Our weekly digest of what’s happening/trending in the digital world provided by Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and Search Engine Roundtable.

From Search Engine Land

Google now shows Seller Ratings by country, changes eligibility requirements
Businesses must have 100 reviews per country to be eligible for Seller Rating. Read more

Solving complex SEO problems require a new ‘discovery’ approach
The SMX presentation with Hannah Thorpe and Arsen Rabinovitch reviewed Google’s latest updates along with diagnostics and tools to get your site back on track. Read more

Report: ‘Incentivized reviews’ effective for consumers and brands
While 58 percent of consumers were unaffected by the presence of an incentive, 42 percent were less willing to trust them. Read more

Google PageSpeed Insights tool gets a major update with more data from Lighthouse
Version 5 is out for Google PageSpeed Insights, and it provides a wealth of information. Read more

Google opens developer preview of AMP URLs showing publisher domain names
Here is how to see Google’s fix for AMP URLs from Google search when you click on an AMP result. Read more

With the Google’s exact match change rolled out, here’s what advertisers are seeing
What’s the impact so far? Are advertisers rethinking campaign structure and management? Read more

Google launches portal to help developers build modern web sites
A new Google tool at web.dev measures your site’s performance as well as its compliance with standards for progressive web apps, best practices, accessibility and SEO. Read more

5 SEO trends that will matter most in 2019
Google’s heavily investing to be the best. SEOs are trying to adapt to changes that follow. That’s how SEO trends are born. Let’s view what trends will make a difference in 2019. Read more

Google releases improved GMB app: Now much more than a local listings management tool
GMB is becoming a customer relationship management and “engagement” platform. Read more

Bing Ads’ Competition Tab offers new insights, recommendations
Now rolled out globally, advertisers can access deeper Auction Insights and machine learning-powered recommendations. Read more

Can you trust website design best practices?
You have to test every proposed change to your website to see what actually works for your business and your audience. Read more

Bing Ads now supports 3rd headline, 2nd description in text ads
You can now import your longer ads from Google or create new ones in Bing Ads. Read more

Google adds event listings, detail filters in Google Search Console performance report
Google has added a new option to the search appearance filters in Search Console for event markup. Read more

From Marketing Land

Hooked on a feeling: The forgotten factor in online advertising
We’re stuck using outmoded concepts such as segmentation and demographic groups, when what marketers should be seeking is a prospect’s mood or mindset. Read more

Top retailers spent majority of 2017 holiday ad budgets on TV, investing only 6% on Facebook ads
On average, 62% of 2017 holiday ad budgets from the top ten retailers went to TV ads. Read more

WhatsApp ads are coming: Will advertisers start buying?
Social media marketing agencies and platforms weigh in on Facebook’s plan to further monetize its encrypted messaging app. Read more

The disastrous consequences of measuring engagement
The engagement metric is steering social media marketers very wrong. Here’s what you should be doing instead. Read more

AMP Story Ads come out of beta with Google Ad Manager support for direct sold ads
The fullscreen ad format is now available to all publishers. Read more

From Search Engine Roundtable

Google Tests Bold URLs & Breadcrumbs In Search Result Snippets
Fresh out of the snippets team meeting, Google is testing bolding the URL and/or breadcrumbs in the search result snippets. Read more

Google Tests Multifaceted Featured Snippets In Desktop Results Again
Google confirmed with Search Engine Land the other day that they are experimenting with showing multifaceted featured snippets on desktop search, it was rolled out for mobile search some time ago. Read more

Google Team Meets Regarding SEO Feedback On Display Of Snippets & Search Results
A couple weeks ago Danny Sullivan from Google asked SEOs about providing feedback on how Google shows the search results, the snippets, links, structured data, etc. Read more

Google To Review Some Poor Quality Search Health Results After Medic Update
Google’s Danny Sullivan responded to one of the complaints about the quality of the search results after the Google Medic Update (not an official name given by Google) around drugs and supplemental drug searches yielding spammy and broken search results. Read more

Google PageSpeed Insights Report Revamped With Lighthouse Data
Google seems to have just rolled out a redesign for their Google PageSpeed Insights tool. Read more

Google Tests Moving Magnifying Glass In Related Searches
Hold on to your hats, Google is testing moving the magnifying glass from the right side of the related searches box to the left side of that related searches box. Read more

Google Local Panel Adds See Other Locations Link
Google has added a link in some of the local knowledge panels, including the hotel ones, that say “see other locations.” Read more

Google: Just Link Naturally
Google just wants you to link naturally and not worry about linking out. Read more

Learn how distance and intent shape local search
Google My Business said on Twitter that while they are reviewing the feedback around expanding the data in the Insights tab, there are no current plans to give more than a quarter worth of data in that analytics section. Read more

Google: Nofollow Link Attribute Helps Publishers Focus On Content
Yesterday I posted that John Mueller of Google said to a publisher that they shouldn’t worry about links and just link naturally. Read more

Google Does Not Use BBB Or Other Trust Building Sites For Ranking
Google’s John Mueller confirmed yesterday in a video hangout that Google does not use the BBB, Better Business Bureaus score or reviews as well as other third-party trust sites in their ranking algorithm. Read more

See How Google Will Show Publishers URLs For AMP Results In Search
As Google promised, they are working on a solution to show the publishers URL instead of the AMP cache URL in Google’s search results after you click on an AMP page. Read more

Google Tool Scores Your SEO: Should Google Be Scoring Your SEO?
The other day, Google launched a new portal named web.dev that pretty much has lighthouse, another Google tool, results for your audit. Read more

Google My Business Breaks Out Primary & Additional Business Categories
Google My Business made a small but useful change to the Google My Business dashboard where you edit your business listing. Read more

Google My Business Apps Gains Messaging, Posting, Photos & Much More
Google announced a revamp of the Google My Business app to help businesses create and manage their local listings in Google Maps. Read more