Daily Search Forum Recap: January 26, 2024

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.

Google is cutting their SEO starter guide in half, which will raise some eyebrows. Google said HTML structure doesn’t matter much for ranking. Google is testing a price slider in the mobile search results. Google driving direction reports showed a huge increase after Google said it would show a decrease. Microsoft is testing replacing the Bing logo with a Copilot logo. And I posted the weekly SEO video recap.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Google SEO Starter Guide To Be Cut In Half

Google is in the process of reworking its popular SEO starter guide, which it initially released in 2010. The starter guide is about 8,500 words right now, but it will be less than half that when the revised SEO starter guide comes out.

Google Tests Price Slider Filter In Search For Product Results

Google is testing a price slider for some queries where narrowing by price may make sense. We’ve seen Google show price range sliders for products and price slider filters for hotels but now we are seeing a price slider filter for normal product results.

Google: HTML Structure Doesn’t Matter Much For Ranking

Gary Illyes from Google said that the HTML structure for your web pages does not matter much for rankings. He said this on the latest Search Off The Record podcast, saying, “I know that some people like to think that HTML structure matters all so much for rankings, but in fact, it doesn’t matter that much.”

Bing Home Page Swapping Out Bing Logo With Copilot Logo

Just like Microsoft has been testing swapping out the Bing Chat link with the Copilot link within the Bing Search results pages, now Microsoft is testing swapping out the Bing logo with a Copilot logo. This is all for the rebranding of Bing Chat to Copilot, which started two months ago.

Huge Increase In Google Business Profiles Driving Directions

Earlier this week, we reported that Google said we should expect a decline in the number of driving directions reported in the Google Business Profiles performance reporting tool. Well, the opposite happened. Everyone is seeing a significant increase in the number of driving directions reported in that Google tool.

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Confirmed Ranking Bug, Ranking Volatility, Quality Raters Cut & Google Ads AI Goes Live

Google has confirmed that issue where sites would rank during the week and then not rank on the weekends – just wild. We had an unconfirmed Google ranking update this week after having a calm weekend. Google has dropped Appen…

Laying On Google Entry Mat

Here is an entry mat with the Google logo on it. I am not sure why this guy is laying on it but he did say on Instagram “Bing wanna sponsor me?”

Other Great Search Threads:

10+ Notes! Like I’ve said before, for right article covering the right topic, some users are more apt to add notes via the SERPs. You don’t see 10+ notes for an article often. And some of the notes have likes as well. But still weird that you have to *go , Glenn Gabe on X

Hey, appreciate the thread and always concerns being voiced. Wanted to clarify something, though. Page Insights only appear if someone is actually on a page and requests to see them. They don’t automatically appe, Google SearchLiaison on X

In case you missed it – finish setting up your Google Analytics 4 property before your connected Universal Analytics property is permanently deleted on Jul 1, 2024., Khushal Bherwani on X

My 2024 Google GenAI Bets + Advice: 1. Google SGE isn’t going away. Expect this to roll out more widely. G will continue to test/integrate different features from what we see today. My worry: SEOs worried about SGE are staring at the tree vs. the forest, Britney Muller on X

Queries that do not meet our privacy thresholds are aggregated in within the “other” search terms line. Search Terms Insights (on the Insights page) can be helpful to better understand the query themes/categories driving activity though. The category , AdsLiaison on X

The advanced features for consent mode are optional and provide additional controls for businesses that want further customization. For example, opting to redact ads data when ads_data_redaction is set to true and ad, AdsLiaison on X

There are hundreds of thousands of backlinks to these https://chat.openai.com/share/ URLs and content is not protected. @rustybrick We should continue reminding all webmasters that this is good practice to regularly review their websites security prac, Fabrice Canel on X

These are two topics separated by a comma. Top Stories labels are automatically generated based on the main topics in a particular news cluster. In this case, it’s simply naming key topics in the cluster. For, Google SearchLiaison on X

I can’t think of a reason why they’d be useful for anything (other than as reminders for coders). If I were making a web page reader again, I’d start by filtering them out., John Mueller on X

Scare a SEO with only one word, Redd

We launched this new FREE Audience finder tool yesterday. https://t.co/NbtVKMf2O2 Takes a keyword and finds different TYPES of people that might be searching. Then suggests content ideas for the audience. Not bad for free…, Dixon Jones on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

Industry & Business

Links & Content Marketing

Local & Maps

Mobile & Voice

Apple Plans New Fees and Restrictions for Downloads Outside App Store, Wall Street Journal

Bard Advanced is coming to the Google app — with a familiar catch, Android Central

Making VR Headsets Cool Won’t Be Easy, Even for Apple, New York Times

Apple Podcasts offers transcripts for all shows in iOS 17.4, AppleInsider

Google could finally give Wear OS an annual upgrade cycle, Android Authority

Google Pixel Feature Drop: Circle to Search, Magic Compose for Messages, Google Blog

Google’s latest Pixel feature drop adds Circle to Search, Magic Compose, and more, The Verge

iOS 17.4 Introduces Alternative App Marketplaces With No Commission in EU, MacRumors

Update on apps distributed in the European Union, Apple Developer

Updated App Store Review Guidelines now available, Apple Developer

SEO

How brands can E-E-A-T better in 2024, Hallam

How to Determine SEO Potential: A Comprehensive Guide, Semrush

How to Reduce the Risk of Hurting SEO During a Site Migration, seoClarity

IndexWatch 2023: SEO Visibility Losers, SISTRIX

The SEO Basics for Marketers & Businesses (2024), Ethan Lazuk

51 Types of SEO. Did We Miss Any?, Ahrefs

Advanced SEO Tactics for Google Entity Search, Hill Web Creations

ChatGPT for SEO? You’re Using It Wrong., Ahrefs

Mastering Website Management with Site Explorer, Bing Webmaster Blog

Rewriting the SEO Starter Guide, Search Off the Record

SEO Trends for 2024, BrightEdge

SEO: Common Indexation Hurdles, Practical Ecommerce

Taking a Proactive Approach to SEO in 2024, Lumar

PPC

Search Features

Other Search

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