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…

Generally when it comes to a Google local ranking algorithm update, you need to wait a week or so to see the chatter from the local SEO community. I am not seeing that chatter yet but BrightLocal’s tracking tool is lighting up over the past two days, showing signs of serious fluctuations in the local rankings in Google Search.

Google Search for many queries and search result pages shows a video box that takes searchers to videos mostly on YouTube but other platforms as well. Now, Google is testing playing those videos directly in the search results page and not taking you to YouTube.com or the site the video is hosted on.

Here is a fun SEO question I found the other day where Google’s John Mueller if Google passes PageRank to mailto or telephone hyperlinks. The answer is no, Google only follows links between canonical URLs and in mailto and tel links, there is no real canonical set.

Google’s John Mueller said on Twitter that the place where your URL structure matters most is likely with international websites and sites that have sections of adult oriented content. It will help Google figure out the site better and know how to segment or filter elements if you have the proper URL structure.

If you missed the live Google Search Central Live conference from the other day, you are in luck, the recording is now officially available on YouTube. It is relatively short for a conference and won’t take you too long to watch.

Google may have pushed another algorithm update starting this past weekend, I almost did not cover it. There was also a possible local search ranking update by Google over the past two days. Google’s Danny Sullivan said…

Has there been a time where Google has said they no longer use a specific ranking signal? I mean, they said this like 20 years ago with maybe the meta keywords tag? Google said this with rel next/prev, Google News stock tickers and keywords, and some other things. But generally, it is rare to see Google say we no longer use X as a ranking signal.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…

Google seems to be showing fewer featured snippets in the search results since February 19, 2021. All three tools that I am aware that track featured snippets all showed a significant decline in the percentage of search results with featured snippets.

Google will sunset and stop supporting the Showcase Shopping Ads it initially announced about two years ago. Google said “starting April 1, 2021, Showcase Shopping ad groups will be removed and will stop serving your ads. Performance data for removed ads and ad groups will still be available in account reports.”

One other little tidbit or nugget from the Search Central Live event was that Gary answered how many times Google changed its search algorithm due to SEOs gaming the system. Gary said in the past ten years, he thinks it was about four or five times, that he can remember.

Google’s Danny Sullivan said to start, when the Page Experience Update rolls out, it won’t be a massive change. It might grow in terms of importance over the years. But to start, Danny said “it shouldn’t be the case that overnight, we flip some type of switch and there’s a massive change.”

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…