We got another official Google ranking update, the September 2023 helpful content update. This week, we had our first post-Google core update tremors and fluctuations. After saying they would a month ago, Google also finally dropped the FAQ-rich results snippets. Google also surprised us by saying How-to rich results are not going away just for mobile but also for desktop search. Google Search Console has new helpful Merchant Center reports. Google also said the site names issues have massively dropped. Google said fixing your INP issues won’t improve your rankings. Google said to avoid low-quality content blurbs on your e-commerce category pages. Google said there is no way to prevent search traffic loss on website revamps and you won’t be “back to the same” either. Google said meta descriptions do not matter for search rankings. Google said very few robots.txt files are over 500KB. Google has a new process for Google Business Profile reinstatements. Google Local is testing and showing third-party reviews again. Google is forcing some suspended advertisers to become verified. An advertiser said they lost thousands of dollars due to a Google Ads experiment. Google also promotes its new Search Generative Experience in the traditional search results. Bing Search is testing playable video snippets. Bing Chat is working on custom instructions feature And if you want to help sponsor those vlogs, go to patreon.com/barryschwartz. That was the search news this week at the Search Engine Roundtable.

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0:00 - Introduction

1:08 - Google September 2023 Helpful Content Update Rolling Out With Improved Classifier

4:39 - Google Search Ranking Update Volatility Tremors Around September 12th

5:28 - Google FAQ Rich Results Now Only Displayed For Authoritative Sites

6:17 - Google Drops All How-To Rich Results For Desktop (& Mobile) Search

7:03 - New: Google Search Console Shows Merchant Center Visibility Issues & Changes

7:35 - Google: Site Name Issues Massively Dropped Since Last Algorithm Update

8:10 - Google: Fix Your INP Issues? Don't Expect Visibility Changes Search Rankings.

8:19 - Google On Content On E-Commerce Category Page: Stay Away From Low-Quality Blurbs

8:42 - Google: There Is No Way To Prevent Search Traffic Loss From A Website Revamp

9:12 - Google: No Such Thing As "Back To The Same" For Search Rankings After A Site Revamp

9:38 - Google: Meta Description Length Does Not Matter For Ranking Algorithms

9:57 - Google: Very Few Robots.txt Files Are Over 500KB

10:24 - New Google Business Profiles Reinstatement Process (US)

11:03 - Google Maps/Local Tests Third Party Reviews Again

11:25 - Google To Force Some Suspended Advertisers To Get Verification Before Lifting Suspension

12:00 - Advertiser Lost Thousands Of Dollars Lost During Google Ads Experimental Test

12:36 - Google Promoting Search Generative Experience In Traditional Search Results

12:56 - Bing Search Snippets With Playable Video Thumbnails

13:09 - Bing Chat Working On Custom Instructions Through Useful Memory Feature

13:26 - Conclusion