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In this episode, we discuss how Image Search can be impacted by core updates, the latest from the summer updates, insight into Core Web Vitals data, some new changes in GSC and the Page Experience report and lots more.

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

• Updating the Page Experience Report
• Interesting insight into CWV data and why different reports (PSI, GSC, Lighthouse) can sometimes show different results
• Why you should only use one sitemap for News content
• What it means if you see differences in data between a domain property & url-prefix properties in GSC
• Google Analytics is now tracking this…
• Google updated its Schema-based structured data recommendations to include linking to an author’s bio page
• How Google puts information into Knowledge Panels
• A good reminder to be aware of any boundary lines near your business location in Google Maps
• Heads up! Select categories are disabled
• Our tl;dr summary of some awesome recent SEO articles

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There were a few interesting bits of news this week regarding Google’s organic algorithms. 

Premium members can look at what we have been seeing for this week.

Time for this week’s podcast throwback 

This episode is a goody! It’s our most recent episode and does not disappoint. Definitely worth the listen if you haven’t already. 

🎙️ It's podcast throwback time!

For this week's throwback we thought we'd include one of our most listened tracks.

In our most recent episode before summer break @Marie_Haynes dives into early thoughts on the June Core Update, the QRG and content! https://t.co/iHeART3irn

— Marie Haynes Consulting (@mhc_inc) August 10, 2021

A look at GSC insights 

Following Search Console Insights' announcement, we received great feedback from the community 🙏 Today, we provide answers to frequently asked questions and clarifications on the data available 🧐https://t.co/BvbfBZ5tqL pic.twitter.com/UBnJ6gA8vJ

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) August 9, 2021

Last month Google announced GSC insights. Essentially it’s a way for content creators to get more data driven insights from Google Search Console and Google Analytics. Following the announcement, there were a lot of questions around this new tool from the SEO community. Google compiled the questions and created an FAQ with the most asked questions from the community in this blog post. If you’re a content creator and are interested in optimizing your content and making it Google and SEO friendly, this is an amazing tool that will give you insight on your best performing content, how people discover your content and even what people search in Google before landing on your content.

GSC filters out most bot traffic, but it’s not perfect

In a recent help hangout, one GSC user noticed an uptick in clicks and impressions for certain keywords.

Barry Schwartz wrote about how John Mueller just confirmed that GSC doesn’t filter out all bot traffic so best to keep that in mind if you are seeing some weird keyword data reporting!

The Structured Data Testing Tool has run its course 

If you have recently tried to use Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool, you will notice that it is no longer available. Users who depended on the tool can now use a combination of Rich Results Test and Schema Markup Validator (currently in Beta mode and available on Schema.org). Although each tool has their own limitations, when combined, users can get a substantial in-depth analysis of their pages. 

The time has come. Google has officially shut down the Structured Data Testing Tool.

When trying to access: https://t.co/9LLJyFIqMi, you're now redirected to choose from the RRT or Schema Markup Validator.

But don't worry – Schema Markup Validator is very similar to the SDTT! pic.twitter.com/bIkIfeMD4v

— Brodie Clark (@brodieseo) August 10, 2021

Guess who’s back, back again, indexing issues, tell a friend

More indexing issues have surfaced, are you surprised? Reports of pages dropping from the index, taking a long time to get indexed, pages with no content being indexed and more. So if you’re experiencing any issues related to indexing, you’re not alone. 

Google indexing issues with pages dropping out of the index, returning and repeating that over and over again – are any of you seeing this? https://t.co/bsa9XhKaG1 via @jorch_garcia and @glenngabe and undisclosed forums pic.twitter.com/2YX3edmiFf

— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) August 10, 2021

GMB Insights is case sensitive when determining unique search queries

Good reminder or information if this is new to you. Someone had a client with the same phrases shown separately in the results page because one had capitalization. Google will consider these case sensitive, so don’t forget to consider case sensitivity for your keywords next time!

Writing great alt ext: emotion matters – Jake Archibald
https://jakearchibald.com/2021/great-alt-text/
August 4, 2021

Properly conveying complex images through alt text can be a tough task. A picture is worth a thousand words, but what if you’re only supposed to use a few? With so many interpretations to choose from with alt text and images, how do you know if it’s the right one? We highly recommend giving this short article a read. John gives some excellent examples, and it has really helped broaden our perspective!

Google Broad Core Updates and Image Search: Can core updates impact Image Search rankings in addition to Web Search and Discover? – Glenn Gabe
https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/google-broad-core-updates-image-search/
August 3, 2021

We often discuss a great deal on the impacts of core updates on Web Search and Discover but what impact do core updates have on Image Search? Glenn Gabe was asked this interesting question on Twitter and wrote this very insightful article on the topic. Be sure to give the entire article a read!

How to Carry Out Content Audits — Yes, Plural – Rebekah Dunne
https://moz.com/blog/conduct-multiple-content-audits
August 4, 2021

Moz just published an entire article on the topic of conducting content audits and even goes to the depths of providing a step-by-step process on how to conduct a content audit. Check out Moz’s recent article for more insight.

UTM Tagging for Google My Business – Claire Carlile
https://moz.com/blog/utm-tagging-google-my-business
August 6, 2021

Another great Whiteboard Friday! In this edition, Claire Carlile does an excellent job of outlining everything you need to know with regards to UTM tagging for Google My Business. We find these Whiteboard Fridays extremely valuable and helpful. Claire also shares some great tips so you’ll want to give this one a watch!

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:

• Updating the Page Experience Report
• Interesting insight into CWV data and why different reports (PSI, GSC, Lighthouse) can sometimes show different results
• Why you should only use one sitemap for News content
• What it means if you see differences in data between a domain property & url-prefix properties in GSC
• Google Analytics is now tracking this…
• Google updated its Schema-based structured data recommendations to include linking to an author’s bio page
• How Google puts information into Knowledge Panels
• A good reminder to be aware of any boundary lines near your business location in Google Maps
• Heads up! Select categories are disabled
• Our tl;dr summary of some awesome recent SEO articles

⎋ SUBSCRIBE NOW

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