Google Rolling Out Another Algorithm Update Right Now
In issue 274 of the #SEOForLunch we cover round III of the product review update currently rolling out. In addition 2 updates to GSC are now officially live!
Hi Lunch Buddies!
I hope all of you are doing fantastic and enjoyed your weekend. I spent most of the weekend starting to transition the kid's winter gear for their summer gear. Most notably the kids were excited to get access to their bikes.
While this transition happened I fired up the smoker and cooked up some massive beef plate ribs. If you enjoy BBQ and haven’t yet tried these I HIGHLY recommend it.
On the business end, a post on Content Marketing Institute went live yesterday in which I was quoted. Thank you, Sally (#SEOForLunch reader!!) for reaching out and including me in your most recent publication.
Let’s jump into this week’s #SEOForLunch!
-Nick
The Ultimate Guide to Robots.txt for SEOs
[sponsor]
Robots.txt tells search engines how they can best crawl your website. But if not set up correctly, a robots.txt file can cause major headaches and potentially make big parts of your website inaccessible for search engines.
That’s why ContentKing put together the ultimate guide to help you get your robots.txt right.
Refresh your robots.txt knowledge
Official Search Engine Updates
Article/Tweet
Google Sunsetting The Search Console ‘URL Parameter’ Tool
What's Important:
Google’s Gary Illyes published a new post on the Search Central blog announcing that the URL Parameter tool in Google’s Search Console will be deprecated in 1 month. He further states that the tool was not of a lot of value to Google (anymore) and that site owners do not need to do anything on their end to prepare for this change.
Nick’s Take:
Some of the Google guys’ were mentioning on Twitter a few weeks back that the tool caused more harm than good to webmasters not familiar with how the tool should be used. With Gary’s comment about the tool rarely being leveraged, it only makes sense that this feature will be going away.
Article
Adding Context To Structured Data Issues in Search Console
What's Important:
In addition to Gary’s post (above), Googler’s Moshe Samet and Ryan Levering published a post announcing a minor update to the structured data report within Google’s Search Console platform. This minor update will also be added to the rich results status report, URL inspection tool, and the rich results test.
Nick’s Take:
Don’t be alarmed, this truly is a minor update as it’s a change in the issue name only. As of today when you go into your Search Console account you should be getting additional context to the issues your site has in relation to structured markup.
Podcast
When is “De-SEOing” Your Site The Right Move?
What's Important:
Gary, Lizzy, and Martin from the Google Search Relations team discuss the concept of “De-SEOing” your website. Sometimes traffic simply isn’t relevant and even worse at times pages with sensitive information can be found via Google Search. This podcast goes into further detail if you find yourself in this situation.
Nick’s Take:
Many years ago I created a step-by-step tutorial on how to add fonts to paint.net editor. I thought if I ranked for it I could slap some Adsense on it and make a few dollars. I was successful in ranking and the traffic started flowing in… but it made very little money… basically nothing. At this point, since the traffic was wasting significant bandwidth I actually de-optimized the content and eventually 404ed the page. Takeaway? Not all traffic is valuable.
Article
Google Announces Another “Product Reviews” Update on 3/23
What's Important:
Google’s Perry Liu and Alan Kent accounced last week that a third “product review” algorithm is being released. The algorithm update is expected to take a few weeks to fully roll out and is targeting english language-specific websites.
Nick’s Take:
If your website heavily relies on “best” product-related queries to drive traffic and revenue you’ll want to watch out analytics closely. Google continues to fight people who write review content without ever possessing the actual product. I suspect we’ll see some impact reports shortly after the roll-out is confirmed “complete”.
The 2-Day MnSearch Summit Is Back In-Person!
[sponsor]
MnSearch Summit 2022 takes place over two days on June 9-10th with Day #1 dedicated to workshops and Day #2 for niche presentation tracks in SEO, paid, and cross-channel marketing.
Join us in-person at the St. Paul RiverCentre for hands-on training and deep dives. Not local? No problem! MnSearch Summit will also be held virtually for folks who can’t attend in-person.
Pro-tip: Bundle your purchase and become a Local Member to save $$ on events year-round. Get your ticket(s) today!
Top SEO Resources From Last Week
The Optimal Title Tag Lengths for SEO (Based on Science)
Cyrus Shepard, Zyppy.com
Raise your hand if you’ve told someone to keep their titles between “50-65 characters”. Raise your other hand if your thought you were smarter than your average SEO by specifying that title length is actually tied to ~600-pixel width vs characters. It’s time to go beyond “length” and better understanding when and why various elements within a title help rankings + click through rates.
Our Search Liaison on 25 Years of Keeping Up With Search
Jennerifer Kutz, blog.google
Jennifer wrote a post about Google Search Liaison, Danny Sullivan. Most in the industry foundly remember Danny for his time founding/running various search sites, most notably Search Engine Land. This is a quick and informative read.
Google’s Web Stories Now Prominently Featured on Mobile in the US
Brodie Clark, SearchEngineLand.com
Brodie shares that Google is displaying more and more “visual stories” within its mobile search results in the US. He recently saw a significant uptick in impressions via GSC and he now shares what it takes to trigger these visual stories and how you can utilize it within your larger search campaigns.
How to Get Backlinks: 15 Proven Tactics
Joshua Hardwick, Ahrefs.com
I know you all love link building posts. I can’t lie, I do too. Joshua put together 15 tactics that are commonly used to acquire links. Check out the list and let me know (you can hit REPLY to this email) if you think he’s missing any tactics.
Enterprise SEO: Lessons from 20 years in the trenches
Trond Lyngbo, searchengineland.com
Executing SEO at the enterprise level is my favorite. It without a doubt comes with some of the largest challenges but when it is executed flawlessly the rewards are astronomical. While the entire article is worth a read the section on the cost of missed opportunity is what made this post a contender for this week’s newsletter.
You Made It To The Bottom. You’re AWESOME!
Thank you for reading this week's issue of the #SEOForLunch. If you know anyone who may also enjoy this newsletter please consider sending them to the signup page. https://nickleroy.com/newsletter
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.