Daily Search Forum Recap: May 4, 2020

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:

• Vlog #65: Aaron Friedman On Content Ideas & Small Things In SEO
  Aaron Friedman (LinkedIn) went from being an agency SEO to working at a data software company. I've known Aaron for many years - since 2009...
• More Google Question Hub Screen Shots
  We've been reporting on the Google Question Hub a lot recently, because it is not being tested in the US. But yea, it is not new, it launched in 2018 as a test and went fully live in India and some other regions in 2019. So we have some screen shots of it from then, but here are some more from Albert Albs.
• Google Ads: We Blocked Over 5,000 Ads Per Minute
  Google posted some of their Google Ads preventative measures from 2019 saying they blocked over 5,000 bad ads per minute last year. Google blocked and removed 2.7 billion bad ads, suspended nearly 1 million advertiser accounts, terminated over 1.2 million publisher accounts and removed ads from over 21 million publisher web pages.
• Google: No, We Have Not Slowed Crawling Because Of COVID-19
  I am not sure where this is coming from but this is the second time I am covering a topic about Google slowing crawling and indexing because of COVID-19 and the coronavirus. I covered it a few weeks ago and now John Mueller of Google had to say again, that Google is not slowing crawling sites because of this virus outbreak.
• Google: There Is More To Rankings Than Just Quality
  Gary Illyes from Google said on Twitter "there's more to ranking than just quality." He added a fact, that Google uses "hundreds of signals to offer users the most relevant piece of content for their query." Sometimes other ranking signals can push a lesser quality page above the higher quality page in the Google search results.
• Teacher Appreciation Week Google Logo
  While Bing has a background to celebrate Star Wars Day, i.e. May 4th, Google has a Doodle to kick off Teacher appreciation week. The Doodle highlights not just typical teacher work but also doing it while at home over video conferencing.
• Google Zurich Number 100 Doors
  Google has these fun doors at its Zurich office. It read 100, but then has a ton of Google colored 0s floating around. This door is not new but I am running out of photos to share from Google offices

Other Great Search Forum Threads:

• May 2020 AdSense Earnings and Observations, WebmasterWorld
• Some cool changes coming to https://t.co/QdUuz0ZHcT - thanks, @danbri ! https://t.co/xHjxxwZVvs, John Mueller on Twitter
• Google Console Speed vs PageSpeed Insights (more info whoops), WebmasterWorld
• It's sometimes challenging :). I don't have any general tips on how to measure success for your site, that's generally something that depends on your site, its contents, and your audience, John Mueller on Twitter
• Ransomware Reports at S.E.C. Up To Over 700 in 2020 Already, WebmasterWorld
• The ease of creating and sharing content has been an important part of the web since the very beginning. I hope it never changes!, John Mueller on Twitter

Search Engine Land Stories:

• 17 ways PPC can help your business survive economic crisis
• 3 ways digital marketing agencies will change due to COVID-19
• How Marketing Teams Can Create Order During A Time Of Chaos
• Search insights and shifting consumer behaviors and trends during COVID-19
• What SEOs can learn from COVID rankings volatility [Video]
• Amazon’s ad revenue growth held steady in Q1: What it means for advertisers now

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

• Measuring & Communicating Major Changes with Digital Metrics, Bounteous

Industry & Business

• Responding to the revised publisher code process in Australia, Official Google Australia Blog

Links & Content Marketing

• Link Building Techniques: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Search Engine Journal

Local & Maps

• Google My That's cool is it very cool and socially distance from your plants number two record nice break Business Websites Pass 36 Million Created – Why Should You Care?, Mike Blumenthal

Mobile & Voice

• Google Assistant sleep timer is broken for some users, 9to5Google

SEO

• SEO-friendly Pagination Strategies for Ecommerce, SEM Rush
• Stand out in Search with FAQ Rich Results, Schema App Tools
• The 17 Best Free SEO Tools You Should Use in 2020, SEM Rush
• How We Ranked a Single Page for 2.6K Keywords Driving 30K Monthly Searches [Case Study], Moz
• JavaScript SEO Office Hours Notes: April 8th 2020, DeepCrawl

PPC

• Google Merchant Center Releases Price Competitiveness Insights, Merkle

Other Search

• To every teacher, thank you times infinity, Google Blog