Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…

Brodie Clark posted a Twitter poll asking “is optimizing a website for search term variations that include “near me” good practice for SEO?” The results were pretty almost evenly split amongst “yes” and “no”, with more people leaning to “it depends.”

Google’s John Mueller offers advice on the multiple considerations prior to choosing how to build out an international presence online The post Build on Country Specific Domain Or Use Existing Site? appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

Google says there are no plans for a Core Web Vitals badge in search results after proposing the idea when the metrics were first introduced. The post Google’s Core Web Vitals Badge Likely Won’t Happen appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

Last week we broke the news that Google does some form of deduplication of the top stories and web results in some situations. John Shehata released some data from his Newzdash product showing that 67% of all Google searches have duplicate top stories to web result URLs and about 12% of top stories URLs get duplicated in the web search results.

Automation should supplement, not replace, your skills. At SMX Next, Michelle Morgan and Joe Martinez shared how they find a balance between human knowledge and machine learning for four campaign types.

Check out these 5 specific on-page optimizations that will help you rank higher in both local organic SERPs and the Map Pack. The post 5 Key On-Page Optimizations For Local Organic SEO appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

Google has confirmed it is officially testing placing emojis in some search ads. Darcy Burk spotted a pizza emoji on a search ad for Uber Eats and posted the screenshot on Twitter

A reader asks an SEO pro why a competitor’s links are still considered relevant by Google. See what Tony Wright has to say. The post Why Does Google Not Recognize My Competitor’s Links As Manipulated?

Seth Besmertnik shares his advice for enterprise marketers on MUM and how AI is changing search, plus a peek at what’s new at Conductor. The post Talking Google MUM & Enterprise Culture With Conductor’s CEO appeared first on Search Engine Journal .