Your biggest SEO threat is not AI Overviews (or other Google updates) - Eduard Blacquière - SEO Benelux Conference 2024

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1 Your biggest SEO threat is not AI Overviews (or other Google updates) Eduard Blacquière

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2 Who knows this guy?

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3 “Most adaptable to change”

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Hi there 👋 nice to meet you! linkedin.com/in/eduardblacquiere/ 4

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Freelance SEO-specialist edwords.nl 5

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Co-founder Friends of Search friendsofsearch.com 6

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Co-founder SEO Pro Academy seopro.academy 7 Joint the waitlist

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8 Your biggest SEO threat is not AI Overviews (or other Google updates)

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Not completely honest… 😇

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10 AI Overviews will probably have impact

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11 And Google updates can be brutal… 🪓

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Diﬀerent root cause

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13 That looks something like this.

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AI Overviews

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15 Most people fear SEO impact of AIOs

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16 But no worries here 😂

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17 AIO launch has been a sh** show 󰣺

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18 So Google had to pull back https:/ /searchengineland.com/google-ai-overviews-visibility-new-low-444048

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19 Maybe ﬁx non-AI search ﬁrst, Google? Mike King

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20 In stead of pushing Reddit https:/ /www.growth-memo.com/p/reddit-masterclass

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21 AIOs increasing again, are here to stay https:/ /dashboard.ziptie.dev/aio-monitor

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22 AIOs won’t be launched in EU soon

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23 Will AIOs have (negative) SEO impact?

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24 Maybe, but I’m not so sure 🤔

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25 Predictions going wild: “60% loss!!”

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26 Déjà vu…

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27 “AI will kill Google!!” ☠

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28 Not happening. https:/ /sparktoro.com/blog/new-research-so-far-ai-is-not-disrupting-search-or-making-a-dent-in-google/

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29 And it’s not a traﬃc shift. https:/ /sparktoro.com/blog/is-google-losing-search-market-share/

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30 Back to AIOs

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31 For now, AIOs are just another SERP feature

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32 Yes, most SERP features hurt SEO CTRs Research: https:/ /arxiv.org/pdf/2306.01785 via https:/ /www.growth-memo.com/p/augmentation

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33 Hurting CTRs = less clicks to top 10 positions Research: https:/ /arxiv.org/pdf/2306.01785 ● 0 = SERP feature not present ● 1 = SERP feature is present

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34 But some SERP features increase CTRs! Research: https:/ /arxiv.org/pdf/2306.01785

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35 SERP features result in lower CTR when… ● … not included in SERP feature ○ Especially with visual dominant features ● … a direct answer is shown ○ eg. featured snippet ● … you have the #1 position ○ SERP features below attract attention

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36 But SERP features can result in higher CTR ● … you’re included within a SERP feature ○ Especially more visual or interactive features + instant answers ■ eg. images, videos, people also ask, featured snippets ● … when a feature is placed high on the SERP ○ Positions lower on the SERP get higher CTRs

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37 Google’s statement might be true 😱

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38 “More traﬃc to supporting websites” https:/ /blog.google/products/search/google-search-lens-october-2024-updates/

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39 When you are included! Research: https:/ /arxiv.org/pdf/2306.01785

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40 At least 6 opportunities in AIOs https:/ /richsanger.com/how-search-intent-shapes-google-ai-overviews-study-insights/

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41 How to get in? Start with proper SEO. https:/ /www.growth-memo.com/p/ai-on-innovation-part-2

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42 Rest of SERP will probably suﬀer… 🥴 Research: https:/ /arxiv.org/pdf/2306.01785 Especially more visual or interactive features negatively inﬂuence the search results which are not included in the SERP feature.

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43 And AI organized SERPs could hurt more

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SEO strategy implication ⚠

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45 Adapt & Optimize for all SERP features!

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46 That should have been your strategy already…

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47 Have you adapted your SEO strategy?

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Google algorithm updates

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Just like many other updates 49

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50 Update to Google’s systems https:/ /developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ranking-systems-guide

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51 And they do a lot of updates 😳 https:/ /developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ranking-systems-guide https:/ /www.google.com/intl/nl/search/howsearchworks/how-search-works/rigorous-testing/

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52 And the number is increasing…

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53 +/- 10 big Google updates per year

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54 Impact seems to be getting more intense https:/ /moz.com/blog/charting-the-google-algorithm

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55 And quite a few sites suﬀer from this…

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I’m happy with Google updates 😀

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Under the hood! 57

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Core updates

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59 ● Major update(s) to ranking systems You can go up/down if you haven't changed anything ● Not focused on speciﬁc pages or sites Evaluates quality of content/sites overall ● Rewards quality of content Helpful, reliable, satisfying and E-E-A-T ● Often leads to major shifts and volatility Bigger drops/rises for the entire site ● New, larger revaluation usually only with the next core update Earning trust that the entire site is more helpful, reliable Google core updates explained https:/ /developers.google.com/search/updates/core-updates

