Great presentation from @JohnMu at #SMX Virtual. Here's a thread with some interesting information. :)
Some ranking changes in 2021 (like core updates) will be harder/trickier to explain. Also, some updates will be aimed at helping "less SEO savvy sites".
Some recos from John for 2021: Look to reach a broader audience (diversify). Look to create repeat visitors. E.g. If people actively search for you, that's a sign you are doing things right. Also easier to rank if your brand is in the query... Build trust/awareness/authority.
Sites that are "technically better" (I'm assuming technical SEO here) have an advantage. Sometimes that's a small advantage, but can be bigger depending on the niche. It's good to get that advantage. Remember, content is king, but strive for strong technical SEO.
More from John: In 2021, there will be more ways to be more visible in Search. i.e. New ways of highlighting content. Google is actively working on this.
There is still much more to cover from John's presentation and I'm sure @rustybrick will cover more tomorrow. :)
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Google Morning Google Land! This is the 12/14 edition of "Core Update Notes". As expected, the update is landing, and in a big way for some sites already. I'm seeing big swings in search visibility based on running the numbers for over 3K sites previously impacted by major algorithm updates. Like with any broad core update, I'm seeing impact across verticals and countries (including health/medical, finance, gaming, affiliate, ecommerce, reference sites, news, media, and more). I still have many more sites to check and I'll cover more about what I'm seeing during the update.
So today is a good day to start checking your visibility trending across tools. Also, GSC data has starting coming in through 12/12 so at least GSC is catching up. I'll cover more about the update soon.
For site owners new to broad core updates, you should read my primer. It covers a number of important points about broad core updates, including Google's site-level quality algorithms, the different between relevancy adjustments, intent shifts, and quality problems, how "quality" is more than just content, how thin doesn't mean short, how older does not mean low quality, how broad core updates can impact all Google surfaces (beyond Web Search), how long it takes to recover, the "kitchen sink" approach to remediation, and more. gsqi.com/marketing-blog…
Good Morning Google Land! This is the 12/15 edition of "Core Update Notes". I shared yesterday how the December 2025 broad core update started to land, and in a big way. As expected, there is a lot of volatility so far based on the update (with some very big surges and drops). And that's across verticals and countries.
I continue to run the visibility numbers across many sites previously impacted by major algorithm updates. And that volatility leads me to others in each vertical impacted. For today, I'll share an interesting find. For a very sensitive YMYL category (within finance), many sites in that niche are seeing a lot of movement. There are some heavy hits there... while others surge into those top spots.
YMYL categories like that one are held to a higher standard algorithmically, so you can often see a lot of movement for health and medical, finance, legal, and more. Anyway, here are some screenshot from that finance niche...
In addition, make sure to check GSC since data is flowing in post-update launch. I'm seeing impact there for sites already. Stay tuned for more updates.
Quick update on the drop in FAQ snippets on mobile & the drop in video snippets in the SERPs.
FAQ snippets remain down on mobile based on the change on 4/5. And video snippets have plummeted for sites where the videos are not the main content (starting on 4/13). No change there:
And if you're interested in the video snippets drop, definitely check out my post about the situation. I published that last Saturday: gsqi.com/marketing-blog…
Heads-up, Google removed many FAQ snippets on 4/5 from the mobile SERPs, but many remained on dtop. With the latest unconfirmed update, those dtop FAQ snippets are now gone. That makes sense & almost seemed like an oversight... I'm seeing this across many sites. It's widespread:
Nice that Google added "Spammy" to autogenerated content. It used to just say "autogenerated content intended to manipulate search rankings. Again, this is a tough area for Google with AI writing software on the move. :)
Google also included "Thin" in the guideline for affiliate pages. They did have "thin" in the description in the past, but I think it's a good idea they added "thin" in the specific guideline title. Avoids confusion with affiliate content vs. thin affiliate content.
Quick update on the July Product Reviews Update. As others started noticing yesterday (like @vladrpt), the PRU really started to kick in. Visibility tools are just starting to show the impact, but GSC & GA show the reality already... I'll be sharing more data soon:
Here are some screenshots of visibility changes *just starting* to show for sites impacted. I'm sure the tools will show much more visibility swings starting tomorrow. Again, GSC and GA show much more of the impact.
Also super-interesting to see the left-side facet test for queries that many review sites rank for. There's even a "reviews" facet there that appends "reviews" to the query. I don't think that fully rolled out w/the update, but worth noting. :)
Tired of basic tracking with Web Stories? Check out my latest post to exit the black hole of Web Story tracking – How To Track User Progress In Web Stories Via Event Tracking In Google Analytics gsqi.com/marketing-blog…
In my post, I cover how to use triggers, variables, and event tracking to understand how far users are progressing through your Web Stories, if they reach the end, and if they view your bookend. It's a much more powerful way to track Web Stories! gsqi.com/marketing-blog…
I also provide the final tracking snippet so you can use it to track your own Web Stories. And once you get the hang of triggers and variables, you can expand this framework to create even more advanced tracking. I think you'll dig it :) gsqi.com/marketing-blog…
Incredibly important section from Google's movie that was shared by @JohnMu late Friday. The segment starting at 31:22 about misinformation & YMYL queries was super-interesting. Watch the entire movie btw, but here's a thread w/more info from this section:
Google's Head of Search Ranking Pandu Nayak: "We have long recognized that there's a certain class of queries like medical or finance queries... in these cases authoritative sources are incredibly important."
More from Pandu: "We emphasize expertise over relevance in those cases so we try to get you resources from authoritative sources"
Engineer Meg Aycinena: "By authoritative we mean that the sources are reputable, are upfront about who they are, they themselves are citing sources"