Welcome to episode #92 of the SEO Newsletter by #SEOSLY!
The end of August seems to be very interesting in terms of what’s going on in the world of SEO. Not only do we have the August 2023 Broad Core Update rolling out but there are also other smaller but important updates from Google and AI.
In this episode, I do my best to curate and document what’s happening so that you can walk away feeling that you are up-to-date.
🙏 Before we jump into the news, I want to ask you a small favor. Can you rate my SEO podcast? Even though I put tons of work into it and try to improve it all the time, it could really use your help. Would you be so kind as to consider giving it five stars if you really feel I deserve it?
In return I will keep doing my best and allowing you to learn from me for free. Thank you for your support… ❤️
The SEO Newsletter by #SEOSLY is sponsored by JetOctopus
JetOctopus is a cloud-based website crawler and SEO log analyzer. The tool allows you to analyze your website structure, check for broken links, detect technical SEO issues, and monitor your website’s ranking in search engines.
JetOctopus is the fastest and most affordable SaaS crawler and logs analyzer without limits.
I would not be able to do my work the way I do it without JetOctopus (seriously).
The Day in the Life of an SEO Consultant (Real Truth) 😱
Here is my honest confession of how I spend most of my SEO days. I hope you find something useful here.
3 Top Red Flags to Watch Out for in SEO Agencies or SEO Consultants
A lot of new or potential SEO clients come to me after having bad experiences with previous SEO agencies. Having worked at the SEO agency for a long time, I totally understand what they mean. In this video, I talk about my top 3 red flags to watch out for when working with an SEO agency.
Subscribe to me on these channels
If you haven’t already, I invite you to follow me across all these channels (to never miss any important SEO news, tip, or article and stay up-to-date with the world of SEO).
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Top SEO news
Here is the most important SEO & AI news from last week.
The August 2023 core update is rolling out
We are a week into the latest Google core algorithm update. Hold on tight!
Search Off the Record about ranking updates
The latest episode of the Search Off the Record is exactly about the topic of the month: Google core algorithm updates.
Google August 2023 Core Update Hit Hard Around August 25th For Some Sites
As you know, Google released its first core update in over five months, the Google August 2023 core update, on August 22nd at around 1:30 pm ET. Since then, Barry Schwartz has been tracking the volatility and the chatter from within the SEO community to see how widespread, extensive, and impactful this update has been.
Google Search can now index CSV files
Google updated its help document to say it can now index Comma-Separated Values (.csv) files.
Cora Pro SEO Software 25% OFF (my SEO tool of the year)
Cora SEO Software has been an absolute game-changer for me. I can honestly say that this the the ONLY tool you may need if you want to improve rankings and do it in the most efficient and effective way.
Cora SEO Software is capable of measuring thousands of factors and tells you exactly which ones appear to influence rankings and how much you need of each to compete with higher ranking competitors. More and more we are finding that having a broad diversity of ranking signals is the most important ranking factor and no SEO tool on the market handles factor diversity better than Cora.
You don’t need to believe what I’m saying. Just try for yourself! I have a special lifetime deal 25% OFF (and free training) for my newsletter subscribers.
Check my interview with Ted Kubaitis, the creator of Cora.
Watch my interview with Ted Kubaitis, the creator of Cora, to learn more about how game-changing this tool is.
More AI & SEO news
Here is other SEO news, less breaking but equally important.
Bing Chat now works on Chrome, Google’s browser
Bing Chat now works in Chrome, Google’s web browser. Microsoft initially launched Bing Chat to work only on its own browser, Edge. Then Microsoft began testing Bing Chat support on other browsers, such as Chrome and Safari, but it was not fully available to all users.
Dozens of big brands have blocked GPTBot, OpenAI’s new web crawler
At least 69 of the 1,000 most popular websites in the world have blocked GPTBot, the new web crawler OpenAI introduced Aug. 7, according to a new analysis. And the percentage of sites is increasing by about 5% per week, according to AI content and plagiarism service Originality.ai.
Find out the key disruptors that are reshaping the SEO landscape, from increased competition to generative AI and AI software. We gathered data from 3,890 SEO professionals of various backgrounds to uncover the latest trends and developments within the industry.
Google Updates Flight Search Results To Help Find Cheaper Fares
Google updates flight searches to help find cheaper fares with price insights, tracking alerts, and guarantees.
SEO Interviews
New amazing interviews with SEO stars like Cyrus Shepard, Barry Adams, Kaspar Szymanski, Kristina Azarenko and more are coming! Stay tuned! Get notified when they air.
