Are you ready for the big Google Webmaster report – well, here is the February 2024 edition. This month, Google confirmed an issue with teetering in and out results over the weekend and with that fix, we saw the weekend Google ranking updates calm and slow. We did have a couple of unconfirmed Google ranking updates during the work week, which was different. Google also seemed to push a local ranking update this past month.
Google had indexing bugs, Google is still working on fixing site name issues, Google dropped the cache link from the search results, FAQs and How-to rich results dropped out again and recipe sites are having issues. But Google promises that big changes, for the better, are coming to search.
Google’s INP core web vital metric will replace FID on March 12, 2024. We had some unusual issues with Google Search Console, some not bugs with Search Console specifically. Google offered a number of SEO specific advice, which I listed below. Google continues to do their user interface tests both in search and local.
Google released their earnings reports, cut thousands of search quality raters, and may replace Assistant with Bard – while reports come out that Google Search quality is getting worse.
If you missed last month’s recap, read it here.
Here are the main stories to catch up on over the past month:
Google Search Ranking Updates:

• A Google Search Ranking Update Brewing Around January 23rd & 24th?
• Mid-Week Google Search Algorithm Ranking Volatility January 9th & 10th
• Google Search Algorithmic Volatility Friday On January 5th & Saturday 6th
• Google Local Ranking Algorithm Update On January 4th (Unconfirmed)

Google Search Changes:

• Google Ranking Teetering In & Out Over Weekends – Confirmed Bug
• Google Search Working On Fixing Indexing Issue
• Google Still Working On Site Name Issues Within Google Search
• Google Search Drops Cache Link From Search Results (How To See The Cache)
• Google Search FAQ Rich Results Drop Out Again
• Google How-To Rich Results Dropping Out Of Search Results Again
• Google Search Also Having Issues With Recipe Sites
• Google Reiterates: We Have Changes Coming To Deal With Search Spam
• Will Google Improve The Google News Publisher Acceptance Process?
• Google Search Not Showing News Boxes For Some Election Queries
• Google Circle To Search & Upgraded AI-Powered Multisearch
• Google Search To Show More Third-Party Comparison Websites In Europe

Google SEO:

• Google: No Such Thing As Perfect Formula For Ranking
• Google Offers Specific Feedback On Why An Article Might Not Be Helpful
• Google May Consolidate Ranking Signals To Canonical Partner URL Even If It’s Not The Source
• Google May Penalize Recipe Collection Pages Using Recipe Structured Data
• Google: Our Paywalled & Subscription Structured Data Method Is Not Leaky
• Google Responds To Claims Of Google News Boosting Garbage AI Content
• Google Says Ignore Spammy Links From AI-Generated Blogs
• Google Says Search Result Snippets Generated Primarily From Page Content
• Google: Author Bylines Don’t Help You Rank Better; Google Doesn’t Check Credentials
• Google: HTML Structure Doesn’t Matter Much For Ranking
• Google Product Structured Data Also Now Supports suggestedAge Property
• Google On The Japanese Keyword Hack
• Poll: 60% Of SEOs Are Worried About The Impact Of Google SGE
• Google SEO Starter Guide To Be Cut In Half
• Google: We Don’t Use Google Analytics Data For Ranking Even When In Search Console

Google Search Console:

• March 12 Interaction to Next Paint Will Become A Google Core Web Vital
• Google Search Console 404 Error Report For /1000 URLs Spike
• Google Performance Reports Changes Job Listing & Detail Pages Evaluation
• Google URL Inspection Tool Referring Page Returns Non-Linked URLs?
• Google Sitemaps Ping Endpoints Officially No Longer Work
• Google Search Console Crawl Rate Setting Is Officially Gone

Google User Interface:

• The New Google Hotel Results In EU With Digital Markets Act
• Google Search Refine This Search Overlay Filter Now Live
• Google Tests Price Slider Filter In Search For Product Results
• Google Clippable Coupons Live (Again?) – Discount Rich Results
• Google Search (More) Results From The Web
• Google Tests Videos On Right Side Of Search Results Page, Again
• Google Course Info Rich Results Now Available Globally?
• Google Search Tests Shopping Menu For Home, Orders, Settings & More
• Google News Filter By Publisher Option
• Google Job Search Results Tests New Interface
• Google Tests 5 Product Results Instead Of 4 In Shopping Grid
• Google Search Snippet “Chat With A Live Agent”
• Google Puts “Add Note” In URL Bar & SGE While Browsing
• Report: Google Perspectives Dominated By Twitter, YouTube & Reddit

Google Local:

• Google Shutting Down Google Business Profiles Websites – Redirects Only A Few Months
• Google Maps Tests AI Generated Answers For Local Questions With Local Guides
• Huge Increase In Google Business Profiles Driving Directions
• Google Business Profiles Performance Driving Directions Report To Show Less Data
• Report: Custom Google Business Profile Services Impact Rankings Too
• Google Search Local “Nearby Events And Deals”
• Google Business Profile Restaurants Menu Highlights – Make Corrections
• Google Search Related Categories Nearby For Shopping Local Push
• Google Testing New Local Business Profile Designs With Icons
• Google Hotels View Market Comparison Pricing Feature
• Google Business Profiles: Add Products With Barcode Scanner
• Google Search Units Available For Rent Section In Local Panel

Google Business:

• Google Ad Revenue Up 11% & Bing Ads Revenue Up 8%
• Did Search Win With The Google Assistant Feature Loss
• Google Drops Thousands Of Search Quality Raters In Latest Cuts
• Is Google Search Is Getting Worse? German Study Published Says Kinda

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