Google Product Reviews Volatility, Local Search Ranking Update, New Search Features, MUM & BERT Expands and Search Console News

This was a busy week and I drove out to visit Greg Finn and friends in Buffalo, I helped co-host the Marketing O'Clock show and record some vlogs for the channel - so check out Marketing O'Clock on YouTube and your favorite podcast player. We are finally seeing ranking volatility in the search results related to the product reviews update after not seeing much early on. Google also released a local search ranking update that supposedly corrected the Vicinity update from December. Google launched a new highly cited top stories label and improved the about this result with a come back later warning in search. Google said it now uses MUM for detecting personal crisis searchers and expanded BERT to handle the detection of unexpected shocking content. Google Data Studio can now bring in Google News and Google Discover data from Search Console. Google Search Console’s structured data error report is more descriptive now. Google is killing off the URL parameter tool on April 26th. Google launched trusted store badges for merchants that score well in the Google experience scorecard. Google’s visual stories are now ranking well for competitive keyword phrases. Google’s John Mueller said nofollow is not a dampening factor, which many SEOs for some reason do not believe. John Mueller also said do not keep redirected URLs in your sitemap for over 3 months. John Mueller of Google was giving advice on how to improve your DA, no this was not an April Fools joke. Google rolled out a new visual design format for some queries. Google continues to test the expanded tab search snippet feature. Google is also testing displaying the image previews on the right side of the image pack. Google is testing an audio feature for some knowledge panels. Bing has round category icons to explore more images. Bing also has this massive Wikipedia box at the top of its search results. Google AdSense anchor ads for AMP sites are now working for auto ads. That was the search news this week at the Search Engine Roundtable. Sponsored by BruceClay who has been doing search marketing optimization since 1996 and also has an amazing SEO training platform. Search Topics of Discussion: For Google Updates, The Product Reviews Update III Is Not That Huge - So Far Now Seeing Volatility For The Google Product Reviews Update (v. March 2022) Google Local Search Update On March 23rd 'Corrects' Vicinity Update Google Search Highly Cited Stories & Come Back Later For Evolving Results Google Now Using MUM For Detecting Personal Crisis Searches & BERT For Detecting Shocking Content New: Google Data Studio Supports Discover & Google News Traffic From Search Console Google Structured Data Error Reporting Gets More Descriptive Names & Context Google Search Console To Kill URL Parameter Tool On April 26th New Google Trusted Store Badge Based On Shopping Experience Scorecard Google Visual Stories Showing On Page One For Competitive Keywords Google: Nofollow Is Not A Dampening Factor Google: Keep Old Redirected URLs In Sitemaps Files Temporarily Google's John Mueller Gives Advice On Increasing Your DA - No Joke Google Search Results Rolls Out Much More Visual Design In Grid Formats & More Google Continues Expandable Tab Search Result Snippets Test Google Tests Image Search Pack That Loads Images On Right On Click Google Audio Knowledge Panel To Listen In Your Language Bing Round Category Icons To Explore More Images Bing Interactive Wikipedia Box In Search Results Google AdSense Anchor Ads On AMP Sites With Auto Ads