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In this episode, we discuss Google core updates, changes to the disavow tool and remove outdated content tool, product related subcategories in search, and more!

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The following topics are covered in the premium version of this episode:

• November 8, 2020 turbulence
• Possible update happening right now
• Changes to the Remove Outdated Content tool
• What Google’s product-related subcategories can tell us about how Google looks at intent
• Ask Me Anything with Google’s Danny Sullivan
• Technical SEO audit checklist
• Search Console Training: SEO for governments and authority entities
• Useful implementation guide for event tracking in Google Analytics 4
• Google updated their documentation to reflect that it now supports crawling sites over HTTP/2
• Improved security feature coming to Chrome 88
• An ad will not drop your organic listing from the SERPs
• Google launches its Small Business Advisors program
• Creative local link building tips
• The ultimate guide to UTM tagging for Google My Business
• What’s the maximum answer length in GMB’s Q&A feature?
• This SERP analyzer allows you to check rankings and individual page characteristics with ease
• See Core Web Vitals data from Chrome User Experience Report report directly in the Search results
• Bulk discover which links have implemented or modified using client-side JavaScript
• My tl;dr summary of some awesome recent SEO and Local SEO articles

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Google may not release a core update for a while

We have been predicting that Google will release a core update soon, given that we had one in January, one in May, and nothing since. Many site owners are eagerly awaiting a new update as most times, in order to see recovery from a core update hit, you need to wait for another core update to happen.

In a recent help hangout, John Mueller was asked about this and he said, “I don’t know what the specific plans are there. So it’s not the case that we like stopped making core updates. I just don’t know what the specific launch plans are there.”

In the past Google has commented that they do not like to run major updates just prior to the holiday shopping season, but this has not always been the case. 

Some took John’s comments as a statement that Google would not release a core update in the next couple of months, but he replied to a few people on Twitter saying that “this sounds way too optimistic.”

This sounds way too optimistic :). It's really not a made decision.

— 🍌 John 🍌 (@JohnMu) November 16, 2020

So who knows? We could have a major update at any time! Or it could be several months more. 

While we are pretty excited about what Ahrefs has to offer in regards to improving your content these days, in this episode we would like to share with you why we love using Ahrefs for looking at a site’s backlinks. 

When we do an exhaustive link audit, we gather links from GSC and we also make use of tools like Ahrefs, Majestic and Moz to gather as complete as possible a list of links to analyze. If we had to choose just one tool to use to look at a site’s links, we’d choose Ahrefs. 

Today we’ll talk about the “anchors” section of the Ahrefs links report. For most sites that earn links naturally, we will find that the most popular anchors are brand terms or rather random phrases. If we see an Ahrefs anchors report that has loads of keyword anchors this can be a clue to us that perhaps unnatural link building has been performed.

You can easily filter the list to show just followed links as those are the ones that we are concerned about when it comes to Google’s assessment of link quality. With a few clicks, it’s quite easy to see when a site has been building low quality links. For example, this site was heavily invested in low quality article links.

From there, it is really easy to click on referring sites linking to you and investigate what each link looks like.

While other link tools offer the ability to view links based on their anchor text, we’ve found Ahrefs to be the most intuitive interface. If you’d like to test it out, activate your free trial here.

Google announces changes to the disavow tool

Ever since the disavow tool was given to us, it has been hidden away, and not a part of Google Search Console. Google announced this week that they will be moving the tool now so that it is indeed a part of the new GSC’s interface and design. However, it looks like you still can’t access it from within GSC. Rather, you need to go to this URL. Google has said in the past that they prefer not to make the disavow tool easily accessible via GSC in order to make it less likely for inexperienced site owners to try and use it.

