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#SEOSLY SEO Newsletter
Hello there my favorite SEO subscriber!
I hope you are going to have a great week. This is the next edition of the SEO Newsletter by #SEOSLY bringing you the next round of the top SEO news, tips, and resources.
As always, a lot of things are happening in the SEO industry. And my goal as always is to report on the most important stuff and offer my own commentary and insights as an experienced SEO consultant.
By reading this newsletter from start to finish, you can rest assured that you are not missing anything important.
Ready? Let’s dive into it!
❗️Follow and subscribe to Olga Zarr if you haven’t already
I now spend about 50% of my time learning new things in SEO and sharing my knowledge and experience for free.
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Also regularly check my SEO blog as new cool articles are coming out soon.
🤔 Things Google believes SEOs should not focus on
Google has recently updated its SEO Starter Guide. I actually like the updated version very much.
Not only is it very concrete and to the point, but it also contains lots of actionable SEO tips that SEOs have been preaching for years (but Google wasn’t very vocal about).
At the end of the guide, there is now the section called “Things we believe you shouldn’t focus on” listing areas of SEO that Google believes SEOs should not focus on too much.
These include, among others, meta keywords, keyword stuffing, PageRank, E-E-A-T not being a ranking factor, and more.
While I agree with most of these things, I don’t agree with all of them.
That’s why I recorded a video with my own commentary of this section. I invite you to take a look.
>> Watch my video about things Google believes SEOs shouldn’t focus on <<
⭐️ LIVE event with Jason Barnard on all things Google Knowledge Panels (Feb 29, 6 PM CET)
I invite you to take part in this LIVE event with me Olga Zarr and Jason Barnard where we talk all about the latest Google Knowledge Vault updates, what's new after the Killer WHALE update, why people should build Knowledge Panels (including NEEATT benefits), and more!
We will also be answering all your questions about SEO and Google Knowledge Panels. We are both very busy people and this will be one of few opportunities to ask us your questions and get them answered right away.
Come and join us on the 29th of February at 6 PM CET!
>> Make sure to get notified when the event starts <<
🥵 Work life balance & burnout in the life of an SEO
Last week on my YouTube channel I posted two videos about a very important topic for SEOs. Yes, it is about burnout.
SEO, I believe more than other professions, is very addictive and easy to “overuse” if you get obsessed about it.
You know that I obsess about SEO a lot. Other industry experts like Myriam Jessier obsess too.
I invite you to watch my video where I talk about my challenges with that and my recovery.
>> Watch my SEO burnout story <<
And don’t miss my discussion with Myriam Jessier who has also been there (and done that).
>> Watch Myriam Jessier’s SEO burnout story <<
And now onto the most recent SEO news, tips, and resources…
😱 Google Bard is now Gemini and starts the next chapter of Google’s Gemini era
Google has rebranded its AI chatbot Bard as Gemini to reflect the advanced technology behind it.The most capable version powered by Google's Ultra model is called Gemini Advanced. It can reason, follow instructions, code, and collaborate creatively.
Gemini Advanced will be available through a new Google One AI Premium subscription plan. This gives users access to Google's best AI features. Gemini models will also power AI features in Workspace and Google Cloud to boost productivity, help developers, and more.
This is just the beginning - Google is continuously working on improving Gemini and will share more updates soon.
❌ Google-Extended bot does not affect Google Search
As Barry Schwartz reports, Google has updated its Google-Extended bot section to change references from Bard to Gemini, reflecting Google's AI chatbot name change.
Google clarified that Google-Extended has no impact on Google Search results or rankings. It only controls what content is used to improve Gemini Apps and other AI products.
Google-Extended does not affect what content shows in Google's Search Generative Experience (SGE).
The document updates clarify that regular search crawling and rankings remain separate from what is controlled by the Google-Extended token.
📉 Google drops Web Stories
Google has removed Web Stories from appearing in image search results and the carousel view in Google Discover. The grid view for Web Stories in Google Search is now changed to a carousel view.
Google updated its documentation to reflect these changes in availability of where Web Stories can surface (see the image above).
Web Stories can still appear as single search results or in a search results carousel in certain countries. Their availability in Discover is now more limited.
These changes signify Google is pulling back somewhat on prominence of Web Stories after previously pushing them across its products. Web publishers who relied on Web Story traffic may need to adjust strategies given this reduced presence.
✅ Google Indexing issues finally fixed
Google search experienced indexing delays starting January 31st, causing some newly published content to not appear in search results.
On February 1st, Google acknowledged the ongoing indexing issue impacting a small number of sites.
As of February 8th, after over a week, Google has fully resolved the search indexing problem.
The Google Search Status Dashboard confirmed the fix, stating there will be no further updates.
📍Google Maps Launches AI-Powered Local Business Search
Google Maps has launched an experimental AI feature for personalized local business recommendations. It uses large language models to analyze Maps data and suggest relevant places based on user search queries and interests.
The AI aims to enhance discovery of niche businesses and attractions by factoring in changing plans, weather, group dynamics etc. For now, Google is soliciting feedback from Maps Local Guides before wider rollout.
This represents Google's push to integrate AI into Maps to transform local search from keyword to conversational. Businesses may need to optimize online information for AI-powered recommendations driving more qualified traffic.
