Episodes
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In episode 17, I cover some huge visibility drops for sites that are violating Google's 'Site reputation abuse' spam policy. For example, some prominent sites are dropping over time including some of the largest publishers on the web. Over time, Google seems to have algorithmically hit large publishers with affiliate sections of their sites, including Forbes, Fortune, CNN Underscored, WSJ Buyside, Marketwatch Guides, and more. It makes you wonder if Google is testing its 'Site reputation abuse' algorithm update, or if other changes are impacting those sections strongly...
00:00 A Nightmare on Affiliate Street - Site Reputation Abuse and Large Publishers Dropping
01:32 Forbes Advisor drops.
03:05 APNews Buyline and Times Stamped dropped as well.
04:30 Fortune Recommends drops on October 11th.
06:15 More sites drop including Marketwatch Guides, WSJ Buyside, and CNN Underscored
07:40 Revisiting manual actions from May 2024 for 'Site reputation abuse"
08:35 Wrapping up, moving forward, and stay tuned for updates about this.
Here's the blog post with all the details: https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/a-nightmare-on-affiliate-street/
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I cover two case studies underscoring the importance of catching sneaky mobile SEO problems in Google's mobile-first indexing world. The first case study involves canonical tags that weren't being published on mobile versions of the pages across a site with 100K+ urls. The second case involves thin content becoming even *thinner* since less content was being published on mobile versions of the pages. That was on a stie with 40M urls. I also covers several tools and tips for surfacing those problems. I also cover tools and tips for surfacing mobile SEO problems, including the URL inspection tool in GSC, crawling tools like Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, and Lumar, Chrome extensions, and then even site queries using quoted text. With Google switching to mobile-first indexing, it's using Googlebot-Smartphone for indexing purposes. That's why it's important to make sure all of your content, structured data, directives, canonicals, and more are located on the mobile versions of your pages. If not, Google will not pick that up.
00:00 The importance of catching tricky mobile SEO problems.
00:40 Google's switch to mobile-first indexing.
01:38 Case Study 1: Playing hide and seek with canonicals.
03:10 Case Study 2: Thin pages becoming *thinner* on mobile.
05:35 Tools and tips for checking for mobile-first indexing problems.
9:37 Summary: Make sure you don't miss the mobile view.
Blog post: https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/mobile-first-indexing-seo-problems-case-study/
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Missing episodes?
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In this episode of “SEO From The Front Lines”, I cover the ranking swings and volatility in Google Search post-August core update. There has been a lot of chatter about ranking changes AFTER the Google August 2024 core update rolled out. After digging in, I noticed a ton of volatility across several dates post-core update. And beyond that, I noticed that a number of sites heavilyimpacted by the August 24th tremor have started to reverse course on some of those dates. For example, sites that surged on August 24th started dropping on September 6th, 2024, September 10th, and now September 14th. And on the flip side, some sites thatdropped with the August 24th tremor are now surging. Beyond that, there are some sites that were unaffected by the August core update that are surging or dropping. And for sites heavily impacted by the September helpfulcontent update (HCUX), a number that started surging back with the August 2024 core update are now dropping a bit. It’s not like a full reversal, but definitely reversing course somewhat. In this video, I cover what I’m seeingand why I think this might be happening.
00:00 Crazy ranking swings and volatility AFTER the August 2024 core update completed.
00:49 My initial tweet about the volatility and reversals I was picking up across sites.
01:56 Examples of sites reversing course and dropping on 9/6, 9/10, and 9/14.
02:59 Examples of sites reversing course and surging back post-August core update.
04:38 Barry Schwartz picked up a lot of chatter and volatility on 9/6/24.
05:08 Important dates to review for site owners and SEOs.
05:31 Helpful content sites impacted and dropping after surging with the August core update.
06:36 Examples of visibility trending for HCU(X) sites impacted and dropping.
08:01 PSA about rank tracking your most important queries.
09:22 What’s happening, and the possible decoupling of algorithms from broad core updates.
11:17 Quick summary about the recent volatility post-August core update.Follow me on X: https://x.com/glenngabeConnect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/
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In Episode 14 of ‘SEO From The Front Lines”, I cover how some publishers are hijacking the browser back button and providing a feed of articles that drives users to more publisher content, including sponsored content and ads. That’s versus allowing them to return to the sites they visited from… Disabling, or hijacking the back button, is a tricky and deceptive tactic, since users might not know they actually stayed on the same site. And that’s especially the case when visitors arrive on the site from Google Discover since the publisher feed looks very similar to the Discover feed.
