Ep. 231 - April 21, 2022 - Light Version

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In this episode, we discuss Google’s stance on auto generated content, product testing and how it related to the product reviews update, new documentation on Google Analytics, and the latest SEO news from across the industry.

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

• Automatically generated content against Google guidelines?
• Product reviews update: Writing that you tested a product is not enough
• Google: don’t change URLs back and forth
• Frameworks to help your blog stand out
• New documentation from Google on Universal Analytics to GA4
• Handy new tool for Data Studio and GSC
• Our tl;dr summary of some awesome recent SEO articles

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Unconfirmed algorithm update April 13th & 14th 

While nothing has been confirmed this past week with regards to any Google update, Barry Schwartz is suggesting that there may have been an unconfirmed update on either April 13th or 14th. 

This is based on some large fluctuations in the weather tools, as well as an uptick in chatter in the webmaster world forums. 

Looking at the sites we monitor we have a few clients with nice increases starting around April 11-14. However, with this being close to Easter weekend, there’s a good chance that these are seasonal changes. 

For now, we are calling this just another date of increased turbulence in the SERPs. We will come back to these dates when we assess our client base next week. If it does look like something has happened that’s worth analyzing in detail, we’ll let you know!

Introducing Google’s new series: Ecommerce Essentials

A new video series has come out from the Google Search Central YouTube channel covering common technical issues that can impact the effectiveness of an e-commerce site. 

Each episode will discuss a common problem they have seen impact sites and how you can fix them. This is surely a series we will be keeping an eye on as new episodes come out.

When running an ecommerce website, there are various issues that can impact overall website performance. ⚙️

Watch #EcommerceEssentials, a new series where we explore, identify, and streamline solutions for common platform problems.

Save the playlist → https://t.co/0ArlWApmOF pic.twitter.com/Y6PwBbFIET

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) April 13, 2022

Try this for successful SEO reporting

If you are looking for specialized KPIs (key performance indicators) that can provide you with essential information on your SEO progress, we recommend taking a look at Aleyda Solis’ recent Twitter thread. 

Aleyda provides a step-by-step (with lots of resources!) from selecting the KPIs that best fit the needs of your business to incorporating the findings into your SEO strategy report. 

4 Keys for Successful SEO Reporting that actually help to communicate Your results and drive actions to achieve goals 👀📝

1. Select Meaningful KPIs that are connected with SEO & Biz goals & are relevant to the audience – Here's a template to help: https://t.co/KVfa1uoROF

… pic.twitter.com/kkj44iuzG5

— Aleyda Solis 🇺🇦 (@aleyda) April 13, 2022

10 Tips from the Experts: Creating Content for the Niche Industries

There’s not necessarily the same one-size-fits-all content strategy for all industries, but Semrush has gathered some unique insights for a variety of industries. We’ll leave you to read all the unique characteristics of each niche, but what caught our attention was the top 10 tips for content marketers (which have been outlined in the tweet’s image below). Our favourites? Performing a keyword gap analysis, repurposing existing content into different formats, and being an educational resource – this last item is something an ecommerce client of ours has done to compete with the largest health sites in the world (and it’s working well!). Overall these are excellent tips that a wide range of our readers could likely benefit from!

Click our massive (but very useful) infographic to read 10 content writing tips for anyone writing about niched industries👇 https://t.co/Wz5tPhWO9F. pic.twitter.com/FE5J4MM6j6

— Semrush (@semrush) April 18, 2022

Here’s an excellent copywriting tip!

Hot take for copywriters from Katelyn Bourgoin based on the Galatea Effect. The Galatea Effect can come down to how people’s beliefs about their own ability to perform can directly impact their results. Their tip is to write copy that guides people enough to make them confident in themselves. 

Marketing tip of the day:

*The Galatea Effect* shows that our self-confidence directly correlates to our results

People want to be the hero of their story

But they need a guide to help them

Write copy that makes people confident in themselves (with you as their guide)

— Katelyn Bourgoin ⚡️ (@KateBour) April 18, 2022

Google or Bing. Who indexes more?

It is no secret that both Google and Bing have different criteria when it comes to what type of content they will index. If you are curious about which search engine indexes more content on the web and what type of content they seem to prioritize, Tomek Rudzki has the answers for you. 

Overall, according to his research, Bing tends to index more content than Google, aside from location and guide content! But does it necessarily mean that Bing is a better search engine? Tomek says no. Although Bing does seem to index more content, it doesn’t mean that it is the best, it could just mean that Google is pickier (different indexing criteria likely play a huge role in this).