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Quality is the #1 ranking factor

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Google before: sees everything, ﬁlters quality 62

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Google now: “First prove that you have good content, all over your site!” 63

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64 Quality impacts all Google systems now

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65 "Generally if the content of a site is of high quality and it's helpful and people like it in general, then Googlebot--well, Google--tends to crawl more from that site" "If we are not crawling much or we are gradually slowing down with crawling, that might be a sign of low-quality content or that we rethought the quality of the site" Quality determines Crawling https:/ /search-oﬀ-the-record.libsyn.com/crawling-smarter-not-harder

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66 Quality determines Indexing https:/ /www.seroundtable.com/google-on-discovered-currently-not-indexed-37931.html "When Google Search notices a pattern of low quality or thin content on pages, they might be removed from the index and might stay in discovered." "Googlebot knows about these pages but is choosing not to proceed with them," because they are not high quality enough"

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67 Google tells you

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68 Oh yeah, and quality determines ranking 😉 https:/ /www.google.com/intl/nl/search/howsearchworks/how-search-works/ranking-results/

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SEO strategy implication ⚠

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70 Low quality pages on your site can hurt your high quality pages

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What is quality?

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72 Quality is simpler than most people think “What if quality is actually simpler than most people think?” “What if it's about writing the thing that will help people achieve whatever they need to achieve when they come to the page? And that's it.” Gary Illyes, Google https:/ /search-oﬀ-the-record.libsyn.com/which-aspect-of-my-site-should-i-focus-on

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73 Page Quality = how well page achieves purpose https:/ /static.googleusercontent.com/media/guidelines.raterhub.com/en/ /searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf

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74 Page Quality is also E-E-A-T https:/ /static.googleusercontent.com/media/guidelines.raterhub.com/en/ /searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf

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75 Not because Google wants E-E-A-T!

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How is quality measured?

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77 Google fakes it. 😱 https:/ /www.justice.gov/d9/2023-11/417516.pdf

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78 Google looks how their users react https:/ /www.justice.gov/d9/2023-11/417508.pdf

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79 From the Google Leak (May 2024): ● badClicks ● goodClicks ● lastLongestClicks ● unicornClicks – The subset of clicks that are associated with an event from a Unicorn user ● imageQualityClickSignals – Click signals for measuring image quality (e.g., usefulness, presentation, appealingness, and engagingness) ● absoluteImpressions ● chromeInTotal – Site-level Chrome views ● uniqueChromeViews – Number of unique visits in Chrome ● Etc. They measure all sorts of clicks (and more) https:/ /www.edwords.nl/2024/08/08/20-seo-tactieken-onderbouwd-met-de-google-leak/

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Back to core updates 80

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Recognize quality issues

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Analyze core updates

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3 causes of ranking shifts 83 1. Quality revaluation The essence of core updates 2. Intent shift Adjusting the intent behind keywords 3. Relevancy adjustment Adjusting what is considered more relevant for a search query

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1. Recognizing quality revaluation 84 Quality revaluation: ● Revaluation of quality in broadest sense (incl. E-E-A-T) ● Decreases or increases are usually site-wide Characteristics of SERP change: ● Same pages and sites, but diﬀerent ranking

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85 Example site-wide impact 1. August core update 2. September Helpful Content update 3. October core update 4. November core update

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86 Findings ● Major shifts rankings ● Same pages rank before + after Conclusion ● Revaluation of quality Example quality revaluation

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2. Recognizing Intent shift 87 Intent shift: ● Adjustment of intent behind keywords ● Results in shift of page types Characteristic SERP change: ● Other pages with diﬀerent intent rank better

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88 Findings ● Informational pages down ● Product pages up Conclusion ● Shift from informational to commercial Intent Example intent shift Informatie Product Product Product Informatie

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SEO strategy implication ⚠

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90 Duplicate content is ﬁne.

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91 SEO tactic: “Duplicate” content is ﬁne. If you target diﬀerent intents.

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3. Recognize relevancy adjustment 92 Relevancy adjustment ● Adjustment of what is considered more relevant for a search query Characteristic SERP change: ● Diﬀerent types of pages or sites, but same intent

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93 Findings ● Product pages (PDP) down ● Category pages up Conclusion ● Relevance adjustment from product page (PDP) to category page Example relevancy adjustment PDP Categorie Categorie Categorie PDP PDP PDP PDP PDP

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Improving quality

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95 You could hope your goodiebag works…

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Google is very clear

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“Helpful content” 97

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“Satisfying experience” 98

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“E-E-A-T” 99

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100 That is “quality content” https:/ /www.google.com/intl/nl/search/howsearchworks/how-search-works/ranking-results/

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Guidelines hidden in plain sight

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You know these questions by heart, right? 😉 102 https:/ /developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content

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103 2011!!!

