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In this episode, we discuss Passage Based Ranking now live, John on manual actions, changes to Image Search, how to earn PAA boxes, some ecommerce tips, and a compilation of great readings!

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The following topics are covered in the premium version of this episode:

• Passage Based Ranking is Live! Here is what we know so far
• John Mueller shares specific advice about how manual actions vs algorithms work
• Google improves Image Search
• John Mueller discusses best practice for images
• How to earn People Also Ask and Related Questions in the SERPs
• What to do if you plan to temporarily close your website
• Is it acceptable to apply locales in a page’s hreflang?
• Ranking factors beyond your control
• Can GDPR scripts cause issues for your Core Web Vitals?
• Google’s Core Web Vitals can measure this type of pages
• Could this be a preview of the long-awaited Core Web Vitals badge?
• Google’s next Chrome update will have a big effect
• Google appears to be testing ‘find results on [other search platforms]’
• Bing has recently launched Speller100, their collection of large-scale multilingual spelling correction models
• How much do local rankings fluctuate? Here are three important considerations
• Updates and additions to GMB categories
• Our tl;dr summary of some awesome recent SEO articles

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Passage Based Ranking is live!

Google officially launched Passage Based Ranking on February 10, 2021 in the US. 

Update: passage ranking launched yesterday afternoon Pacific Time for queries in the US in English. It will come for more countries in English in the near future, then to other countries and languages after that. We'll update this thread as those further launches happen.

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) February 11, 2021

In the next section, our premium readers can learn everything we know (and suspect) so far about this significant change to Google’s algorithms. Marie also shares some analytics screenshots of sites affected by this change, and also some that were hit by an unannounced update on February 6 that is apparently not connected to PBR.

Google added a new AMP error to the Google Search Console AMP Enhancements report

As a heads up, Barry Schwartz from Search Engine Roundtable noticed that on January 19th, 2021, Google added a new AMP error in the AMP Enhancements report. The error type is “disallowed !important CSS qualifier”, and as a result, you may see an increase in your site’s AMP errors after this date. It’s important to note that if there was an increase, it is probably not because your site had a bunch of new errors, but more likely just due to Google starting to report on a new type of error.

Feedback requested on Search Console’s data exporting capabilities 

Are you loving or hating the 1000 row exporting availability? Google has opened up a form to submit feedback so this is your chance to have your voice heard!

If you missed it last week… we'd like to hear your feedback on Search Console's data exporting capabilities. Are you satisfied? How do you use it? What can we improve? It's a quick survey! https://t.co/4WjfK8iHlo pic.twitter.com/GYKGtTwnuy

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) February 16, 2021

Useful tip for maximizing content mileage

If you have great content out there, don’t forget about it! A great reminder here that you can use your various platforms to recycle your content and give it a fresh spin.

Friendly reminder to repackage your blog posts, podcasts, and YouTube videos so you're getting maximum mileage out of those content investments 😉

— Kaleigh Moore (@kaleighf) February 10, 2021

TikTok opens up a new avenue for recipes

If you run a recipe site, this tip is for you! We have all heard of the TikTok app and how it has changed the game for video content. If you’re not already leveraging the app for recipes, you should as they are now adding an integration that shows the full recipe on your site. It’s an easy way to drive traffic to your site, and create content that could go viral. 

Run a recipe site? A new avenue might be opening up for you, beyond Google -> TikTok Adds New Recipe Integration, Pointing to the Next Stage for the App https://t.co/EQguX5WSmo pic.twitter.com/re7IyJyOQa

— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) February 12, 2021

Google adds messaging to desktop interface in GMB 

Handy feature coming soon! The ability to message customers on mobile in GMB was already present, but now it is coming to desktop! Just head to the messaging tab and you can chat with your customers directly. 

Google My Business adds messaging to desktop interface by @rustybrick https://t.co/v6CGTQ8PFh

— Search Engine Land (@sengineland) February 11, 2021

Screaming Frog’s SEO spider has been updated

Version 14.2 of the Screaming Frog SEO spider was released earlier this week and it comes equipped with two new features which’ll prove fairly handy for site owners!

Just released a small update to v.14.2 of the @screamingfrog SEO Spider. Includes two new features –

1) Core Web Vitals Assessment – With Pass or fail, using field data.

2) Broken Bookmarks – Verify bookmarks, aka jump links / anchor links are working.https://t.co/Vrlo6iOGvV pic.twitter.com/7F00snhWNb

— Screaming Frog (@screamingfrog) February 16, 2021

Importance of Topical Authority: A Semantic SEO Case Study – Koray Tuğberk GÜBÜR
https://www.oncrawl.com/technical-seo/importance-topical-authority-semantic-seo/
February 11, 2021

Whether you agree with the thought process line by line or not, there is an incredible amount of food for thought in this article on semantic SEO. We particularly like the emphasis on intelligent heading use and how it can be an important element of communicating context while connecting an overall topic with its relevant subtopics. 