Today we're completing the migration of the Disavow links tool to the new Search Console interface 🎊

✅ Improved interface
✅ Download a disavow file as a text file
✅ Error reports for uploaded files are no longer limited to 10 errors

Read more at https://t.co/KSY9a4o3Pp pic.twitter.com/TRKFx0XCEI

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) November 17, 2020

Heads up e-comms, there’s been an update to Shopping tab listings

Brodie has spotted the tabs returning to the testing settings in some areas. This may be impacting SaG reporting as 100% ad results are seen. 

Heads-up: free Shopping tab listings seem to have gone back into testing in some regions. Official launch was meant to be last month, but 100% Ad results are returning in some instances (impacting SaG reporting). Here's a signed in vs. incognito comparison in AU. pic.twitter.com/ucqG5Y5qsd

— Brodie Clark (@brodieseo) November 16, 2020

Reminder: Google intends to show a visual indicator for this in the SERPs

Google plans to show a visual indicator of a page’s experience in the SERPs with the rollout of Core Web Vitals next May. The indicator will show both the new CWV as well as Google’s previous search signals. Why is this important? Well it can directly impact your CTR if someone avoids your site after seeing this indicator. We recommend ensuring your site is optimized long before this rolls out.  

Google will test showing a visual indicator of a result's Page Experience directly on the SERP. This is *exciting*.

Should this be rolled out, a poor PE will also likely decrease CTR. Which is fine – fewer users on a bad page will result in less frustrated visits anyway 💁‍♀️💃 https://t.co/s9Ap72JhDg

— Izzi Smith (@izzionfire) November 10, 2020

Highlights from Google’s recent Search Off the Record episode

Marie created a list of key points from the most recent Search Off the Record podcast. You can read the full transcript in her thread.

Here are a few tips from the latest Search Off the Record Podcast (thread).

Listen: https://t.co/7Opli25ugj

Read:https://t.co/EaQPmKBh9u

— Marie Haynes (@Marie_Haynes) November 16, 2020

SEO resources for SaaS companies

Notion.so has put together a fairly comprehensive list of SEO content that any SaaS business would be interested in. A broad range of topics are covered here, including technical SEO, keywords selections, content mapping, link building and more. Even if you aren’t running a SaaS company, these resources are likely worth checking out.

Using BrightLocal’s Local Rankflux tool, last week we noted that there was one day with a spike, however now looking at the week in full, it appears that there was a wave of increases steadily throughout the week. This coincides with the update that could be possibly happening right now. We’ll keep you posted!

Issue with reviews not being published 

Joy first caught wind of the issue on November 11th, with no response from Google: 

There appears to be an issue right now with reviews not publishing. I'm waiting to hear back from Google on it and will keep this thread updated: https://t.co/ITt3ai5Bi4

— Joy Hawkins (@JoyanneHawkins) November 11, 2020

The following day she tweeted that Google has identified the issue and any missing reviews should appear within 24 hours. If you are missing reviews, this is likely why. 

Update: Google has identified the issue and missing Google reviews should show up in the next 24 hours. https://t.co/ZUrMRy85UK

— Joy Hawkins (@JoyanneHawkins) November 12, 2020

Are you using Sitebulb to crawl your site? (Sponsored)

What? Another sponsored post in the SNYCU newsletter? We couldn’t turn down this opportunity to share with our readers about this great crawler that we use frequently. Our goal is to lift up our sponsors while also sharing helpful information with our readers. Ironically, this week, I, Marie, tweeted this, unaware of the fact that Patrick from Sitebulb was in discussions with our newsletter team about becoming a sponsor.

I have 3 fav things I like about Sitebulb:
1) Crawl maps (they're so pretty and addictive!)
2) Analyzing internal links, anchor text, etc. (seems more intuitive than other crawlers)
3) The update notes. 🤣

— Marie Haynes (@Marie_Haynes) November 13, 2020

You’ve likely heard of Sitebulb’s sitemaps. They’re so pretty…and yes, they are addictive.

Here is a site that we helped improve via creating content hubs using a hub and spoke linking design. 

