We hope you are in good health. Here are some of the major SEO news updates of the week you need to know:
Search Related Updates and News from Major Search Engines
Google releases a guide to active and past ranking systems
With the aid of a new guide to Google’s ranking techniques, you can learn which algorithms the search engine giant uses to rank search results and which ones are no longer in use.
In its most recent guidance, Google also uses new language to distinguish between ranking “systems” and ranking “updates.” One system that is constantly running in the background is RankBrain. On the other hand, an update refers to a one-time change to ranking structures.
Google Maps are testing new Sidebar Navigation
Google is developing new, thin sidebar navigation on the left side of the maps interface. The explore tab, trips, saved places, contribute, and more icons are all located in the sidebar after the Google Maps pin icon. Punit noticed this and shared a video showing the new sidebar in use on Mastodon and Twitter.
Google: The final group of websites switching to mobile-first indexing will roll soon, once more
Google’s John Mueller reiterated that the final group of websites still utilizing desktop crawling will switch to mobile-first indexing “soon.” The remaining batches of sites are also arriving soon, John stated on Twitter.
Google is looking for examples of URLs that should be indexed but are currently not
Gary Illyes is back on social media, this time on Mastodon rather than Twitter, and he asked for examples of URLs that you believe should be indexed but are now showing as Discovered, not indexed in Google Search Console.
Google: Every Query is a Candidate For E-A-T
Out of the SMX interview with Hyung-Jin Kim, The Coati algorithm was revealed to us last week, but Hyung-Jin Kim also informed us that E-A-T is employed in each and every query, as well as in all aspects of Google Search. The purpose of E-A-T, he continued, is to “ensure that the content that people consume is going to be, is not going to be harmful, and it is going to be useful to the user.”
PPC Related Updates and News
Account managers for Google Ads shouldn’t speak with clients directly
Online stories of Google Ads account managers threatening to call clients directly even though they aren’t allowed to are multiplying. According to the claims, Google representatives have threatened to contact clients personally if agencies don’t reply to emails from Google Ads account managers. The Google Ads account managers have been known to phone clients and request that they stop using their agencies.
Social Media Updates and News
Quizzes & Photo Editing Added to Community Posts on YouTube
With the advent of photo editing capabilities and interactive quizzes, YouTube is providing creators with additional tools to use when creating community posts. Updates in the social media format known as “community posts” are accessible to YouTube channels with 500 subscribers or more. On channel pages under the Community tab and in users’ recommendation feeds, YouTube displays posts.
TikTok promotion on Bing in search results
TikTok video results appear to be being promoted by Microsoft Bing in the Bing search results. If you search for a particular video, Bing may add a box with the words “Short videos of X” and a “from TikTok” button to the left of the video search results box. Frank Sandtmann saw this and shared this GIF on Mastodon.