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And 80-90% is unchanged! 🤯 104

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106 Picture starting to make more sense? 😉

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It’s not too late!

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Review your content objectively 108

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Rate your site like a Search Quality Rater 109

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110 And optimize for user goals “What if quality is actually simpler than most people think?” “What if it's about writing the thing that will help people achieve whatever they need to achieve when they come to the page? And that's it.” Gary Illyes, Google https:/ /search-oﬀ-the-record.libsyn.com/which-aspect-of-my-site-should-i-focus-on

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111 Example: how much loan? (Can I buy this house?) ❌ Don’t let a copywriter write a blog article with the top 5 keywords…

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112 I’ve been guilty 🖐 You too? 😉

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113 Help users achieve their goals quickly! ❌ Don’t let a copywriter write a blog article with the top 5 keywords… ✅ But build that feature, tool, UX design, graph, etc. to help your customers achieve their goals, quickly and easily!!

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114 Now we can explain why sites are losing

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115 Most sites doing the same things

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116 Same things, but lack of added value… ● Publish articles ● Link building (buying links… 🤐) ● Improve site speed ● etc. But in the meantime you HARDLY add any value with your content…

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Characteristics losers

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118 ● No/limited information about content creation ○ organization ○ people/authors ○ editing process ○ etc. ● No demonstrable experience, knowledge ○ = more than just an author + bio! (right, Chantal? 😉) 1. Content creation not transparent

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119 From the Google Leak (May 2024): ● author – Document author(s) / Author of article ● authorName – The username of the author of the microblog post represented by this node. ● proﬁleUrl – Contains the link to the author’s proﬁle url on the platform. ● qualityAuthorshipAuthorAnnotations ● topicExpertise – A topic that creator has expertise in. ● topicalityRank – Rank of the entity when sorted by topicality score. We know Google measures this https:/ /www.edwords.nl/2024/08/08/20-seo-tactieken-onderbouwd-met-de-google-leak/

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120 ● Relatively many ads and/or aﬃliate links ○ Is there a reason to exist, other than just making money from traﬃc? ● No branding ● Spray and pray content ○ wanting to rank on every topic/keyword 2. No brand, no authority, no added value

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121 From the Google Leak (May 2024): ● siteQualityStddev – Estimate of site’s PQ rating stddev–spread of the page-level PQ ratings of a site ● pqData – Encoded page-level PQ signals. ● lowQuality – S2V low quality score: converted from quality_nsr.NsrData, applied in Qstar ● GibberishScore – The gibberish score is represented in 7 bits, going from 0 to 127. ● siteFocusScore – Number denoting how much a site is focused on one topic. ● siteAuthority – site_authority: converted from quality_nsr.SiteAuthority, applied in Qstar ● authorityPromotion -authority promotion: converted from QualityBoost.authority.boost ● unauthoritativeScore – Unauthoritative score. Used as one of the web page quality qstar signals We know Google measures this https:/ /www.edwords.nl/2024/08/08/20-seo-tactieken-onderbouwd-met-de-google-leak/

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122 ● Little/no own content ○ often just referring to other sites ● No original content and/or added value ○ even if the content is good! 3. No own content, experiences, etc.

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123 From the Google Leak (May 2024): ● copycatScore ● OriginalContentScore – The original content score is represented as a 7-bits, going from 0 to 127. Only pages with little content have this field. ● contentEffort – LLM-based effort estimation for article pages ● topicalityWeight – The topicality_weight for each link with this target URL. We know Google measures this https:/ /www.edwords.nl/2024/08/08/20-seo-tactieken-onderbouwd-met-de-google-leak/

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Ask for diﬀerent SEO

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Fundamental SEO changes 125 Old world ❌ ● Publish more content ● Keyword research > brieﬁng > copywriting > publish ● Build (buy) links ● Equate high-scoring competitors ● Hire copywriters ● Optimize for rankings & traﬃc New world ✅ ● Publish the best content ● Uncover customer insights > content production > publish ● Build authority & a brand ● Provide information gain (go beyond general knowledge) ● Hire experts & researchers ● Optimize for customer satisfaction

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SEO grew up Many SEOs didn't

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Very well said 👌 127 https:/ /searchengineland.com/seo-grew-up-seos-didnt-447249

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SEO strategy implication ⚠

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129 1. All content is created based on customer insights not only based on keywords 2. All pages on entire site must be of high quality not only the most important pages 3. All content is your own, original content that experts, experienced people and/or researchers have contributed to not just copywriters 4. All pages provide information gain to users not only common kwoledge 5. All pages are optimized and judged on customer satisfaction not only rankings or traﬃc 5 new SEO principles

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130 Be the one that is most adaptable to change!

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131 And you’ll survive the next Google update 💪

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Thanks! @edwords [email protected] Join the waitlist 👉 https:/ /seopro.academy

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