🚨 Latest Google's Updates & News [Apr 28 2024]


April 28, 2024
​
Subscribe and join +33,200 SEOs and Marketers

​

SEOFOMO is brought by JetOctopus, SEOTesting.com and Digital Olympus. Take a look πŸ™Œ
Do you want to advertise?
Ask here!​

πŸ—žοΈ Search Updates and News from Search Engines

​

​Google March 2024 Core Update Finished April 19th (A Week Ago)
​
Barry Schwartz / Google Search Updates
​
The Google March 2024 core update finished officially on April 19, 2024, and took 45 days to roll out after starting on March 5, 2024. Google confirmed it a week later and said it helped to reduce low-quality and unoriginal content in SERPs by 45%.

​Google Publisher Center to stop allowing adding publications
​
Barry Schwartz / Google Product Updates
​
Google will stop allowing publishers to add publications to the Google Publisher Center manually. Instead, Google will automatically add eligible publications pages later this year.

​

​Google Q1 earnings call: CEO’s remarks
​
Sundar Pichai / Google Product Updates
​
Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai shares remarks from the Q1 earnings call. β€œWe’re starting to bring AI overviews to the main search results page… focusing on areas where gen AI can improve the Search experience, while also prioritizing traffic to websites and merchants.”

​

​Report: How Prabhakar Raghavan Killed Google Search [by Edward Zitron]​
​
Barry Schwartz / Google Search Updates​
​
Ed Zitron published a story called "The Man Who Killed Google Search" that goes through how Prabhakar Raghavan, Google's former head of ads, led a coup so that he could run Google Search. Google sent statements in response.

​

​Google Warns Of β€œNew Reality” As Search Engine Stumbles (UPDATE)
​
Matt G. Southern / Google Search Updates
​
Google warns of "new reality" amid search struggles, accelerates timelines, while critics allege prioritizing revenue over quality.

​

​Google Revised The Favicon Documentation​
​
Roger Montti / Google Search Updates​
​
Google revised its Search Central favicon documentation with additional wording that makes it more understandable.

​

​Google Crawler Documentation Has A New IP List​
​
Roger Montti / Google Search Updates​
​
Google revised their crawler documentation with a second list of IP addresses that correspond to crawlers Google doesn't control.

​

​Anatomy of a Search Result [Video]
​
How Search Works / Google Search Podcast​
​
Gary takes a closer look at the components that make up Google's search results and breaks down a search result's anatomy.

​

[Sponsor / Affiliate]​
​
⚑ If your optimization efforts don’t lead to SEO traffic growth...

404s, duplicates, load time, non-canonicals, JavaScript errors, backlinks, content creation - these all can be important but not impactful on traffic growth. Sounds familiar? Happens all the time!

Please welcome SEO funnel: The tool of JetOctopus that reveals the most impactful things to do first.

SEO funnel reflects the state of things of a website on the main stages of organic traffic growth:

  1. the pages created on a website
  2. the pages visited by Googlebot
  3. the pages ranked in TOP 10
  4. the pages ranked in TOP 3
  5. the pages getting organic traffic

SEO funnel lets you understand the most critical works that you should start with to get a positive impact in SEO. Now you will know what pages are "dead" in terms of SEO and what to change so they get ranked.

Just one chart with all the needed SEO insights. All columns are and lead to the correlating list of URLs. It all saves you a lot of time to put the right priorities for SEO work. And the most important - you will spend SEO resources on the optimizations which will definitely bring you new organic traffic, not just SEO work for SEO work.

​

​

πŸ™‹πŸ»β€β™€οΈ This week's Aleyda's SEO Take

Welcome to the Google "Big Brand" Update!

The very long Google Core Update finished last week (although somehow Google only notified about it a couple of days ago) and the big overall UGC platforms, like Reddit and Quora continued with their winning search visibility trend (that started with updates from last year).
​
But there are also other "big" UGC winners: Visual UGC platforms, like TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest; have also increased their organic search visibility.

​
All this while continuing to negatively impact sites that had already been hit last year by the Helpful Content Update too, many of them independent publishers / review sites, supported by affiliates and / or ads, such as House of Fresh, Retro Dodo, or Mountain Weekly News.

​
But what about big review sites and... retailers in the case of product related queries?

A few big generic review sites, like the Wirecutter or Business Insider have also dropped in their search visibility in the latest Google Update too.

​

So which sites have benefited the most from the product/retail queries rankings shifts?

Unlike what you might think, is not really the overall retailers/marketplaces (Google doesn't seem to like the middlemen, whether review sites or generic retailers/marketplaces).

​
Sites like Walmart, Best Buy, Macys, Target have only seen a relatively small positive shift if any. In fact, most of them also have a negative visibility trend too since last year's Qs updates.​

​

The winners have been the bigger brands such as Nike, or Gymshark, (and also niche specialized brands).