I also cover some reasons that some publishers are choosing to hijack the back button. For example, driving users to a publisher’s feed after hitting the back button can yield more pageviews, more ad impressions, and more ad revenue. But there’s another possible benefit of doing this… It can lead to more engagement for users that remain on the site, even if that’s not what the user intended to do. And with Google’s Navboost system at play, which tracks 13 months of user interaction signals (and can impact rankings), publishers could be gaming Navboost. And that led me to Google’s spam policies, if Google should issue manual actions for hijacking the back button, or if they should just tackle it algorithmically. I also cover how hijacking the back button was often the tip of the iceberg from an aggressive and deceptive advertising situation (and how some sites employing that tactic have seen big drops during major algorithm updates, including broad core updates).
And I end the video with some advice for publishers thatmight be currently hijacking the back button. My recommendation is to run a user study to better understand how real, objective users feel about having their back button hijacked, not being able to easily leave a site, etc. By running a user study, publishers can listen to, and watch, frustrated users on their own sites. It might just lead to publishers reevaluating their decision to hijackthe back button.
00:00 Hijacking the browser back button and its impact on SEO.
01:32 Reasons publishers are hijacking the back button.
02:59 What the feed of content and ads looks like when the back button is hijacked.
03:57 Google’s stance on publishers hijacking or disabling the back button.
05:42 An introduction to Navboost and Google tracking 13 months of user interaction signals.
07:53 Google’s spam policies.
09:40 A Navboost twist and negative user interactions signals.
11:21 Aggressive advertising and broad core update impact for sites hijacking the back button.
12:47 My case study about The SEO Engagement Trap.
14:11 Publishers have serious decisions to make about ‘back button hijacking’.
14:36 Running a user study to understand user frustration from hijacking.
16:02 Quick recap and read my latest blog post covering hijacking the back button.Read my blog post covering 'back button hijacking' and itsimpact on SEO:https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/hijacking-the-back-button-gaming-navboost/
Google’s Core Algorithm Updates and The Power of User Studies: https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/google-core-ranking-updates-user-studies/Visualizing The SEO Engagement Trap:
https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/user-frustration-behavior-flow-google-analytics/
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Google’s August 2024 broad core update finally completed on September 3, 2024 after a 19-day rollout. It was a huge update that impacted many sites across the web. In the final episode of core update notes, I cover HCU(X) sites recovering, the big tremor from 8/24 into 8/25, forums seeing volatility, an update on a site pumping out a ton of AI content, and then how site owners can move forward after the update. That includes understanding the difference between relevancy adjustments, intent shifts, and quality, running delta reports to understand the top queries and landing pages that dropped based on the core update, and then how to take a “kitchen sink” approach to remediation.
00:00 Final "Core Update Notes" for the August 2024 broad core update.
00:40 The August core update completed in 19 days.
01:24 More about September helpful content update sites surging.
03:48 And some September helpful content update sites dropping even more.
05:42 Continued movement for sites seeing impact post-update.
06:21 The August 24th Tremor was big for some sites.
08:13 Was the tremor commerce-focused?
09:12 Another reminder that links will not save you from broad core updates.
10:12 Huge drop: An update on a site pumping out tons of AI content.
11:03 Forums volatility: A correction?
12:17 Reddit still surging, Quora flat.
13:13 Understanding the difference between relevancy adjustments, intent shifts, and quality problems.
14:33 If "Quality" is the issue, then focus on the Usual Suspects.
15:40 "Quality" is more than just content.
16:49 Run a Delta Report (or several).
17:55 Use the "Kitchen Sink" approach to remediation.
19:09 When will the next core update roll out and wrapping up.
Blog posts I reference in the video:
Google’s Broad Core Updates And The Difference BetweenRelevancy Adjustments, Intent Shifts, And Overall Site Quality Problems
https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/google-broad-core-updates-difference-between-relevancy-adjustments-intent-shifts-overall-site-quality/
Google’s Core Algorithm Updates and The Power of UserStudies: How Real Feedback From Real People Can Help Site Owners SurfaceWebsite Quality Problems (And More)
https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/google-core-ranking-updates-user-studies/
Smart Delta Reports – How To Automate Exporting, Filtering,and Comparing Google Search Data Across Timeframes Via The Search Console APIand Analytics Edge
https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/how-to-automate-delta-report-gsc-api-analytics-edge/
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This is Part 3 of "Core Update Notes" for the August broad core update. I cover an update on September Helpful Content Updates sites (HCUX), tremors I'm seeing during the update, sites violating Google's Site Reputation Abuse spam policy, how YMYL sites can surge even with a fraction of the links of competitors, how Google will eventually catch up with sites heavily publishing AI-generated content without human involvement, how LinkedIn pulse and advice are dropping with the August core update, and more.
