Who's Grabbing Forbes & CNN's Lost Rankings?

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BLACK FRIDAY DEALS

My deals end Sunday night, so make sure to jump on them quickly:

• Topical Maps Unlocked 2.0 Course - 50% off, code: BFCM2450, ends 12/1 - Only $298 instead of $597! Learn to create brand-fueled topical maps to establish lasting topical authority. Get the blueprint to build powerful brand and content strategies that converts users to customers. Read this recent testimonial 👇️ 

• Topical Maps DFY Service - 20% off, code: BFMAP20, ends 12/1 - Get topical maps done for you! Tell us about your brand and you get a complete topical map for your. Available for New and Returning Clients!

Here are some more deals that I didn’t add in the Black Friday issue sent mid-week:

• Answer Socrates - 65% off Pro Plan, $99/yr - Discover the questions that people are asking on Google about almost any topic, originally $279/yr.

• Lasso - 50% off - Get AI-powered commission opportunities, CTR-optimized product displays, automated link monitoring, and more.

• 🌊 Patchstack - 50% off, ends 12/2 - The leading WordPress security and vulnerability discloser. They find help you patch security issues before the plugin teams even fix the issues.

Added them to the full list of BFCM deals here.

SEO

Warning: Don't Move Content Hit By Google's Site Reputation Abuse Penalty

Don't try to outsmart the system by moving penalized content to new locations on your domain if hit by Google's site reputation abuse policy. While it might seem like a clever workaround, Google's policy circumvention rules explicitly warn against this practice. Moving flagged content to different subdirectories won't just fail - it could trigger even harsher penalties and potentially get your entire site penalized. Google's not playing hide and seek. They've seen these tricks before and have specific policies to catch and punish such attempts at evading their spam filters. Play it straight and focus on fixing the underlying issues instead.

Who's Winning Off The Back Of The Affiliate Publication Drops?

Louise Linehan reveals how Google's recent manual penalties have knocked major affiliate directories off their SERP pedestals. Her analysis shows that Reddit, Bankrate, and Amazon are the biggest winners, collectively scooping up traffic worth an average of $4M per month from fallen publishers like WSJ, Forbes and CNN. The most impacted keywords were in finance and e-commerce, with medium-low difficulty ratings—potentially creating opportunities for smaller players. However, the top 20 beneficiaries are still heavyweight domains with an average DR of 92.

Google Tests Stripped-Down Hotel Search in EU

Oliver Bethell, Google's Director of Legal, shares Google’s POV on their Digital Markets Act (DMA) compliance journey in Europe. Google launched an experiment in Germany, Estonia, and Belgium - stripping hotel searches back to basic blue links, removing maps and enhanced features. They are boosting comparison sites for flights and hotels in the SERPs. They claim small businesses are feeling the pinch, with direct booking clicks dropping up to 30%.

Here’s a look at the differences, on the left is the test of “hotels in Berlin” on German Google and on the right is “hotels in Berlin” on US Google. Note how the first ‘organic’ link on the right is pretty far down, matching #10 on the left. That’s hotels.com, which actually isn’t in the top 10 on the left.

What do you prefer?

Website Structure for SEO: Designing Your Site to Rank

Kenny Phillips discusses how smart structure is your secret weapon for higher rankings. Beyond just looking pretty, your site's framework directly impacts both search visibility and user experience. With 94% of first impressions being design-related, Phillips shows how a well-organized site hierarchy, strategic internal linking, and proper URL structure work together to help search engines crawl and index your content effectively.

Who Owns HouseFresh, our Fight with Google and the Future of the Web

HouseFresh's managing editor Gisele Navarro and founder Danny Ashton reveal how Google's algorithm updates devastated their air purifier review site despite rigorous testing and honest reviews. After their public criticism went viral, Google invited them to their headquarters for a web creator conversation. Some of their findings include Google engineers fighting internal battles to fix search quality, while legacy media dominates results regardless of content quality.

SEO Ripples

• Google Search Console’s Recommendations are now in everyone's dashboard - IF Google spots specific ways to improve your site. Many of my sites don’t have the Recommendations yet. Bing Webmaster Tools is still much better on this front.

• Danny Sullivan, Google's Search Liaison, explains why Google made the search results count harder to find. The move stems from their mission to declutter the search experience (because AIO and their ads don’t clutter it up). He that while researchers often fixate on these numbers, they're merely broad estimates that can mislead. Instead, he points to Google Trends as your golden ticket for reliable search volume data. For those who still need the count, you can find it tucked away under the "Tools" menu – though testing suggests even this might disappear entirely.

• Google has officially pulled the plug on its sitelinks search box documentation. This sunset comes after the feature's decade-long run, which began in 2014. While you can keep your existing structured data (it won't hurt anything), there's no need to maintain this functionality anymore.

