Google explains the “core” algorithm In 2016, Google’s Andrey Lipattsev explained the “core” algorithm. This happened following the news about Panda becoming part of Google’s core algorithm. SEOs wanted to better understand what being part of Google’s core algorithm meant. Put simply, it meant that an algorithm is consistent enough that Google doesn’t have to worry about it because it’s been tested, works the way it should, and won’t require many changes in the future. As Lipattsev explained: It is less about the functionality, which means it probably doesn’t change that much over time, and it is more about how […]

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…

According to six sources and documents reviewed by Forbes, TikTok and ByteDance employees frequently engage in “heating,” which is a manual process that guarantees certain videos receive a specific amount of views. Heating is cheating. Six current and former employees of TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, as well as internal documents and communications reviewed by Forbes, TikTok and ByteDance staff use a practice called “heating” to artificially boost the distribution of certain videos in addition to relying on the algorithm to determine what becomes popular. According to one of those sources: “The heating feature refers to boosting videos into […]

The Verge has a piece up today named Inside CNET’s AI-powered SEO money machine. It covers much of what we report in our story; Google search responds to BankRate, more brands using AI to write content last week but dives more into how the company is using machines to replace low-cost humans to generate low-quality content that aims to rank well in search. Google’s algorithms. All of this reminds me of the Google Panda update days, where Google built algorithms to detect content farms and content written with the purpose of generating search traffic. Now, with the helpful content update, […]

On Thursday, a diverse group of individuals and organizations defended the liability shield of Big Tech in a crucial Supreme Court case regarding YouTube’s algorithms. This group included businesses, internet users, academics, and human rights experts, with some arguing that removing federal legal protections for AI-driven recommendation engines would have a major impact on the open internet. Among those weighing in at the Court were major tech companies such as Meta, Twitter, and Microsoft, as well as some of Big Tech’s most vocal critics, including Yelp and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Additionally, Reddit and a group of volunteer Reddit moderators […]

Google will demonstrate a version of its search engine with chatbot features this year, according to a New York Times report. Why we care. AI – and OpenAI’s ChatGPT in particular – has been discussed ad nauseum over the past two months. Microsoft already is reportedly working on adding ChatGPT features to Microsoft Bing search. This has the potential to reshape SEO significantly. If you thought featured snippets were stealing your traffic, just wait until Google starts being able to accurately answer some even more complex questions which your existing content is designed to answer. Code Red at Google. In […]

There’s software to track just about every piece of SEO data. For marketers, this is a blessing and a curse. Access to data helps make savvy marketing decisions and, when analyzed correctly, aids a deeper understanding of users. That said, having access to data doesn’t necessarily mean you need to monitor it, especially if it’s unhelpful or feels overwhelming. For this article, I reached out to marketers and SEOs who shared the SEO metrics they’ll be tracking in 2023 and why they’re important. What are SEO metrics? SEO metrics are data sets that help determine the success of SEO’s role […]

The other day we reported on the newish check wait time button and now we are seeing a “join waitlist” button as well. I guess this gets you on the list to be seated at a restaurant.

This morning, Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai announced their decision to lay off 12,000 employees and contractors, or approximately 5% of their total workforce. In an email to staff, Pichai said “I have some difficult news to share. We’ve decided to reduce our workforce by approximately 12,000 roles. We’ve already sent a separate email to employees in the US who are affected. In other countries, this process will take longer due to local laws and practices.” Difficult times ahead. Google’s announcement comes on the heels after several other large tech companies announced their own plans to cut jobs. Zuckerberg announced Meta […]

As of January 19, 2023, Google has updated the video indexing report in Google Search Console, which now reports on thumbnail indexing issues more accurately. The result may be that you see reassignment of “Missing thumbnail” issues to more specific issue types, Google said.

In December, Google introduced continuous scroll to desktop search results. SEO practitioners immediately anticipated what the move’s impact will be on the industry.  In this article, I’ll share insights on continuous scroll’s relevance today, its potential impact to the search experience, and how SEOs can adapt. To click or to scroll? That’s not the question! The way I see it, continuous scroll signals a move away from the outdated “page” metaphor. Since the early 1990s, we have used the term “webpages,” as if websites were printed on paper. Despite over 20 years of technological progress, the flawed metaphor still persists, […]

This week we had two unconfirmed updates from Google rollout after the helpful content…

Last October, Google revamped its Google Webmaster Guidelines into Google Search Essentials and one part of that was to consolidate the previous pages on thin content and affiliate programs into the overall documentation. Lizzi Sassman from Google explained a bit more on why this was done.

WooRank integration into Duda adds powerful SEO auditing and optimization tools The post Duda Announces WooRank Integration appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Google has posted a new help document for posting restrictions around user-generated content in Google Maps. This is specific to reviews, photos, and videos users may update to Google Maps. This may also include content such as ratings or Q&A topics.

Google is testing the “order online” button from the bottom of the search result snippet to the top of that snippet. I see it on the bottom, but some can see it towards the top of the snippet, above the sitelinks but under the description area.