Search Engine Roundtable Podcast

I went to Menachem Ani’s office, JXT Group, to chat all things paid search. We first spoke about he first got into the Google Ads business, he was doing Google Ads since the early times. He started in the space doing ads for eBay listings, using Froogle and Google AdWords in 2003. We then went off on some of the older days and the community.

In 2009 he started his own agency by doing some freelancing during a recession. It was a challenge, and scary, but it all worked out. And he focuses specifically on Google Ads with a slight focus on e-commerce, performance max, and lead generation. He does also Microsoft Advertising but it is a limited spend in general.

We spoke about how Google Ads has changed over the years and how complex it has grown.

But then we dove directly into how to structure PMax campaigns in Google Ads. Menachem said they like to condense the campaigns as much as possible. They look at the service breakdowns and also look at the goals. That defines how they segment into multiple campaigns. But then within campaigns, they break out asset groups within the product lines. But there is no specific number of campaigns, it depends on the client and what they sell. But the fewer campaigns, the better, he said.

More to come, but to learn more about Menachem Ani follow him @MenachemAni and on LinkedIn.

This week, we had the big Google Marketing Live event where Google showcased more of how ads will work on the new Google Search Generative Experience. Google launched the new Search Generative Experience to some searchers last minute (so this is not in my video). Google also showed us how AI would help advertisers build ads. Google Merchant Center is getting a revamp with Google Merchant Center Next. Google also launched Google Product Studio, PMax AI features, and much more. We also had an unconfirmed Google search ranking update on May 22 and May 23rd. Google spoke about an old ranking system named topic authority ranking. Google did its last batch for mobile-first indexing after six and a half years. Google had a bug with video content between May 4th and May 17th, resulting in a possible drop in traffic from Google Search. Google job search also had a weird indexing bug for a few days this week. Google is testing a new interactive “suggestions for your search.” Google added an edit code button to the rich results test. Google now supports site names for subdomains on mobile. There is this weird crawl error issue with AMP URLs in Search Console. Google replaced the trusted store badge with a top-quality store badge. Google is testing 3D / AR images on desktop search. Google can also show both the 3D and 360 labels for those products on mobile search. Google is testing placing the services button first in the local maps results. Google Business Profiles is testing a carousel for business images. I have screenshots of the new Microsoft pubCenter Next. Google Bard now supports images in the answer. Bing Chat doubled its character limit. Bing Search is the default search service for Open AI’s ChatGPT. And programming note, I am offline today; this and all my other stuff on Friday were pre-written, pre-recorded, and scheduled to go live. And if you want to help sponsor those vlogs, go to patreon.com/barryschwartz. That was the search news this week at the Search Engine Roundtable.

SPONSOR: This week's video recap is sponsored by Duda, the Professional Website Builder You Can Call Your Own.

In part one with Glenn Gabe, we talk about Bing chat and Google Bard and also the use of AI-generated content, in part two we dig more into E-E-A-T and how AI tools may replace us all. In the previous video with Glenn Gabe we spoke about Google core updates, and here we talk about what you can do to recover and how you fix sites impacted by these Google broad core updates? We also spoke about links and disavow.

You need to look at content, user experience, ads, affiliates, and more. Glenn said the biggest issue is thin content, which is not short content, but content that is not helpful. Thin content at scale is a huge problem. The recommendation is to delete content or vastly update that content. Glenn said the person who is writing that content now needs to write better, higher-quality content.

Glenn said when it comes to old content, just don’t delete it. If the content is high quality, leave that content. But if the content is not relevant or good anymore then you can remove it. Don’t just look at how it ranks or how much traffic it gets, it should be a manual process.

User experience is an issue, aggressive ads, aggressive affiliate stuff, and more user experience are big issues with these core updates, and you need to improve that user experience. He also said the deception aspect is a big deal because if you anger users, that can be really bad.

Another issue is that there can be technical issues that may end up causing content issues. So while technical issues usually are not a core update issue, but if it generates low cruft content issues, that can lead to an issue in the long run. The same with “no results” found issues with pages. Technical issues are one of the easier areas for people to fix.

Also, with broad core updates, there can be relevancy updates, and there is nothing you can do about that. One day your site ranked well for a query, but your page is no longer relevant for that query.

External links usually are not a broad core update issue. Usually, your external links don’t factor into these broad-core updates. Links are essential, but you don’t need a ton of links to rank well, nor do links hurt you so much these days. It is not all about the links, but yes, links are very important, but it is not the end all, Glenn said.

In the old days, you could fix any SEO problem by throwing links at the issue. Now, it doesn’t work that way anymore. In fact, Google has been downplaying links for some time now.

