SearchCap: Google Discontinues Feature Phones, Expands Sitemap File Size, and Adds Videos to Panels

Here are today’s happenings in the search world, as reported by Search Engine Land and other sources across the web.

From Search Engine Land:

• How Google is tackling fake news, and why it should not do it alone
  Nov 30, 2016 by Ian Bowden

  Columnist Ian Bowden illustrates some methods Google is using—and could use—to combat fake news.

• Removing duplicates in Yext: still a hands-on process
  Nov 30, 2016 by Corey Barnett

  Columnist Corey Barnett explains the pros and cons of using Yext to suppress duplicate local listings.

• Jagdish Chandra Bose Google doodle marks 158th birthday of biophysicist, botanist & crescograph inventor
  Nov 30, 2016 by Amy Gesenhues

  Bose’s scientific contributions extended across various fields, including plant life, radio science, and science fiction.

• How brands can win with omnichannel discovery
  Nov 30, 2016 by Adam Dorfman

  Columnist Adam Dorfman discusses steps businesses can take to develop an effective omnichannel location strategy.

• Google drops their feature phone crawler & error report in Search Console
  Nov 30, 2016 by Barry Schwartz

  Google has ended full support for websites designed for feature phones.

• Google & Bing increase the file size limit of Sitemaps files
  Nov 30, 2016 by Barry Schwartz

  The file size limit for Sitemaps has been increased to 50MB, though the URL limit remains unchanged at 50,000.

• Google knowledge panel now showing videos from the web carousel
  Nov 29, 2016 by Barry Schwartz

  Videos now appear below the Google knowledge panel for certain queries.

• MarTech Conference series adds Boston event in 2017
  Nov 29, 2016 by Search Engine Land

  Third Door Media will host an East coast edition of MarTech®: The Marketing Tech Conference in Boston from October 2-4, 2017, with the West coast edition in San Francisco from May 9-11, 2017.

Recent Headlines From MarTech, Our Sister Site Dedicated To Internet Marketing:

• Commerce Signals and PlaceIQ turn in-store sales data into campaign optimization tool
• Is in-house marketing better than using an agency?
• Google’s shift to mobile-first: mobile moments that matter
• ‘Beacons are dead,’ says CEO of a retail analytics firm
• Size matters: 5 tips for creating LEAN programmatic creative
• Return Path buys email deliverability specialist Email Copilot
• Snapchat shuts down Story Explorer feature in Live Stories
• 10 domain name secrets to repair your online reputation
• Amazon: Alexa devices were best-selling products from any manufacturer
• Ranked conversations have arrived to the Twitter mobile experience

Search News From Around The Web:

Local & Maps

• Adding 50 new tours for schools with Google Expeditions
• If Nobody in Your Area Cares about Yelp, Should You Still Bother Getting Reviews There?

Link Building

• 5 Takeaways from Earning Links in 130 Countries
• Link Building: Why You Keep Getting Rejected & How to Change it

Searching

• Google Asked to Remove a Billion “Pirate” Search Results in a Year
• SearchResearch Challenge (11/30/16): Mercury where??

SEO

• Answering Featured Snippets Timely, Using Sentence Compression on News
• Google Search Console’s Update Indicator Line Finally Clickable
• Google Updates Site Move Recommendations for Webmasters
• How Much Does Google Index Twitter? Study Shows Decline
• If Not Dates in the URL, What Then?
• Mobile First Index & What you should stop doing right now
• Upcoming Google Interstitial Penalty Could Harm Jewish Websites

SEM / Paid Search

• 5 Fast Fixes For Your Holiday PPC Strategy
• Remarketing comes to Bing Ads Editor and additional support for Bing Shopping Campaign

Search Marketing

• How to Monitor – and Capitalize on – Your Competitors