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Google recently held an event in which they invited a small group of website owners who had been impacted strongly by the helpful content system. I’ll recap some of the great blog posts and tweet threads written about this. Then, I’d like to think upon what we can learn from what Google representatives said. The […]

Did Google start to prioritize expertise over authority in September 2024? In this article, we'll look at sections of Forbes and CNN that saw traffic dips. In Glenn Gabe’s most recent article, he wrote about sites that were possible targets for abusing Google’s site reputation abuse policy were seeing declines. Google responded saying that this […]

Google's most recent earnings call was quite optimistic. Here are the bits I found most interesting. AI Overviews In 18 months they have reduced the costs for AIO's by 90%. Google is seeing strong engagement with AIO's. They are increasing overall search usage and satisfaction. People who use them come back to search more often. […]

Google has updated their documentation on their spam policies. This latest update to the spam guidelines has several changes I thought were interesting enough to write about. 1. Manipulation of search = spam Google added this to the beginning of their document:   It's no surprise that content designed to deceive users is spam, but this […]

Twiddlers are C++ code objects used in Google’s ranking algorithms that help Google re-order search results. They are used in a Google system called Superroot which is Google’s ranking framework. I came across this 2017 Google document on Twiddlers upon reading Mario Fischer’s excellent breakdown of what we can learn about how ranking works based […]

Who is @iruletheworldmo? This mysterious account on X has been all I can think about for days now. I was duped. He used me to push his agenda.  And I am thankful for this. It was all for good reason. Very good reason. We truly are not prepared for what is coming. (Added Aug 17. […]

The August core update is here! Google’s documentation on core updates has changed significantly. Let’s take a look at what has changed.  Here’s the archived version of the previous document. The purpose of this update is to show more content that people genuinely find useful Google’s announcement of the core update says that they are […]

I'm thrilled to announce I'm opening up spots for new client consulting. Let me share with you how I have completely reshaped my SEO strategy after spending the last two years learning as much as I can about the AI systems that determine today's search rankings. When the helpful content system launched in 2022, I […]

Why is this page ranking poorly behind one with less helpful / accurate information? We’ve been digging into the treasure trove of information given to us in the DOJ vs Google trial exhibits and testimonies to understand more about how Search works. (The afternoon of day 24 is the Pandu Nayak testimony that I can’t […]

Navboost, an essential part of Google’s ranking algorithm, analyzes user interactions—such as clicks, hovers, scrolls, and swipes—to refine and prioritize search results. SEOs must understand how Navboost affects ranking, as it tracks critical user signals to decide which pages are most relevant and helpful. Whether users linger on a page, return to search, or quickly […]