🔍 Disappearing URL parameters in Google Search Console

Jan 08, 2020

Good morning search marketers, did your URL parameters disappear, too?

Some SEOs are reporting that the data shown in Google's URL parameter tool is missing or inaccurate. The company is aware of the situation and working on getting it resolved. In the meantime, we suggest that you avoid making any changes until the fix is confirmed. The URL parameter tool in Search Console lets SEOs communicate insignificant page variations and direct Google to consolidate those URLs; if it is showing incorrect data, making changes can potentially cause ranking issues.

Live event commentary has typically been Twitter's domain, but Google has been tiptoeing into it as well. The search engine confirmed that it is testing user comments within mobile search results during TV shows. This feature has been available for sporting events such as the World Cup, but now it's trying it out for live TV shows like The Bachelor as they air. If it becomes a staple within search results, live event and show marketers — and sponsors — will have one more channel to monitor real-time conversations and sentiment.

Bing Search app users on iOS now have access to direct site navigation via voice. This has been available on the Google Assistant for some time, but Bing's version features a follow-up prompt that enables users to specify the page or area of the site they'd like to be taken to. This feature is available now on the Android and iOS versions of the Bing Search app and may help it retain or attract users that prefer to navigate via voice.

Keep on reading for a Pro Tip on making it easier for search engines to rank your website, your daily Search Shorts and more.

George Nguyen,
Associate Editor

Pro Tip

Make it easy for search engines to rank your website

"Search engines want to rank your website, but you need to make it easy for them," explains Fili Wiese of SearchBrothers. "One of the things that you need to do if you haven't done it yet, is to look at your log files. Do you have them? Do you have access to them? If you don't, you need to do that today. Also, you want to make sure that you audit your website and you check all the technical signals that go into those trends. If you are impacted by different medical updates or other core updates, then you really want to know what's going on with signals you're sending into the black box of the algorithms. What comes out of that black box are the rankings, the 'serves.' And those serves depend heavily on what you put in."

"So for 2020, focus on your input and let the search engines focus on the output."

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Search Shorts

Possible Google algorithm update.

Google algorithm update signals. The SEO community is chatting about a possible Google algorithm update. It is early, but some signals show there may have been an update. Google has not confirmed anything as of yet.

Google crawl stats delayed. The crawl stats report in the legacy Google Search Console is delayed, I wouldn't worry; this is not that uncommon.

Disavow files. Google's John Mueller said you can always update your disavow file, at any time.

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