Search Off the Record

Discover the evolution of Search Central Live events, transitioning into a dynamic 'Deep Dive' format aimed at enhancing community engagement. The hosts share insights into event planning complexities and how participant feedback shapes these gatherings. Dive into the significance of informal networking and the excitement surrounding new locations like Budapest and South Africa. Plus, enjoy humorous anecdotes about language challenges at past conferences, adding a light-hearted twist to the discussion!

Ever wonder how web standards are created? The hosts take you behind the scenes of organizations like W3C and IETF, highlighting the consensus-driven process that shapes the web. They share nostalgic stories about early projects like a toy search engine. The discussion dives into the complexities of ownership of web technologies and the journey of developing new standards. With a focus on collaboration and community expertise, it underscores how feedback and precise language are essential in ensuring a secure and reliable online experience.

As 2024 wraps up, the hosts reflect on memorable travels and community events, highlighting their experiences in Türkiye. They discuss the subjective nature of SEO expertise and the importance of understanding AI's evolving role in coding and creativity. The conversation shifts to the dynamics of smaller gatherings and the challenges of JavaScript in modern web practices. Bringing a light-hearted touch, they share nostalgic internet finds and amusing tales about a quirky Australian cheesemaker, ending on a playful and engaging note.

Allan Scott, a seasoned software engineer at Google specializing in duplicate detection, joins the discussion. He sheds light on the complexities of duplicate content in search, including clustering and canonicalization. The conversation dives into the challenges of conflicting signals between HTTP and HTTPS, and the critical role of the rel canonical tag. Allan also addresses localization strategies and the importance of accurate hreflang implementations. Finally, he tackles common web crawling issues, emphasizing teamwork to enhance search engine performance.

In this discussion, Rio Ichikawa, a Tokyo-based product manager specializing in UX, CRO, and SEO, shares valuable insights on the synergy between user experience and SEO. He highlights how effective UX is crucial for engagement and conversion. Rio delves into common UX missteps, such as carousels, and the power of heatmaps in understanding user behavior. Practical tips for balancing UX design with SEO requirements, like visual content significance and A-B testing, are also shared, making this a rich resource for digital marketers.

Iva Barisic Hafner, a user experience researcher on the Google Shopping team, shares her expertise on understanding the 'why' behind user behaviors. She highlights accessible UXR methods like cognitive walkthroughs and heuristic evaluations that can transform user insights into improved website designs. The discussion also emphasizes the blend of qualitative and quantitative research to identify user pain points effectively. Iva champions the significance of proper survey practices for reliable data and encourages ongoing learning in user experience research.

Jessica Yu, the Lead for Google Doodles and Delight on Google Search, shares her creative journey in designing engaging experiences. She reveals the whimsical origins of Google Doodles, including the inspiration from Momo the Magic Cat. Jessica discusses the balance of creativity and technical challenges in crafting interactive features. Highlighting user engagement, she shares how community interaction fuels new ideas, making every Doodle not just a graphic, but a delightful adventure for users.

In this episode of Search Off the Record, Ben Walton and David Yule from the Google Search Site Reliability Team (SRE) walk us through their day to day work, which surprisingly is not just about putting out fires! Learn what Search SREs really do, how they handle incidents that occasionally occur, and what it takes to be an SRE for Google Search.    Resources: Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr083 SRE handbook → https://goo.gle/3XSbVUF David on LinkedIn → https://goo.gle/3XQKavR Ben on LinkedIn → https://goo.gle/4ewAkEX   Listen to more Search Off the Record → https://goo.gle/sotr-yt Subscribe to Google Search Channel → https://goo.gle/SearchCentral   Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.

Erika Varangouli, head of Branded Content at Riverside.fm, shares her expertise on evaluating SEO performance. She discusses the importance of setting realistic expectations and the need for clear communication between clients and SEO professionals. Drawing on real-world examples, including insights from a small pizzeria, Erika emphasizes collaborative strategies for prioritizing SEO tasks. The conversation also highlights the necessity of regular reporting and actionable insights to ensure both parties are aligned on goals.

In this episode of Search Off the Record, Irina Tuduce from the shopping team joins John Mueller and Lizzi Sassman to chat all things shopping data, from schema.org to feeds spec. Listen along as we chat about how shopping infrastructure gets its data, why pricing data can be tricky, and what the Shopping team has been working on this year. Resources: Episode transcript → https://goo.gle/sotr081-transcript Irina Tuduce on LinkedIn → https://goo.gle/3Xuiywf Product structured data → https://goo.gle/4eaPJus Feed spec in Merchant Center → https://goo.gle/3Tdl2MU How to set up Merchant Center account → https://goo.gle/4gcSPjq Merchant-level organization markup → https://goo.gle/47fvmd2 Schema.org community on GitHub → https://goo.gle/4e7A6E3 Variants in Google Search → https://goo.gle/4dU4BOc  Merchant Listings report in Search Console → https://goo.gle/47hlNuu    Listen to more Search Off the Record → https://goo.gle/sotr-yt Subscribe to Google Search Channel → https://goo.gle/SearchCentral   Search Off the Record is a podcast series that takes you behind the scenes of Google Search with the Search Relations team.