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In this episode, we discuss the December update, the history of MHC and Marie’s career from the CEO herself, the Google Question hub expansion and its impact on SEO, and a ton of great tips!

Marie’s Podcast for this episode

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It’s well worth the $18 per month.

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

• Full analysis of Marie’s early observations on the December core update
• Speculating on how Google Question Hub could impact the future of SEO
• Search intent and demand are fluid (plus actionable advice)
• Should sitemaps include or exclude redirect URLs?
• Your Web Story might not pass the Validation test if you’re using this…
• 25 link building campaigns examples from an industry expert
• Google says passage indexing will not appear different in the SERPs
• Will a nosnippet tag prevent your passages from being passage indexed in Google Search?
• Apple wins a patent 
• Mistakes and lessons from the early years of being in business
• Important tips and reminders for running your own business
• How to influence the image selected in your own Knowledge Panel
• Important reminder to check your listings
• Google is testing “Services” justifications — here’s what you should know
• How to correct a mistake made by a Google auto-complete on your Google My Business
• Missing insights from a notable platform recently
• Webmasters share their opinions on the costs associated with Local Services Ads
• Our tl;dr summary of some awesome recent SEO articles

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Marie’s early observations on the December core update

I, Marie, was thrilled and honoured to be asked to write this article for Search Engine Land on our early thoughts on the December core update. While we don’t claim to have the update completely figured out, we are continuing to assess the traffic drops for many websites that have asked for our help and are noticing some very interesting patterns and trends. 

In the weeks to come, I will be sharing specific insights with our premium readers as I do more research and dig into specific ranking changes for our clients.  If you are a premium subscriber to Search News You Can Use, in this section of the newsletter you can read our point form summary of both that article, and our current thoughts on this unusual update. If you have been on the fence about becoming a premium subscriber, know that after you sign up you will have full access to read every newsletter article from the past, including loads of speculation on this update.

Marie shares the history of MHC

This week’s podcast episode is a little different. Over the holidays I spent time reflecting on my SEO career so far, and realized that it has been a decade since I started analyzing Google updates. In 2011, I was a veterinarian and loved my career. In the podcast episode I’ll share with you how I started doing freelance work in SEO, eventually hired assistants, and now run an agency. 

This week’s episode is embedded in this newsletter post. You can also find it as well as past episodes and links to subscribe on Spotify, Google Play etc on our podcast page.

A tip on creating content that optimizes for intent

For this week’s Ahrefs tip of the week, we’ll talk about a cool way to determine what questions your audience has and how to create content that does a better job of meeting a searcher’s needs. As we have been saying for some time now, Google added additional examples to the QRG to teach the Quality Raters how to determine whether a particular piece of content does a good job of meeting the needs of searchers. We have several theories on how Google could be doing this as we described in our article on understanding user intent. While we can’t say 100% whether any of our theories is true, we know that Google is working hard to surface content that is excellent and meets a searcher’s needs.

This Ahrefs video describes a cool way that you can easily find out what questions your audience has about your topic. 

New: Keyword Grouping in Keywords Explorer by @itsrbek

In this video, we’re introducing a new feature in Keywords Explorer: Keywords grouping 👇https://t.co/j8nj4Pynaq

— Ahrefs (@ahrefs) January 5, 2021

There is more in this video than we can cover in one episode. What we wanted to focus on was Ahrefs’ keyword ideas section as this is a great place to help you learn what questions your audience has. The more you can do to thoroughly answer a searcher’s question the better. In Google’s blog post on what site owners need to know about core updates there are several points that discuss whether content truly is helpful:

• Does the content provide original information, reporting, research or analysis?
• Does the content provide a substantial, complete or comprehensive description of the topic?
• Does the content provide insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?
• If the content draws on other sources, does it avoid simply copying or rewriting those sources and instead provide substantial additional value and originality?
• Would you expect to see this content in or referenced by a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book?
• Does the content provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?

Ahrefs’ keyword tool offers a cool feature that allows you to type in a keyword and see what questions people are commonly asking that relate to that keyword.

