From Search Console to JavaScript, we have a load of great Google SEO tips this week, a couple small aesthetic changes to the Search Results Page, and some new features in Google Ads and Bing Ads.
Still Feeling The Effects Of The March 12th Core Update
People are still talking on forums about how their rankings are fluctuating pretty uncontrollably. The tools seem to show that we are in fact still feeling some aftershocks from the core update on March 12th.
Google Having Many Ranking Factors Allows For SEOs To Compete Without All Doing The Same Thing
One SEO questioned on Reddit why a competitor was above him in Google rankings, yet had a pagespeed score of F. Google considers a lot of things when ranking pages, and a perfect pagespeed score is not necessarily going to beat out things like quality content or quality backlinks.
Links That Aren’t Shown In Search Console Are Probably Pretty Irrelevant
Google’s Search Console link reports only show you a handful of links, and one SEO asked on Reddit whether any links that don’t show there mattered. Google said that in general, if their systems don’t show you a link, it’s probably not too important.
Google Knows When Their New Rendering Engine Will Be Released, But Won’t Tell Us
Google’s rendering engine has been coming closer to that of Google Chrome, and it seems like this update will come soon. Google says that they know the date it will be released, but won’t tell us at the moment.
Google Is Testing New Icons In Search
A new set of icons is showing up next to certain sections in the search results page. These new icons are showing up next to Maps, Images, Videos, and News sections in the search results page.
301 Redirects Themselves Are Not Considered Links To Google
The main purpose of a 301 redirect is basically to point to a canonical. The 301’d URL itself is not considered a link, however the redirection target URL can be seen as being a link in it’s place.
Google Is Testing A New Image Search Preview Screen
Seen here, a new image preview within Image Search is showing up. This new preview is significantly more compact than the existing one, being tucked away to the side instead of filling the whole screen.
Cross-Device Conversion Data Coming To Google Ads Attribution Reports
Right now, device conversion data is relegated only to device reports, leading to inconsistencies across various attribution reports. The change will keep the numbers consistent across the various reports.
New Action Extensions Added To Bing Ads
The new Action Extension feature has 70 pre-defined CTA buttons for you to choose from. You can set this button to go to a different URL than the ad’s URL, and are charged the same as normal ad clicks.
Google Assistant Is Not Disclosing Advertisements In Search Results
Google is legally required to disclose what is and isn’t an advertisement. Currently on their voice search platforms, search results are not disclosed to the user. The issue is not widespread enough to matter to most users, but is it something that still must be disclosed.