We then spoke about the disavow tool, and Google has gone on record about not using it, and Glenn agrees, do not use it. Google has buried the tool in Search Console for a reason, Glenn added. He thinks Google can nuke the tool and maybe even this year, especially with SpamBrain improving and these link spam updates, at least he hopes.

We then tangent back into AI, content generation, AI search, and AI art. We rounded out about if Bing can take market share from Google over the coming months/years.

You can learn more about Glenn Gabe on Twitter at @glenngabe, on Mastodon, on LinkedIn and check out GSQI.

This week we learned that the upcoming Google helpful content update would soon promote content, not just demote content. Google also pushed out a search ranking algorithm update, but it was not confirmed. Google Bard now shows citations like Bing Chat, but they are not really good. I explained why I think Google must encourage clicks to publishers with the new Google Search Generative Experience. Google reduces how often the local pack shows up in Google web search. Google Search Console insights has a notice about data changes due to Google Analytics 4. Google has a new bot named Google-InspectionTool. Google is testing a new product detail user interface. Google is testing a circled-in favicon design. Google added more languages to the translated search results feature. Google’s John Mueller said gambling with SEO shortcuts is stupid. Google is testing sharable maps and local pack links. Google is testing new sponsored boxed-in map results, Google Business Profile pending label and a new location for reviews are not verified. Bing Chat is rolling out some new features, including mobile, visual search comparisons, and knowledge cards. Bing Chat is rolling out unauthenticated access support. Bing Chat does show Microsoft Start Partner labels for some answers. Microsoft Advertising is pushing pubCenter, its AdSense alternative, to smaller publishers. Google Shopping Ads and Free listings now allow COVID-19 terms. And if you want to help sponsor those vlogs, go to patreon.com/barryschwartz. That was the search news this week at the Search Engine Roundtable.

SPONSOR: Wix - did you know they now have a headless solution for your content platform and they also announced this week they have integration with Google Ads.

In part one with Glenn Gabe, we talk about Bing chat and Google Bard and also the use of AI-generated content, in part two we dig more into E-E-A-T and how AI tools may replace us all. Now we move into Google broad core updates.

Glenn actually called these updates Phantom updates before Google called them anything. Glenn does a lot of work around these broad core updates, and he is probably the most respected person in this space.

Glenn is very sensitive on social media when it comes to people belittling these broad core updates. These updates can sometimes wipe businesses out, lay off employees and see massive declines in income. Many of these companies did not mean to do anything wrong. So he has to have hard conversations with these companies because these are hard times for many of them.

CNBC even cited Glenn Gabe when tons of sites were hit hard by this. It was a wild time. We then briefly spoke about another broad core update that Google refused to confirm, which we called the Medic update.

Glenn said when it comes to recoveries after these core updates, you can sometimes recover, sometimes do better, and sometimes never fully recover. But the hard part is when he has to tell customers to cut their ads on their site and show less revenue-generating ads, that is a hard conversation to have. We spoke about what happens when these core updates become real-time, what happens then. Right now, Google cannot do it in real-time, Glenn said based on speaking with Paul Haahr at Google but one day it might come. But Penguin went real time and Panda became part of the core algorithm, Glenn said it went away, which it did - i.e. Coati.

Part two is coming soon, but for now, you can learn more about Glenn Gabe on Twitter at @glenngabe or on LinkedIn.

What a crazy week with Google I/O, where Search took the spotlight for the first time in a long time at the event. Google also may have rolled out an unconfirmed search ranking update around the same time as Google I/O. We had Google show off the new Google Search Generative Experience, and I did some deep dives into this all-new Google Search. Google also announced a new helpful content system update that will find and reward “hidden gems.” Google is rolling out the new perspectives feature in the coming weeks. Google has a new label for images generated by AI tools, like Midjourney. Google added an “about this image” feature in Image search. Google said it will replace FID with INP in Core Web Vitals in March 2024. Google Bard dropped its waitlist, adding some cool search features and more. Bing Chat models may be updated a few times a year. Microsoft said Bing Chat AI model improvements could trickle down to the core search Bing algorithm. Google finally commented on the drop in FAQ rich results. Google said high-quality content might still be of low value to the web. Google said hreflang x-default could help with discovery. Google Search is testing a weird visual explore feature. Microsoft made a weird announcement about a new Ads feature for AI-powered chat. Google reiterated that the Google Analytics 4 deadline is not being pushed off. And check out vlog number two with Glenn Gabe on AI, E-E-A-T, and more. And if you want to help sponsor those vlogs, go to patreon.com/barryschwartz. That was the search news this week at the Search Engine Roundtable.

