๐Ÿšจ The Core August Update, AI Overviews Changes & More [August 18, 2024]


August 18, 2024
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๐Ÿ—ž๏ธ Search Updates and News from Search Engines

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โ€‹Google's August 2024 Core Update Has Been Released
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Google Search Central / Google Search Updates
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Google launched the August 2024 core update on August 15 and may take up to a month to complete: "This latest update takes into account the feedback we've heard from some creators and others over the past few months."

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โ€‹Google AI Overviews Available In Incognito Mode (Not Signed In)โ€‹
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Barry Schwartz / Google Search Updates
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Google has confirmed they are now featuring AI Overviews for users not signed in to their Google account in the US.

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โ€‹More Google AI Overviews Updates: More ways to check out relevant websites while you search, Expanding AI Overviews to more places and More
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Hema Budaraju / Google Product Updates
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Google has rolled out a new right-hand link display for AI Overviews on both desktop and mobile. Theyโ€™re also testing a feature that directly integrates links to relevant web pages within AI Overviews and have extended AI Overviews to six new countries.

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โ€‹Google: Ongoing Incident Affecting Ranking
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Google / Google Search Updates
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There's an ongoing issue with ranking in Google Search that's affecting a large number of search results. The incident began on August 15 and the last update was on August 16, when Google said: "We're still working on fixing the issue with ranking. Next update will be within 72 hours".

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โ€‹Google Search Listing srsltid URL Parameters From Merchant Center
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Barry Schwartz / Google Search Updates
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"Over the past couple of weeks, there has been an increase in complaints around Google Search listing URLs with the srsltid URL parameter tagged along to the URL... these URL parameters are added for Merchant Center "auto-tagging"... used for conversion tracking for merchants."

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โ€‹Report: U.S. considering forcing a Google breakup
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Danny Goodwin / Google Product Updates
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Could Google be broken up in the not-too-distant future? Could the U.S. government force a sale of Chrome, Android or Ads?

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โ€‹Google Search Console Only Shows 35% Of Your Data? It Depends, Says Google
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Barry Schwartz / Google Search Q&A
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John Mueller responded to the latest on the 35% figure saying in LinkedIn comments: "Most sites see all / most of their data."

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โ€‹Google EMEA Product Experts Summit 2024 Recap
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Mihai Aperghis / Google Events Updates
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This year's edition of Google's PE Summit for the EMEA region took place on June 20th and 21st in Zรผrich, and was hosted at Google's own offices as well as in a virtual format. Mihai goes through the topics covered and most important insights.

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โ€‹Google Trends Walkthrough [Video]
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Google Search Central / Google Trends Tutorials
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Daniel Waisberg and Hadas Jacobi explain how to compare search terms and topics trending in Google Search and YouTube. Learn about the filters and cards available in Google Trends to gain insights and understand topics people are interested in.

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โ€‹โ€‹Don't wait until next week to learn about the latest search updates! Subscribe to the SEOFOMO News Whatsapp channelโ€‹

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๐Ÿ™‹๐Ÿปโ€โ™€๏ธ This week's Aleyda's SEO Take

Another Google Core Update (at last)

The highly expected new Google Core update is finally here and we can already see the start of major shifts in some sites' organic search visibility, some of which had been negatively or positively affected by last year's updates, including reversals. Check your rankings, but remember that Google has mentioned that the update release will take up to a month.

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It's interesting how with the release of Google's August 2024 Core Update, Google has also updated its help page about them, highlighting the need of featuring up to date information, avoiding quick fixes, and how long does it take to see the effect of changes. I've gone through the major changes here.โ€‹

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A New AI Overviews Era is here...

All of a sudden Google AI Overviews have also become available to a broader public in Incognito Mode (not signed in users) while introducing a new right-hand link display for AI Overviews on Desktop โ€“ also accessible on mobile by tapping the site icons on the upper right, that Google has described giving "more ways to check out relevant websites while you search".

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I can see how especially on desktop, the now top sources showcased prominently in the right sidebar can get a lot of attention (see an example here), as well as attract clicks, unlike the previously shown carousels. Unfortunately, we still don't have a filter to measure them directly within the Google Search Console, but you can see here how to use rank trackers to assess AI Overviews and their traffic impact (along with a template).โ€‹

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The good news is that now that AI Overviews are also available in incognito mode we can also monitor them with even more rank tracking tools. Advanced Web Ranking Google SERP Features Tools is already showing that AI Overviews are included in 0.55% of their overall tracked queries in the US.

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I'm very looking forward to seeing where these two key releases take us in a few weeks!

