Search Engine Roundtable Podcast

This week, the December 2022 Google helpful content update and link spam updates are finally complete after a long, long wait. There was a lot of movement on Wednesday, January 11th or so. Google said rolling out algorithm updates are sometimes like planting seeds in a garden. Google said linking to multiple sellers may give you a small ranking boost with the product reviews update. Google reiterated its views of AI-generated content and how Google Search sees it. Google said again that traffic is not a measure of search quality. Google Search is testing instances in the search results. Google says writing SEO case studies are quite challenging. Google said to keep your HTML head section clean and without JavaScript. Google updated its site name documentation to clarify that m-dot and www are considered domain level. Google updated the list of Googlebot IP addresses. Google Business Profiles says you no longer can have price ranges for products, and custom call to actions are going away next month. Apple Business Profiles relaunched with new features that businesses should jump on now. Google Maps is testing 360 aerial views. Google Ads has an editing bug with a draft or experimental campaigns. Google Ads said performance max is not preferred over search campaigns. And dental practices can now use Local Service Ads. 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.

Search Topics of Discussion:

Mark Saltarelli used to work at Cypress North for a couple of years but wanted to go in-house and joined Order, a later-stage startup. We spoke a bit about his history in digital marketing, first working at Toast, then FullFunnel, then Cypress North, and then where he is now at Order.

We spoke a bit about the issues working with a super early-stage SaaS startup. Such as the company not fully understanding yet who the customer is or should be. Also, early-stage products have a lot of bugs and issues, which can be upsetting. Then CEOs and Founders can be very opinionated about how they should market their products and not want to listen to advice from an expert. So he was done working with these super early start-ups.

Working with start-ups, especially in-house, you need to be ready to pivot. Pivoting is part of the start-up world, and you need to be ready to pivot with the product, with the customers, and with the overall business. But he said that can be frustrating.

B2B Marketing & Demand Generation Through Funnels:

We then talked about business-to-business marketing through demand generation and tracking the conversions through the funnel. Mark told us how to optimize campaigns through the customer purchase cycle during multiple states of that cycle. He builds out campaigns using his CRM and marketing automation platforms to see on the keyword level how many leads that keywords drive and how those may convert to different levels of the customer buying journey.

Matt provided some pretty cool examples of this through a case study. We spoke again about how great performance max is working with Google Ads. Sometimes people search for weird things, and he said smart bidding could help a lot here. Matt also gets into the weeds with remarketing; he is a big fan of using that in this process.

Follow Mark on Twitter @marketingbymark or on LinkedIn by finding Mark T Saltarelli.

Welcome to the first video recap of 2023, where I start with the January 2023 Google webmaster report. I then explain how the Google helpful content and link spam updates are still rolling out and, more so, still causing volatility. Google explained why assigning start, and end dates to some algorithm updates is hard and not an exact science. Microsoft Bing is reportedly going to be integrating Open AI’s ChatGPT solution. Google’s John Mueller spoke about using AI and ChatGPT for title tag generation. A Google Search research paper that is probably related to the helpful content update really paints a black eye on SEO. Google’s URL Inspection tool’s referring page can show a nofollow link. Google has dropped the 110-character limit on the headline property for article structured data. Google Search Console sent out a survey asking what you want from the tool. Google Search Console may have an ongoing issue with tracking local pack results. A case study says reviews that have photos on them last longer in the Google local results. Google Ads removed redundant keywords recommendation is pushing more to broad match. Google Search has a new “popular next step” search refinement. And John Mueller of Google was helping SEOs on New Year again. 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 BruceClay, who has been doing search marketing optimization since 1996 and also has an amazing SEO training platform.

0:00 - Introduction 

1:05 - January 2023 Google Webmaster Report

1:50 - Google: The Helpful Content Update & Link Spam Update Still Ongoing

2:22 - Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update Signals On January 3rd & 4th

3:10 - Start & End Dates For Google Algorithm Updates Aren't Always Exact

5:13 - Report: Microsoft Bing To Add OpenAI's ChatGPT Feature

5:59 - Google's John Mueller On Using AI & ChatGPT For Title Tag Ideas 

6:31 - Google Search Research Paper Says SEO Practices Tends To Be Very Low Quality

7:57 - Google URL Inspection Tool Referring Page Can Show Nofollow Links But It's Rare Say John Mueller 

9:32 - Google Drops 110 Character Limit From Article Headline Structured Data 

9:58 - Google Search Console Survey - Hint On What May Come?

10:15 - Ongoing Report: Google Search Console Not Tracking All Local Pack Clicks 

10:57 - Study: Reviews With Photos Last Longer In Google Local Results

11:17 - Google Ads Remove Redundant Keywords Recommendation Now Applies Across Match Types

12:03 - Google Search "Popular Next Steps" Option

12:18 - John Mueller Of Google Helping SEOs On New Years 2023

12:40 - Conclusion 

Nicole Waddington is a digital marketing strategist at Cypress North. She started her career as an Intern at Cypress North and then was offered a full-time job at the agency. She spoke about her interest in marketing but found this job through her university and was eager to work for an agency. She got her job during COVID and but Cypress was working in person, so she didn’t have to start a new job while working remotely.

