SEO From The Front Lines

Learn why it’s important to fully understand all of the subdomains for your site. I have come across this situation a number of times over the years and I’ve seen some ugly situations. There are times companies don’t realize there are subdomains running either with legacy content, hacked content, spammy content, or even subdomains with malware or other security issues. And those issues can impact the site SEO-wise and ad-wise. I cover how sites can be suspended in Google Ads based on malware running on those rogue subdomains.

I cover several ways to find subdomains running that have search visibility, including GSC crawl stats, Bing Webmaster Tools Site explorer, third-party visibility tools like Semrush, ahrefs, and Sistrix, and I also cover some creative site queries.

So don’t get blindsided by your subdomains. Run some quick checks and surface them. You never know what you’re going to find.

Read my blog post:

https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/find-subdomains-with-search-visibility/

00:00 How to find subdomains for your site.

00:36 Why it’s important to find your subdomains.

01:28 Quality at the hostname level.

02:46 Security problems causing AD problems.

03:32 GSC Crawl Stats reporting.

04:58 Bing Webmaster Tools Site Explorer

05:45 Third-party visibility tools like Semrush, ahrefs, and Sistrix.

07:00 Creative site queries.

08:05 Bonus: Hosting providers can help.

Episode 18 of 'SEO From The Front Lines", I cover my blog post regarding site-level impact on rankings versus page-level. It's an incredibly important topic that site owners and SEOs need to understand. Based on Pandu Nayak’s comments at a recent creator summit where he said Google only using page-level ranking signals, and NOT site-wide signals, I decided to use the ‘Gabeback Machine’ to prove that statement wrong. Over the years, I have documented many, many examples of Googlers explaining that there are site-wide signals that can have a big impact on rankings across a site. The examples include tweets, videos, patents, and even Google’s own documentation about major algorithm updates. That includes videos, tweets, patents, and even Google's own documentation explaining more about site-wide signals. My blog post also contains information about major algorithm updates like Panda, Penguin, the helpful content update (HCU), and Pirate which all had a site-level classifier (or employed site-wide impact). Then I cover many statements from Google about broad core updates, site-level evaluation, impact to Google surfaces like Discover and News, and more. So join me as I use the ‘Gabeback Machine’ to document Google’s site-level impact to rankings. Yes, it’s real.

Chapters:

00:00 Pandu Nayak's comments about page-level versus site-level ranking signals.

01:42 An introduction to the 'Gabeback Machine'.

02:30 Google's history of crafting major algorithm updates outside of broad core updates.

04:09 Exhibit 1: HCU

05:13 Exhibit 2: Penguin

05:45 Exhibit 3: Medieval Panda

06:45 Exhibit 4: Pirate

07:40 Site-level is at the hostname level (subdomain)

08:28 Exhibit X: Links, Tweets, Videos, and Patents

08:56 Quality is a site-level signal.

09:31 Paul Haahr about site-wide signals.

11:21 FAQ from the March 2024 core update about site-wide signals.

12:10 Lower-quality content can pull down the higher-quality content.

13:30 Rich snippets impacted by overall quality. 13:52 Panda scores impacting rich snippets.

14:14 Google researchers about authority and trust.

15:05 Discover impacted by site-level quality signals.

15:40 Pages can rank higher from the start on sites that Googler trusts.

16:06 Revisiting Pandu's comments about page-level versus site-level signals.

My blog post covering Google's site-wide signals: https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/google-site-level-impact-gabeback-machine/

Follow me on Twitter: https://x.com/glenngabe

Connect with me on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/

In episode 17, I cover some huge visibility drops for sites that are violating Google's 'Site reputation abuse' spam policy. For example, some prominent sites are dropping over time including some of the largest publishers on the web. Over time, Google seems to have algorithmically hit large publishers with affiliate sections of their sites, including Forbes, Fortune, CNN Underscored, WSJ Buyside, Marketwatch Guides, and more. It makes you wonder if Google is testing its 'Site reputation abuse' algorithm update, or if other changes are impacting those sections strongly...

00:00 A Nightmare on Affiliate Street - Site Reputation Abuse and Large Publishers Dropping

01:32 Forbes Advisor drops.

03:05 APNews Buyline and Times Stamped dropped as well.

04:30 Fortune Recommends drops on October 11th.

06:15 More sites drop including Marketwatch Guides, WSJ Buyside, and CNN Underscored

07:40 Revisiting manual actions from May 2024 for 'Site reputation abuse"

08:35 Wrapping up, moving forward, and stay tuned for updates about this.

