Holistic SEO + Google Business Abuse

Pro Snippet "A couple of this week's articles allude to the increasing breadth of good SEO, and of good SEOs as they advance in their careers. Meanwhile Google apparently isn't abusing its monopoly in every way imaginable (yet?), and Google Business continues to fight a messy battle with spammers." - Tom Capper, Senior Search Scientist, Moz What We're Reading:   How To Secure an SEO Leadership Role [According to an Ex-SEO Turned Headhunter] Leadership requires a skillset and awareness that goes beyond being a good manager or individual contributor. Congdon has some hard earned lessons to get you started. Favoritism: Has Google Dialed Up The Brand Factor Even More? Yes, probably - a slight throwback to last week's accidental theme with this excellent write-up from Kevin Indig on the long-running story of brand & SEO. Pairing SEO Efforts With Other Channels To Create Holistic Marketing Strategies Very relatedly, Dayna Lucio takes a look at positive interactions between SEO and other channels, to get the best out of both. Your Phone Isn't Secretly Listening to You for Ad Targeting Big tech companies engage in a lot of questionable practices, but this probably isn't one of them - it just feels like it, sometimes. Simpler Data Privacy for Advertisers With Confidential Matching It's not mentioned explicitly here, but one piece of jargon you may be hearing more of is "clean room". This is the idea of matching and utilising confidential, first party data without fewer privacy scruples. Do You Lose Rankings If a Backlink Is Removed? Exploring the Concept of Link Echoes It's an old concept, but it checks out. There's lots of plausible explanations for why a temporary link-driven SEO boost might stick around. Joy Hawkins thinks they hold up now as well as ever. Google Scores Rare Legal Win As 1.49bn Euro Fine Scrapped I would never want to be described as scoring a rare legal win, but I suspect Google won't be complaining about this 1.5bn euro dodged bullet. New Policies & Shady Review Schemes: Is Google Helping or Hurting? Google is finally fighting fake reviews, but it may still be a losing battle. This in-depth write-up from Sam Knight explores the details. Google Suspending Many Google Business Profiles ...and their may be some collateral damage. Many businesses, apparently especially in the Garage Door and Dumpster industries of all things, are seeing mass suspensions. 6 Google Business Profile Questions Asked and Answered Six of the most frequently asked and critical questions about Google Business, asked and answered in this highly useful article.       Products  |   Learn  |   Community  |   Blog  |   About . Moz, 720 Robson St, 400  Vancouver, BC V6Z 1A1 Canada You received this email because you are subscribed to The Moz Top 10 newsletter from Moz. Update your email preferences.  Unsubscribe from all future emails.

Core update complete + Brands dominate SEO

Pro Snippet "Google's August Core Update has drawn to a timely conclusion. The long-anticipated, much-awaited recovery for Helpful Content Update victims? Partial at best. Meanwhile, Google's results seem to be an ever tougher place to compete for smaller brands, and a wide variety of people are worrying about various SERP features only making this worse." - Tom Capper, Senior Search Scientist, Moz What We're Reading:   The Helpful Content Update Was Not What You Think Tom Capper digs into the fate of tens of thousands of sites through the Helpful Content Updates, and reveals the surprising reality of what impacted sites have in common - and it isn't (un)helpful content. Interview Of Google's Search Liaison On The August 2024 Core Update Barry Schwarz interviews Google's Danny Sullivan. As usual with Google official statements, there's not a lot of news here. But there is some refreshing contrition regarding the mistakes that have been made in recent updates. An Open Letter to Google from a Small Publisher Meanwhile, hear from one of those victims - a thought provoking exploration of what has happened to small, specialist brands in search, and the difficult tradeoffs Google has to balance. The Sites Dominating Google's Top Stories SERP Feature in 2024 Talking of big-brands dominating search - this is a news-focused piece, analysing the Top Stories feature and what it can tell us about news SEO today. Here's How 7 News Audience Directors Are Thinking About Google's AI Overviews What do the SEOs on the frontlines at major publishers think about Google's AI Overviews? Opinions are varied, but refreshingly measured. How to Relaunch a Website Without Losing Search Visibility Learn how to set yourself up for success when planning and executing a site migration or overhaul. Tina Reis covers common reasons for the loss of search visibility as well as key steps to take to avoid seeing that dreaded drop in traffic. Sins of an Agency: Parting Ways With Our Biggest Client How do you decide whether to fire or keep your biggest client? Discover how one agency used a risk-benefit analysis to make a difficult decision. Do Backlinks Impact Rankings on Google? Joy Hawkins talks through why she considers links as important for local rankings on Google and how she tested her theory. Elizabeth Rule on Scaling Multi-Location Brands with Local SEO (Podcast Episode) In this podcast episode, Claire Carlile is joined by Elizabeth Rule from Sterling Sky, to discuss how to successfully scale your business using local SEO. Yelp Sues Google Over Local Search Dominance Yelp wants to make sure the fallout of Google's recent woes extends to local SEO - and, of course, their own bottom line.         Products  |   Learn  |   Community  |   Blog  |   About . Moz, 720 Robson St, 400  Vancouver, BC V6Z 1A1 Canada You received this email because you are subscribed to The Moz Top 10 newsletter from Moz. Update your email preferences.  Unsubscribe from all future emails.