Before:

After:

Restructuring content to create solid hubs of content, surrounded by supporting helpful content that links back to the main hub can do wonders for improving traffic to a site. Here is the site’s Google organic traffic. The content restructuring happened right near the end of 2018. Sitebulb helped us see which pages could benefit from a better url structure and better use of internal linking.

In future episodes we’ll share more about how valuable and helpful Sitebulb’s reporting options and diagnostic capabilities are! Sign up for a tree trial of their tool here.

Search Intent and SEO. A practical guide – Gianluca Fiorelli
https://www.iloveseo.net/search-intent-and-seo-a-practical-guide/
November 11, 2020

Gianluca Fiorelli’s dives into why Search Intent is becoming so crucial for SEO, and how to understand it better. According to the article, one of the main things SEOs need to keep in mind are the 4 inviduaded moment-groups Google assigned to their queries. Read the article to find out what they are!

How to Optimize for Google Featured Snippets [Research] – A.J. Ghergich
https://www.semrush.com/blog/featured-snippet/
November 12, 2020

In this article on the SEMrush blog, A.J. Ghregich dives into a new study by SEMrush and Brado detailing how to make the most of featured snippet opportunities available for your site. The study covered 46.1million mobile keywords and 160 million on desktop. So how can you win a featured snippet for your site’s top queries? A.J. provides a comprehensive guide. 

Big data shows the volatility of Featured Snippets – Kevin Indig
https://www.kevin-indig.com/big-data-shows-the-volatility-of-featured-snippets/
November 7, 2020

Kevin Indig conducted his very own study using two data sets derived from SEMrush and Rankranger to analyze all SERP features. In this article, he takes a deeper dive into understanding when and where featured snippets appeared in the SERPs in the year of 2019. 

We're currently on the lookout for an SEO Manager to join our team;

💎 work on a range of luxury, premium brands
🎉 amazing benefits offered
📈 fantastic progression opportunities

More info can be found here: https://t.co/5r2FFGn5gG

Any retweets would be hugely appreciated 🙌

— Matt Jones (@MattJones_SEO) November 12, 2020

Premium members also get the following:

It’s well worth the $18 per month!

• November 8, 2020 turbulence
• Possible update happening right now
• Changes to the Remove Outdated Content tool
• What Google’s product-related subcategories can tell us about how Google looks at intent
• Ask Me Anything with Google’s Danny Sullivan
• Technical SEO audit checklist
• Search Console Training: SEO for governments and authority entities
• Useful implementation guide for event tracking in Google Analytics 4
• Google updated their documentation to reflect that it now supports crawling sites over HTTP/2
• Improved security feature coming to Chrome 88
• An ad will not drop your organic listing from the SERPs
• Google launches its Small Business Advisors program
• Creative local link building tips
• The ultimate guide to UTM tagging for Google My Business
• What’s the maximum answer length in GMB’s Q&A feature?
• This SERP analyzer allows you to check rankings and individual page characteristics with ease
• See Core Web Vitals data from Chrome User Experience Report report directly in the Search results
• Bulk discover which links have implemented or modified using client-side JavaScript
• My tl;dr summary of some awesome recent SEO and Local SEO articles

⎋ SUBSCRIBE NOW

Note: If you are seeing the light version and you are a premium member, be sure to log in (in the sidebar on desktop or below the post on mobile) and read the full article here.

Part of the challenge of SEO is staying on top of industry news, trends, and techniques There is so much information out there that it is easy to get bogged down in information overload and trying to disseminate what’s truly important from all that noise can be really time-consuming and challenging.

Marie’s newsletter is a game changer because it manages to cut through the fluff and deliver high-quality information that is not only really important for those that do SEO, but it is presented in a format that is really easy to absorb.

If you are looking for a trusted information related to search that is highly actionable I would strongly recommend Marie’s newsletter.

– Paul Macnamara – Offers SEO Consulting at PaulMacnamara.com