Welcome to episode #67 of the SEO Newsletter by #SEOSLY!
I am back from holidays and ready to bring you the latest SEO news & tips. This episode covers SEO news from the last three weeks.
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This newsletter episode is sponsored by SEO PowerSuite
Check out Rank Tracker which is a free SEO tool that lets you check unlimited keywords, track geo-specific rankings for any location, get automated ranking reports, and a lot more.
Watch last week’s live SEO Q & A with Jason Barnard
Watch the replay of last Monday’s live SEO knowledge panel Q&A with Jason Barnard. Starting in February 2023, I will be hosting a live SEO news discussion every Monday. Stay tuned!
Make sure to tune in for the Duda webinar with me on Jan 25, 2023
Join me live on Wednesday for the session all about keyword research.
Top SEO News
Here is the most important news from the world of SEO from last week. A lot has been happening!
Google Removes Embedded Podcasts From Search Results
Google has eliminated the option of listening to podcasts directly from search results, indicating a potential move towards promoting podcasts on YouTube instead. READ MORE.
Google is freaking out about ChatGPT
The New York Times reports Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have discussed its response to ChatGPT, with plans to launch over 20 AI products this year, including a demo of its own search chatbot. READ MORE.
Google Search Console Video Indexing Report Improves Thumbnail Indexing Issues
As of January 19, 2023, Google has updated the video indexing report in Google Search Console, which now reports on thumbnail indexing issues more accurately. The result may be that you see a reassignment of “Missing thumbnail” issues to more specific issue types, Google said. READ MORE.
Google’s top Core Web Vitals recommendations for 2023
A collection of the best practices that the Chrome DevRel team believes are the most effective ways to improve Core Web Vitals performance in 2023. READ MORE.
New SEO expert interviews
Here are the latest interviews I had with SEO industry experts. Make sure to watch them all. Each contains an impossible number of knowledge bombs.
#22: Being An SEO Trainer & Learning SEO Every Day With Myriam Jessier
#21: Wix SEO, Technical SEO, & SEO Audits With Crystal Carter
#20: Harmonic SEO With Joseph S. Khan From Hum JAM
#19: Live Streaming, Webinars, Influencer Marketing & More With Anton Shulke From Duda
Other News
Google Reiterates Guidelines On AI Written Content After Bankrate AI Content Writer Gains Attention
Google Discontinues Google Posts Insights
Google Posts insights is no longer working, it has been discontinued according to the Google Business Profiles API documentation for the deprecation schedule. READ MORE.
Top SEO Tips
And here are the SEO tips for you.
#1: Google: Page Numbers In Titles Of Paginated Pages Does Not Help With SEO
Alan Kent from Google in the latest Google SEO office hours said that putting page numbers in your title tags for your paginated pages does not help much with SEO. He said, “including the page number in your information about a page will have little effect.” READ MORE.
#2: Google: “Here” Is Bad Link Text
Lizzi Sassman from Google said in this morning’s Google SEO office hours that using the anchor text “here,” the text for your hyperlink, is simply “bad link text.” Instead, you should use more descriptive text for the page you are linking to. READ MORE.
#3: Google Ignores Hidden Text On A Page
According to Google’s John Mueller, the search engine is adept at disregarding hidden text on a webpage and does not impose penalties for it, instead, it simply does not take into account the text that is not visible on the page.
#4: Google: Core Web Vitals Not A Google Discover Requirement
Do you need outstanding core web vital scores to be included in Google Discover? The answer is no, at least John Mueller of Google said, “we don’t have that connection documented anywhere.” READ MORE.
#5: Google Will Ignore Robots.txt Rules If It Serves A 4xx Status Code
In short, if you serve a 4xx status code with your robots.txt file, then Google will ignore the rules you have specified in that file. Why? Well, 4xx status codes means the document is not available, so Google won’t check it because the server says it is not available. Gary said this because he received a complaint or two about Google not respecting the robots.txt rules. READ MORE.