For more information on how Bing and Google index content, and what webmasters can do to improve their indexing rates, check out Tomek Rudzki’s recent article. 

⚠️ Bing or Google? Which one indexes more?

➡️ Read @TomekRudzki's article to find out: https://t.co/lAPWG6Yj0C pic.twitter.com/g4m75phuiE

— Onely (@OnelyCom) April 5, 2022

Try this way to improve local rankings

If you work or operate within the local space, you’ll want to give this article by Mike Blumenthal a thorough read. Essentially, Google has confirmed in their documentation that in-store product availability is a local ranking factor. According to Mike’s findings, local pack results with in-store product availability have appeared increasingly for brand and product level searches.

If you currently do not include in-store product availability with your Google Business Profile, it might be a good idea to implement this. This doesn’t apply to non-Google platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce though. It seems that Google is strongly preferring their own platform but this doesn’t come as a surprise. 

Study on spam fighting

Joy Hawkings from Sterling Sky is back at it again with another awesome case study. This time the study revolves around the state of fighting spam. More specifically, this study serves to tackle three aspects using four years worth of data.

1. What industries have the highest percentage of fake Google listings and fake listings removed? Joy and the team found that the following niches were the biggest target: garage door industry, junk car industry, and personal injury lawyers.
2. Is spam declining or increasing compared to three years ago? Joy and the team found that the answer depends on the industry. Some industries have improved while others have just gotten worse, such as the personal injury lawyer industry.
3. Lastly, how big of an issue is keyword stuffing? Joy and the team found that the hair restoration and funeral industries had the highest rates of listings with excessive keyword stuffing.

A Complete Guide to Keyword Search Volume for SEO – Mark Traphagen
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/keyword-search-volume/421907/
October 6, 2021

Search volume is a very common metric used by SEOs to decide which keywords to target, the likely competitiveness of that keyword, and to help project and/or predict traffic. However, as Mark Traphagen observes in this very helpful guide, there are a number of misconceptions and limitations to this metric. 

How NewsGuard’s nutritional labels can help publishers avoid manual actions for medical content violations – Glenn Gabe
https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/newsguard-avoid-manual-actions-medical-content/ 
April 15, 2022

This was quite an interesting study done by our friend Glenn Gabe. To preface this, in July 2021, publishers who wrote medical content that went against scientific consensus were given warnings for essentially violating Google’s guidelines. Google makes it quite clear that they don’t “…allow publishing medical content that contradicts or runs contrary to scientific or medical consensus and evidence-based best practices.” Sites that did not heed these warnings were served manual actions (for Google News and Discover) only 6 months later.

Title Rewrites: 3 Patterns to Avoid – Dr. Peter J. Meyers
https://moz.com/blog/title-tag-patterns-to-avoid 
April 15, 2022 

We love a good Whiteboard Friday here at MHC (our very own Marie Haynes has one on E-A-T and the QRG if you haven’t already seen it).

I just posted my first job at @TheAthletic for a 'Newsroom SEO Editor' role. This is a '100% remote position' and I invite you to join my newly forming audience team here. I've only been here a month and it's been a great experience. We are growing as a brand quickly,

— Claudio Eduardo Cabrera (@CECabrera_) April 13, 2022

We are looking for a number of roles in the U.K. including
👉🏼 senior PR manager
👉🏼 PR manager
👉🏼 PR account director
👉🏼 PR interns/execs
👉🏼 senior data journalist
👉🏼 content strategist
And more

Here’s what we can offer you

☀️ unlimited holidays
💻 hybrid working

— Carrie Rose (@CarrieRosePR) April 13, 2022

Working in SEO, but ready to add a little ✨zest✨ to your career? Why not join @salt_agency! We're currently hiring for several positions, if you want to join our ranks see what we've got available below!  👇👇

— Billie 🦕 (@BillieGeena) April 14, 2022

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:

• Automatically generated content against Google guidelines?
• Product reviews update: Writing that you tested a product is not enough
• Google: don’t change URLs back and forth
• Frameworks to help your blog stand out
• New documentation from Google on Universal Analytics to GA4
• Handy new tool for Data Studio and GSC
• Our tl;dr summary of some awesome recent SEO articles

⎋ SUBSCRIBE NOW

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— Inflow® (@goinflow) March 8, 2021