February 2020 SEO News Updates – Google says URL Length is Not a Ranking Factor « SEOPressor – WordPress SEO Plugin

Google said URL length is not a ranking factor and there’s a claim my business option despite having already claimed the Google My Business listing? The start of February sees some pretty confusing news, so let’s get into it.

Google Announcements

5/2/2020 – URL Length is not a Ranking Factor?

Google’s John Mueller has said on Twitter that URL length is not a ranking fraction. This is his exact tweet and it was a response to a user’s concern about CMS autogenerate URL often being longer than what is recommended for SEO.

@JohnMu A lot of our automatically generated URLs are longer than most SEOs recommend. It only applies to not very important pages, but I wonder how bad this is in Google’s eyes all the same.

— Per-Erik Skramstad (@perskram) February 5, 2020

Yes, Google can handle URLs as long as 2000 characters or so, but it’s pretty obvious that Google prefers short URLs when it comes to ranking. Besides, keeping your URL short and sweet can only create a positive impact as fewer words will make it more specifically relevant. Seems we are not on the same boat with John this time.

11/2/2020 – GSC- Review Snippet Enhancement Report

On February 11, 2020, Google Webmasters shared on Twitter that they’re introducing support for review snippets in Google Search Console. It’s introduced to help you find issues with your implementation and monitor how rich result type improves your performance.

For your information, according to Google’s Webmaster blog, the review snippet is one of the most used structured data.

So, here’s what the reports look like:

Review Snippet Enhancement Report

The report allows you to see errors, warnings, and valid pages for markup implemented on your site.

In addition to that, if you fix any issue, you can use the report to validate it, which triggers a process where Google recrawls your affected pages.

Review Snippet Appearance in Performance Report

The performance report in GSC now shows the performance of reviews or rating marked-up pages.

Lastly, after adding review snippets structured data to your pages, you can test them using Google’s Rich Results Test Tool. Aimed to make it easier for you to understand how your marked-up page performs on Search.

The reports and test tool will definitely be helpful for fellow webmasters who use these markups. Try the test tool here: Google’s Rich Results Test

SERP Updates

6/2/2020 – Is Google Testing a New Open Design?

Since Google reported that it will be doing some tests to the search results page in the upcoming weeks, some people have spotted what seems like Google’s new test of a more open-style search results page design. In fact, the new SERP listing follows a design similar to AMP articles. Here’s a screenshot

The new SERP listing follows a design similar to AMP articles. Here’s a screenshot

12/02/2020 – Image Carousel in Featured Snippet

Maybe some of us have seen an image carousel in a featured snippet before. We have seen them before too. Google has been testing them for quite some time and it seems like it’s staying on the SERP.

If you have not seen it before, here’s how it looks:

Local SEO Updates

6/2/2020 – New Google My Business Feature: Own This Business? Claim It Now

Users have spotted Google launched a new feature (or it could still be in its testing phase) a new feature to help business owners reclaim and login to their Google My Business listing.

The confusing thing about this is that it shows up even if the listing has already been claimed ?! Krystal Taing went to Twitter to explain that this function is intended to be an easier path to begin claiming process for users that have mislocated their account info.

For anyone beginning to see this on your listings, it is a new #GMB feature. It does not mean your listing is unclaimed but is intended as an easier path to begin the claiming process for users that may have mislocated their account info. https://t.co/eyYxjfEAOw

— Krystal Taing (@krystal_taing) January 30, 2020

Other Interesting News

By Google: Simple Tips To Stay Safe Online

Yesterday, Google created a Twitter thread on how to strengthen your online security. Here are the steps and brief explanation provided:

Firstly, set up a recovery phone number or email address. This keeps your account more secure and alerts you if there’s any suspicious activity. Next, most people struggle to manage passwords, so… use a password manager.

Now, the third one is what most of us are guilty of doing: which is clicking “remind me later“. Doing so actually opens you up to newly-discovered vulnerabilities. So, take the time to keep your software up to date to ensure you’re more secure.

Setting up a two-factor authentication also helps you defend against hackers as it makes it harder to gain unauthorized access.

Last but not least, take a Security Checkup by Google. It’s a tool that gives you personalized and actionable recommendations to help you strengthen the security of your Google Account.

Now you know these tips, the next question for you is, will you implement them?

Updated: 14 February 2020