niche surfer - Wave Issue 168

SHARED TOPICAL MAPS

I'm thrilled to announce that the Shared Topical Maps beta platform is now live! Be among the first to submit and vote on topical map ideas.

All the information and topical map ideas are here: shared.topicalmap.com 

Here’s the headline of how it works:

1. Submit your ideas on the site

2. Sign up and vote for topical maps you want

3. Once there are 5 people, we send an invoice to collect payments

4. We get started on the topical map!

There was a lot of interest with this before and it took me a little bit to figure out how to organize it. I think this method should work, but if you have ideas, I’m open to any feedback.

For early birds and the first 3 topical maps that are made, it’ll be $100 off per person!

SEO

Google Search Overwhelmed By Massive Spam Attack

Roger Montti reports a rampant spam attack affecting Google's search results, with domains ranking for vast numbers of keywords. He details how spammers exploit Google's algorithms by targeting low competition queries and new websites' brief ranking advantage. Montti also discusses potential measures Google could take to mitigate such spam techniques.

English Google SEO Office-Hours from December 2023

In the latest Google's SEO Office Hours, the Search Quality team gets into various topics to clarify and optimize search engine strategies. Key takeaways and topics touched upon include:

• Utilize noindex and robots meta tags for iframe content association.

• Hierarchical website structures benefit large sites for better crawling. Exactly what’s discussed in the TMU course 😆 

• Block unwanted crawls with clear directives in robots.txt.

• Consistent domain naming aids in indexing and discovery.

• Paid link buying remains a violation, and reporting them helps improve Google's overall algorithm, but they don’t take individual action on them. (yay!)

• Language in URL slugs should match the content's language.

• Document and prepare thoroughly for website migrations.

• Soft 404s need addressing to avoid indexing issues.

• Recrawling requires prominent content updates or proper redirections.

Google’s Search Off The Record - End Of Year Sneak Preview

In the "Search Off The Record" episode, Martin Splitt, Gary Illyes, and John Mueller from the Google Search team give a year-end review of 2023's Search updates and the rapid evolution of the web and SEO. They get into Core Web Vitals, AI's role in search, and the quirky aspects of web development.

If you prefer to read, the transcript is available here.

Google Search News (December ‘23) - Third party cookies, Search Console, and more

John Mueller dives into updates and new features around structured data types, Search Console improvements, and third-party cookies.

He highlights new structured data types like course info, vehicle listings, and learning videos, emphasizing their role in enhancing search context but not guaranteeing usage. The Search Console now includes reports for these data types and a simplified page experience report.

He also touches on the global phase-out of third-party cookies in Chrome and its potential impact on e-commerce and login systems.

Top 7 Ways SEOs Waste Money

The SEO plus AI show, featuring Josh Bachynski, Greg Bessoni, and Ryan Maizis, dives into an important topic of optimizing SEO spending. They highlight the common financial pitfalls in the SEO world, especially emphasizing the shift in effective strategies due to recent Google updates.

They talk about how SEOs waste money, but there’s a lot of good conversation about other things here like local SEO and GMB address tips. But here are some of the common ways money is wasted:

• Wrong Education: Investing in outdated or incorrect SEO knowledge and techniques can lead to ineffective strategies and wasted resources.

• Wrong Tools: Spending money on SEO tools that don’t provide accurate, up-to-date, or relevant data can lead to misguided decisions and strategies.

• No Niche Research: Neglecting thorough niche research and targeting highly competitive keywords without understanding the specific niche can result in inefficient efforts and spending.

• Not Building Proper Sites: Failing to build websites with the right structure, content, and user experience can hurt SEO performance and waste money spent on driving traffic to the site.

• Buying Too Expensive Links: Overspending on backlinks, especially ones that don’t significantly impact rankings, can drain budgets without delivering proportional benefits.

SEO Ripples

• Barry Schwartz has noted an unexpected surge in Google search ranking volatility as the holiday season approaches. He details the community's experiences and the widespread impacts observed across various websites, emphasizing the unpredictability and significant shifts in rankings as we close out the year.

