Google’s John Mueller answered a question on Reddit about why people don’t use hyphens with domains and if there was something to be concerned about that they were missing. Domain Names With Hyphens For SEO I’ve been working online for 25 years and I remember when using hyphens in domains was something that affiliates did … Read more
In an email sent to Google Ads advertisers this week, the company announced a change coming to search ads. Effective May 31, 2024, ad customizers will stop serving for expanded text ads (ETAs) and Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs). The notification reads in part: “On May 31, 2024, existing ad customizers for text ads, expanded text … Read more
A recent report shows that while Gen Z increasingly turns to social media platforms for information searches, Google remains the primary starting point for a significant portion of this age group. The data published by Axios shows that 46% of internet users aged 18-24 begin their online queries on Google, compared to 58% of those … Read more
Google’s Danny Sullivan disputed the assertions made in a Reddit discussion that Google is showing a preference for Reddit in the search results. But a Redditor’s example proves that it’s possible for a Reddit post to rank in the top ten of the search results within minutes and to actually improve rankings to position #2 … Read more
Google announced that it plans to reduce access to California news websites for a portion of users in the state. The decision comes as Google prepares for the potential passage of the California Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA), a bill requiring online platforms like Google to pay news publishers for linking to their content. What Is … Read more
Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai recently discussed the future of search, affirming the importance of websites (good news for SEO). But how can that be if AI is supposed to make search engines obsolete (along with SEO)? Search vs Chatbots vs Generative Search There’s a lot of discussion about AI search but what’s consistently missing is … Read more
WordPress released an official plugin that adds support for a cutting edge technology called speculative loading that can help boost site performance and improve the user experience for site visitors. Speculative Loading Speculative loading is a technique that fetches pages or resources before a user clicks a link to navigate to another webpage. The official … Read more
Google’s Gary Illyes answered a question about canonicalization, indexing and core algorithm updates that gives a clearer picture of how the different systems work together but independently. A search marketer named David Minchala asked if Google’s canonicalization processes still worked but in a slower manner during a core algorithm update. The answer to that question … Read more
Google updated the structured data documentation for the Structured Data Carousels (beta) that show rich results for qualifying topics. The new documentation clarifies specific requirements and makes it more explicit that the rich results features are limited to a single geographic area. Structured Data Carousels (beta) Carousels Structured Data (beta) enables web publishers that aggregate … Read more
A recent discussion on the r/SEO Reddit forum provided insights from Google’s Search Advocate, John Mueller, regarding website penalties and the use of HTTP status codes. Mueller addressed questions raised by a website owner who had previously used AI to generate content for their videogame guide website. After removing approximately 200 AI-generated pages due to … Read more
WordPress announced the 6.5.2 Maintenance and Security Release update that patches a store cross site scripting vulnerability and fixes over a dozen bugs in the core and the block editor. The same vulnerability affects both the WordPress core and the Gutenberg plugin. Cross Site Scripting (XSS) An XSS vulnerability was discovered in WordPress that could … Read more
LinkedIn shared insights with Search Engine Journal about how to effectively plan and roll out new features based on their experience planning and rolling out new AI features. The insights are useful whether you’re planning a content strategy or adding new features to your business. I spoke with Prashanthi Padmanabhan, Head of Engineering for LinkedIn … Read more
As YouTube continues its push into ecommerce, it’s launching an ‘Affiliate Hub’ to make it easier for channels to earn affiliate marketing income. The Affiliate Hub, integrated into the YouTube app, is a central place to browse top affiliate partners, commission rates, promotional offers, and even request product samples. It’s one of several new shopping … Read more
Google’s Gary Illyes published an new How Search Works video that gave an inside look into how search queries are interpreted and ranked. Gary’s presentation shows an outline of the ranking process that every SEO should know and understand. Goal Of Ranking Gary begins the presentation by emphasizing that the goal in search is to … Read more
A student and researcher who leaks hidden Android features discovered a setting deep within the Android root files that enables Google Gemini directly from Google search in a way that resembles Apple iOS, raising questions about why that’s in there and if it could be connected to a general rollout of AI in search rumored … Read more
Meta announced an update to its AI labeling policy, expanding its definition of “manipulated media” to go beyond AI-generated videos, to now include deceptive audio and images on Facebook, Instagram and Threads. An important feature of the new policy is it’s sensitivity on being perceived as being restrictive of freedom of expression. Rather than adopt … Read more
In a Google Search Central video Google’s Gary Illyes explained part of webpage indexing that involves selecting canonicals, explaining what a canonical means to Google, a thumbnail explanation of webpage signals, he mentions the centerpiece of a page and tells what it does with the duplicates which implies a new way of thinking about them. … Read more
In a recent video, Google’s Gary Illyes, a search team engineer, shared details about how the search engine assesses webpage quality during indexing. This information is timely, as Google has steadily raised the bar for “quality” content. Quality: A Key Factor in Indexing & Crawling Frequency Illyes described the indexing stage, which involves analyzing a … Read more