​
Google is ranking the big brands directly more, as well as smaller but authoritative niche brands for the relevant sector. Here are a few product queries SERPs shifts examples:

​

So, Google wants to give users more "reliable, quality, helpful" content by giving visibility to final providers, whether big brands or niche authority ones while taking UGC also into account from the biggest platforms.
​

​A Google spokesperson told Barry Schwartz that: "The updates led to larger quality improvements than we originally thought – you’ll now see 45% less low quality, unoriginal content in search results..."

​

But, is it always better to increase big brands' and biggest platforms' UGC visibility?

​

I wonder how decreasing the visibility of independently run, specialized publishers vs generic big publishers reviews covering the same topics or threads of Reddit or Quora that are known to be easily manipulated, outdated, with non-specialized advice can help to achieve that.

​

Independent, specialized, balanced insights are also needed to fulfill users' search needs and support their customer search journey. I really expect to see more updates trying to fix this soon.

​

To help with this, I recommend filling out this form to send feedback to Google about it.​
​

πŸ‘Œ This week's SEO Awesomeness

​

​AI Is Poisoning Reddit to Promote Products and Game Google With 'Parasite SEO'
​
Jason Koebler / Search Trends​
​
A market for manipulating Reddit using AI has emerged.

​

​Google’s SGE: Insights from SEOFOMO x Wix
​
George Nguyen / Search Trends
​
Discover how Google’s SGE is shaping the future of SEO. Learn from the insights shared by experienced SEOs during the roundtable at the SEOFOMO Meetup x Wix in NYC.

​

​State Of SGE: 11 Google SGE Disruptions Found After Analyzing 500k Queries
​
Tomek Rudzki / Search Trends
​
Tomek has analyzed 500K queries to assess the potential SGE disruptions across different sectors, and how you can leverage it for success.

​

​TikTok SEO: The ultimate guide
​
Cali Saturn / Search Trends
​
Cali shares how to optimize for TikTok, the fastest-growing social search platform for Gen Z.

​

​An Easy Explanation of Entities and SEO
​
Adam Riemer / Technical SEO
​
Have you ever wondered why a page that doesn’t list a keyword phrase on the page, in their title tag, or in the URL ranks for a big phrase? Adam explains it in this guide.

​

​How to Optimize URLs for SEO to Increase Organic Traffic
​
Ryan Jones / Technical SEO
​
Discover the fundamentals of URL optimization to set the base of your pages' scalable SEO growth. Learn best practices and practical steps for effective URL structuring.

​

​Discovering And Diagnosing A Google AdSense Rendering Bug
​
Giacomo Zecchini / General SEO
​
Giacomo discovered a Google AdSense rendering bug, with the programmatic matching between ads and website content being impacted, creating an incomplete understanding of the page content. Read about what happened and how it was tackled.

​

​7 Ways SEO and Product Teams Can Collaborate to Ensure Success
​
Gus Pelogia / SEO Management
​
Learn about the strategies for SEO and product teams to collaborate effectively, from joint UX optimization to unified performance metrics.

​

​Using Python To Explain Homepage Redirection To C-Suite (Or Any SEO Best Practise)
​
Andreas Voniatis / Technical SEO
​
Andreas shows how to use Python to communicate to the C-suite in a way that makes sense to them technically and commercially by providing data-driven examples.

​

​How to Become an SEO Lead (10 Tips That Advanced My Career)
​
Chris Haines / SEO Careers
​
Mentor junior team members. Find big brands to work with. Identify your skill gaps. Chris shares ten proven tips to help you climb the SEO career ladder.

​

​How to Do Successful (Non-Spammy) Programmatic SEO [Video]
​
​Crawling Mondays / General SEO
​
Learn what programmatic SEO is and when and how to develop valuable (non-spammy) programmatic SEO successfully in this insightful Crawling Mondays conversation with Lazarina Stoy and Roxana Stingu with Aleyda Solis.
​

​Visibility Leaders in Women’s Fashion
​
Steve Paine / Search Trends
​
SISTRIX’s fourth Visibility Leaders report has found over 80 content projects that Google loves across the women’s fashion sector. Steve goes through the findings in this guide.

​

​​See more SEO Conversations in the SEOFOMO Forum​

[Sponsor / Giveaway]​
​
⚑ Get a clear picture of how SEO changes impact traffic

"Within a few weeks, SEOTesting helped paint a much clearer picture of how the optimizations we implemented impacted our metrics. SEOTesting has made it easier for us to track the performance of business-critical pages on the website, in the context of SEO."

​

πŸ›  Free(mium) SEO Tools

​

​HERO - Help Every Reporter Out
​
Help Every Reporter Out​
​
An alternative to HARO! Help Every Reporter Out enables journalists and sources to connect to get the publicity they might be seeking.

​

​Sitemap Clusterizer - Simplify XML Sitemap Analysis
​
Ziggy Shtrosberg
​
Transform your sitemap into actionable insights by grouping your website's pages by path segments based on the URL structure.

​

Looking for more SEO Tools? Take a look at the SEOFOMO SEO Toolbox​

πŸŽ™οΈ Upcoming SEO Events

​

​Webinar: How to become a pro in technical SEO
​
Tech SEO Pro / Online / 3 sessions per day
​
This free training is for SEOs who want to trade imposter syndrome for technical SEO superpower.

