A Quiet Week, A Big Opportunity

Top SEO Stories; Spam Update Finishes; Noise vs Signals; LLM Traffic; 5-Star Review Purge; SEO + Content Marketing Templates; ChatGPT Search Vulnerability; and Much More!

Author

Yoyao
December 28, 2024 • Est. Learning Time: 14 minutes

In partnership with

FIRST …

With the holidays, it’s a light week for news and resources—a perfect time to recharge.

This downtime also creates space to think beyond the day-to-day grind. Where are you headed? What’s working? What needs to change?

As I reflect on the year ahead, I’m using this quiet moment to plan for the mid-to-long term. How about you?

And a fun, little moment from Christmas:

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SEO

Barry Schwartz reports that the December 2024 spam update has concluded its seven-day rollout, impacting websites globally across all languages. Launching during the holiday season (December 19-26), this broad update caused widespread deindexing and ranking changes, hitting harder and faster than previous spam updates. Rather than targeting link spam specifically, the update enforced Google's general spam policies. For affected sites, recovery could take months and requires careful review of Google's spam guidelines.

From algorithm leaks to the rise (and stumbles) of AI search, 2024 was a rollercoaster for SEO. The biggest bombshell was the leak that exposed Google's ranking secrets, revealing how they use everything from clicks to Chrome data. But that's not all – Google's AI Overviews went from telling people to eat rocks (yikes!) to becoming a serious player in B2B and healthcare searches. The year also saw the end of beloved features like continuous scroll and cache links, while Reddit hit the SEO jackpot with a Google deal. And a wake-up call: traditional search traffic could drop 25% by 2026 as AI chatbots muscle in.

Kaspar Szymanski breaks down the difference between SEO distractions and true ranking factors. The former Google Search Quality team member argues that while algorithm updates, leaked documents, and AI developments generate buzz, they often distract from what actually matters: consistent SEO signal input. Fundamentals move the needle to make sure search engines can crawl your pages effectively, implementing proper technical SEO, and creating engaging content that demonstrates clear value. He recommends focusing on verifiable data from Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools rather than chasing the latest industry speculation.

Michel van Luijtelaar reveals a shocking trend: 73.1% of deleted Google reviews are actually 5-star ratings. After analyzing 5 million reviews across 79 countries, GMBapi found Google is aggressively targeting fake and incentivized reviews to protect platform integrity. The data shows unengaged businesses are at higher risk - 66.1% of deleted reviews had no business replies. Businesses should focus on generating authentic feedback, actively respond to all reviews, and avoid incentivized reviews. Most deletions occurred in the "Service and Staff" category, suggesting heightened scrutiny of customer service claims.

SEO Ripples

  • Robyn Johnson covers Amazon's unique search ecosystem. Unlike traditional SEO, Amazon's algorithm is laser-focused on conversions over clicks, making sales velocity the priority in search rankings. She discusses how successful sellers must master a trio of indexing fundamentals (optimized titles, bullet points, and backend keywords), strategic advertising, and inventory management.

  • Another article detailing how Google Search is killing small websites. This one from Imad Khan on CNET. He covers Brandon Saltalamacchia's gaming site, Retro Dodo, that saw a devastating 90% traffic drop overnight, or Travel Lemming, whose authentic travel guides plummeted 94% in search visibility. While Google claims their algorithm changes elevate human-written content, larger publishers are thriving despite using AI-assisted content and minimal testing. Meanwhile, specialized sites offering genuine expertise are vanishing, making the internet less diverse, less interesting, and ultimately less useful for readers.

  • Google’s Martin Splitt and Gary Illyes explain Content Delivery Networks and their role in website performance and crawling efficiency. CDNs act as intermediaries between your server and users, caching content globally to slash load times. When Google detects your site runs on a CDN, it grants higher crawl rates, assuming your infrastructure can handle increased traffic. Just watch out for CDN security that might accidentally block legitimate crawlers - you'll want to whitelist Google's IP ranges.

AI

David Bell's study reveals a seismic shift in how AI is transforming search and traffic patterns. His analysis shows that implementing schema markup, prioritizing comprehensive blog content, and securing authoritative brand mentions are key strategies for capturing AI traffic. Here are some of the key takeaways:

  • Perplexity and ChatGPT each command 37% of LLM referrals, while CoPilot and Gemini follow at 12-14%.

