[MUSIC PLAYING]
JOHN MUELLER: Hi, everyone, and welcome back
to the Google Search News.
I hope life is treating you reasonably well,
wherever you are.
I'm your host today, John Mueller, here
from Google Switzerland.
With the show, we want to give you
a regular summary of what's been happening around Google Search,
specifically for website owners, publishers, and SEOs.
If you find these useful, which I hope you do,
and if you'd like to stay up to date,
make sure to subscribe to the channel.
It's good to see you all again.
I have a bunch of updates for you today.
They include Core Web Vitals, titles, continuous scrolling,
and more.
So without further ado, let's jump right in.
All right, we're back with more about the Core Web
Vitals and the page experience ranking change.
I know, we've mentioned them a few times.
But there is an update I'd like to mention.
Just to recap, this is a relatively new ranking change
which takes into account the user experience of web pages.
It includes elements like HTTPS and aspects around speed
and responsiveness.
The measurements are based on what real users see,
not from lab tests.
The update is that we're going to expand this to also include
desktop search results.
Previously, it was only focused on mobile users
and mobile search results.
The change includes everything apart from mobile friendliness.
This means that speed, responsiveness, as well
as HTTPS and the intrusive interstitial guidelines
will be used for the ranking of search results shown
to desktop users.
The rollout will begin next year, in February 2022.
We plan on expanding Search Console reports to help
site owners with this as well.
On this subject, the Chrome Developer Relations team
has been publishing fantastic articles about Core Web Vitals
on their website, web.dev.
Whether it's explorations of future metrics or tips
on improving complex websites, you'll find it all there.
So if you like technical details or want something
to pass on to your developers, check that out.
I'll add links to all items mentioned here
in the description below.
One neat thing we've been seeing about Core Web Vitals
is how content management systems and hosting
platforms are showing off their work on these numbers.
With the metrics, they can quantify
improvements they've been making for sites hosted with them.
As a site owner, it's great to use a popular platform where
other developers can dial up the speed for you.
And finally, I want to be clear that, while we at Google
talk about this change often, it's
not the primary or most critical search ranking factor.
Having a fantastic website is so much more than just
having a fast website.
The relevance of your content is critical.
The page experience ranking factor exists.
And it's more than just a tiebreaker.
But as a site owner, you need to focus on the whole picture.
And now, over to changes in the search results.
Over the last few months, we've made changes
in how the title link text is generated in our search
results.
Title links are the links to your pages
which we show in the search results.
Usually they're similar to the page title elements
that you provide.
The initial change in August resulted in a lot of feedback
from site owners.
We heard loud and clear that it wasn't as good as we had hoped.
I'm sorry for the trouble.
Thanks to the great feedback in the Help community,
the team was able to significantly improve
the algorithms and launched an update a short time afterwards.
Since this last update, the feedback
seems to have settled down.
So I think it's looking a lot better.
We have two blog posts to help explain
this change and updated documentation about title links
and snippets.
For example, one of the changes made
was that the text shown no longer changes by query.
If you're curious, I recommend you check the documentation
for all of the details.
Feedback is always welcome.
If you see unexpected title links for your pages,
please let us know in the Help community.
Thank you so much for all of the input given already.
And one more from the search results.
We recently started letting users
scroll through multiple pages of search results on mobile.
It's initially limited to certain regions
and may expand over time.
This change makes it easier for users to see more results
and to better select the pages they're interested in.
For website owners, this will likely
mean that you'll see an increased
number of impressions, as it'll be easier for users
to find your entry in the search results.
The rise in impressions can sometimes
lead to a lower overall click-through
rate in your reports though.
Keep this in mind if you're seeing
unexpected changes in your site's Search Console
performance report.
Overall, I think this is a great change,
and helps users to find more options in search.
I look forward to seeing it here in Swiss search results
at some point too.
Just in, a new section landed in our search documentation.
Recently, we added a comprehensive guide
for e-commerce sites.
If you're selling anything online,
I strongly recommend taking a look.
While I wouldn't be making bigger changes just
before the holiday season, it can be
useful for longer-term ideas.
For example, we mentioned the kinds of structured data
that might be appropriate for shops,
the interactions with Google Merchant Center,
ideas for URL structure, and ways to launch a new website.
This is our first step into search-specific documentation
for e-commerce sites.
And we'd love your input.
You can find the feedback link on all pages in our search
documentation.
And the team reviews everything that's submitted there.
One of the neat things about SEO is
that there's so many different tracks that
can lead to success.
Websites can focus on different things
and rank similarly in search, but they're still
all quite unique.
Because it's tempting to just focus
on what worked for you so far, it's
good to take a step back and see what others
are doing from time to time.
Earlier this year, Areej Abuali and Paddy Moogan
ran a survey on technical SEO and recently published
a results.
It includes comments from experts on all of the topics.
If you're curious how other SEOs are organized
within their company, how they work, what they focus on,
it's worth checking that out.
I found it quite insightful.
I'll drop a link to it below.
And now for a handful of smaller updates.
We recently published an update to our quality rater's guide.
This guide is used by quality raters
when they review potential algorithm changes.
Because the web is ever evolving and users rightly
have high expectations from search engines,
we update the guide from time to time.
Quality raters do not make the search results.
Instead, they give us valuable insight
into where we can improve our algorithms.
The guide is quite long, but interesting
if you'd like a peek into what our search quality
team thinks about.
On that subject, we currently have a position open
for a search quality analyst.
We're looking for someone with a flair
for analytical quantitative and technical problems
with a passion for search to join the team in California.
If you'd like to find out more or if you know someone
who would be a great fit, I'll add a link to the description
below.
And last but not least, if you work with local businesses,
take note.
Google My Business has rebranded and is now
called Google Business Profile.
Your business profile can now also
be edited directly in Google.
Just search for the name, and you should find it there.
And that's all for this time, folks.
Thank you for watching this episode.
It always feels good to me to look back and pull together
the things that recently stood out.
I hope you found it useful and insightful as well.
If there are elements you'd like to have covered differently,
please let me know in the comments
below or drop me a note on Twitter.
For more of these episodes, make sure to subscribe
to the channel.
We're regularly publishing new videos here.
And I'm sure there's something coming up
which you will enjoy as well.
And as always, I look forward to seeing you
all again in one of the future episodes of Google Search News.
Bye.
[BEEPING]
Ooh, I need to breathe in between.
[BEEP]
I should have cut this from the script.
Lead to [TRIPPING OVER WORDS]
[KEYS CLACKING]
[MOUSE CLICKS]