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 Maps follow button gives businesses a new way to connect with users
Users can get updates from businesses in the “For You” tab. Read more

Link building tool roundup: Site crawlers
Link building is hard work! Here’s how to utilize site crawling tools to make sure your effort pays off. Read more

Google launches new design for hotel search results
After months of testing, Google has released a new design for the hotel search results. Read more

Drive SEO results with artificial intelligence
One of the more powerful subsets of Artificial Intelligence (AI) being used these days in SEO is machine learning, which deals specifically with the training of algorithms, or understanding how and why algorithms work. Read more

Google.com mobile home page no longer just a search box, now shows Google Discover feed
Your mobile Google home page now shows Google Discover by default. Read more

How to boost search rankings using only your internal linking strategy
Links, even within a website, show relationships between content. They transfer value and importance between pages. Read more

Google Home Hub: An SEO perspective
It might be time to start focusing more on creating YouTube videos for your content with the release of the Google Home Hub. Read more

Bing Ads launches the ability to create recurring IOs
Recurring insertion orders are designed to streamline the IO process. Read more

Now you can segment Google Ads store visits by ‘new vs. returning’ visitors
Get a better understanding of the types of visitors campaigns are driving in-store. Read more

Yelp vs Google: How they deal with fake reviews

I recently heard a story of a business that got caught with fake reviews on Yelp. Read more

Google wants to hear from SEOs on the search result listings
Here is how to give Google your two cents on the search result listings. Read more

From Marketing Land

Small businesses more likely to shift ad budgets from search, display, paid social to Amazon
Third Door Media’s “Making Room for Amazon” report highlights marketers’ plans for Amazon ad budgets, staff and technology. Read more

LinkedIn Sponsored Content can now be tracked via Google Campaign Manager
The Google Campaign Manager integration will support LinkedIn Sponsored Content for video, carousel ads, lead-gen forms and more. Read more

AdSense users will have to submit all new sites for verification
No more adding existing code to new sites without AdSense review and approval. Read more

Best practices for tag management and governance
Tag governance can be a complicated process. Read more

Despite 280-character expansion, short Tweets are still the norm
After increasing Tweets to 280 characters a year ago, Twitter says the most common length of a Tweet is still under 35 characters. Read more

Video advertising’s bright future and what you should be doing now
Addressable TV will soon be a vital part of any media plan, so dip your toe into the water now. Read more

Instagram introduces new hashtag search API for businesses
The new API limits search queries to 30 unique hashtags within a seven-day period. Read more

Agencies must now confirm client relationships before enabling Facebook Pixel and event sets
Aiming to be more transparent about ad targeting practices, Facebook is updating policies attached to its Pixel and event sets. Read more

Pinterest’s new Promoted Carousel ads will display up to 5 swipable images in a single ad
Each image can link to a separate landing page. Read more

From Search Engine Roundtable

Google Search Rankings Seems Unstable; More Algorithm Tweaks Or Penalties?
Over the past few days the SEO communities and forums have been in a somewhat state of stress watching their rankings and analytics fluctuate up and down. Read more

Cool! Google Lens Now In Google Image Search Results
Earlier this month we reported that Google Lens is coming to Google Image search. Read more

Google Provides Quicker Access To Review & Delete Search Activity
The other day, Google announced they are giving searchers easier and more direct access to review and delete their recent search history and manage their privacy controls directly from the navigation bar in the main search screen. Read more

Bing Gets Transparent On How They Crawl The Web
As you know, Bing on their webmaster blog, is offering a series around BingBot and how they crawl the web, they already posted two blog posts on the topic. Read more

Google Designs Claim This Knowledge Panel Button
Google is testing a new design for the “claim this knowledge panel” link under a knowledge panel that is eligible for verification. Read more

Bug: Google Knowledge Panel Image Goes Missing
It looks like there is a recent bug with the Google knowledge panel images that some are actually missing. Read more

Is Google’s PageRank Algorithm Still Important For Google Search Rankings?
Long gone are the times of monthly Google PageRank updates, Google dances, and checking Google data centers – and to be honest, I somewhat miss those days. Read more

Google Shows Two Featured Snippets For One Query
Some folks are noticing that Google is showing two featured snippets for a single query. Read more

Google: Fill In Your Meta Descriptions Because You Know Your Content Best
Google’s John Mueller said on Twitter that it is best not to leave your meta descriptions blank. Instead he said try to fill them out because you know your content best. Read more

SEOs Turn To EAT After Recent Google Algorithm Updates
Google had a big issues years ago, every Google algorithm update was about PageRank and subsequently DA (which is something Google doesn’t even have) – it was all about links. Read more

Google: We Will Close The Gap On Modern Browsers & GoogleBot
Martin Splitt from the Google Webmaster Trends Analyst team said yesterday on a hangout that they are working on closing the gap between how modern browsers render web pages and how GoogleBot renders web pages. Read more

Bing Ads API Version 11 Goes Aways Today
Bing sent out a final reminder this morning that today is the last day you can use version 11 of the Bing Ads API. Read more

Google My Business Adds Setting For Google Assistant Calls Over Duplex
We know that Google is now going to be letting customers use Google Assistant’s duplex technology to book appointments or make reservations on their behalf. Read more

Google Structured Data Testing Tool Uses Neutral Crawler; Mostly Desktop
Google has a said that when the Google Structured Data Testing tool accesses a site, it uses a neutral crawler in terms of desktop versus mobile. Read more

Googlers Disagrees About Removing vs Improving Content For Google Ranking Benefit
For past few years, we have heard Google suggest that it is better to improve content and not remove content that is low quality. We also heard Google say removing content also works improve overall site quality. Read more

Google My Business Removes Addresses From Some Service Area Businesses
Google seems to have dropped some the addresses from Google My Business listings for service area businesses. Read more