#6: Google: Product Reviews Linking To Multiple Sellers May Get Boost
A product review page linking to multiple sellers could get a ranking boost if all else were equal, Google’s Alan Kent confirms. READ MORE.
#7: Google’s John Mueller: Move JavaScript Below The Head Element
John Mueller from Google advises placing JavaScript code underneath the HTML element to ensure that search engines can clearly understand your website. READ MORE.
#8: Google Recommends Multiple Date Signals On Webpages
Maintain the integrity and reliability of your website by using multiple date signals to display the correct date in search results. READ MORE.
#9: Google: Having A Website With The Same Name As Another Site Is Fine For Search
Google’s John Mueller was asked about if it is okay with Google Search to have a website with the same name as another site on the internet. John said he could not give legal advice around copyright issues but he said when it comes to Google Search and SEO, it is fine. READ MORE.
Don’t Miss These Resources
Here are the resources that will help you stay updated with the world of SEO.
Two Google Unconfirmed Updates, Performance Max Experiments & Search Console Data Change
ChatGPT and SEO – The SEO Weekly – Episode 50
Search Console Help Center
In this episode of Search Off the Record, Josh Cohen, a Tech Writer on the Search Console Team, joins John and Lizzi to chat about the Search Console Help Center.
Don’t Miss These Articles
Here are the best articles about SEO I’ve selected for you for this episode.
ChatGPT for SEO: 20 Ways to Leverage ChatGPT in your SEO Activities
Taking all of this into consideration, as many of you, I’ve been playing with ChatGPT in the latest weeks to identify ways to leverage in SEO tasks. Here are 20 of them that you can use as a reference too. Read more at aleydasolis.com.
What is Hashing (and how it works). Checksums, hash functions, and more!
Hashing is the process of transforming a key or a string of characters into another value. The conversion is done using a hashing algorithm (function). A checksum is an algorithm that contains a hashing function. Read more at jcchouinard.com.
Is AI-written content replacing cheap old content farms?
Red Ventures’ use of AI to write cheap content that ranks well in search sure sounds like the old content farms Google Panda wiped out. Read more at searchengineland.com.
Google E-E-A-T: How to Add “Experience” and Improve Your SEO Content
Google recently rolled out a major change to how it rates the quality and relevance of the content that shows up on search engine results pages (SERPs). Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, or E-A-T, has a new E for Experience, making it now E-E-A-T. Read more at amsivedigital.com.
2023 Complete Guide to International SEO
Read our latest article to learn more about international SEO and the key factors that should be considered when developing your global strategy. Read more at brightedge.com.
AI Content & GTP3/ChatGPT – Is It A Threat?
A burning question in SEO right now is whether or not AI and AI-generated content potentially spells “the end” for a large part of what it is that we SEO professionals do. Read more at dantaylor.online.
The Role of Generative AI in Content Production
As ChatGPT and other AI generation tools become mainstream, discover how the technology will impact content production teams. Read more at ipullrank.com.
How well does AI content perform in SEO?
At the hand of Bankrate, Cnet, and Creditcards.com, we can now better understand the impact of AI content on SEO. Read more at kevin-indig.com.
Content inclusivity: Everything you need to know
When referring to content, inclusivity describes the degree to which a given piece of content can be accessed and understood by a wide range of people, including those with disabilities or from various cultural backgrounds. Marketers should make sure that their message is able to reach and engage with a wider audience by producing content that is inclusive. Read more at oncrawl.com.
How to Do a SERP Analysis
SERP analysis is a process that helps you determine if and how you can rank for a keyword and whether the effort is worth the reward. Read more at ahrefs.com.
SEO For Non-Expert Websites
This is an amalgam of two questions that came up in separate discussion groups. In both situations, the people asking for help admitted they have no expertise in SEO or the chosen subject matter (respectively). Read more at seo-theory.com.
SEO Twitter nuggets
And before we end, here are a few Twitter nuggets for you. We don’t know if Twitter is going to be here in the future, so let’s use it while it still is here.
Thank you for reading my newsletter! I hope you found the information useful and informative. If you enjoyed this issue, be sure to check out the next one next week.
