Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web…

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.

With 85% of indexed pages now being mobile-friendly, Google is removing the ‘mobile-friendly’ label from mobile search results. The post Say Goodbye to the ‘Mobile-Friendly’ Label in Google Search by @SouthernSEJ appeared first on Search Engine Journal

Google announced it will begin to devalue pages with intrusive pop-ups (otherwise known as interstitials). This change comes into effect after January 10, 2017

Although Google began crawling and indexing SVGs back in 2010, Google does not follow any links within the Scalable Vector Graphics.

Google will reinforce its emphasis on the mobile search experience with a new penalty affecting “intrusive interstitials” on mobile web pages.

Google says the change is designed to declutter its search results.

Earlier this year, a report from Consumer Intelligence Research partners (CIRP) pegged the sales of Amazon’s Echo at more than 3 million units. Echo of course uses Amazon’s cloud based AI “Alexa” to answer questions, play music/games, control smart devices including home automation systems and of course re-order products off Amazon. More importantly, awareness of this device and others like it continues to accelerate.

Advertisers can apply now to begin testing ETAs in their campaigns. The post Bing Ads opens pilot access for Expanded Text Ads appeared first on Search Engine Land. Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

On a fundamental level, effective search engine optimization (SEO) is about creating connections with your target audience. Columnist Ryan Shelley shows how personas can help you achieve these connections. The post The human side to SEO: the power of personas appeared first on Search Engine Land.