Day by day Search Forum Recap: February 28, 2024

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.

Google Local updated its design to show expandable menus. Google says not to disallow UTM parameter URLs from crawling. Was removing the news tab a bug or testing a feature. Google removed the news tab, but was it a test or a bug. Google also had a bug with its filetype operator. Google Ads Pmax placement report will soon show the Search Partner Network placements.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google Local Panels Design With Expandable Menus
  
  Google seems to be now rolling out expandable menus and information sections for the local panels on the right side of the desktop interface. These were live for normal knowledge panels for a while, but I am told they are now available for local panels now.
• Did Google Test Removing The News Tab Or Was It A Bug?
  
  A week ago, I had several people notify me that the news tab in Google Search was missing. I checked using multiple browsers and devices and I saw the news tab, so I thought it was a quick bug that was resolved. Then, days later, Nieman Labs reported that Google tested removing the news tab, although I am not 100% sure if that is true.
• Google Ads PMax Placement Report To Show Search Partner Network Sites
  
  Google Ads will soon support showing the Search Partner Network in the Performance Max Placement report. This means Google will show you which sites your PMax ads are running on – which is a first.
• Google Search Filetype Operator For Site Commands Broken; Filetype Does Work
  
  There are reports that the filetype operator within Google Search has stopped working, it has not. It doesn’t work when you add additional search operators to it, like a site command to see a specific file type on a specific type. Google has said it is likely a bug and they are working on bringing it back.
• Google: Disallowing UTM Parameters In URLs Won’t Help With Crawling Or Ranking
  
  Google’s John Mueller said on Reddit that disallowing URLs with UTM parameters in them won’t help you to improve crawling or rating with Google Search. He added that a site should try to keep its internal URLs clean and consistent, but over time, the canonical tags should help with external links that carry UTM parameters on them.
• Video: Google Escape Hatch
  
  Here is a video of how to find and access the ladder that connects the fourth and fifth floors of the Google New York City office. I found the video entertaining, so I am sharing it here. Some call it the Google escape hatch.

Other Great Search Threads:

Search Engine Land Stories:

Other Great Search Stories:

Industry & Business

Links & Content Marketing

Local & Maps

Mobile & Voice

SEO

PPC

Search Features

Other Search

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