Google’s Search Relations team recently shared insights about how the search engine handles HTTP status codes during a “Search Off the Record” podcast. Gary Illyes and Martin Splitt from Google discussed several status code categories commonly misunderstood by SEO professionals. How Google Views Certain HTTP Status Codes While the podcast didn’t cover every HTTP status … Read more
Google’s updated image SEO best practices recommend using consistent URLs for images across your site to preserve crawl budget. Google recommends using the same image URL across your site. Inconsistent image URLs can waste your crawl budget. Wasted crawl budget can limit how many pages Google indexes on your site. Source link
In an interview with Kenichi Suzuki from Faber Company Inc., Google Developer Advocate Martin Splitt recently shared key information about JavaScript rendering, server-side vs. client-side rendering, and structured data. The talk cleared up common SEO confusion and offered practical tips for developers and marketers working with Google’s changing search systems. Google’s AI Crawler & JavaScript … Read more
After conducting more than 500 in-depth website audits in the past 12 years, I’ve noticed clear patterns about what works and doesn’t in SEO. I’ve seen almost everything that can go right – and wrong – with websites of different types. To help you avoid costly SEO mistakes, I’m sharing 11 practical lessons from critical … Read more
The humble robots.txt file often sits quietly in the background of a WordPress site, but the default is somewhat basic out of the box and, of course, doesn’t contribute towards any customized directives you may want to adopt. No more intro needed – let’s dive right into what else you can include to improve it. … Read more
![We Figured Out How AI Overviews Work [& Built A Tool To Prove It]](https://nicheplrnewsletter.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/We-Figured-Out-How-AI-Overviews-Work-Built-A.png "We Figured Out How AI Overviews Work [& Built A")
This post was sponsored by Market Brew. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own. Wondering how to realign your SEO strategy for maximum SERP visibility in AI Overviews (AIO)? Do you wish you had techniques that mirror how AI understands relevance? Imagine if Google handed you the blueprint for AI Overviews: Every … Read more
Google’s John Mueller clarifies that automatically changing XML sitemap dates doesn’t boost SEO and could make it harder for Google to find actual content updates. The “Freshness Signal” Myth Busted On Reddit’s r/SEO forum, someone asked if competitors ranked better by setting their XML sitemap dates to the current date to send a “freshness signal” … Read more
![AI Overviews: We Reverse-Engineered Them So You Don’t Have To [+ What You Need To Do Next]](https://nicheplrnewsletter.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AI-Overviews-We-Reverse-Engineered-Them-So-You-Dont-Have-To.png "AI Overviews: We Reverse-Engineered Them So You Don't Have To")
This post was sponsored by DAC. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own. Authors: Dan Lauer & Michael Goodman Is the classic funnel model (TOFU-MOFU-BOFU) still relevant in an AI-driven SERP? What kinds of queries trigger Google’s AI Overviews? How can you structure content so that AI pulls your site into the … Read more
Site migration issues happen. You plan, create a staging site, and then when the site goes live, there’s bound to be something wrong. Quality assurance gets thrust into overdrive the moment that migrations are complete. You sift through thousands of pages, metadata, and more to fix any problems before someone else notices. It’s a lot … Read more
Google’s Martin Splitt recently shared insights on how JavaScript mistakes can hurt a website’s search performance. His talk comes as Google Search Advocate John Mueller also urges SEO pros to learn more about modern client-side technologies. Mistake 1: Rendered HTML vs. Source HTML During the SEO for Paws Conference, a live-streamed fundraiser by Anton Shulke, … Read more
Website owners and SEO professionals are facing a new problem. AI content generation tools are creating fake URLs when referencing real websites. This issue was discussed in a recent social media conversation between industry professionals. Hallucinated Links Causing 404s On Bluesky, agency owner Dan Thornton pointed out a pattern of 404 errors from non-existent URLs … Read more
John Mueller, a Google Search Advocate, suggests that SEO professionals should reconsider how their work fits into the modern web stack. He references a “vibes-based” visualization highlighting how developers’ focus areas have shifted. Mueller notes a disconnect between what industry pros pay attention to (such as JavaScript frameworks, performance optimizations, or new AI-driven tech) and … Read more
Google requires ecommerce stores to specify in their structured data which country their return policies apply to. Google now requires country information for return policies in structured data. Merchants should update their product structured data to include this field. Source link
Google has released a new episode in its “SEO Office Hours Shorts” video series, in which Developer Advocate Martin Splitt addresses a question many website owners face: Should all 404 error pages be redirected to the homepage? The Clear Answer: Don’t Do It In the latest installment of the condensed Q&A format, Splitt responds to … Read more
Google has updated its Search Central documentation to include details about AI Mode in its robots meta tag specifications. This update coincides with the rollout of AI Mode via Google Labs. Document Updates For AI Mode The updated document now specifies that you can control the appearance of your content in Google’s AI-powered features, including AI … Read more
What was considered best practice yesterday does not hold true today and this is especially relevant when it comes to XML sitemaps, which are almost as old as SEO itself. The problem is, it’s time-consuming to sort valuable advice from all the misinformation on forums and social media about how to optimize XML sitemaps So, … Read more
This post was sponsored by Bluehost. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own. Imagine clicking on a website only to wait several seconds for it to load. Frustrating, right? Your prospective customers think so, too. In a world where attention spans are shrinking, even a one-second delay can lead to lost visitors, … Read more
Google Chrome has released its latest Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX). This update zeroes in on individual components of page speed, offering fresh data on largest contentful paint (LCP) image subparts and real-world network conditions (RTT). For SEO professionals, this means you’ll have a better understanding of what needs improvement. Barry Pollard, Web Performance Developer … Read more