Here's the blog post with all the details: https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/a-nightmare-on-affiliate-street/

Follow me on X: https://x.com/glenngabe

Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/

I cover two case studies underscoring the importance of catching sneaky mobile SEO problems in Google's mobile-first indexing world. The first case study involves canonical tags that weren't being published on mobile versions of the pages across a site with 100K+ urls. The second case involves thin content becoming even *thinner* since less content was being published on mobile versions of the pages. That was on a stie with 40M urls. I also covers several tools and tips for surfacing those problems. I also cover tools and tips for surfacing mobile SEO problems, including the URL inspection tool in GSC, crawling tools like Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, and Lumar, Chrome extensions, and then even site queries using quoted text. With Google switching to mobile-first indexing, it's using Googlebot-Smartphone for indexing purposes. That's why it's important to make sure all of your content, structured data, directives, canonicals, and more are located on the mobile versions of your pages. If not, Google will not pick that up.

00:00 The importance of catching tricky mobile SEO problems.

00:40 Google's switch to mobile-first indexing.

01:38 Case Study 1: Playing hide and seek with canonicals.

03:10 Case Study 2: Thin pages becoming *thinner* on mobile.

05:35 Tools and tips for checking for mobile-first indexing problems.

9:37 Summary: Make sure you don't miss the mobile view.

Blog post: https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/mobile-first-indexing-seo-problems-case-study/

Follow me on X: https://x.com/glenngabe

Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/

In this episode of “SEO From The Front Lines”, I cover the ranking swings and volatility in Google Search post-August core update. There has been a lot of chatter about ranking changes AFTER the Google August 2024 core update rolled out. After digging in, I noticed a ton of volatility across several dates post-core update. And beyond that, I noticed that a number of sites heavily

In Episode 14 of ‘SEO From The Front Lines”, I cover how some publishers are hijacking the browser back button and providing a feed of articles that drives users to more publisher content, including sponsored content and ads. That’s versus allowing them to return to the sites they visited from… Disabling, or hijacking the back button, is a tricky and deceptive tactic, since users might not know they actually stayed on the same site. And that’s especially the case when visitors arrive on the site from Google Discover since the publisher feed looks very similar to the Discover feed.

I also cover some reasons that some publishers are choosing to hijack the back button. For example, driving users to a publisher’s feed after hitting the back button can yield more pageviews, more ad impressions, and more ad revenue. But there’s another possible benefit of doing this… It can lead to more engagement for users that remain on the site, even if that’s not what the user intended to do. And with Google’s Navboost system at play, which tracks 13 months of user interaction signals (and can impact rankings), publishers could be gaming Navboost. And that led me to Google’s spam policies, if Google should issue manual actions for hijacking the back button, or if they should just tackle it algorithmically. I also cover how hijacking the back button was often the tip of the iceberg from an aggressive and deceptive advertising situation (and how some sites employing that tactic have seen big drops during major algorithm updates, including broad core updates).

And I end the video with some advice for publishers that

00:00 Hijacking the browser back button and its impact on SEO.

01:32 Reasons publishers are hijacking the back button.

02:59 What the feed of content and ads looks like when the back button is hijacked.

03:57 Google’s stance on publishers hijacking or disabling the back button.

05:42 An introduction to Navboost and Google tracking 13 months of user interaction signals.

07:53 Google’s spam policies.

09:40 A Navboost twist and negative user interactions signals.

11:21 Aggressive advertising and broad core update impact for sites hijacking the back button.

12:47 My case study about The SEO Engagement Trap.

14:11 Publishers have serious decisions to make about ‘back button hijacking’.

14:36 Running a user study to understand user frustration from hijacking.

16:02 Quick recap and read my latest blog post covering hijacking the back button.

https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/user-frustration-behavior-flow-google-analytics/

Connect with me on LinkedIn:

Google’s August 2024 broad core update finally completed on September 3, 2024 after a 19-day rollout. It was a huge update that impacted many sites across the web. In the final episode of core update notes, I cover HCU(X) sites recovering, the big tremor from 8/24 into 8/25, forums seeing volatility, an update on a site pumping out a ton of AI content, and then how site owners can move forward after the update. That includes understanding the difference between relevancy adjustments, intent shifts, and quality, running delta reports to understand the top queries and landing pages that dropped based on the core update, and then how to take a “kitchen sink” approach to remediation.