Fast & Featured: How Entities Can Help You Conquer Snippets in Less Than 4 Minutes – Larissa Lacerda
https://moz.com/blog/fast-featured-snippets-using-entities
February 3, 2021

This article from Larissa Lacerda is all about her “Fast & Featured” method on optimizing your content to win featured snippets. By using a method with straightforward and reproducible steps, it should make it easier to know what works and what doesn’t when you are optimizing your content for a featured snippet. 

User-Generated Content and Machine Learning at Google – Bill Slawski
https://gofishdigital.com/user-generated-content/
February 9, 2021

Google is utilizing machine learning more and more for a variety of their services. In this article Bill Slawski details a new patent from Google that gives some insights as to how Google could be utilizing ML for identifying user generated content. Well worth a read!

Updating Content for SEO: How to Teach Your Old Blog New Tricks (plus, 3 examples with ranking data) – Andy Crestodina
https://www.orbitmedia.com/blog/update-old-blog-posts/
August 31, 2016

One of the opening lines in this article sums it up nicely — “Maybe it’s time to revisit that old blog post, update it and promote it again.” If there’s any indication that Andy’s tactics can work, take a look at the publishing date above…the post caught our attention on Twitter and is the very reason it’s featured in this newsletter! 

Taking an ecommerce site from 0 to 6-figures in 5 months – interview with Ash Young of carmats.co.uk – Dan Barker
https://ecommerceguide.com/guides/ash-young-car-mats/
October 4, 2020

If you have an e-commerce site and you are looking for ways to improve revenue/traffic, check out the interview E-commerce Guide recently did with Ash Young where he talked about the many ways site companies can optimize their website to increase revenue. 

If you want more information about Ash’s company and how his “challenge” is going, we recommend checking out this interview!

Quest for more coverage: Making a case for larger exports from Google Search Console’s Coverage reporting – Glenn Gabe
https://searchengineland.com/quest-for-more-coverage-making-a-case-for-larger-exports-from-google-search-consoles-coverage-reporting-345937
February 9, 2021

There shouldn’t be a single SEO (or webmaster of a site of a significant size) who isn’t on board with this quest by Glenn Gabe! We encourage everyone who has run up against these limitations to fill out Glenn’s survey on the GSC Coverage report here.

E-A-T LOCAL for SEO – Andrew Shotland
https://www.localseoguide.com/e-a-t-local-for-seo/
February 9, 2021

After reading and summarizing every page of the QRG, which prompted a Gofundme page in support of this lengthy task, Andrew Shotland suggests that E-A-T is relevant to all types of sites instead of those that only fall within the YMYL category. The article goes into much deeper detail about local E-A-T signals and provides a unique theory on the connection between E-A-T and local SEO. Worth a read!

Hey #marketingtwitter:
Anybody know anybody for 3 meaty marketing roles at @SupersideHQ?
⭐️ Social media and community manager
⭐️ Content marketing manager
⭐️ Growth Marketing Manager, ideally with some ABM chops

We’re full remote with lots of perks and a great culture!

— Amrita ⚡️ (@AmritaMathur) February 9, 2021

Exciting news👾 My unicorn @DeepCrawl team is growing and we've got a pair of positions open for jr tech SEOs!
US >> https://t.co/LGzdgvVlfh
UK >> https://t.co/mB1a1AouPI pic.twitter.com/n8XpwiLNMb

— Jamie Indigo 👾 100% Human Technical SEO (@Jammer_Volts) February 16, 2021

Who in my network is looking for a new SEO role? DM me! I have a handful of hiring managers I could/will connect you to

— Eli Schwartz (@5le) February 10, 2021

Premium members also get the following:

It’s well worth the $18 per month!

The following topics are covered in the premium version of this episode:

• Passage Based Ranking is Live! Here is what we know so far
• John Mueller shares specific advice about how manual actions vs algorithms work
• Google improves Image Search
• John Mueller discusses best practice for images
• How to earn People Also Ask and Related Questions in the SERPs
• What to do if you plan to temporarily close your website
• Is it acceptable to apply locales in a page’s hreflang?
• Ranking factors beyond your control
• Can GDPR scripts cause issues for your Core Web Vitals?
• Google’s Core Web Vitals can measure this type of pages
• Could this be a preview of the long-awaited Core Web Vitals badge?
• Google’s next Chrome update will have a big effect
• Google appears to be testing ‘find results on [other search platforms]’
• Bing has recently launched Speller100, their collection of large-scale multilingual spelling correction models
• How much do local rankings fluctuate? Here are three important considerations
• Updates and additions to GMB categories
• Our tl;dr summary of some awesome recent SEO articles

⎋ SUBSCRIBE NOW

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Part of the challenge of SEO is staying on top of industry news, trends, and techniques There is so much information out there that it is easy to get bogged down in information overload and trying to disseminate what’s truly important from all that noise can be really time-consuming and challenging.

Marie’s newsletter is a game changer because it manages to cut through the fluff and deliver high-quality information that is not only really important for those that do SEO, but it is presented in a format that is really easy to absorb.

If you are looking for a trusted information related to search that is highly actionable I would strongly recommend Marie’s newsletter.

– Paul Macnamara – Offers SEO Consulting at PaulMacnamara.com