💰Yandex search engine sold for $5.2 billion
Yandex, which operates the dominant search engine in Russia, has agreed to sell its Russian assets including search to a local consortium for $5.2 billion.
The sale comes after a turbulent period stemming from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which led to trading suspensions, division sales, and financial losses.
Yandex had to accept a steep 50%+ discount on the sale price due to Russian government rules penalizing deals with companies from "unfriendly" countries.
🚀 On-page SEO works is 80% of your SEO success
Don’t quote me on that percentage (clickbait) but on-page SEO is STILL the most important aspect of SEO.
There are situations where rankings won’t move without links, of course. But to succeed in SEO, you need to be able to tell when you need more links and when you need more on-page SEO.
If you need more on-page SEO, you need to know exactly what you are missing. There are hundreds of hundreds of factors influencing the position of your site in SERPs.
How can you know which ones play a significant role for your website for a particular query? By measuring which ones work for your competitors and which ones you are missing.
The only good and reliable way of doing this that I know of right now is to use the Cora SEO tool. Yes, I am its affiliate but this is not why I am recommending this tool.
This tool has really been transformational for my SEO and I will soon be publishing an entire series of videos showing you exactly how it works and how it can change your SEO game.
You don’t need to sign up for Cora right now even though I have a 25% discount for my newsletter subscribers.
You can simply watch the video where I interview Ted Kubaitis, who is the creator of Cora. Or you can wait for the Core SEO series on my YouTube SEO channel.
>> Watch my interview with Ted Kubaitis <<
❗️Awesome SEO resources from other SEOs
Here are a few very cool and awesome resources from other SEOs. Definitely check them all.
How to find embedded YouTube videos that are unavailable or marked private using Screaming Frog
Glenn Gabe explains that broken YouTube embeds are a major user experience issue that can frustrate visitors and potentially hurt sites during Google updates.
Previously there wasn't an easy way to surface unavailable videos at scale. Glenn reached out to Screaming Frog's Dan Sharp about a solution
Google's New Love for User Generated Content
According to Johannes Beus from SISTRIX, Google now seems to be favoring user-generated content after previously demoting forums and crowdsourcing sites.
Examples like Reddit and Quora have seen massive visibility gains in search results, with a Taylor Swift subreddit even outranking her official site. Beus theorizes Google aims to highlight human-created content to counterbalance the rise of AI-generated pages.
SEO industry is changing
Marie Haynes predicts Google will soon evolve from a search engine into an "AI answer engine", replacing many search results with AI-generated text. This would drastically cut organic traffic to informational sites.
She shares concerns about impacts to content creator jobs and misinformation at scale, but is also excited by possibilities like using AI to work more efficiently.
However, Marie worries the combined changes mean SEO strategies must completely transform to optimize for AI recommendations rather than historical search algorithms.
Overall she anticipates AI advancements will bring monumental shifts for search and seismic challenges across the SEO industry. I am hopeful the changes won’t be so drastic, but we will see…
Product page SEO: A complete guide
The guide by Maria White covers important elements like using clear descriptive URLs, optimizing images with alt text and schema markup, writing compelling product descriptions optimized for search without over-stuffing keywords, incorporating user generated content like reviews to increase trust and engagement, and adapting product info like pricing, payments and translations for international audiences.
🔧 A pretty cool custom GPT for local SEO
I shared this last week but it is so cool that I need to share it this week too.
Ryan from Norzer has created a custom GPT tool that generates an extensive framework and suggestions for creating service landing pages, based on a given keyword and location input.
It produces an outline for landing page content, knowledge graph data, optimized titles and meta descriptions, top keywords and entities, FAQs, n-grams, related questions, AI image prompts, niche and content ideas, and general business advice.
It is really cool!
🤦🏻♀️ SEO follow of the week: Adrijana Vujadin
Adrijana is a coach for SEO professionals. She helps SEOs become confident, fix imposter syndrome, reduce stress, and get fulfillment at their SEO job. She is talking about a very important topic almost no one talks about.
Make sure to follow Adrijana on X/Twitter, LinkedIn and subscribe to her on YouTube.
📢 Announcement: SEO course coming in June 2024
I know I’ve been talking about this for almost two years now but it’s finally coming. This is going to be a course different from others.
I will soon share more details with you but I think it’s definitely worth the wait.
Stay tuned!
👑 You feedback is gold
Please feel free to provide feedback on this newsletter. Do you like this new format? What would you change? What do you want to see more or less of?
If you have some awesome SEO news resource, let me know and I will include it in the newsletter. If you have written a cool guide or created an awesome SEO tool, let me know and I will share it here.
🥇You can sponsor this SEO newsletter
The SEO Newsletter by #SEOSLY currently has close to 7K subscribers. All of them are interested in SEO. They are a mix of SEO professionals, small business owners, people wanting to learn SEO, and SEO consultants.
It has a whooping open rate of 30-35%. If you want to become one of its sponsors, let me know.
Please note that I only promote the SEO tools I personally love and use like Cora or JetOctopus. Reply to this e-mail to learn about currently available sponsorship opportunities.
Okay, that's all I have for you today.
See you in the next edition! |