• Kristi Hines reveals how Google now emphasizes "openness" or accurate business hours as a key local search ranking factor. Recent updates have made operational hours a stronger signal, affecting visibility in local search results. Businesses are cautioned against falsely listing 24/7 hours as Google continues to refine this criterion. Accurate hours on Google Business Profiles are essential for both customer experience and improved local search visibility.

• Google’s collection of 2023 at Google posts. Some interesting Search and AI-related posts, as well as non-SEO posts. Like Chrome’s ability to create tab groups now.

• Barry Schwartz discusses the SEO community's growing concerns about Google search results' quality. He highlights Danny Sullivan of Google responding to these criticisms by sharing his process of collecting, documenting, and submitting problematic search results. The article sheds light on the intensified scrutiny following the recent updates to Google's algorithm.

CONTENT

Why Does A Content Strategy Fail?

Himani Kankaria discusses the intricacies of content strategy and its potential pitfalls to help readers understand why their content efforts may not be yielding the desired results. Kankaria emphasizes that the success or failure of content strategy is subjective and influenced by various nuanced factors such as audience alignment, content purpose, and measurement metrics. Here are five key takeaways from the article:

• Target Audience Importance: Not adhering strictly to your target audience can dilute your content's impact and lead to irrelevant content creation, wasting resources and possibly attracting the wrong type of leads.

• Purpose Clarity: Understanding the exact purpose behind each content piece is vital.

• Content KPIs and Timelines: Establishing key performance indicators (KPIs) for each piece of content and timelines for achieving them is crucial to track success and ensure content aligns with business goals.

• Diverse KPIs: Focusing solely on leads or conversions as KPIs can narrow the content's impact. It's important to consider various stages of the customer journey and different types of content.

• User and Content Experience: Prioritizing the user experience in content creation is essential. Content should be relevant, high-quality, consistent, clear, and trustworthy to truly engage the audience and fulfill their needs.

7 Content Writing Trends For 2023 (Festive Flashback)

Ron Lieback explores the evolving dynamics of content marketing with a focus on how AI is revolutionizing the industry. Key takeaways include:

• Dominance of Video Shorts: The growing influence of platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels, highlighting the shift towards bite-sized, engaging video content.

• Evolving Influencer Marketing: The shift towards a creator economy, with an emphasis on authentic and relatable content creators.

• Staying Power of Podcasting: Continued relevance of podcasts as a personal and impactful medium for content delivery.

• Demand for Personal Experience: Increasing consumer desire for authenticity and personal connection in content.

• Importance of Data in Content Marketing: Emphasis on using data and analytics to drive content strategies and decision-making.

AI

Midjourney V6 is Out

To turn it on, select V6 from the dropdown menu under /settings or type --v 6 after your prompt. Image coherence and prompt understanding are greatly improved. You can draw text and dolphins and there's new upscalers too.

The Santa surfing image at the top was all Midjourney V6 too.

Two Free Months of Perplexity Pro

Get Two Months of Perplexity Pro for free: http://pplx.ai/holidays or use code HOLIDAYS23 in the next 10 days. Happy Holidays!

AI Ripples

• A Chevy dealership's ChatGPT-powered chatbot becomes a prank target, with users making the bot sell cars for $1. The chatbot's developer, Fullpath, is now enhancing its capabilities to prevent such misuse, illustrating the unpredictable nature of AI in real-world applications.

• A study by Originality.AI analyzed 3,900 articles from 246 Fortune 500 company blogs and suggests about 10.86% of articles are potentially AI-written. Variability is high across sites, with some almost entirely human and others predominantly AI. The study highlights a trend of shorter articles being more frequently AI-generated.

• Alex Heath reveals ByteDance's covert operations using OpenAI's GPT model to build a rival LLM, named Project Seed, breaching licensing terms with Microsoft. Despite knowing the risks, ByteDance employees have extensively used the API for various development stages, pushing the limits of their access and discussing ways to cover their tracks. ByteDance is the parent company of TikTok and their OpenAI account is now blocked.

LINK BUILDING

Internal Links: Ultimate Guide + Strategies

Luke Harsel shares an ultimate guide on internal links, discussing their importance for SEO and providing strategies for success. He covers how internal links help search engines understand site structure, pass authority, and enhance user navigation.