• John Mueller supports the possibility of providing advance warnings before implementing manual search penalties, but he explains that immediate action often serves Google's primary goal: delivering quality search results. Barry Schwartz notes an intriguing disconnect - Mueller's response seems to focus on algorithmic changes rather than manual actions, potentially sidestepping the core question about giving businesses time to address issues before facing severe ranking impacts.

• Google is cracking down on those sneaky fake download buttons that have fooled us all. Barry Schwartz reports that starting January 23, 2025, Google Ads will restrict those deceptive standalone buttons in image ads that trick users into clicking. You know the ones – those confusing "Download Now" buttons that appear right next to the real download link. The policy gives advertisers an 8-week grace period and a 7-day warning before any account suspension. Finally, no more playing "spot the real button" when you're trying to download something legitimate.

AI

OpenAI Is at War With Its Own Sora Video Testers Following Brief Public Leak

Kyle Orland reports how OpenAI's relationship with its Sora video generation platform testers hit turbulent waters. A group of artists, dubbed PR Puppets, briefly shared public access to Sora's testing platform in protest of what they claim is "unpaid R&D" and "art washing." Though OpenAI maintains that participation is voluntary with no feedback requirements, the incident led to a temporary pause in all test access.

Google's Plan to Keep AI Out of Search Trial Remedies Isn't Going Very Well

Judge Amit Mehta signaled that AI will likely play a key role in Google's search monopoly trial remedies. The Department of Justice is pushing for comprehensive restrictions on Google's AI activities, including bans on exclusive content agreements for AI training and limitations on AI investments. The DOJ argues these measures are essential to prevent Google from leveraging its search dominance into AI.

AI Ripples

• Anthropic’s Claude chatbot offers new ready-to-go writing styles - Formal for polished prose, Concise for no-nonsense responses, and Explanatory for detailed breakdowns. And you can now teach Claude your personal writing voice by feeding it samples of your work. Claude adapts to your style preferences.

• Canada's media heavyweights, including the National Post and Toronto Star, have thrown down the gauntlet against OpenAI, claiming the AI giant helped itself to their journalism without permission to train ChatGPT. They each want a payout of C$20,000 per article used. While OpenAI maintains its "fair use" defense, this lawsuit joins a growing number of legal challenges from media outlets worldwide.

• ElevanLabs has released GenFM, their Notebook LM competitor, to generate podcasts with AI co-hosts. They’ll read your PDFs, articles, ebooks, and more.

MARKETING

Tips for Navigating FTC Influencer Guidelines

Jasmine Williams outlines how brands and influencers must disclose their relationships or risk hefty penalties (like a tea company's $1M settlement). Keep it crystal clear. Don’t bury hashtags or use vague terms like "spon." Place disclosures front and center with straightforward language like "Paid partnership" or "#ad." She shares that 59% of social users say the #ad label doesn't affect their purchasing decisions—proof that honesty doesn't hurt conversions.

CONTENT

7 Examples of Great Branded Content

Louise Linehan explains why branded content isn't just another marketing buzzword. Unlike traditional content marketing that aims to sell, branded content focuses on creating emotional connections through entertainment and storytelling. Think Netflix-style documentaries or podcast dramas that barely mention the brand but deeply resonate with audiences. In an AI-dominated future where content creation becomes "dirt cheap," branded content that evokes genuine emotions will be one of the few ways for companies to stand out. She shows branded content drives 62% more positive reactions than traditional ads and improves brand recall by 81%.

CASE STUDY

Is Your PPC Strategy Sabotaging Your SEO? 2.3M Keyword Study

Mateusz Makosiewicz and Tim Soulo share an Ahrefs study of 2.3M keywords that reveals nearly 38% of businesses are paying for ads on keywords where they already rank organically in the top 10. Over 40% of advertised pages already hold the #1 organic spot. The real kicker comes from analyzing cases with no competing ads - 51% of businesses still run ads despite owning prime organic real estate. Stop throwing money at keywords you already dominate organically. Instead, coordinate your PPC and SEO efforts to target competitive terms where organic visibility needs a boost.

Under Google's Blind Eye, A Growing Parasite SEO Ecosystem Flourishes

A one-page site’s, recleudo.com, investigation reveals how Finixio/Clickout Media, a UK-based company, has built a massive network of over 200 websites using "parasite SEO" tactics. The company purchases established tech websites like Techopedia and ReadWrite, then pivots their content to focus on gambling and cryptocurrency while leveraging their existing domain authority. They look at how these sites rapidly achieve top Google rankings with tactics that violate Google's guidelines, including mass redirects from defunct domains and identical content across multiple properties.

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