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SEO

Google November 2024 Core Update Is Now Rolling Out

Google has launched its third core update of 2024, which began rolling out on November 11. It will take approximately two weeks to complete. Got to love another update right before and during the holiday season when sales are usually highest.

International SEO Forecasting: How to Determine Investment Needed and Potential Returns

James Brockbank shows a data-driven approach to cracking international SEO that goes beyond the usual guesswork. By analyzing competitors' traffic patterns and breaking them down by user intent (commercial vs. informational), you can accurately gauge the true revenue potential of any market. His free template helps calculate both the costs to compete (from content creation to link building) and potential ROI. He helps you identify which markets are worth pursuing and which might be money pits.

12 Low-Hanging Fruit SEO Tactics You Can Implement Today

Despina Gavoyannis shares quick SEO wins to help move the needle – like optimizing pages already ranking 4-15th, snagging featured snippets when you're already on page one, and fixing those pesky technical issues that are secretly sabotaging your site. She also shares real examples from her work with clients, including one case where simple content updates led to a 184% traffic boost.

13 Black Hat Techniques That Can Harm An SEO Campaign

Jon Clark exposes 13 manipulative tactics that could tank your rankings, from buying links and creating PBN networks to mass-producing AI content without human oversight. The key takeaway: while black hat techniques might offer quick wins, they inevitably lead to penalties that can destroy your site forever.

SEO Ripples

• Martin Splitt from Google covers how to avoid duplicate content. He says that while duplicate content doesn't hurt your site's quality score, it can create challenges in tracking page performance and slow down crawling efficiency. He breaks down three simple fixes: use canonical tags to tell Google which URL to index, update your internal links to point to your preferred URLs, and combine similar pages to keep things tidy. For the technical folks, he recommends using 301 redirects for better performance. This is especially relevant for sites with multiple language versions or complex URL structures.

• In this latest Google Search News update, John Mueller shares several key developments for SEO professionals. The biggest news is the introduction of Search Console Recommendations, helping identify patterns and implementation issues across your site - though it's currently in a gradual rollout. Mueller also confirms the removal of Google's cached pages feature and explains that the noarchive meta tag is now obsolete. There's also a refreshed Google Trends experience offering more real-time data across regions.

• Stop obsessing over those URLs! That's the advice from Google's John Mueller, shared by Barry Schwartz. He says that if your page content lacks clarity, no amount of URL tweaking will save it. Instead of chasing the perfect URL structure, focus on creating clear, user-friendly content.

• Barry Schwartz covers Bing’s rich entity cards complete with images and popular related searches right in the auto-suggestion pane. Microsoft's Head of Search Jordi Ribas says this means less typing and faster access to what you're after. While Google's been doing this for a while, Bing's team has worked hard to keep the feature snappy and responsive. It's a small change that makes a big difference in how quickly you can zero in on exactly what you're searching for.

AI

OpenAI to Launch AI Agent Tool to Automate Tasks in January

OpenAI is gearing up to launch "Operator," a powerful AI agent that could revolutionize how we interact with our computers. This code-named tool, slated for a January release through OpenAI's developer API, will be capable of executing tasks directly on your machine. While it's joining a crowded field alongside Anthropic's Computer Use and Google's upcoming agent, Operator is positioning itself as a versatile browser-based solution.

Improve Your Prompts in the Developer Console by Anthropic

Anthropic just dropped a new prompt improver in the Anthropic Console that automatically refines your existing prompts using techniques like chain-of-thought reasoning and example standardization. Early testing shows impressive results - a 30% boost in accuracy for classification tasks and perfect word count adherence for summaries.

ChatGPT Can Now Read Some of Your Mac's Desktop Apps

The ChatGPT desktop app can now directly read code from dev tools like VS Code, Xcode, and Terminal – no more copying and pasting needed. While it can't write code back into these apps yet, this "Work with Apps" feature automatically feeds your code context to ChatGPT alongside your prompts. Available now for Plus and Teams users, with Enterprise and Edu access coming soon.