The guide also explores different types of internal links and offers a step-by-step approach to building a strategic internal linking system, auditing existing links, and fixing common issues.

MARKETING

Mastering Reddit For Brand Awareness & Reputation Management

Ann Smarty explores Reddit's vast potential for digital marketing. She highlights its ability to amplify brand reach and manage online reputation through community engagement, user testing, and visibility in Google searches.

She provides a comprehensive guide for leveraging its subreddits to enhance brand visibility, offer customer service, and participate actively in niche communities.

EDUCATION

Zero to Semantic SEO Hero: 5 Power Tips

Stan De Jesus Oliveira unpacks the power of semantic SEO. He emphasizes the role of entities in enriching content and enhancing search rankings, explaining that understanding and integrating them can significantly boost your SERP position. The article guides on auditing and incorporating entities to improve semantic understanding and SEO strategy.

CASE STUDY

Unexpected Results of My Google Crawling Experiment

Kristina Azarenko shares insights from her bold experiment where she disallowed Google from crawling her main website. She aimed to understand and illustrate the impact on a website's search presence and traffic when it's invisible to Googlebot. The site was still driving significant traffic to various resources, including blog posts and technical SEO tools, despite being unupdated for a while. Key takeaways from Kristina's experiment include:

• Disabling crawling can lead to a temporary removal of the site's favicon in search results.

• Traffic and site ranking don't immediately plummet but gradually decrease over time.

• Google Search Console might show an increase in indexed pages, including those tagged as noindexed, due to its inability to access the site.

• Modifications to crawling can affect various types of content differently, with video content being notably impacted.

• The experiment underscores the importance of understanding and carefully managing robots.txt files for site health and search performance.

How to Write a Case Study: Guide With Free Template + Examples

Sydney Go offers a guide for creating effective case studies that inspire conversions. She dives into the importance and structure of case studies, providing a step-by-step approach to crafting compelling narratives. The article emphasizes the value of storytelling and data in demonstrating product viability and building customer trust.

The guide also includes practical tips and a free template to streamline the writing process, aiming to convert prospects into loyal customers through well-documented success stories.

Insights from Google’s John Mueller: Key Lessons for SEOs

Daria Chetvertak at SERanking dives deep into the wealth of knowledge provided by John Mueller, a Senior Webmaster Trends Analyst and Search Relations team lead at Google. Mueller, a guiding figure in the SEO community, is known for his candid advice and deep insights into Google's search workings.

The article covers a wide range of SEO topics, providing readers with an understanding of Mueller's perspective on content optimization, backlinks, and technical SEO, among others. Here are five key takeaways from the article:

• Focus on Unique and Useful Content: Create engaging, non-generic content that adds value.

• Play the Long-Term SEO Game: Commit to a sustained, strategy-focused approach.

• Avoid Keyword Overload: Prioritize content quality over keyword stuffing.

• Content Quality Over Quantity: Short, relevant content can outperform longer pieces.

• Flexible Website Structure: Use but don't rely strictly on traditional tagging like H1.

• Quality Backlinks Matter: Seek valuable and relevant backlinks, avoid spammy ones.

• Invest in Technical SEO: Maintain the technical health of your website.

BUSINESS IDEAS

Most Popular Side Hustles In The United States

Mark Webster of Authority Hacker presents an intriguing look into the side hustle economy, revealing how Americans are diversifying their income streams. Webster's analysis stems from comprehensive data across all 50 states. Here are five of the top side hustles:

• Virtual Assistant: A popular work-from-home job, with an average monthly pay of $5,285 according to Indeed.

• DoorDash: A widely used delivery service, with drivers earning an average monthly pay of $5,021 according to Indeed.

• Uber: Driving for Uber remains a popular side hustle, with drivers earning an average of $2,350 monthly according to ZipRecruiter.

• Babysitter: A traditional but still popular side hustle, especially in high-cost living areas, with babysitters earning an average of $3,494 monthly according to Indeed.

• Online Tutor: Leveraging skills to teach others online, with tutors making an average monthly pay of $3,259 according to ZipRecruiter.