00:00 Final "Core Update Notes" for the August 2024 broad core update.

00:40 The August core update completed in 19 days.

01:24 More about September helpful content update sites surging.

03:48 And some September helpful content update sites dropping even more.

05:42 Continued movement for sites seeing impact post-update.

06:21 The August 24th Tremor was big for some sites.

08:13 Was the tremor commerce-focused?

09:12 Another reminder that links will not save you from broad core updates.

10:12 Huge drop: An update on a site pumping out tons of AI content.

11:03 Forums volatility: A correction?

12:17 Reddit still surging, Quora flat.

13:13 Understanding the difference between relevancy adjustments, intent shifts, and quality problems.

14:33 If "Quality" is the issue, then focus on the Usual Suspects.

15:40 "Quality" is more than just content.

16:49 Run a Delta Report (or several).

17:55 Use the "Kitchen Sink" approach to remediation.

19:09 When will the next core update roll out and wrapping up.

Blog posts I reference in the video:

Google’s Broad Core Updates And The Difference Between

https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/google-broad-core-updates-difference-between-relevancy-adjustments-intent-shifts-overall-site-quality/

Google’s Core Algorithm Updates and The Power of User

https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/google-core-ranking-updates-user-studies/

Smart Delta Reports – How To Automate Exporting, Filtering,

https://www.gsqi.com/marketing-blog/how-to-automate-delta-report-gsc-api-analytics-edge/

Follow me on X: https://x.com/glenngabe

This is Part 3 of "Core Update Notes" for the August broad core update. I cover an update on September Helpful Content Updates sites (HCUX), tremors I'm seeing during the update, sites violating Google's Site Reputation Abuse spam policy, how YMYL sites can surge even with a fraction of the links of competitors, how Google will eventually catch up with sites heavily publishing AI-generated content without human involvement, how LinkedIn pulse and advice are dropping with the August core update, and more.

00:00 "Core Update" notes for August 30th

00:51 An update on sites impacted by the September helpful content update (HCUX)

02:38 Algorithm update "Tremors" - or changes pushed by Google during the core update

05:00 Site reputation abuse - big drops and some surges

07:07 YMYL site impact - not always about the links...

08:26 Links will not (always) save you from a broad core update.

09:28 Pushing the Limits? Google will eventually catch up.

10:42 Recovery from the June 2024 spam update?

11:37 PSA: Domain name changes and migrations DURING broad core updates.

12:36 LinkedIn Pulse and Advice directories dropping.

14:14 Things to Know SERP feature impact.

16:18 Summary of "Core Update Notes" for August 30th 2024

And make sure to check out the other episodes covering "Core Update Notes" from the August core update:

Core Update Notes from August 19, 2024

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4TK7m2NAhw5Kth25f1f0tb

Core Update Notes From August 23, 2024

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3U5ugx08nT6IuFnPPn0jxR

Follow me on X: https://x.com/glenngabe

Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenngabe/

Part 2 of "Core Update Notes" for the August Google broad core update. I cover the latest with helpful content update sites surging back from the dead, reviews sites also rising from the ashes, Google confirming that AI overview rankings can be impacted by broad core updates, how SERP features could be impacted during core updates, and the connection between the May 3rd and May 10th unconfirmed updates and the August core update.

02:18 An example of a full recovery from the HCU(X)?

04:00 The Aug core update connection with the May 3rd and May 10th unconfirmed updates.

05:40 Gif and Meme sites: SERP features impacted versus 10-blue links.

07:20 Confirmed: Core updates can impact AI overview rankings.

08:50 Reviews sites rise from the ashes. Not just HCU(X) sites.

Episode 10 of 'SEO From The Front Lines" covers what I'm seeing so far with the August 2024 core update. Includes sites heavily impacted by the September Helpful Content Update surging back, if Google is handling site reputation abuse algorithmically, the ranking bug that happened while the core update started rolling out, impact to YMYL sites, and more.

00:49 Some September Helpful Content Update (HCUX) Sites Finally Surge

02:25 Screenshots of HCU(X) sites surging back.

05:04 It's relative. Big surges, but many HCU(X) sites were down big-time.

05:55 Is Google handling Site Reputation Abuse algorithmically with the core update?

07:48 Google confirms a ranking bug that's not related to the core update.

09:22 Site pumping out tons of AI-generated content finally drops.

10:50 Some YMYL sites are seeing a lot of movement.

12:12 Recap and stay tuned for more "Core Update Notes".