – well, that feature now seems to be rolling out. Several folks started to notice this roll out over the past few days. When you are looking at the Google Maps app, Google will show you i…
Google Search Console Review Snippets Report May Show Fewer Objects
Google said that as of December 14th and onwards that the reviews snippet rich results report in Google Search Console may show fewer review objects. This is because Google is no longer showing top-level rating objects in this report.
Bing Tests Translating Your Query
Microsoft Bing seems to be testing a feature to translate your query. Frank Sandtmann sent me a screenshot of Bing in Germany where it offers the option to translate his English query to German.
Google Ads Not Affected By Log4j 2 Vulnerability
Over the past few days you may have heard about Log4j and a major vulnerability that allowed hackers to attack unpatched Apache servers – if not, click here to learn more. Google has posted that Google Ads and Google Marketing Platform are not using v…
Google Search Testing Empty Design Search Box
It looks like Google is testing a more empty style for its search bar. The search bar has no apparent box to enter your query after your query is in the box (that you don’t exactly see). It also changes some of the icons to gray without color.
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Google May Finish Mobile-First Indexing Switch Over By July 2022
As you know, Google has dropped its deadline to switch all sites to mobile-first indexing after missing its self-directed deadlines multiple times in the past. But John Mueller of Google said in a video on Friday that he is guessing that Google will f…
Google Search Full Width Image Pack Results Interface Live
It seems like Google also has made the full width image pack results live over the past few days. Brodie Clark said this went live when Google went live with the full width local pack and map results. I did not ask Google for confirmation but it seem…
Google Full Width Autocomplete Search Suggestions
Google has been testing showing more in the autocomplete search suggestions drop down bar as you type since September 2020 and then more so again in August 2021. Now it seems like the full width autocomplete search suggestions with people also ask and…
Official: Google Now Allows Hotels To Use Google Posts
In July we saw a number of hotels and hospitality business listings say they are seeing the ability to use Google Posts but Google we were told it might be a bug and not a feature. Well, it was a feature Google was testing, because now hotels can use G…
Google Search Ranking Tracking Tools Continue Showing Major Volatility
Pretty much all the tools that automatically track the volatility and changes in the Google search results are still showing major volatility. It is unusual because the November core update should be long done and the product reviews update shouldn’t …
Vlog #150: Joseph Goldsmith On Impressions Of SEO Personalities & These Vlogs
In part one, we spoke about Joseph Goldsmith and video production topics. In part two, we spoke about his views of SEO as a video guy. In part three, I asked him about his impressions about SEO personalities and the SEO industry…
Google Investigating Mass Notices From Search Console Coverage Issue Redirect Errors
Over the past 24 hours or so, Google has sent me dozens of notices from sites I have verified Google Search Console properties with. The notices say “New Coverage issue detected” and the specific error is a “redirect error.” Google said it is looking …
Google SafeSearch Filter Removed After A Month & New SafeSearch Notice
Google has told us that you want to avoid buying a domain name that was filtered by the Google SafeSearch adult filter. Well, servers.com had this issue and after asking Google to remove the filter, Google did so in about a month of time. Plus, Google…
Alexa.com Going Away – Old Tool SEOs Used To Predict Google Rankings
Back in the early 2000s we use to cover Alexa, an Amazon related website ranking service here a lot. SEOs use it like they used PageRank, and how they now use Domain Authority or other third party website measurement services. Well, Amazon is shutting …
Google: Category Or Topic Name In URL Slug Is Not Important For SEO
Google’s John Mueller said putting the category name or topic name in your URL slug has zero impact on your rankings. I am not 100% sure if he really meant ZERO but he used a GIF that says ZERO.
Official: Google Moves Local Pack Results Higher & Map On Right Side
After many months of testing, Google has confirmed it is moving the local pack results to the top and the map on the right of those local results on desktop search. Google said the search company “expects this to be broadly available over the coming w…
Microsoft Advertising Bing Search Ads New Asian, Latin, Women Owned & Diabetic-Friendly Attributes
In September, Microsoft Advertising added 32 new attributes for its Bing Search Ads, and now, Microsoft added four more new attributes. These new attributes include Asian-owned, Latin-owned, Women-owned and Diabetic-friendly to be added to your Bing s…
Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Product Reviews Update Analysis, Google Local Ranking Update, Top Stories Redesign, Google Ads Spend Bug & More
This week, I did a bit of a look at what we are seeing around this big December 2021 Google products reviews update. I also spoke about a possible, unconfirmed, Google local search ranking update. Google also rolled out a new design for the local pac…