Sponsored by Rank Ranger, the all-in-one- professional SEO software. Rank Ranger is a comprehensive SEO platform that allows you to grow your business with data and analytics. It offers valuable insights through advanced rank tracking, including above-the-fold tracking, Organic Share of Voice reporting, actionable SERP feature data, and SERP analysis tools.

Here are my quick initial thoughts on the new Google Search Generative Experience that incorporates generative AI into search.A lot more detail to be published on https://www.seroundtable.com/

In part one with Glenn Gabe, we talk about Bing chat and Google Bard and also the use of AI-generated content; in part two, we dig more into E-E-A-T and how AI tools may replace us all.

I said I thought when Google came out with the additional E on E-E-A-T, I thought Google would soon come out with a new policy around AI-generated content saying machines cannot have experience, I was wrong. Glenn said if the AI is learning based on the content with people who have experience, then maybe the AI can have experience - and he is right.

I said Google Bard when it launched, would also come out with links to publishers, but I was wrong; Google Bard was a huge letdown with citations. If I, or other content writers, can come up with content to write that is unique, why cant the AI do it, I asked. And guess what, Bing Chat is kind of doing that, Glenn explained. Publishers have been doing this with stock reports, news reports, etc, for a long time.

There is just so much buzz around generative AI taking over, and Glenn said it does make sense. Glenn brought up his code reds post and the Jarvis scenario. We go a bit deep on this topic; it might be fun to listen to. We also spoke a bit about how schools are nervous about these tools and how it is important for teachers to teach kids how to use them, and not run from them. Kids might not be able to write in the future, is Glenn’s fear.

I joke about how Google should add a third-E to E-E-E-A-T, a new one for entertainment.

Part two is coming soon, but for now, you can learn more about Glenn Gabe on Twitter at @glenngabe or on LinkedIn.

This week, I posted the monthly Google webmaster report for May 2023. Google may have pushed out an unconfirmed search algorithm update on May 1st and 2nd, and that update seems to have heated up in a big way later on in the week. Microsoft opened Bing Chat to all and updated some features. Google uses a mix of factors to determine if content demonstrates E-E-A-T. Google says don’t use the canonical tag for syndicated content anymore. Google says video descriptions in structured data are now just a recommendation. Google says disavowing links based on third-party data is a terrible idea. Google does not trust outbound links from spammy sites. Google is highlighting text in the “things to know” section. Google is testing perspectives as a search filter. Google is testing pros and cons in the video section. Google image and video search is rolling out blurring images and videos for SafeSearch. Google said search impression share is not coming to Performance Max in Google Ads. Microsoft Advertising added campaign-level change history and code-free conversions and postponed the enhanced CPC change. Google Business Profiles listed tips for bulk verification delays. Oh, Google confirmed it does send texts to businesses to verify data. Most SEOs got started by reading and practicing, a poll said. I had Glenn Gabe on the vlog this week, and for the next few weeks, check it out. And if you want to help sponsor those vlogs, go to patreon.com/barryschwartz. That was the search news this week at the Search Engine Roundtable.

I finally convinced Glenn Gabe to let me interview him on my vlog, and we spoke for a while on a ton of core SEO topics. Glenn has been doing SEO for a long time, and he is my go-to guy for some of the most complex Google SEO topics. He runs a consultancy company named G-Squared Interactive. Glenn is also one of he very few people I allow to write on my site, and as I said in the video, he spotted a Bing search update weeks before Microsoft confirmed it.

We dive right into what was new then but is now old since I recorded this back in February - the topic of Bing Chat and Google Bard. We love how Bing Chat adds links and citations to publishers, but we are unsure if users will click. We discussed our concern over the normal searcher not wanting to click over and validate their reading content. We discussed how Bing should add this data to Bing Webmaster Tools, and Google should add it to Google Search Console, Bing said they would. Google tested it for featured snippets but pulled it away for some reason.

We then talk about using AI, generative AI, to generate content. Google posted its thoughts on AI content shortly before we spoke, but Glenn Gabe said it is a dangerous area for publishers. He said Google will be able to pick up on it, and you need to generate high-quality content with it because low-quality content will get hit hard by these algorithmic updates. It is not just AI content, and it is using translation or other techniques at scale. Glenn’s advice is to have someone edit it and make sure it is useful and helpful to the end user and not just generated to rank well in search.

We then touch on the hallucination problem with these AI tools, but Glenn accurately says that the AI will get better and better, and this will be less of an issue in the future. He said Google is good at detecting low-quality content, and it does not matter if it is human-written or AI-written low-quality content; as long as it is low quality, it will be detected. Glenn said, especially since the helpful content update and future helpful content updates.

Part two is coming soon, but for now, you can learn more about Glenn Gabe on Twitter at @glenngabe or on LinkedIn.