00:00 "Core Update" notes for August 30th
00:51 An update on sites impacted by the September helpful content update (HCUX)
02:38 Algorithm update "Tremors" - or changes pushed by Google during the core update
05:00 Site reputation abuse - big drops and some surges
07:07 YMYL site impact - not always about the links...
08:26 Links will not (always) save you from a broad core update.
09:28 Pushing the Limits? Google will eventually catch up.
10:42 Recovery from the June 2024 spam update?
11:37 PSA: Domain name changes and migrations DURING broad core updates.
12:36 LinkedIn Pulse and Advice directories dropping.
14:14 Things to Know SERP feature impact.
16:18 Summary of "Core Update Notes" for August 30th 2024
And make sure to check out the other episodes covering "Core Update Notes" from the August core update:
Core Update Notes from August 19, 2024
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4TK7m2NAhw5Kth25f1f0tb
Core Update Notes From August 23, 2024
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3U5ugx08nT6IuFnPPn0jxR
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Part 2 of "Core Update Notes" for the August Google broad core update. I cover the latest with helpful content update sites surging back from the dead, reviews sites also rising from the ashes, Google confirming that AI overview rankings can be impacted by broad core updates, how SERP features could be impacted during core updates, and the connection between the May 3rd and May 10th unconfirmed updates and the August core update.
00:00 Google August 2024 Core Update Notes - 8/23 Edition00:37 An Update On September Helpful Content Sites (HCUX)
02:18 An example of a full recovery from the HCU(X)?
04:00 The Aug core update connection with the May 3rd and May 10th unconfirmed updates.
05:40 Gif and Meme sites: SERP features impacted versus 10-blue links.
07:20 Confirmed: Core updates can impact AI overview rankings.
08:50 Reviews sites rise from the ashes. Not just HCU(X) sites.Follow me on X: https://x.com/glenngabeConnect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/
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Episode 10 of 'SEO From The Front Lines" covers what I'm seeing so far with the August 2024 core update. Includes sites heavily impacted by the September Helpful Content Update surging back, if Google is handling site reputation abuse algorithmically, the ranking bug that happened while the core update started rolling out, impact to YMYL sites, and more.
00:00 August 19th "Core Update Notes" - What I'm seeing so far.
00:49 Some September Helpful Content Update (HCUX) Sites Finally Surge
02:25 Screenshots of HCU(X) sites surging back.
05:04 It's relative. Big surges, but many HCU(X) sites were down big-time.
05:55 Is Google handling Site Reputation Abuse algorithmically with the core update?
07:48 Google confirms a ranking bug that's not related to the core update.
09:22 Site pumping out tons of AI-generated content finally drops.
10:50 Some YMYL sites are seeing a lot of movement.
12:12 Recap and stay tuned for more "Core Update Notes".Follow me on X: https://x.com/glenngabeConnect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/
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With Google's hidden gems update in the fall of 2023, both Reddit and Quora surged like crazy. Although many are focused on the surge of Reddit, with good reason, it's important to understand that many forums surged in the fall of 2023. I have covered this heavily on X over time. So I just rank the visibility numbers for 97 forums I'm tracking across verticals. The percentage change year-over-year was wild. 88% of the forums saw 100% growth or more. And a number saw 1000% growth or more. In this episode I also show several screenshots of forums that surged since the fall of 2023, while also explaining that several have seen drops recently with the volatility we have seen this summer (as we lead up to the next core update). Those sites are still up big-time YOY, but they have seen a downturn recently. Is that a foreshadowing of what's coming for those sites with the next core update? We'll find out soon.
