Daily Search Forum Recap: August 5, 2020

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.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• August 2020 Google Webmaster Report
  Last month was not that slow of a month, while we didn’t have any confirmed Google search algorithm updates, we had several unconfirmed ones and some felt pretty big. Google also said it will weight business names less
• Google Featured Snippets Without Borders – A Bug Or Feature?
  I had a few reports yesterday of Google displaying featured snippets but without borders. It seems like a bug to me but who knows, maybe Google is testing borderless featured snippets and search results?
• Google: A Lot Of Negative Reviews Can Hurt Your Site
  The other day I reported that Google said negative reviews on the web about your brand or business won’t hurt your rankings in Google search. Yesterday, I was on the video call with John Mueller and I asked him this question and brought up the Decor My Eyes case from ten years ago. He then said he can see if a brand has a ton of negative reviews, algorithms would pick up on that and the site might not rank as well.
• Google For The Umpteenth Time: Quality Raters Do Not Directly Impact Search Results
  I have covered Google saying that its quality raters, which are third-party consultants who are not even employed by Google directly, do not have any direct influence in Google search rankings. I reported Googlers saying this countless times and I didn’t report Googlers saying it as well because I covered it countless times.
• Google: Many Manual Actions Are Algorithmic Now & Not Used
  Google’s John Mueller said that many of those manual actions are probably not used anymore. Why? He said because many may have been automated and done algorithmically. I did ask John for a list but he refused, go figure.
• Google Doodle That Was Pulled Down Is Now Live: Wear a Mask. Save Lives.
  The other week I reported Google posted a Google Doodle about wearing a mask to help save lives and then Google pulled down the Doodle. Well, today, August 5th, it is back up and live. It leads to a search around [covid-19 prevention] with three pieces of advice, (1) wear a mask, (2) wash your hands and (3) socially distance from others.
• Google Pasta Logo
  Here is a photo of the Google super G logo made up of different colored noodles and pasta. I cannot tell if the noodles are cooked yet or not. But it does make the G logo look super tasty.

Other Great Search Forum Threads:

Search Engine Land Stories:

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

Industry & Business

Links & Content Marketing

Local & Maps

Mobile & Voice

SEO

PPC

Other Search

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