Nicole loves the low barrier of entry in the space, she loves how fast-paced the technology is changing, and of course, how much she loves the industry. She also spoke about how her jumping on Marketing O'Clock put her out of her comfort zone, and we spoke about being out of the comfort zone and how that is important.

She is a huge fan of agency life because compared to working in-house, you are working at a faster speed. Also, at Cypress North, there is a lot of room to try new things. She loves working with new clients and the diversity of the companies she works with, and she finds that exciting.

Staying curious is an important attribute, she said, more so, maybe even being nosey. Nicole said you never know where it will lead you because if you don’t try something, you won’t know.

You can learn more about Nicole Waddingtonon LinkedIn or on Twitter @njwmarketing.

This is the last video of the year, and we have more Google search ranking fluctuations and volatility to talk about. Google said the December 2022 helpful content and link spam updates are delayed in being completed because of the holidays. Christmas weekend was much calmer for the Google search results. Google said using “here” for anchor link text is bad. Google said you should not nofollow links to your social media profile. Google said links on YouTube wouldn’t help you with SEO. Google said having unique text, infographics, and video does not make your content good, accurate, or helpful. Google is fixing a bug with search not caching and serving signed exchanges. Google provided SEO advice around the LastPass security breach. Google is testing a price history chart in search. Google Ads will allow some cannabis ads in some regions. SEOs are not concerned with ChatGPT threatening their jobs. Some marketers are worried about SEO and PPC budgets being cut during the recession. John Mueller of Google was once again supporting SEOs during Christmas. And I posted the top contributors for the Search Engine Roundtable in 2022. Have a happy new year, all! 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.

In part one, we spoke about Jessica Budde's professional history, and in part two, we spoke more about how she had to shift her role and job as her agency grew from a small team to a medium-sized team. Her life was executing Google Ads campaigns, and now she barely does that because she is more of a manager. She feels like she is not doing work because she is managing and not doing tactical, but she is doing work. For her, that was a big challenge, to step away from the tactical and do more delegation because you need to grow the company.

I asked if clients get upset if she is no longer doing the tactical work and someone else is. Jess said no, her clients don't really say that because it is a team effort and always has been. You are speaking directly to those who do the work on your campaign, so it is less of an issue.

Also, does not do the tactical work hurt you as a manager? She said she is nervous about it, but she is always on top of the changes because she does Marketing O’Clock. So that is how she keeps up with the changes.

Her agency has some of her clients on Slack. Slack to us is more immediate in terms of responses, but she said you need to set expectations with clients and not answer everything right away. This way, clients learn what to expect in terms of your response time. Clients should feel like you are their only client, but in reality, they are not.

We then spoke about clients to watch out for, and she provided a list of these red flags. Some of those red flags include when clients just check the box by hiring a PPC agency or clients that are not open to testing and evolving. Also, clients must have goals with not just their ad campaign but also in terms of the business goals of the client.

Jess said one of her clients let her sit in on meetings and employee training, and it was so useful for them to do a better job for the customer.

You can learn more about Jess Budde at Marketing O'Clock.

Google told us that we should not expect another Core update in 2022, so you can relax about that. Google said the helpful content update would take longer to roll out; now, it is well over two weeks since it started. So now both the helpful content update and link spam update are rolling out, and there has been a lot of turbulence with that. We also reported on the early impact of the link spam update. Google can now search the content within a video, which is pretty cool. Google spoke about having too many words on a page and that it does not look at words per section of a page. Google also said using a single robots.txt for all your international domains is fine and that Sitemaps are a hint, not an order. Google said you could ignore spammy links even from penalized sites that are redirected to you. Google stopped using Web Light in the future. Bing will fully switch to the new BingBot user agent next month. Google is testing a new wider desktop search interface. Google is testing an about carousel for websites. Google may have rolled out the new local pack design. Google added top products to the Business Profile performance reports. A study said that upvoting reviews in Google local might help those reviews stay up longer. Google has a new ad policy about promoting content or behavior that risks harm. 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.

0:00 - Introduction

1:09 - Google: No Core Update During Remainder Of The Year

1:53 - December 2022 Google Helpful Content Update Taking Longer, Said Google 

2:30 - Google Helpful Content Update & Link Spam Update Still Making SERP Turbulence

3:36 - Google December 2022 Link Spam Update's Impact

4:17 - Google Search In Video

4:48 - Google Looking At Upper Limit Of Word Count? Probably Not But Get To The Point

5:58 - Google: Our Search Algorithm Doesn't Look At Words Per Section

6:07 - Google: You Can Use A Single Robots.txt For All Your International Sites

6:43 - Google PSA: Sitemaps Are Hints, Not Orders

7:28 - Google: Ignore Spammy Links Even When A Whole Penalized Site Is Redirected To You

7:52 - Google Stops Using Web Light To Serve Lighter/Faster Version Of Your Pages 

8:55 - Bing Will Fully Switch To The New BingBot User Agent In Early January

9:35 - Google Search Testing New Desktop Search User Interface Design

10:15 - Google Tests Sponsored Label On Desktop Search Ads

10:35 - Google Tests About Carousel For Websites

10:55 - Google's New Local Pack Full Design Now Live?