AI Ripples

• Bluesky is taking a creator-first stance by pledging not to use user content for AI training. Meanwhile, X is rolling out new terms allowing them to train AI on public posts. While Bluesky does employ AI for content moderation and its Discover feed, they've made it crystal clear: user-generated content is off-limits for AI training. This policy has struck a chord - the platform gained a million new signups in just 24 hours, though it still trails behind Threads' 275 million monthly active users.

• X is quietly rolling out Grok to non-premium users in New Zealand. Instead of keeping their witty AI assistant locked behind a paywall, X is testing a freemium model: 10 queries per two hours on Grok-2, 20 on Grok-2 mini, and three daily image analyses. Your account needs a phone number and seven days of age.

MARKETING

How to Create Killer Lead Nurturing Emails (+Examples!)

Angela Rollins provides a guide on creating lead nurturing email campaigns to build relationships and drive conversions. She explains how personalized email sequences can guide potential customers through the sales funnel by delivering relevant content at the right time. She shares examples from brands to illustrate different types of nurturing emails, from welcome sequences to post-purchase follow-ups. She emphasizes that successful lead nurturing is about providing value and building trust rather than just promoting products.

8 Inclusive Ecommerce Website Examples That Drive Growth

Sonia Thompson covers how leading brands are designing their sites to welcome diverse audiences. From Moo's multilingual approach to Dolce & Gabbana's accessibility features, get actionable insights on representation, customer experience, and identity-based design. Other takeaways: use clear language options like Farm Rio, follow Amazon's neurodivergent-friendly practices, and take cues from Calvin Klein's diverse model representation.

CONTENT

How to Increase Your Conversion Rate (Tips That Work)

Sydney Go shares a guide packed with practical strategies to boost your website's conversion rates without increasing traffic. The article walks through 18 techniques, from optimizing your value proposition to implementing effective pop-ups. She emphasizes the importance of building trust through social proof, simplifying forms, and creating a seamless user experience. The piece is great for ecommerce sites especially.

LINK BUILDING

The Tabloid Technique: How to Easily Land Local Links With Digital PR

Joshua Hardwick reveals a simple yet powerful link-building strategy that leverages local journalists' endless appetite for area-specific data. Find newsworthy topics (think taxes, potholes, or seasonal trends), gather location-specific data from government databases or freedom of information requests, and serve it up to local reporters who are hungry for stories about how their patch compares to others. Even seemingly mundane rankings – like being 37th best city for millennials – can land you valuable backlinks. he shares real examples of successful campaigns that earned hundreds of links, including a driving test analysis that snagged coverage from 59 websites.

Bad & Toxic Backlinks You Should Avoid

Ben Steele cuts through the noise around link building with crystal-clear advice on what makes backlinks toxic. He discusses five major red flags: paid links without proper disclosure, reciprocal linking agreements, private blog networks (PBNs), spammy forum/comment links, and automated link schemes. He says that many legitimate link-building strategies have both white-hat and black-hat versions – it's all in the execution. Focus on earning links through genuine value and relevance, not shortcuts. Any link can be toxic if it's built lazily.

Fake AI Profiles Being Used by Link Builders on Qwoted

Matt Tutt reveals how link builders are gaming digital PR platforms using AI-generated expert profiles. Through his firsthand experience on Qwoted, he discovered his legitimate gardening expert client lost out to a fake "expert" with an AI-generated headshot and fabricated digital footprint. He breaks down the telltale signs of these artificial experts: generic service-provider websites targeting wide geographic areas, lack of real human imagery, and business models focused purely on lead generation.

CASE STUDY

Gaps Income Report, October 2024: 41 Insights on Digital-First Startups

Glen Allsopp pulls back the curtain on the digital startup landscape, revealing fascinating revenue milestones across diverse niches. Ghost CMS quietly surpassed $7.5M in annual recurring revenue without outside funding, while UK-based local news outlet Hell Gate NYC hit $42,000 in monthly recurring revenue after just two years. The report uncovers three emerging trends: AI-powered email outreach tools securing $42.3M in funding, niche-focused AI chatbots gaining traction, and investors betting big on AI avatar technology.

My Take: Glen always provides well-researched updates with digital businesses doing well. In his own words, “Gaps is focused on sharing in-depth startup insights, trends, and up-to-date revenue numbers.” I’m glad Gaps is back 💯