Google Updates with John Mueller and Billie Geena

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#BrightonSEO
GOOGLE UPDATES
GOOGLE UPDATES
IS SEO DEAD? Has AI Taken MY Job? Help, I think I’m a robot.
How far has Google come? Past, Present and Future.

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@johnmu
Working on Search since 2008.
Has been involved with over 7 Google
updates.
Leads the Google Search Relations team,
which connects website owners with
Google Search teams, and creates all the
Search documentation for SEOs / site-
owners.
About John
About John

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@BillieGeena
Ten years working on digital projects
Five years of Technical SEO
Eight weeks of running my agency
Navigated many updates
Survived many client update meltdowns
Founder of Uptake Agency
About Billie Geena
About Billie Geena

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Who’s Going to the SE
Who’s Going to the SE
Ranking Karaoke party
Ranking Karaoke party
tonight??
tonight??

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Raise your hand if...
Who’s in the audience?
Who’s in the audience?
@Johnmu // @billiegeena #BrightonSEO

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TECHNICAL SEOS?
TECHNICAL SEOS?

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We know you are different dw.
DIGITAL PRS/LINKBUILDERS?
DIGITAL PRS/LINKBUILDERS?

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CONTENT?
CONTENT?

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LOCAL SEO’S?
LOCAL SEO’S?

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STRATEGISTS?
STRATEGISTS?

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Who does Google
Who does Google
love the most?
love the most?
Wonder no more!

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Just at different times and for
different reasons
We’re all
We’re all
Google’s
Google’s
favourite child.
favourite child.

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Without a holistic view,
importance on the pillars wouldn’t
be split evenly. We’d be running
around like headless chickens.
But without
But without
strategy, we’d
strategy, we’d
all struggle.
all struggle.

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CURRENT STATE OF
CURRENT STATE OF
AFFAIRS
AFFAIRS
What’s happening right now

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Content Technical Webspam
Let’s look at some of the things that had the biggest impact on us
So many things happen all the time
So many things happen all the time

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Reduce risk of effects
Reduce risk of effects
from Google updates
from Google updates

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Updates about content:
- Reduce short-cuts
- Focus on quality over quantity

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Technical SEO updates:
- Implement modern best practices
and know what's coming.
- Use a common and flexible CMS or
delegate to a hosting platform.

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Updates about webspam:
- Well, you know.

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What if you don't want to?
Life goes on :-)
Updates come, updates go.

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Life goes on :-)
Don't mess with clients' websites.

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Life goes on :-)
Don't mess with clients' websites.
Often, updates reflect updated
expectations by users & ecosystem
changes.

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PEOPLE WANT A GREAT EXPERIENCE ON THE
WEB.
DON'T BE AN EXAMPLE IN THE NEXT "THE
WEB SUCKS" ARTICLE.

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Always be hustling?
Nah.

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Let's zoom out
Let's zoom out
before
before
zooming in
zooming in

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Algorithms are not one
Algorithms are not one
simple thing, it's a balancing
simple thing, it's a balancing
act of lots of algorithms
act of lots of algorithms
with their own ratings.
with their own ratings.

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CWV is one example, because you site has high performance scores
does not mean it will rank even if the content is thin.
Lots of algorithms,
Lots of algorithms,
lots of factors
lots of factors

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RECENT GOOGLE
RECENT GOOGLE
UPDATES
UPDATES

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CORE WEB VITALS -
CORE WEB VITALS -
Page experience
Page experience
guidance
guidance

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Is important for success in
ranking generally
Involves focusing on more than one
or two page experience aspects
Google updated the page experience
guidance to emphasize that good page
experience:

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INP to replace FID
First Input Delay (FID) will be
replaced with Interaction to Next
Paint (INP)
Search Console reports on it already
and you can test your pages now.
Coming in March 2024.

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Consider Core Web Vitals for page experience
CWV aligns with page experience
Does not guarantee success in Search (nothing does)

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Making us ask what does helpful
mean since 2022.
Helpful
Helpful
content
content

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Helpful means different things to
different industries.
Some examples are listed in the
Search Quality Rater Guidelines.
This isn’t a secret sauce to ranking
thought. It’s just examples and
ideas.

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She’s just finished rolling out,
we don’t know much yet
August Update
August Update

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Raise your hand if you
Raise your hand if you
was on holiday when
was on holiday when
the update was
the update was
announced?
announced?

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LET’S
GET
SERIOUS

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Ok, Google play arms
Ok, Google play arms
of an angel by Sarah
of an angel by Sarah
McLachlan
McLachlan

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UA

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FAQ
SCHEMA

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FAQ
SCHEMA
HOW TO
SCHEMA

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ENERGY
LEVELS

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HOPE

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JOY

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MOBILE
USABILITY
REPORT

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John... Do you plan on
John... Do you plan on
taking anything else
taking anything else
we love away?
we love away?

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Finding value for
Finding value for
users & site owners
users & site owners
For example rich results: how can they be useful for
For example rich results: how can they be useful for
users & site-owners without overwhelming them?
users & site-owners without overwhelming them?
Could Google more selectively show them?
Could Google more selectively show them?

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Google’s
F U T U R E

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SGE

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WHY SGE?
Our focus on the quality of content, rather than how content is produced, is a
helpful guide that has helped us deliver reliable, high-quality results to users
for years. Also, we would recommend thinking about who, how, and why about
your content.

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Question
time
Answering your questions

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How have the increase in AI
content and increasing
prioritisation of generative
search impacted the Helpful
Content Updates from 2022?
- Alice Rowan

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Why does content that doesn't meet
the Helpful Content Guidelines rank
over content that does meet it?
- Anonymous

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Is digital pr link-spam?
- Anonymous

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Can't google pause updates over the
holidays?
- Anonymous

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How is this update going to impact
rankings?
- Sanjay Nagpal, India Today Group

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It’s not fair
- Anonymous

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What’s planned for the
future with SGE? When will
it roll out in my country?
- Anonymous

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After SGE was rolled out, for
many of our keywords, we are
seeing keyword-stuffed pages
dominating the top positions on
the SERP. Why?
- Richa Veere, STI

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Should I work on / launch a site
before or during updates?
- Anonymous

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Which data does an update use? How
far back does it go?
- Anonymous

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I had a technical issue right before
the core update. Am I screwed?
- Anonymous

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Are you doing more updates
nowadays?
- Anonymous

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The algorithm is learning by itself and
is rolling out 'unconfirmed' updates.
'Official' updates are G understanding
what it has done, packaging it up and
announcing to the masses
-Anonymous

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Will SGE put me out of work?
- Anonymous

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CLIENT
QUESTIONS

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PLEASE EXPLAIN

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NOTHINGS HAPPENING

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WHY DIDN'T IT WORK THIS TIME?

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WILL THIS BE ENOUGH?

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BUT WHAT ABOUT THE OTHERS?

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WHAT DID YOU DOOOOO

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OK, THEN LET'S ESCALATE

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Stay updated
The search status dashboard is the place
to be. Subscribe with the RSS feed (check
"RSS to email")
Search Central Blog (also RSS feed) + our
socials
Follow Barry Schwartz, of course

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Final Take
aways
don't panic
monitor technical trends before they're
"updates"
prepare: flexible infrastructure
be objective about content quality:
schedule for review and delete or fix
stay informed
make update-memes for bonus points

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Billie Geena
We’ve been
John Mueller &
Ask us stuff
@Johnmu
@BillieGeena
#BrightonSEO

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Google Updates with John Mueller and Billie Geena

Google Updates with John Mueller and Billie Geena

billiegeena

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