Google Warns Us To Avoid This One Core Web Vital Tactic...
In the #264 issue of the #SEOForLunch we cover the topic of developers trusting SEOs, site experience (desktop devices) and warning from Google about core web vitals.
Hi Lunch Buddies!
I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend and if you were fortunate to get MLK off, your three day weekend.
My wife’s birthday (same as Betty White R.I.P) was yesterday. I ended up only working a few hours in the morning and took the rest of the day off to go ice skating as a family. As I’m sure most of you can relate, taking time off also means making it up.
I spent most of my time Sunday afternoon cranking on a technical audit while listening to the NFL playoff games in the background. Picture below from Friday morning but replace the coffee with a beer — hey it was the weekend. :-)
Let’s jump into today’s newsletter!
-Nick
Did You Notice That Change On Your Site?
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Official Search Engine Updates
Article
Do NOT Block Slow Countries To Improve CWV Scores
What's Important:
John Mueller of Google responded to a Reddit thread asking about blocking countries with slow internet speeds in an attempt to improve CWV scores. His response is a pretty clear NO.. but for more than just one reason.
Nick's Take:
Many SEOs have theorized that if Google’s algorithm “penalizes” you for a low CWV score and that these scores are being reduced due to traffic coming from counties with slow internet speeds. Hence the correlation of blocking traffic = better SEO. It sounds like this isn’t the case… and unless the the traffic is absolutely worthless to you, why would you want to cut a source of your websites traffic? I’m with John on this one.
Video
Does Poor Documentation Lead To Developers Distrusting SEOs?
What's Important:
Google’s Martin Splitt and Mike King, owner of SEO agency IPullRank discuss documentation and how it can cause choas between devs and SEOs. Martin and Mike discuss properly documenting recommendations and establishing priorities in a way that easily communicates timeliness and impact on a business.
Nick's Take:
I love this video. Honestly, the first few minutes give an extreme example (canonical tags) that can cause fire alarms. However, 9/10 times these fire alarms should never have been sounded. As Mike says, most of the time its a lack of education on the SEOs part AND/OR improper/incomplete communication and documentation provided by the SEO.
This is a great video for all SEOs to watch regardless if your freelance/in-house or agency side.
Tweet
Google Search Console Now Reports on Desktop Page Experience
What's Important:
The Google Search Central Twitter account announced last week that Google’s Search Console is now including data points within the Page Experience report in regards to desktop devices.
Nick's Take:
This report is a go-to resources for many (including myself) to understand Google’s stance on your sites page experience score. Knowing that Google aims to launch desktop page experience next month, it only makes sense to also include desktop scores. You can see it in action for a small project site of mine — #SEOfail.
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Top SEO Resources From Last Week
Google Autocomplete: A Complete SEO Guide
Sam Hollingsworth, SearchEngineJournal.com
Autocomplete, an SEOs worst kept secret. The idea is that when you type in Google’s search bar it pops up a list of relevant searches. In theory, these variations of your search wouldn’t be served up if it didn’t have some sort of volume, right? Sam writes up a great guide on what auto complete is, how it works and several ways you can utilize it for your digital campaigns.
How To Inject Search Volume and CPC to Google Search Console (GSC)
John Murch, IPullRank.com
Everyone loves Google Search Console, right? What if you could get search volume and cost-per-click metrics in the same report? Yeah, I would love that too. John shows us how this dream can also be a reality. Great work, John.
How to Automate Competitors’ & Benchmark Analysis With Python
Daniel Heredia, Oxylabs.io
Competitor research is so critical to establishing a good SEO campaign and benchmarking success metrics. While its a valuable excercise, it often taken much more time than anyone is willing to admit. Daniel has a creative solution that he walks us through step by step.
What Is Googlebot & How Does It Work?
Patrick Stox, Ahrefs.com
This is more of an entry level SEO article but it was written very well. If you are new to SEO or want to brush up on your Googlebot knowledge, then this is a great quick read.
Picking Apart the December 21’ Product Review Update
Mordy Oberstein, semrush.com
Back in December, Google rolled out a product review update. This update targeted comparison/review websites. Mordy walks us through several sites that were impacted by the update and qualities of the pages that likely played a role. If you saw a positive/negative drop in organic traffic in December, this is a good article to read to determine if this update should be considered a key factor.
You Made It To The Bottom. You’re AWESOME!
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Learn About The Guy Behind The #SEOForLunch
Nick LeRoy is a professional SEO Consultant specializing in technical SEO, content strategy, and website migrations.
Nick is also the author of two SEO-focused newsletters: #SEOForLunch and The SEO Freelancer.
You can connect with Nick online through Twitter and LinkedIn.