​

​LaikaPARTY: More than just an SEO event​
​
Laika / Madrid, Spain / May 15, 2024​
​
The second edition of LAIKAParty is here! Dedicated to SEO news at Google I/O, SGE, and more. Register for free.
​

​See more upcoming SEO events in the new SEOFOMO Hub Events Section!​

πŸ™Œ SEOs and Digital Marketers to Follow

Let's follow these amazing SEOs covering and/or assessing the latest Google Updates:

​

Expect more awesome SEOs & digital marketers to follow every week. Do you have any suggestions? Just let me know over here!​

[Sponsor / Giveaway]​
​
⚑ Winner of The Free Ticket Giveaway for the Digital Olympus Conference

Congratulations to Laura James, the winner of the SEOFOMO giveaway of a free ticket for the Digital Olympus Conference, where I'll be speaking on May 31st, 2024 in the Netherlands.

You can also register with a 25% discount by using the "SEOFomo25" code before May 5th, 2014.​

​

πŸ’™ Refer SEOFOMO to your SEO Friends and Win Rewards

If you enjoy reading SEOFOMO, refer it to your SEO and digital marketing friends and win awesome (now updated) prizes with the SEOFOMO rewards program:

* Refer 2 Subscribers: Get a shout-out on X/Twitter and LinkedIn from Aleyda, thanking your support.
* Refer 5 Subscribers: Get featured in the "Supporters" thank you section in an edition of SEOFOMO.
* Refer 15 Subscribers: Get access to 3 Actionable (exclusive) SEO How-Tos / Tips Videos.
* Refer 35 Subscribers: Get a free copy of The SEO Playbook by Tomek Rudzki.
* Refer 70 Subscribers: Get free access to the Google Search Console Mastery Course by Tomek Rudzki
* Refer 100 Subscribers: Get 1 Year Team Subscription to SEOTesting.com
* Refer 200 Subscribers: Get 1 Access to SE Ranking Essential for 1 Year
* Refer 300 Subscribers: Get 1 Access to JetOctopus 500K Pages for 1 Year
* Refer 400 Subscribers: Get 1 Access to Advanced Web Ranking Agency Package for 1 Year
* Refer 500 Subscribers: Get a 1 hour SEO 1-1 Hangout w/ Aleyda, an Awesome SEOFOMO Hoodie and Mug

[RH_REFLINK GOES HERE]

Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Telegram Linkedin Email

PS: You have referred [RH_TOTREF GOES HERE] people so far!

See how many referrals you have

Note: Only real human referrals will be counted toward the rewards, and there will be a validation if suspicious activity is detected.


Thanks for reading, until next week!

Aleyda Solis, SEO Consultant & Founder
​Follow me on ​X/Twitter​ / ​YouTube​ / ​LinkedIn​ / ​Website​

​

SEOFOMO: The Newsletter to Keep up with SEO; News, Updates, Resources, Tips, Tools & Jobs

SEOFOMO is a weekly free newsletter sent to +30K subscribers with the latest SEO news, updates, guides, tips, free tools and jobs. Avoid missing any worthy SEO update and subscribe now!

Read more from SEOFOMO: The Newsletter to Keep up with SEO; News, Updates, Resources, Tips, Tools & Jobs

October 6, 2024Subscribe and join +35.2K SEOs and Marketers SEOFOMO is brought by Wix Studio, seoClarity, SEOTesting πŸ™ŒWould you like to advertise? Ask here! πŸ—žοΈ Search Updates and News from Search Engines Google Releases: AI-Organized Search, Google Lens, and moreLiz Reid / Google Product UpdatesGoogle 1) Has introduced more capabilities to Lens to make it even easier to search the world around you 2) Is rolling out search results pages organized with AI in the U.S. β€” beginning with recipes...

video preview

September 29, 2024Subscribe and join +35.1K SEOs and Marketers SEOFOMO is brought by Conductor, PreWriter, SE Ranking πŸ™ŒWould you like to advertise? Ask here! πŸ—žοΈ Search Updates and News from Search Engines Google Search Ranking Increases During Core Update Wiped Out Post UpdateBarry Schwartz / Google Search UpdatesIt's as if Google cannot make up its mind. Google Updates Their Spam Policy DocumentationRoger Montti / Google Search GuidelinesGoogle's updated spam policy documentation includes...

September 22, 2024Subscribe and join +35K SEOs and Marketers SEOFOMO is brought by Wix Studio, SE Ranking and Mirador πŸ™ŒWould you like to advertise? Ask here! πŸ’Έ Find your Dream SEO job with The SEOFOMO Board & Alerts Don't miss the latest and best SEO roles hired by companies worldwide featured in the new SEOFOMO job board and alerts. πŸ”­ Stay Updated with the Latest in Digital Marketing: Subscribe to MarketingFOMO Get the latest news in PPC, social media, content marketing, digital PR, for...