Daily Search Forum Recap: February 13, 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.

Some recipe sites got hit hard in the Google search results this Sunday, right before the Super Bowl. Google says again, EEAT is not a ranking factor nor does it factor into other factors. Google said you won't get your search rankings back by disavowing toxic links. Google Ads generative AI for automatically created assets is fully live in English in the US and UK. Google is testing an animated highlighter for featured snippets.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google Search Recipe Carousel Dropped Many Recipe Sites This Week
  Earlier this month, we reported on issues Google had with recipe search results. Some changes were made that seemed to resolve some of those issues, but then it seemed to have triggered new issues with the recipe carousels in the Google Search results.
• Google: You Won't Get Your Rankings Back By Disavowing Toxic Links
  Google's John Mueller said on Reddit that you won't get your Google search rankings back by simply disavowing toxic links from a Semrush report. He wrote, "You're not going to get your rankings back by following Semrush's report or by disavowing those links."
• Google: EEAT Isn't A Ranking Factor Nor A Thing That Factors Into Other Factors
  We've covered Google saying E-E-A-T is not a ranking factor too many times here but have we covered EEAT not being a thing that factors into other Google ranking factors? That is what Google's Search Liaison, Danny Sullivan said the other day on X.
• Google Ads Generative AI For Automatically Created Assets Fully Live In English US/UK
  Google announced that the use of generative AI for automatically created assets (ACA) is now fully live for the English language in the US and UK. Google initially announced AI use for ACA back at its Google Marketing Live event in May 2023, and now it is fully live.
• Google Ads Keyword List With Clickable Stars
  Nate Louis noticed that clickable stars were placed next to the keyword list in his Google Ads advertiser console. He can click them to highlight them and unclick them to unhighlight them. He has never seen these before and doesn't know what clicking on them does outside of highlighting them in the list.
• Google Tests Animated Highlighting Text In Featured Snippets
  Google is testing a new feature for featured snippets that will animate the highlighting of the text of part of the featured snippet. It looks like Google is manually highlighting the text in the featured snippet.
• Google CoreUX Room With Stackable Furniture
  Here is a photo from the Google Pier 57 NYC office building of a room that is currently labeled CoreUX. It has these small stackable colored furniture pieces that I guess are modular.

Other Great Search Threads:

• Happy Monday! Gemini update: We've reduced refusals on many image generation cases and coding cases where you input non-live URLs. Heads down continuing to reduce refusals while maintaining alignment. A key bit of AI alignment is, Jack Krawczyk on X
• This week, I am going to focus on what you need to know by March to maintain EEA ad personalization and remarketing capabilities, along with helpful tips on how to build a durable measurement strategy this year. Here’s what we’l, AdsLiaison on X
• It is fully legitimate, we needed it for transition, shouldn’t be happening anymore., Mikhail Parakhin on X
• Yes, sorry, this situation of you issuing multiple identical queries exposed the issue on our side. Fixing, Mikhail Parakhin on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google expands generative AI capabilities for automatically created assets
• TikTok publishes best practice guide for optimal campaign performance
• Google tests Branded Local Service Ads with opt-out option
• Mastering NLP for modern SEO: Techniques, tools and strategies
• Using generative AI to improve existing content: Top tips + sample prompts
• Webinar: Beyond silos – data collaboration strategies for marketing success

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

• The Most Useful AI Features in Google Analytics 4, WordStream
• Top Google Analytics SEO Reports to Track & Boost Performance, Semrush

Industry & Business

• Google’s once happy offices feel the chill of layoffs, The Seattle Times
• Watch Google EMEA President on AI, Bloomberg
• Google, OpenAI fall short of outright ban on AI elections content, Washington Post

Links & Content Marketing

• The Anatomy of Addictive Content, Moz
• ‘Playing Around’ With Generative AI Won’t Lead To Innovation, Content Marketing Institute

Local & Maps

• Google LSA Brand Ads = Enshitification, Near Media
• Google Maps AI on iOS: Early Impressions, Near Media

Mobile & Voice

• Apple Releases visionOS 1.0.3 With Reset Option for Forgotten Passcode, MacRumors
• Assistant, Gemini, and Google's 'All of this has happened before...', 9to5Google
• Don't read too much into early Apple Vision Pro app sales, AppleInsider
• Over half of Vision Pro-only apps are paid downloads, far more than wider iOS App Store, TechCrunch
• How to use Quick Share to transfer files between Android devices, Google Blog

SEO

• 10 best keyword research tools for news SEO, SEO For Journalism
• Validate Your SEO Advice Using Google’s Recommendations, BruceClay
• Understanding The Unique Challenges Of Multilingual And Multinational Websites, Search Engine Journal
• Mobile-First Indexing - What You Need To Know, Go Fish Digital

PPC

• 2023 MSA Partner Awards Americas winners, Microsoft Advertising
• 2023 MSA Partner Awards Europe winners, Microsoft Advertising
• With ChatGPT integration Copilot growing Bing’s user base, advertisers must take note, The Drum

Search Features

• How to use Microcosft Copilot on iOS and iOS, AppleInsider

Other Search

• Google redesigns in-app feedback tool on Android, iOS, 9to5Google
• The rise of obituary spam, The Verge

Feedback:

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