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:
- Search Buzz Video Recap: Google 12/11 Algorithm Update, BERT Expanded, Google News Changes & Bing
This week, we may have had a larger Google update roll out around December 11th, before that a possible Google Analytics bug. Google expanded BERT to 70+ languages but still impacted 1 in 10 of queries for where it is implemented... - Google Local Panel With "X Minutes From Landmark"
Google can now show how far a specific location is from another nearby landmark. I know I've seen this with hotel search results but this is now showing for other local panels in web search. This was spotted by Dave DiGregorio and he shared it with me on Twitter. - Google Does Not Support Crawl Delay But Bing Does
Google's John Mueller said on Twitter that Google "never supported crawl-delay in robots.txt." Bing's Frédéric Dubut said on Twitter "Bingbot supports crawl-delay." That is not to say Google does not let you slow the crawl, you can and here is how. - Google: Speakable Markup Works Outside Of News Content
Danny Sullivan from Google confirmed that speakable markup now can work for content outside of Google News. Danny said on Twitter "Speakable is no longer restricted to news content; we'll be updating our documentation on this. However, using Speakable markup on any site isn't a guarantee that the Google Assistant will always use it. Speakable also remains a beta feature." - Google Search Console Showing Errors For Incorrectly Tagging URL With RDFa or Microdata
Google has started to show errors specifically with the rich results when implemented using RDFa or microdata that incorrectly tag a URL where a text value is expected are now shown as an error in the rich result report. This started on December 3, 2019 and will continue as it goes forward. - Googlers You Know Making Christmas Cookies
Here are photos from John Mueller and Martin Splitt of Google, where the team there is making Christmas cookies. It looks like they had a lot of fun making these cookies. I did not see any photos of
Other Great Search Forum Threads:
- Which SEO myths need to be buried, that you are sick of seeing and reading about? #SEOmythbusting", Bill Slawski on Twitter
- If you need to verify your site ownership in Google Search Console, you can do it in more ways than one - seven, in fact! Watch @danielwaisberg deep dive into each method (and more) on this week's episode of, Google Webmasters on Twitter
- Twitter Funding Research to Develop a Decentralized Standard for Social Media, WebmasterWorld
- The 2nd episode of my series is out! Learn more about the 7 ways to verify your site ownership on Search Console. https://t.co/GTzBU9t7AT, Daniel Waisberg on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- SMX Overtime: Managing your online business reviews
- Amazon ad spend rises over Cyber 5, but most efficient sales days still ahead
- Google brings ‘Interpreter Mode’ language translation to the Assistant on smartphones
- Conductor becomes an employee-owned firm after almost two years under WeWork
- Google showing product availability markup in image search results
- 2019 benchmark report: brand vs. non-brand traffic in Google Shopping
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- ‘Tis the Season for Reporting (And a New Mini Guide), Moz
- Google Analytics: 25 Tips That Will Boost Your Results, SH1FT
- How Google Analytics 360 Bridges the Marketing Gap, DELVE
- Why a working knowledge of Google Analytics is vital to digital marketers, The Drum
Industry & Business
- Google Culture War Escalates as Era of Transparency Wanes, Bloomberg
- Google's Waymo acquires Latent Logic, expands into Europe, Business Insider
- Google.org Fellows bring transparency to local jail data nationwide, Google Blog
Links & Promotion Building
- Content Audit Template, Distilled
Local & Maps
- Let Google be your holiday travel tour guide, Google Blog
Mobile & Voice
- Interpreter mode brings real-time translation to your phone, Google Blog
- Safer conversations in Messages with Verified SMS and Spam Protection, Google Blog
SEO
- Anatomy of Top Performing Articles: Successful vs. Invisible Content, SEM Rush
- Question About Woo-commerce Store and SEO Best Practice, WebmasterWorld
- Takeaways from Google's Webmaster Conference in Zurich, Dixon Jones
- The Ultimate Guide to Proper Youtube Video Tagging, Internet Marketing Ninjas
- What Is Google Discover & How Can You Optimize For It?, Botify
- Google Webmaster Hangout Notes: December 10th 2019, DeepCrawl
- Spectator to Partner: Turn Your Clients into SEO Allies - Best of Whiteboard Friday, Moz
PPC
- AdFormat Change in AdWords API and Google Ads scripts Starting January 31, 2020, Google Ads Developer Blog
- AI For PPC Is Only Useful If You Use External Tools, PPC Hero
- Analyzing Google’s Holiday Shopping Experience Search Data, Search Metrics
- Competitor Keyword Bidding On Trial, Location3 Media
Search Features
- 7 ways Google Lens can be helpful during the holidays, Google Blog
- Get into the holiday spirit with Google, Google Blog
- Here’s what music and sports fans searched for in 2019, Google Blog
Other Search
- Screen surfers, unite: 2019 TV and movie Search trends, Google Blog
- Searching for style: trending fashion searches in 2019, Google Blog