100 SEOs to follow
☝️ THROWBACK: One of the resources I’m creating is the list of 100+ SEOs to follow. I initially wanted to publish my own version, but that wouldn’t be objective enough, so I want to ask you to suggest SEOs to put on my list.
If you haven’t already done it, please fill in this Google form, and I will add you to the list together with a link to your site and your social media profiles. Thank you!
Top SEO Tips
And here are the Google SEO tips for you.
#1: Google: Word Location In URLs Does Not Matter For SEO
Google’s John Mueller was asked if it matters SEO-wise or search ranking-wise if you place /services/ before /location/ in your URL structure or the other way. John said when it comes to SEO, it really does not matter. It seems John is saying that the word location in a URL does not really matter much for SEO or search rankings.
#2: Google: A Page Doesn’t Have To Be In The Top 10 Results To Be A Featured Snippet
Google’s John Mueller said there is no rule that a page has to rank in the top ten search result positions for it to be considered eligible for a featured snippet position.
#3: Google: Internal Links Pointing To Itself Don’t Add More Information Than Other Links
Google’s John Mueller was asked if internal links that point to its own page, does Google give those links more weight. In short, John Mueller of Google said no.
Videos to watch this week
Here are the latest videos from other SEOs I find especially interesting and worth watching.
Barry’s weekly recap of SEO news
Why so SEOrious? #2 – Online
Let’s talk ranking updates
The Top SEO Myths and How to Dispel them
Must-read articles
And you need to allocate some time to read these articles from other SEOs. They are brilliant.
Duplicate Without User-Selected Canonical
Seeing the “duplicate without user-selected canonical” status in Google Search Console? This means Google found duplicate content on your site but didn’t index it because no canonical version was specified. In this guide, I’ll explain exactly what causes this status, how to confirm it’s happening, and most importantly – how to fix it.
By Olga Zarr
Entities In SEO: What Are They And Why Do They Matter?
From learning the history of search to distinguishing entities vs. keywords, truly understand what entities are so you can achieve more targeted search traffic.
By Dixon Jones
GA4 Audiences: A Fundamental Guide
Setting up custom audiences in GA4 can take your analytics setup to the next level. While audiences were previously used for just PPC teams, other verticals can take advantage of the audience customization that GA4 offers. Custom audiences allow you to categorize users by dimensions, metrics, and events. With many ways to create subsets of users, you can track audiences relevant to your business and goals.
By Abby Reed
Review Spam: Wipe Your Cheating Competitors Off The Map With This Strategy
You may feel powerless against that cheating competitor (or competitors). Maybe you’ve even flagged their profile or reached out to GBP support to no avail. Good news: You can fight back. You might just need to get your hands dirty.
By Sam Knight
Map Your Keywords to the Buyer’s Journey and User Intent — Whiteboard Friday
Rejoice takes you through how to map your keywords to both the buyer’s purchasing journey and the relative user intent.
By Rejoice Ojiaku
21 Proven Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Website
Overwhelmed by the infinite options for driving traffic to your website? This article doesn’t list every traffic strategy; it only lists the ones that are proven to work.
By Si Quan Ong
Using ChatGPT to drive technical SEO
Learn how ChatGPT help streamline your technical SEO efforts, including with schema, meta descriptions, .htaccess rewrite rules and more.
By Nicola Agius
Balancing Creativity With Caution When Using AI to Create Content
This article is my attempt to provide guardrails and advice for marketers who are rightfully skeptical of the AI revolution.
By Bethan Vincent
7 Keyword Suggestion and Research Tools to Figure Out the Right Keywords for Your SEO Strategy
Keyword research is a big job, and you need the right tools to do it successfully. There are plenty of keyword suggestions and research tools on the market — here are seven of them (in alphabetical order) you should be using to better meet your audience’s needs and rank better in search.
By Bruce Clay
Websites That Have Blocked OpenAI’s GPTBot – 1000 Website Study
We analyzed the top 1000 websites in the world to identify which sites are already blocking GPTBot. OpenAI shared details on how to block its GPTBot 14 days ago and websites are responding. This study analyzes how they are responding.
By Jonathan Gillham
How generative AI will change SEO as a profession
AI isn’t coming for our jobs just yet, but the industry is changing. Here’s what generative AI means for the future of SEO.\
By Nicola Agius
What Is GPT-4? Key Facts and Features [August 2023]
While GPT-4 appears to be more accurate than its predecessors, it still invents facts—or hallucinates—and should not be used without fact-checking, particularly for tasks where accuracy is important.
By Matt McGregor
Thank you for reading my newsletter! I hope you found the information useful. If you enjoyed this issue, be sure to check out the next one next week.