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โ€‹PS: If you haven't yet answered The SEOFOMO SEO Consulting Survey 2024 do it now and get the chance to win an SEOFOMO mug and hoodie, you have until August 21st!โ€‹

๐Ÿ‘Œ This week's SEO Awesomeness

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โ€‹Common misconfigurations found in websites that dropped with the latest Core and HCU updates
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Gianluca Fiorelli / Search Trends
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Gianluca has analyzed dozens of websites hit by one or more of the many updates Google rolled out since August '23. In this guide, he goes through the most common issues he has found in his analyses.

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โ€‹How Extra HTML Attributes in Canonical Tags Impact Search Engines
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Pedro Dias / Technical SEO
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This research by Pedro highlights critical findings regarding the interpretation of canonical link tags by Google, especially when additional attributes are present.

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โ€‹ChatGPT Study Finds Training Data Doesnโ€™t Match Real-World Use
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Matt G. Southern / Search Trends
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A study reveals a gap between ChatGPT's training data and real-world uses, highlighting the need for careful AI implementation in content strategies.

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โ€‹The Realities of In-House SEO: What to Expect and How to Succeed
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Patrick Stox / General SEO
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Benefits of in-house SEO for people and for the company, challenges of in-house SEO, and how to be effective. Patrick shares what itโ€™s like to work in an in-house role from his experience.

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โ€‹How Google Search ranking works - A Comprehensive Analysis
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Mario Fischer / General SEO
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An in-depth analysis of how Google's complex ranking system works and components like Twiddlers and NavBoost that influence search results.
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โ€‹How to do a Google Search Console Bulk Data Export
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Mike Ginley / SEO Automation
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Google Search Console now allows daily bulk imports into Google BigQuery. Mike does a walkthrough on how to set it up and create a Google Looker Template to report your data.

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โ€‹Beyond Reddit and Quora: How Googleโ€™s Hidden Gems Update Yielded Explosive Growth In Search Visibility For Many Forums
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Glenn Gabe / Search Trends
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Glenn explains how Google's hidden gems update impacted forums heavily beginning in the fall of 2023. Many forums beyond Reddit and Quora surged in search visibility.

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โ€‹Query is the strongest signal for CTR predictionโ€‹
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Dan Petrovic / General SEOโ€‹
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Dan found that query itself is the biggest predictor of how much CTR will deviate from the site's position average.

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โ€‹How Links Impact Organic Results and Local Packs โ€” Whiteboard Friday [Video]
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Joy Hawkins / Local SEO
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How important are links for local rankings? Joy explains it all in the latest edition of Whiteboard Friday.

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โ€‹Win the Client With Your Next SEO Proposal (+ Expert Tips and Template)
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Chris Haines / SEO Management
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Want to win new business with your next SEO proposal? Chris explains how to craft it to win over prospective clients and shares a useful template for your next one.

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โ€‹SEO career development: How to prioritize your growth when skills change every year
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Petra Kis-Herczegh / SEO Careers
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Learn to prioritize your SEO career growth in an industry where skills constantly change. Get expert insights on self-efficacy, personal branding, and interpersonal skills in this guide by Petra.

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โ€‹โ€‹See more SEO Conversations in the SEOFOMO Forum or get the latest SEO news alerts in the SEOFOMO News Whatsapp Channelโ€‹

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๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Upcoming SEO Events

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โ€‹SearchNorwich 17
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Candour / Norwich, UK / Free / August 21, 2024
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Register to SearchNorwich for an evening of networking and learning with the Norwich search community and learn all about Web migrations with Emma Russell and keyword clustering with Andy Chadwick.

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โ€‹The Post Google Data Leak Landscape webinar
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Sitebulb / Online / Free / August 21, 2024
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Join Marie Haynes and Patrick Hathaway to learn everything about the SEO leak that SEOs need to know.

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โ€‹Southern California SEO Meetup in Garden Grove
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Matt Casady / Garden Grove, USA / Free / September 18, 2024
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Join and meet with other SEOs, digital marketers and business owners who are eager to chat, learn, and grow in all things marketing.

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โ€‹RIMC- Reykjavik Internet Marketing Conference
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RIMC / Reykjavรญk, Iceland / 24900 ISK / September 26, 2024
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Learn about current trends in AI, smart devices, social media, and search engines with Danny Sullivan, Aleyda Solis, Arnoldo Cabrera, and more.

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โ€‹See more upcoming SEO events in the new SEOFOMO Events Sectionโ€‹

[Giveaway]โ€‹
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โšก The Winner of the The Python Hands-On Workshop for Marketers by Sara Taher

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Thanks for reading, until next week!

Aleyda Solisโ€‹
SEO Consultant & Founder
Orainti, SEOFOMO & MarketingFOMO
โ€‹Follow me on โ€‹X/Twitterโ€‹ / โ€‹YouTubeโ€‹ / โ€‹LinkedInโ€‹ / โ€‹Websiteโ€‹

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