  • 77.35% of LLM referral traffic goes to blog posts, less than 0.5% of LLM traffic reaches product pages

  • Google's search market share has dropped below 90% for the first time in years

  • 84% of all LLM referral traffic goes to finance-related websites

  • Events industry saw 900% growth in ChatGPT referrals in 90 days

  • E-commerce and finance sectors boast 400%+ growth

Nick Evershed's reveals a critical flaw in ChatGPT's new search functionality. Through extensive testing, The Guardian found that hidden text on webpages can manipulate ChatGPT's responses, potentially leading to deceptively positive product reviews or even the distribution of malicious code. The AI can be tricked into completely ignoring negative reviews when certain hidden text elements are present. While OpenAI hasn't publicly addressed these vulnerabilities, cybersecurity experts warn that without fixes, websites could be specifically engineered to deceive users through this feature.

AI Ripples

  • OpenAI has released plans to transform its existing for-profit arm into a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation, a for-profit company that operates for the good of society. This restructuring would create one of tech's best-resourced nonprofits, with the original OpenAI nonprofit receiving shares at fair market value, but losing control of oversight to the for-profit arm. The transition faces fierce opposition from Elon Musk and Meta, who argue it could dramatically reshape Silicon Valley's investment landscape. .

MARKETING

Ashley Liddell shares a look at how digital PR is transforming in response to changing user behaviors. The traditional playbook focused on backlinks and news coverage is giving way to a more dynamic, social-first approach where video content is projected to be 80%+ of web traffic by 2025. With audiences spending significantly more time on social platforms (20.75%) compared to news sites (12.83%), smart brands are meeting their audiences where they already are – on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.

Marketing Ripples

  • X has hiked its Premium Plus subscription prices across multiple regions. US subscribers will see monthly rates jump from $16 to $22, while European users face similar increases. X points to two key benefits: completely ad-free browsing and bolstered creator payouts through their revenue sharing program. Current subscribers can breathe easy until January 20th, when the new rates kick in.

CONTENT

Angie Nikoleychuk spotlights a shift in content marketing to focus on consumers who make decisions based on their immediate context and circumstances. Rather than pushing audiences through predetermined stages, situational content marketing adapts to real-time needs and triggers. The article reveals how mental "databanks" of brand impressions influence consumer choices, and why tailoring content to specific moments (like high-effort vs. low-effort purchases) delivers better results than broad demographic targeting. Success comes from creating an ecosystem of dynamic, context-aware content that resonates with audiences exactly when they need it.

Louise Linehan shares a treasure trove of content marketing templates. From blog formats to SEO reporting dashboards, this collection features 21+ customizable templates to help streamline the content marketing process. The curated templates include initial content planning to final performance measurement. There are the six blog post templates, content brief templates, and a one-page marketing plan template that keeps strategy focused and actionable.

TOOLS AND RESOURCES

Alex Harford reveals how to transform Chrome into your personal Googlebot simulator for technical SEO audits. Using a dedicated browser setup with specific extensions and configurations, you can see exactly what Google's crawler sees when it visits your site. This approach helps catch sneaky rendering issues, especially on JavaScript-heavy sites, that could be tanking your rankings without you knowing it. Alex's step-by-step instructions for setting up your own Googlebot browser take about 30 minutes and are completely free.

NEWS

Apple has filed to intervene to help Google in the DOJ's antitrust case against Google. Barry Schwartz reports that Apple's primary motivation is protecting its lucrative $20 billion annual revenue stream from Google, which pays for default search engine status on Apple devices. While Apple could theoretically build its own search engine, the company cites massive resource requirements and evolving AI landscape as reasons to stay out of search - for now. The intervention suggests Apple doesn't trust Google to adequately defend their mutual interests as the case moves into its remedies phase.

Joost de Valk, Yoast SEO's co-founder, calls for a dramatic overhaul of WordPress's governance structure. The catalyst was a holiday service pause that exposed the limitations of single-person control. He proposes replacing Matt Mullenweg's sole leadership with a democratic board representing all stakeholders. Mullenweg responds with a polite but firm suggestion that de Valk should start his own project. With an open letter from WordPress contributors already demanding reform, this power struggle could reshape the platform's future. As de Valk puts it, "Taking back the commons means we try to hear every voice."

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