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Barry Schwartz's latest articles
Google Search Console recipe rich result report adds two new properties
Google added recipeInstructions and recipeIngredient and thus you may see an increase in warnings for recipe items.
Google Search turned off some event rich results
Google says you may see a drop in clicks and impressions for your event search appearance reported metrics in your performance report.
Bing Webmaster Tools gains new IndexNow Insights & top SEO insights report
IndexNow now reached 2.5 billion submitted URLs and accounts for 17% of its clicked on web search results.
Google releasing massive search quality enhancements in March 2024 core update and multiple spam updates
The Google helpful content update is now part of the core update; all of this leading to a 40% reduction in unhelpful content within search.
Google Business Profile websites are now redirected to Google Maps
Eventually these redirects will go away and the website URLs will lead users to a dead end.
New Google structured data carousels (beta)
Google has new documentation on what it also called host carousels within Google Search.
Google Chrome updates search suggestions
Google Chrome will now show you what others are searching for in the search box and search suggestions will show more image thumbnails.
Google removes option to see more local results in the search results
It is unclear if this was intentionally removed or if this is a bug that Google will fix soon.
Article complaining about being outranked on Google being outranked by Reddit
Google responds that it wants to do better with ranking smaller sites amongst larger sites, only to see that article being outranked by a larger site.
Google adds support for product variants and clarifies return fees
The new product variants has three new properties; hasVariant, variesBy and productGroupID.
Google wants you to label AI-generated images used in Merchant Center
"Don't remove embedded metadata tags such as trainedAlgorithmicMedia from such images," Google wrote.
Google’s new search experiences in the European Economic Area
Due to the DMA, Google has launched new rich results, aggregator units, refinement chips and flight results.
Featured snippets disappear from the Google search results
Did Google intentionally remove the featured snippets or is this a new bug?
Google local pack not showing for many searchers
In some regions outside of the US, some are seeing local packs in the Google search results but in many regions they are not.
Google says it took down 45% more fake reviews in 2023 thanks to new algorithm
Google also shared new stats on actions it took in 2023 to block fake reviews and local listings.
Google drops Web Stories from image results, Google Discover carousel view and more
Google changed where Web Stories show in Google Search and Google Discover - a long time coming...
Bing Deep Search is rolling out to more users
Microsoft previewed Deep Search in December 2023 and now it seems more users are able to see it.
Google revamps SEO Starter Guide to focus on a starter audience
The Google SEO starter guide also has been significantly cut down and shortened. Here's what's changed and why.
Google Search officially retires cache link
Google might add links to the Wayback Machine in place of the cache link.
Google Search resolves indexing issue after 7 days
Starting at around 11:30 pm ET Monday, January 31, some sites noticed indexing issues with Google Search.
Google Core Web Vitals to add Interaction to Next Paint on March 12
We now know the specific date as to when Google will replace FID with INP as a Core Web Vitals metric.
Some advertisers are unable to access Google Ads
Google has confirmed it is investigating reports of these issues and is working on a fix.
Google performance reports updates how it counts clicks and impressions for job listing and detail pages
No changes were made to Google Search, this is just a reporting change.
Google confirms a search ranking bug where sites disappear from search results over the weekend
"We're aware of a very narrow issue that caused temporary fluctuations in search results for a small number of websites. The issue has since been resolved, and the sites should no longer be seeing its effects," a Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land.
Google to cut thousands of search quality rater jobs after dropping contract with Appen
Appen says the termination notice goes into affect on March 19, 2024.
Google shows off Circle to Search and new AI-multisearch experience
Google Search keeps getting more interactive with the user experience for searching.
Google to change European search results to show comparison sites
Some vertical search features may show up less in Europe, such as Google Flights.
New research study asks if Google Search is getting worse
It seems more like a game of Whac-A-Mole, where the results get better, than worse, and then better as Google releases updates.
Microsoft launches Copilot Pro for $20 per month per user
Copilot Pro gives you the latest features and best models that Microsoft AI has to offer.
The list of features being removed from Google Assistant
Google said these changes are to "focus on quality and reliability" but Google has also fired hundreds of employees with these changes.
Google Search home page broken on Android devices using Firefox
Google confirmed the issue some mobile users seeing a blank home page and is working on a fix.
Googlebot crawl rate tool is now gone
You can no longer set your desired crawl rate within Google Search Console.
Google says search result snippets primarily come from page content, not other sources
Google removed references to rich results the snippet control help document.
Google algorithm updates 2023 in review: Core, reviews, helpful content, spam and beyond
In 2023, we had nine official and confirmed Google algorithm updates - which was one less than the previous two years.
Google Search is investigating reports of delayed indexing issues
Google said it is "working on identifying the root cause" that is affecting a "small number of sites."
Google local search ranking algorithm strengthens ‘openness’ signal
If your business isn't open 24/7, Google does not recommend you change your business listing to be open 24 hours per day.
Google November 2023 reviews update now done rolling out
This update will be the last time Google has confirmed a reviews update.
Data providers: Google November 2023 core update was more volatile than the October 2023 core update
Keep in mind, the November 2023 Reviews update overlapped with this core update and is still rolling out.
Google Search Console to stop reporting on product results search in performance reports
This e-commerce related search reporting will end next month, in January 2024, Google said.