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In this episode, we discuss Google releasing another update, mastering your online reputation, the importance of reviews, what we’ve seen with the November core update, getting pages indexed, insight from Marie, and more.

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Have a question that you want to ask Marie? You can ask them on our Q&A with Marie Haynes Consulting page and Marie will answer some of the best questions each week in podcast! While podcast is on break, feel free to tweet us any questions you may have.

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

• Full algorithm analysis
• Mastering your online reputation
• Ask Googlebot: Can you hide your website from search?
• Google acknowledges this for reviews
• Have you leveled up your digital PR?
• How much does speed impact your visibility?
• Check the history of your domain name before you purchase it and/or redirect it
• Tip on getting pages indexed
• What percentage of sites get indexed?
• Clarity on suppression and penalties from Marie
• Bing has launched Page Insights
• Handy Chrome extension
• Organize your topic clusters with ease
• Our tl;dr summary of some awesome recent SEO articles

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As of Wednesday this week, the November core update has finished rolling out. Google also announced another update: the December 2021 product reviews update. We’ll discuss both in more detail for our premium subscribers. 

The November 2021 Core Update rollout is now complete.

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) November 30, 2021

Our December 2021 product reviews update is now rolling out for English-language pages. It will take about three weeks to complete. We have also extended our advice for product review creators: https://t.co/N4rjJWoaqE

— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) December 1, 2021

This week’s to watch

You may recognize this handle from past newsletters, and that’s because his tips are just that good. We highly recommend giving Lyndon (@darth_na) a follow for keeping up to date with trending SEO topics, not being afraid to give his honest opinion and providing a ton of value in his tweets.

Google News-related bug

Who doesn’t love a Google bug? This bug is impacting your results when you use quotes in a news tab and search by date. It is not pulling news-related content, but any content from across the web. While this might seem to be a pain, Google has hinted that a fix will likely be made by December 1st, but recommends giving it a few days to be sure. 

We've identified a bug where searching with quotes while using the news tab and sorting by date would return content from across the web, not just news-related content. We're releasing a fix for this tomorrow, so it should be resolved by Dec. 1 or a few days after.

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) November 29, 2021

Don’t make this common blog mistake

Helpful tip from Ross Hudgens on Twitter. When writing your title tags, Ross suggests that a commonly seen mistake is the addition of words after the brand name. When writing your title tags, keep in mind that your brand name should be at the end of your title tag and no other keywords should follow. He also notes that the shorter the titles, the better the performance (on average). Like anything, test this for yourself to see whether or not this works for your site. But, it’s probably not a bad thing to front load your page titles.

One of the most common blog-related SEO mistakes I see is adding extra words after the brand name in the title tag.

In our tests, shorter titles perform better on average.

Every word you use after your brand can dilute the meaning to Google and contribute to worse performance. pic.twitter.com/61Wbw36TcT

— Ross Hudgens (@RossHudgens) November 22, 2021

Heads up, Lily is indicating that Google may be handling canonicals differently in Discover

The big difference is: it's hard for the original publisher to know if this is taking place in Discover

Unlike in Search, where you can see the scraper/syndicating site ranking, the original publisher may have no idea how much potential Discover traffic they are losing out on

— Lily Ray 😏 (@lilyraynyc) November 29, 2021

John Mueller responded that both search and Discover should use the same canonical directive. Lily notes that she has seen this happen to a few of her clients and may be a larger trend. As we find out more information we will keep you up to date.

Google no longer has any deadline associated with moving all sites to mobile-first indexing

Attention all sites who have yet to switch to mobile-first indexing! If you’ve been stressed about your deadline, don’t be. Google has decided to leave the timeline open for the last MFI push. Google’s official announcement mentions that they’ll continue to gradually move those remaining sites over. 

This is kind of a big deal.. the impending doom for sites that haven't yet switched to mobile-first indexing appears to no longer actually be impending doom.

I know many sites still aren't ready to switch, so I'm sure this is welcome news.https://t.co/lvn4a1qyH3

— Lily Ray 😏 (@lilyraynyc) November 29, 2021

GoDaddy was hacked

If you have an account with GoDaddy, you might have been affected by the recent hack on the platform. According to some news outlets, the hacker had access to GoDaddy’s database for over two months and over 1.2 million WordPress accounts have been compromised. 

GoDaddy recommends that all of its users change their passwords and, if possible, set up a 2 factor authentication security system. 

If you have an account at @godaddy I'd go change your passwords and make sure 2FA is turned on. #domains https://t.co/rUMP58efHA

— Bill Hartzer (@bhartzer) November 22, 2021

The Local Rankflux tool has reported difficulties with reporting. While the trends are showing very high surges, BrightLocal has asked that you ignore any data from November 25th on. For the most in-depth analysis of the recent algorithm changes, we always recommend that you read our news about Google’s algorithm section above.

How to Measure the Quality of Your SEO Traffic Using Google Analytics – Adriana Stein
https://moz.com/blog/measure-seo-traffic-quality-with-google-analytics
November 23, 2021

You may be wondering what defines quality traffic? Essentially, quality traffic helps with higher leads and conversion rates (or other company-specific goals). Adriana mentions a few ways you can measure the quality of your organic traffic in Google analytics and a ton of tips. 

What High-Impact SEO Consulting Looks Like – Ross Hudgens
https://www.siegemedia.com/seo/high-impact-seo-consulting
November 16, 2021

Ross Hudgens is a long-time SEO consultant at an agency called Siege Media. He has witnessed the impacts of both good and bad SEO consulting work done in the industry and has produced a sweet video about what high-impact SEO consulting should look like. This is a great video for clients who might be on the hunt for an SEO consultant and could be beneficial for consultants looking to improve their strategies and service offerings.

The 2021 Local Search Ranking Factors – Darren Shaw
https://whitespark.ca/local-search-ranking-factors/
November 29, 2021

If you’re not familiar with the local search ranking factors survey, here’s a brief synopsis: each year Darren Shaw surveys the top local search experts to see what is working in local search and what isn’t. If you’re interested in following the changes for your local business, or if you work in the local sphere, this one’s for you.

Looking for a job? Like the idea of working at @holland_barrett (hello, discount vitamins) and working with me? I have some good news… 🥁

We are currently hiring for 3 different roles (hybrid remote working) which I will share in a tweet thread🙌

DM for any ques #JobSearch

— Sarah McDowell (Sarah McDuck 🦆) (She/Her) (@SarahMcDUK) November 24, 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:

• Full algorithm analysis
• Mastering your online reputation
• Ask Googlebot: Can you hide your website from search?
• Google acknowledges this for reviews
• Have you leveled up your digital PR?
• How much does speed impact your visibility?
• Check the history of your domain name before you purchase it and/or redirect it
• Tip on getting pages indexed
• What percentage of sites get indexed?
• Clarity on suppression and penalties from Marie
• Bing has launched Page Insights
• Handy Chrome extension
• Organize your topic clusters with ease
• Our tl;dr summary of some awesome recent SEO articles

⎋ SUBSCRIBE NOW

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