We have a client who has a post that ranks well for questions about bumps on eyelids. If you wake up one day and discover you have some weird eyelid lump, this post has got loads of answers. If we wanted to make it more relevant to even more people, we could use the Questions section of Ahrefs’ keyword tool.

In no time, we can see what questions are the most common about this subject.

We would then work with our client to incorporate many of these questions into our content. Some of the popular ones would likely be good to use as headings. For example, there should be a heading on this page that says, “What is a lump on the eyelid called?”. The first line or two following that heading should give a concise answer that Google would be happy to use as a featured snippet. 

But not all of these questions need to be headings. One phrase in a paragraph could say, “If you notice a lump on your upper eyelid that is only noticeable when closing your eye, it is likely that….”, or “A red lump on your eyelid can mean….”.

If you are not a paid Ahrefs subscriber, there are still ways to do similar research, but it will take a lot more time. What we recommend is to look at the following for clues as to what questions people are asking about your content:

• Google suggest results
• People Also Ask results
• Questions on sites like Reddit, Quora, etc.
• Assessing whether your competitors are answering important questions that you are not

We’ve been really impressed with Ahrefs’ content tools recently. We’ve been subscribers to Ahrefs for many many years as we really like it for looking at backlinks. But since they became our sponsor, we’ve been digging around more and learning just how incredible a tool it is. 

Google’s Question Hub has recently been expanded 

Did you know that it now includes US publishers? This is a feature that allows searchers to submit a question that has no answer to it. Publishers can see this and create content that answers these questions.

Google Question Hub, launched in 2008, is now also made available to US publishers. If you aren’t familiar with the tool, it works by allowing publishers to create content that matches questions that go answered. On top of allowing publishers to submit and/or assign their answers, Question Hub also has other fun features such as the ability to let you monitor some stats (activity by day, clicks, performance of content, to just name a few) that can help you get a better understanding of what your users are looking for. And, if you are trying to focus on local SEO, you can also research local questions by adding your state, city or town to your query.   

🧐 Use Google's "new" question hub to research local questions, just add your state, city, town to your query and see what Google suggests.

🔗 https://t.co/beorNFv0y4#SeoTips #localseo #contentmarketing pic.twitter.com/egd1tWc14L

— Andy Simpson (@ndyjsimpson) January 4, 2021

Marie will be talking about this during her podcast episode today and speculating on how Google Question Hub could change the future of search. If you’re a premium subscriber of Search News You Can Use, in the next section you can read more on this speculation.

Excellent tip related to Google Search Console

Did you know that Search Console’s Index Coverage Report shows data for destination URLs? This means that you could be seeing in the report that a URL is blocked by robots.txt or that it is noindexed, but when you inspect the URL, it’s not. This may be because it redirects to a URL that is. 

Reminder: GSC reports on destination urls in the Coverage reporting. So if you see urls that are categorized as blocked by robots.txt or noindexed, but they aren't, they could be redirecting to urls that are. And that's what is reported. Can send you off on a wild goose chase: pic.twitter.com/QYSWUcVTc1

— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) January 5, 2021

Backlinko’s most important Search trends of 2021

This mega resource from Brian Dean and the team at Backlinko dissects 8 key chapters (plus a bonus on quick SEO tips for 2021) of SEO ranging from Core Web Vitals, to featured snippets, visual search, intent, and more. Admittedly we’re still making our way through this but we’re sure many of you will find value in it.

If you want to learn more, my new guide to SEO in 2021 goes into more detail on all of these trends:https://t.co/zf465eAZ50

— Brian Dean (@Backlinko) December 17, 2020

Fewer FAQ rich results recorded in December 2020

Further evidence has come out to back up the suspected reduction in FAQ rich results displayed in the SERPs over the past month. SEOs have taken to Twitter to raise awareness about the loss of FAQ results since the roll out of the December core update. Barry has also shared a handful of evidence on his blog. We last noticed this happening in July of 2020 which did not follow a core update.

