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In this episode, we discuss how to create link-worthy content, tips for author and old content, a look at how Google understands quality, mastering your GMB posts, GSC delays and more!

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

• Full algorithm update news
• Changes to the automotive search features
• A collection of common UX patterns optimized for Core Web Vitals
• Creating link-worthy content
• Why your content may be underperforming
• Tip for your author content
• If your WordPress site is generating traffic from tag pages keep this in mind
• Does Google treat category pages differently than tag or search pages?
• Google may be struggling with your ecommerce category page intent
• A look at how Google understands quality
• Old content doesn’t mean bad content
• What counts as clicks for a website?
• Six Degrees of Wikipedia
• Check your blocked but indexed URLs
• New and free tool for title optimization
• Our tl;dr summary of some awesome recent SEO articles

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This week there hasn’t been much in the way of chatter regarding any algorithmic changes. As with the last few weeks, both Barry and Glenn have reported seeing some volatility amongst the search results based on the sites they monitor as well as the weather tracking tools.

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

Update from Google on the title tag situation

Last month, we shared about our new system for generating titles for web page results. Thanks to your much appreciated feedback, we've further refined our titles system. Here's more about what we've been doing and some additional guidance for creators. https://t.co/Ahm659Shba

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) September 17, 2021

Google has been working on ways to improve how they generate titles for web pages in search. They’ve asked for community feedback over the past month and have released a post on their Google Search Central Blog with an update on why Google changes title tags and with more guidelines for webmasters and creators. Google changes titles for articles or pages where the title is obsolete over time, half empty titles with no context, or inaccurate or boiler-plate titles. Google admits that no system is perfect and is always open to feedback. In terms of search, these changes could make it easier for users to get access to the content and information they’re looking for within the SERPs.

Delays in reporting only of GSC performance report

Big delays are being reported in Search Console’s performance report. Many SEOs have been reporting the delay time to be exceeding 96 hours as of early Tuesday morning. GSC tweeted an official notice reassuring that this is not affecting crawling, indexing or ranking and is only affecting reporting.

We're currently experiencing longer than usual delays in the Search Console performance report. This only affects reporting, not crawling, indexing, or ranking of websites. We'll update here once this issue is resolved. Thanks for your patience!

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) September 21, 2021

Yes, I'm also seeing delays in the data shown in GSC performance report… last day shown is Friday Sep 17 across all of the accounts I have access to 👇 pic.twitter.com/qag1jaHgDx

— Aleyda Solis 👩🏻‍💻 (@aleyda) September 21, 2021

Anyone else's Google Search Console data taking longer to chug through than usual?

I know we've been spoilt by the shift to 48-72hrs delay – but I'm up to around 96hrs at the mo'. pic.twitter.com/1AraF7vMkp

— Andrew 'Optimisey' (@Optimisey) September 21, 2021

Google updated us on Sept. 22:

This delay affects the information shown in Search Console performance reports, the API for this data, Search Console Insights, and the same data in Google Analytics / Data-Studio. This doesn't affect crawling, indexing, or ranking of websites.

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) September 22, 2021

But it now appears to be resolved:

… and now we're back! The data in the performance reports should now be coming in at the usual speed again.

Thanks for your patience, and sorry that things took so long.

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) September 23, 2021

Google’s new indented titles — what you should know

After months of testing, Google seems to be indenting titles in the SERPs as a way to display multiple results from one site. Apparently they’re showing up when there are more than two possible matches on one website for a particular query. At this point, we’ve seen up to two additional URLs intended for a single domain. 

Google's new indented titles are pretty intriguing.

They appear to show up when there are 2 or more potential matches for the query from the same site.

My (brilliant) teammate Josh thinks Google is testing this to get data for disambiguating user intent.

Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/ndVof9wWJA

— Lily Ray 😏 (@lilyraynyc) September 18, 2021

John comments on content loading with JavaScript

If the mobile-friendly test is suggesting that Google may be struggling to see your main content (within the rendered view), John suggests that this could be an issue. He says if you’re using JavaScript, it’s important to fix it otherwise Google may be indexing pages that are bare and have no meaningful content. 

Seems like something you'd want to fix, especially if the content is being loaded with JS (why else hide it?). It can happen that we just index your pages like that, with no visible / indexable content.

— 🧀 John 🧀 (@JohnMu) September 20, 2021

Mastering your GMB Posts

We’ve talked quite a bit about the benefits of Google Posts in the past local sections of our newsletter. As a refresher, Google Posts are similar to social feed updates which are typically controlled by the business and are displayed in the business profile in the SERPs. Google Posts are an excellent way to connect with potential and existing customers through posting announcements, offers, event details, in-stock products, etc. which are displayed directly in the search results.

Claire Carlile from BrightLocal has written a thorough article about absolutely everything you need to know about Google Posts. From all the visibility a Google Post can receive, to all the how-tos you need to know. As a local business owner, this is definitely a great reference to bookmark.

Get ecommerce recommendations from Google

Did you know that Google has this awesome, free tool for ecommerce sites called “Grow My Store”? We didn’t know either! By inputting your URL, Google will assess your retail site and provide insight and recommendations to help you strengthen your online business. It will also provide you with an overall rating score. If you’re an online retailer, it wouldn’t hurt to give this tool a quick go! 

How did I not know about this???

Google has something called "Grow My Store" that takes a look at your #ecommerce site and gives recommendations based on what it can find!https://t.co/B0srR4foPD

Well worth a look! pic.twitter.com/O4nttlmFtf

— Andy Drinkwater (@iqseo) September 20, 2021

Core Web Vitals is a Measurable Ranking Factor – Johannes Beus
https://www.sistrix.com/blog/core-web-vitals-is-a-measurable-ranking-factor/
September 16, 2021

If you’ve been following along with our newsletter for the last few months, you’ve likely heard of the Page Experience Update which includes elements of HTTPS, mobile device optimization, usage of interstitials and Core Web Vitals. This article is a great recap of the CWV ranking factor and its importance. 

5 Ways to Beat Google Title Rewrites + A New SEO Traffic Tool – Cyrus Shepard
https://zyppy.com/blog/5-ways-to-beat-google-title-rewrites-and-a-new-seo-traffic-tool/
September 16, 2021

A new article from Zyppy addresses Google’s title tag rewriting and how you can potentially avoid it. It includes common reasons Google might changes your title tags and how you can maybe fix it. You’ll notice that Cyrus discusses his new tool (which we covered in the SEO tools section above). It’ll provide some more clarity surrounding its abilities more in depth in this article.

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 algorithm update news
• Changes to the automotive search features
• A collection of common UX patterns optimized for Core Web Vitals
• Creating link-worthy content
• Why your content may be underperforming
• Tip for your author content
• If your WordPress site is generating traffic from tag pages keep this in mind
• Does Google treat category pages differently than tag or search pages?
• Google may be struggling with your ecommerce category page intent
• A look at how Google understands quality
• Old content doesn’t mean bad content
• What counts as clicks for a website?
• Six Degrees of Wikipedia
• Check your blocked but indexed URLs
• New and free tool for title optimization
• 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.

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