🔍 Did Google just hint at an "authority profile"?

Sep 22, 2020

Good morning Search Marketer, do you think Google is creating "authority profiles" for sites?

That's the question Mordy Oberstein poses after digging into Google's Danny Sullivan's recent blog post on SERP reliability and quality.

Mordy zeros in on this sentence from Danny's post: "We've learned that sites that demonstrate authoritativeness and expertise on a topic are less likely to publish false or misleading information."

Based on this and what he's seen again and again in Google's core updates, Mordy concludes that "Google is creating an authority profile for sites. It's setting up, and constantly updating, the parameters that determine authority. It has a profile of what authority looks like, particularly within the Finance and Health niches, and is stacking that ever-evolving profile up against sites in the wild." I encourage you to read the full article to hear what he thinks this means on a practical level for SEOs and content writers.

For API users, note that Google announced yesterday that the Google API is now generally available. The old AdWords API is still functioning for now, but it's not getting any new features and will eventually be deprecated. Large advertisers, agencies and third-party tool providers can use the Google Ads API to automate reporting, data integrations, and interact with the Google Ads interface directly. If you're still using the AdWords API, you should start looking at migrating over.

Ginny Marvin,
Editor-In-Chief

Spotted

For tab lovers

"Bing US is testing a neat little feature," Frank Sandtmann of Vertriebsberatung told us of a test he noticed over the weekend. It's showing a switch to open results in new tabs. "This should definitely be a nice treat for the casual user, as it allows [them] to search more effectively," said Frank. This will be handy for any type of research — including holiday shopping. Only some of us at Search Engine Land have been able to replicate it, so you might not see it yet either.

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Search Shorts

Google on private one-on-one Google SEO support.

Google SEO support. In the latest Search Off the Record podcast with Google's John Mueller, Gary Illyes and Martin Splitt – they talked about how they handle requests for private SEO support. In short, they do not – they make the person asking for help use public channels.

Fact check guidelines. Google has consolidated its fact check guidelines within its search developer documents. Now it is all in one place.

Jovita Idár Google Doodle. Did you miss the Google Doodle for Jovita Idár, the Mexican-American journalist? If you did, you can see it over here.

Vlog with Tamar Weinberg. This vlog conversation was not really about SEO, but Tamar has a long history with the SEM industry and Barry Schwartz sat down with her in a two part vlog. Part one is mostly about Tamar's history and her new venture and part two is about relationship marketing and building a new brand during a pandemic.

More location consolidation. Consumer experience company Medallia has acquired location analytics provider Sense360, which describes itself as a competitive and consumer intelligence platform. The price was $44 million in cash. This continues the consolidation trend in the location intelligence segment.

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