ICYMI: Google showing fewer FAQ rich results in December https://t.co/pOzwqkIoYE pic.twitter.com/s1oAnJ60eN

— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) January 4, 2021

New data available in Bing Webmaster Tools

Bing Webmaster Tools recently added three new metrics to their performance report: crawl requests, crawl errors, and indexed pages. More data is always great to have access to, and it’s super handy to have more information on how Bing is crawling and indexing your site all in one place. 

We’re not seeing any flux on Brightlocal’s local flux tool. It has been steady through the end of December, and into the new year. Happy new year!

Customized tabs appearing in the local panel

We’re not too sure whether this is a test or not but Google seems to be playing with dynamic custom tabs in the local panels. Businesses can momentarily add custom tabs to provide specifically relevant information about their business or service. We will have to wait and see how long this feature will be available for.

Hopefully just a test gone wrong.
Otherwise it's a feature that will.
➡️ Google Tests Dynamic Customized Tabs In Local Panel
➡️ https://t.co/kDGXbIFCdH#SEO #Google pic.twitter.com/McuCSjDkPT

— Dave Davies (@oohloo) January 5, 2021

Google algorithms vs Google penalties, explained by an ex-Googler – Pedro Dias
https://searchengineland.com/google-algorithms-vs-google-penalties-explained-by-an-ex-googler-345011
December 23, 2020

Pedro Diaz, a former Google Search Quality team member, stopped by Search Engine Land to discuss algorithmic suppression of websites versus site specific penalties. There is a lot of great information provided about how Google’s algorithms and ranking systems work.

How we boosted our traffic by 504.17% with a SEO-Friendly Web Story – Andrea Volpini
https://wordlift.io/blog/en/web-stories-seo
December 30, 2020

Andrea put together a good rundown here on how to develop a Web Story that is compelling and SEO friendly. Get the combination right — great content and the technical implementation — and you might enjoy the kind of explosive traffic Andrea experienced in Google Discover.

The 2020 Local Search Ranking Factors Survey Analysis – Darren Shaw
https://whitespark.ca/blog/2020-local-search-ranking-factors-survey-analysis/
December 10, 2020

Over 40 local experts weighed in on the top ranking factors in local SEO. In case you missed Darren’s initial presentation of the results several weeks ago, here is the written version of it.

We particularly enjoyed the sections on citations and local SEO mythbusting — be sure not to miss those!

*******Ok Denver Friends*******

I'm looking to hire a person that will do 50% SaaS tool management & 50% SEO consulting for clients. They MUST be in the #Denver area.

Is it a job you or someone you know would be interested in?

Anyone you think I should be talking to?
Pls RT

— Cindy Krum (@Suzzicks) January 4, 2021

I'm hiring for a Technical Copywriter to join our Marketing team.

Someone who is right and left-brained.

The ideal person is equally strong at technical writing and creative copywriting.

Who do you know in your network that I should reach out to?https://t.co/zJcHNDUeBr

— MyCool King (@iPullRank) January 5, 2021

Premium members also get the following:

It’s well worth the $18 per month!

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

• Full analysis of Marie’s early observations on the December core update
• Speculating on how Google Question Hub could impact the future of SEO
• Search intent and demand are fluid (plus actionable advice)
• Should sitemaps include or exclude redirect URLs?
• Your Web Story might not pass the Validation test if you’re using this…
• 25 link building campaigns examples from an industry expert
• Google says passage indexing will not appear different in the SERPs
• Will a nosnippet tag prevent your passages from being passage indexed in Google Search?
• Apple wins a patent 
• Mistakes and lessons from the early years of being in business
• Important tips and reminders for running your own business
• How to influence the image selected in your own Knowledge Panel
• Important reminder to check your listings
• Google is testing “Services” justifications — here’s what you should know
• How to correct a mistake made by a Google auto-complete on your Google My Business
• Missing insights from a notable platform recently
• Webmasters share their opinions on the costs associated with Local Services Ads
• Our tl;dr summary of some awesome recent 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