Daily Search Forum Recap: August 21, 2023

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.

There may have been a new unconfirmed Google search ranking algorithm update this weekend. New Bing Chat features are coming, including memory, code improvements and more character support. Microsoft says Bing Chat usage is up big time in the past few weeks. Bing Search is testing verified labels and "official site" green badges in search. And we have another vlog with Lance Bachmann on local search, Apple Maps and the recessionary times.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update - August 18-19 (Unconfirmed)
  As I hinted to in my SEO video recap on Friday, we saw some early signing of an unconfirmed Google Search ranking algorithm update starting Friday, August 18th, and it went into Saturday, August 19th.
• New Bing Chat Features Coming: Memory, Code Improvements & More Characters
  Microsoft is working on bringing more and more features to Bing Chat. Some of these new features that are being worked on, some actually being tested now, include Bing Chat having a memory of what you asked for previously, code improvements and more character support.
• Bing Search Tests Green Official Site Label/Badge
  Bing is testing a green official site label or icon on some of its search result snippets. We\'ve seen the "official site" title added to some search results in the past, but now there is this form of verification badge being added.
• Bing Search Tests Verified Label
  Bing is testing a "Verified" label in the search result snippets. This is a new label that is placed next to the URL in the search result that says "verified."
• Microsoft: Bing Chat Usage Up Big Time In Past Few Weeks
  Despite all the data showing that Microsoft Bing has not gained any market share since it launched Bing Chat in February, Microsoft is saying Bing Chat\'s usage has been up a lot in the past few weeks.
• Vlog #237: Lance Bachmann Changes In Local Search, Apple Bing & The Recession
  In part one with Lance Bachmann, we spoke a lot about business, growing a business and his passion for his employees. Then in part two we spoke about local SEO and how to get new customers, the right customers. Then in part three...
• Google NYC Massage Chair
  Here is one of the many massage chairs Google has in their various offices. This one is in the NYC office. We saw one in Poland and some other office.

Other Great Search Threads:

• FYI: We\'ve adjusted colour coding to adjust for the new normal. The threshold has been lifted to 3.1 for red and 2.8 for orange., DEJAN on X
• Gotcha, we do crawl sites and URLs at different rates. All search engines do. If you\'d like to report spam, I\'d recommend using the official form., John Mueller on X
• I asked Google SGE a number of controversial queries on the topics of guns, slavery, religion, banned books and more. Check out my latest video to see how Google SGE handles these controversial topics, Lily Ray on Twitter
• Is noindex a good way to get a page out of a search result sitelinks?, Reddit
• My understanding is that servers usually fix this by ignoring the "//" and treating it as a "/". If that\'s the case, then I wouldn\'t worry about it. If it\'s the same content, and the cleaner URL is "better", we\'ll just use that. I\'d check that internal li, John Mueller on X
• New column spotted within the "default" column set in Google Merchant Center - Click Potential. Possible factor in the serving algo for PMax and/or Shopping placements, but unlikely. If nothing else, an internal metric used to retool under-p, travis on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

Industry & Business

Links & Content Marketing

Local & Maps

Mobile & Voice

SEO

PPC

Other Search

Feedback:

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