The Week in Search is a weekly column produced by the Studio team to keep marketing professionals and ecommerce merchants up to date on changes in the search industry, and provide valuable context on what it all means. If you have questions or think we missed something, email us directly.

Google & Norad Team Up for a Santa Tracking App

Google has put together a fun tool for all you believers out there. You can track Santa through this app. This, along with the U.S. Government’s NORAD Santa tracker, are the best ways to see what the fat man is up to this Christmas.

Studio Takeaway: Fun!

Google Announces Some Search Console Data For December Might Be Inaccurate

A bug in Search Console may have impacted reporting between December 8 and December 13th, Google announced quietly this week. Google confirms that a quick fix was implemented and all reporting data after December 13th is accurate.

If you noticed a steep drop-off in clicks and impressions during the second week of December but then saw those numbers swiftly recover, you may want to make a note in your records that this data should not be used as a comparison for future analysis or reporting.

Studio Takeaway: Tools such as Google Search Console can be extremely valuable for business owners, however, because all tools are prone to errors some of the time, it’s important to analyze your site data as a whole and not become too hyper-focused on just one metric. 

If inexplicable changes in very specific metrics such as click-through-rate send a chill of panic up your spine or have you pulling your hair out, consider that you may not be seeing the full picture. Using Search Console in conjunction with other tools such as Google Analytics, Crazy Egg, SEMrush and others will help you to gain more complete insights into the true performance of your site.

Using Google Domains Does Not Help You Rank Better

It’s no secret that optimizing for Google is crucial for ranking. From YouTube to Ads, Google wants you to use their services, but with so much internet chatter out there, it can be difficult to wade through the speculative nonsense and get to those golden nuggets of truth.

If you’ve recently thought about migrating your domain or purchasing a new domain from Google Domains, John Mueller assures us all that’s simply not necessary. In what may be the shortest reply to any inquiry on Reddit, John Mueller simply answered “no” to the question of “Do migrating to “google domains” will improve my SEO in any way?” Well, there you have it.

Studio Takeaway: Using a specific Google service cannot guarantee your success. Google loves Google, but when it comes to organic ranking, it’s a solid and long-term SEO strategy that’ll ultimately get you there.

So are there any perks to owning a Google Domain?

Google domains are automatically verified in Google Search Console, which makes getting started with this valuable tool much quicker and more seamless.

Visit our run down on domain age seo for more insight into this topic.

Google Ads to End Social Customer Support

Contacting customer support via Facebook or Twitter is incredibly convenient and reduces a lot of stress for business owners and consumers everywhere. Yet on Friday, Google announced that beginning January 1, 2020, it will no longer be using these avenues to field questions, comments or concerns. Rather, Google will be redirecting Facebook and Twitter inquiries to their online support form, where users are safer from phishing and spamming schemes.

Studio Takeaway: We all value speed and convenience, but our demand for it has made it possible for phishing and spamming to become a growing global concern. By keeping communication secure in one-on-one conversations via chat, email or phone, your data stays secure too.

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