I am seeing some early signs of yet another Google Search ranking algorithm update – it is early but the chatter is kicking up and some of the tools are already picking up on the fluctuations and tremors in the search results. Yes, we had some quiet this week but it was super busy the past couple of months.

Google’s John Mueller was asked if Google looks at the number of blog posts on a blog as some sort of metric to figure out if the site should rank well or not. John Mueller said “Google doesn’t count your blog posts.”

Google’s John Mueller said on Twitter that he thinks that many SEOs and sites think about links “much more than necessary.” He said Google does “use links to help discover new content.” He didn’t mention ranking but yes, Google does use links for rankings.

Cyrus Shepard posted a poll on Twitter asking SEOs and marketers if they do any affiliate marketing in the course of their day. Only 45% of those who completed the poll said yes, they do affiliate marketing. I am a bit surprised, I would have thought more SEOs do affiliate marketing on the side, at least.

Microsoft Bing seems to have swapped out the magnifying glass button on the search bar in the search results landing page with the button that says “search.” It is a small but interesting change, below are before and after screen shots.

I am back in my real office after over a year of recording from home – it is weird but good to be back. After Google dropping featured snippets significantly in the Google Search results a few weeks ago, they returned this week, out of the blue and with no explanation from Google…

Google added support for regional availability and pricing to Google Merchant Center / Google Shopping feeds in the United States. Regional availability and pricing let you provide product availability and variable pricing based on your business presence and the location of your customer base.

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

Did you know you can harness the power of Instagram filters to promote your music? Yes, the same silly feature people use to change their faces into mice and pineapples can help you boost your views and get your music circulating on Stories and Reels. For musicians that have design skills and the initiative to figure things out, Instagram Filters can be a really affordable way to promote your music as well. But before we get into the how, let’s address the what first. What is an Instagram filter? An Instagram filter is a feature on Instagram used to enhance […]

Google has made some updates to the meta robots directive help documentation, specifically by adding more examples for the max-snippet and specifying for each tag what Google’s default behavior is when the tags are omitted. I highly recommend you re-review these docs starting from the valid indexing & serving directives until the end of that section.

So while Google made some additions to the meta robots directives section of the robots help documents, Google’s Gary Illyes and Lizzi Harvey said more is to come. They said if you have feedback and want anything added or explained in the docs, to let them know by submitting feedback now.

Eric Heiken shared a photo of what looks like a Google Search bug with the search bar and the search tools. It shows the search tools right aligned to the search bar, which is not normal. I then did some testing and noticed on some browsers, the search bar was being cut off.

Google has published some new and updated resources around video SEO. First, there is a new video, lighting talk, on the topic of video SEO best practices by Danielle Marshak, Product Manager at Google. Second, there is an updated help doc section on video SEO best practices.

Google Ads announced a new summary view interface with the goal of making “it easier for you to manage your campaigns.” The new views include performance at a glance, performance custom recommendations, quick create and edit campaigns and a quick way to manage your keywords.