00:00 How Google's Hidden Gems Updated Yielded Explosive Growth Across Many Forums.00:24 Quora and Reddit Surge in the fall of 2023.1:03 Google write a blog post about the upcoming hidden gems update.1:33 The hidden gems update rolls out and Google never announced it.2:45 Google announced a Reddit partnership.4:00 Tweets from Glenn and Lily Ray about other forums surging.5:30 Tracking the visibility changes across 97 forums.7:10 Showing examples of forums that surged in search visibility. My blog post covering the surges across forums: https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/beyond-reddit-and-quora-google-hidden-gems-update-forums-surge/
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While checking Bing Webmaster Tools recently, I noticed a huge change across sites starting on May 29, 2024. The more I dug in, the more volatility I saw. It sure looks like Bing pushed some type of large algorithm change that impacted many sites across the web. The surges and drops I'm seeing are across sites and verticals, so it's not just one niche. I reached out to Bing's Fabrice Canel to see if Bing pushed an update and he explained nothing specific rolled out around that date, but he did say that Bing pushes changes almost daily (and some changes have a bigger impact across sites). In addition, when Bing rolled out a big algorithm update in January of 2023, it was based on applying a new AI model to the Bing search algorithm. And that was based on the partnership with OpenAI. When checking OpenAI releases, I noticed that GPT-4o rolled out just two weeks before the volatility started on May 29th. So, it's possible that had an impact on Bing rankings. I'm trying to find out more about that from Bing now. Regardless, check your Bing stats in Bing Webmaster Tools. You might be surprised what you find.
Here's my tweet about the Bing update: https://twitter.com/glenngabe/status/1819703777592492496
Here's Barry's post about the potential update: https://www.seroundtable.com/bing-search-ranking-algorithm-update-may-29th-37840.html
Confirmed Bing algorithm update in January 2023: https://www.seroundtable.com/bing-algorithm-update-january-18-2023-34784.html
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Learn why an algorithmic approach to enforcing Google's site reputation abuse policy is the way forward. I first cover manual actions Google applied on May 7, 2024 and how sites handled the content violating the site reputation abuse spam policy. Then I explain why blocking via robots.txt isn't a valid approach to blocking that content, as well as how noindexing content can also go haywire. I end the podcast covering how some international sites were unaffected when manual actions were applied, and why that might be the case. Here is my blog post covering the topic: https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/google-site-reputation-abuse-spam-policy-algorithmic-approach/Follow me on X: https://x.com/glenngabeConnect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/
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Google was testing a change to how it provides links in AI Overviews in the search results. I was in the test last week and captured some video of it in action. The new treatment provides an overlay of search results on top of the AI overview. You can tap a group of favicons to see all of the pages where the AI sourced the answer from. In addition, there were small link icons that would trigger a smaller overlay containing the page(s) where that part of the answer was sourced from. I saw this on mobile, but others saw the new link treatment on desktop as well. I also cover how Google could easily include ads in the SERP overlays.
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With Google recently expanding support for translated results in the search results, I explain how to export those translated results by country from Google Search Console via the GSC API and Analytics Edge. I also cover how translated results work, what they look like in the search results, how to opt-out from having your content translated, and more.
View the blog post now.
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Confused about aggressive and disruptive ads and how that impacts a site with major algorithm updates? Well, the Ad Experience Report in Google Search Console might add to that confusion. Glenn Gabe of GSQi explains how the Ad Experience Report in Google Search Console fails to provide an accurate view of the advertising situation for site owners, and how that provides a false sense of security. Glenn explains how aggressive ads can impact a site during broad core updates and how the Ad Experience Report could help if Google provided stronger data there. You can read the blog post on gsqi.com.
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I cover scary and confusing surges and drops in indexing in Google Search Console (GSC) and why that might be totally fine for site owners and SEOs. If the surges are due to urls categorized as "Indexed, though blocked by robots.txt", then that can cause the spike and drop you are seeing. And since Google is on record that it can't impact the site quality-wise, it can be totally fine. This is a companion video to my blog post covering the topic: https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/scary-surge-drop-indexing-google-search-console/
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Now that AI overviews rolled out in the United States in Google Search, I dug into Google Search Console (GSC) to track those overviews (the queries and landing pages ranking there). In this episode, I walk you through several examples of sites ranking lower on page one in the 10-blue links, but also ranking in AI overviews at the top of the SERPs. Based on that, I was hoping I would clearly be able to track those overviews. Nope, it wasn't clear at all.
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Glenn presented at SMX Advanced about the latest Google algorithm updates that rolled out in 2023 and 2024, but due to a tech glitch, he had to cut the presentation short by a few slides (due to time). So, he decided to record the end of the presentation and post it here! Glenn covers an interesting March 2024 core update case study, the counterbalancing of systems, the 'site reputation abuse' update, and then covers some key points from the entire presentation.