NEWS

News Publisher Files Class Action Antitrust Suit Against Google

Sarah Perez covers a class action lawsuit that has been filed against Google by Helena World Chronicle for anticompetitive behavior and AI-related harms. The suit accuses Google of diverting ad revenue and readers from news publishers, particularly highlighting the detrimental impact of AI tools like Bard AI and SGE on publisher traffic.

As AI integration deepens, publishers fear significant traffic losses, with estimates ranging between 20-40%. The suit seeks to challenge and curtail Google's practices, emphasizing the need for a fair digital news ecosystem.

Google Files Patent to Detect Fake News on Social Media

Philip Tully's patent, number US 20230385548 (search for this on the patent site to read it), introduces a sophisticated method for detecting information operations campaigns in social media using machine learning. This processor-implemented method enhances the detection of deceptive or manipulative content distributed as part of information operations, which are increasingly prevalent in today's digital communication landscape.

'SEO Heists' are Posing Thorny Questions for Google

Rob Price covers the case of Exceljet, a tech-help website cloned using AI for competitive advantage. David Bruns, the site's owner, noticed plummeting traffic as a competitor (Jake Ward Tweet below) used AI to replicate and outperform his content on Google. Eventually, the heist site got hit by Google with a manual penalty.

2024 Predictions

Digitaloft - SEO, Content & Digital PR Predictions for 2024

• Subject Matter Experts as SEO Game Changers: Utilizing in-house expertise for trend identification, content uniqueness, and authoritativeness.

• Relevancy-First Digital PR: Moving beyond link building to impact organic growth, brand trust, and authority through targeted, relevant content.

• Closer Brand-Agency Ties: A focus on collaboration and adaptability in response to economic uncertainties.

• Journalist Relationships Crucial for Digital PR: Emphasizing the importance of connecting with journalists for effective digital PR.

• E-E-A-T Becomes Indispensable: A holistic approach to brand optimization across various platforms and mediums, proving credibility and expertise.

LowFruits - SEO Predictions for 2024

• Unique, experiential content will lead the rankings: Content with genuine experiences and a personal touch will outshine generic posts.

• Multi-channel marketing will become crucial for SEO: Diversifying presence across platforms will reinforce SEO efforts and brand authority.

• Google will innovate in detecting "quality content": Expect more sophisticated algorithms to discern and reward truly valuable content.

• Google will increase its fight against Parasite SEO: There will be a crackdown on manipulative SEO tactics, emphasizing the integrity of search results.

• The landscape for AI content will become more competitive: AI-generated content must evolve to meet higher standards as detection and quality expectations rise.

Moz - Roundup of 27 SEO and Content Experts

• Google to Prioritize Expert Content: Google will introduce updates specifically designed to reward content created by humans and recognized experts over AI-generated material.

• Evolution of SEO Metrics: Traditional metrics like rankings and click-through rates will give way to more nuanced measures such as conversion rates and brand visibility.

• Selective Impact of SGE: Google's SGE might not drastically alter the search landscape as expected, with many users continuing to prefer direct sources of information.

• Surge in Alternative Search Platforms: A notable rise in the use of alternative platforms like TikTok and YouTube for search purposes, expanding the scope of SEO strategies.

• Importance of a Comprehensive Online Presence: Businesses will need to establish a broader and more cohesive online presence across multiple platforms to maintain SEO efficacy.

• Emphasis on Niche Keywords and Detailed Research: Focusing on niche and trending topics, detailed manual research will become a key differentiator in content strategy.

Search Engine Journal - Roundup of 21 SEO Experts

• Higher Quality Bar for Content: The push for more high-quality content is inevitable, with AI shaping the content creation landscape.

• Mid-Funnel SEO Focus: Shift in SEO to target mid-funnel due to generative search results.

• E-commerce SEO Evolution: Shift in SEO strategies for e-commerce, emphasizing direct product visibility in SERPs.

• Content Authenticity and Trends: Authentic, user-experience-based content will take precedence.

• Real-Time Indexing and Structured Data: The importance of structured data and real-time content indexing grows.

• Schema Markup Importance: Leveraging Schema Markup for deeper understanding by AI and search engines.

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