11:26 - Google Top Products Added To Business Profiles Performance Reports 

11:38 - Study: Upvoting Reviews Keeps The Reviews On Google Local Longer

12:07 - New Google Ads Policy Disallows Promoting Content That Risks Harming Users, Googlers Or Google Ads

12:45 - Conclusion 

Jessica Budde was next to be interviewed and she has an amazing personality. She co-hosts the Marketing O'Clock podcast, which I am a fan of. She works and will forever work with Greg Finn at Cypress North and she has a cool work history.

She worked as an on-air personality for a bit and then at CVS for five years, she said she is a CVS lifer (first I heard of that). CVS prepared her for the customer service aspect of digital marketing. She worked at MTV for a bit but then moved back to Buffalo and took a job to be a digital marketing assistant. We spoke a bit about MTV, the offices there and how that job wasn’t for her.

Her husband is in the craft beer industry and she helps out here and there with that business. She loves doing both because it is a different type of work. So check out Brew and Bottled.

You can learn more about Jess Budde at Marketing O'Clock.

This was a busy week, and I honestly thought it would start to slow down, but I was wrong; I am wrong a lot. Google launched another algorithm update, the December 2022 link spam update, which it baked in SpamBrain into the update. Google also released a large update to the Search Quality Raters Guidelines, adding an E to E-A-T for experience. Google released a new visual elements gallery where they document the names of various Google Search features. Google also released a status dashboard to tell us if Google Search has issues or outages with indexing, crawling, or serving. Google is testing featured snippets, not in position zero and also rolling out those perspectives more broadly. Google is shutting down Question Hub, but Content ideas in Search Console might replace it. Google said there is no helpful content score or threshold. Google said write content how you want, it can be diverse, just write for your people. Google said paging that pop in and out of the index is normal but also at the edge of indexing and quality. Google said 500/503 status codes for your robots.txt can ultimately lead to your whole site being removed from Google. Google said disallowing crawling is not the best way to remove your site from Google. Google’s John Mueller said using expired or repurposed domains is SEO flotsam. Google Ads has added four new insights pages. Microsoft Advertising will require verification of financial advertisers in the UK. Google Business Profiles added a way to remove business profiles. A study says that Google Local Guides reviews last longer. Also, Google posted the Chanukah decorations this week, Chanukah is this Sunday - have a good one! 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 - I just love what they are doing with SEO, from the Wix SEO Content Hub to the SERPsUp podcast, let alone all the new SEO features they added to the Wix platform.

Search Topics of Discussion:

0:00 - Introduction 

1:14 - Google Unleashes December 2022 Link Spam Update With SpamBrain AI

3:28 - E-E-A-T - "Experience" Added To Revised Search Quality Raters Guidelines

5:13 - Google Gives Official Names Of Some Search Features With Visual Elements Gallery

5:58 - New Google Search Status Dashboard Tells Us When Crawling, Indexing Or Serving Goes Down

6:55 - Google Tests Featured Snippets Not In Position Zero, Again

7:20 - Google Featured Snippet Perspectives Now Live On Mobile?

7:34 - Google Shutting Down Question Hub Next Month

8:07 - Google Search Console Content Ideas - Experimental Feature

8:43 - Google: There Is No Helpful Content Score Or Threshold

9:02 - Google: Your Content Does Not Need To Be Niche, It Can Be Diverse - Just Write For Your People

9:56 - Google On Pages Popping In & Out Of The Google Index

10:12 - 500/503 HTTP Status Code On Robots.txt Can Remove Your Site From Google Search

10:48 - Google: Disallowing Crawling Is Not A Super Fast Way To Deindex A Site

11:15 - Google's John Mueller: Expired & Repurposed Domains Are SEO-Flotsam

11:38 - Google Ads Insights Page Adds Search Terms, Asset, Audience & Change History Insights

11:58 - UK Financial Services Advertisers Now Needs Verification For Microsoft Advertising

12:07 - Google Business Profile Settings Added "Remove Business Profile"

12:26 - Study: Google Local Guides Reviews Stay At The Top Longer

12:38 - Google Hanukkah Decorations Are Live For 2022

13:00 - Conclusion

Part one and part two with Jeremy Meindl was more on black hat SEO stuff and now in part three, we get into more white hat topics talking about CRM targeting. Then in the last part, we spoke more about his failures over the years.

Jeremy explained a lot of times, every failure is an opportunity in disguise. So if you work with clients, when your clients mess up, or you mess up, you can set them up as new opportunities. He, of course, dropped another black hat SEO tactic around negative SEO, using adult site links; in any event, we moved on from that.

He recommends you keep trying, testing, and failing because you will learn a lot and do better in the long run.

Trying something new is super important and make sure to measure it.

We also spoke about affiliate marketing and how competitive it is.

You can learn more about Jeremy Meindl by Googling him or at Target IQ.