Hamsterdam Part 27: SEO News Recap from 10/9 to 10/15

By Ethan Lazuk

Last updated:

November 13, 2024

A weekly look-back at SEO news, tips, and other content shared on social media & beyond.

Quote source: Fabrice Canel

Opening notes:

*Feel free to jump down to the recap, or keep reading for an introduction and summary of the week’s news!

Introduction to week 27: “Knock with Me – Rock with Me”

A two part introduction, if you’ll allow me. 🙂

First, while this is an SEO recap, life is bigger than SEO.

Those are wise words I’ve seen and heard many experienced practitioners share from time to time. To excel in a craft means to dedicated yourself to it, but also to keep it all in context.

One thing I’ve learned about SEO is the answer is often nuanced; what applies on this website might not apply on another.

By appreciating that complexity, we can somehow focus more easily on the universal principles that underpin it all, taking a unique approach to each situation, yet understanding the common connections to do what’s right in general.

Ok, that leads to part two, the journey towards a focus on the basics, including content quality and expertise.

In a recent interview hosted by Jason Barnard on Kalicube Tuesdays (on a Friday), Fabrice Canel was asked about the hockey stick growth of AI and how we can keep up. Canel’s response (around the 51 minute mark) was to “be grounded” and go back to basics, focusing on what search engines are communicating in their guidelines. (The video is available below, as well as linked below the image above.)

Who created the content, why was it created, and how is it presented? The more we focus on creating website experiences users want to have, including the types of helpful, people-first content that Google and Bing want to serve them, the more we’ll future-proof our work.

Change will come, adjustments will be needed, but the fundamental needs of the user to get factual information from an authoritative source that satisfies their intent aren’t going anywhere.

Buckle up for a full week’s recap.

Summary of the week’s SEO news and content

The October 2023 core update is still in progress, so expect to hear analysis of that in coming weeks. In the meantime, this week saw a lot of advice around content creation — imagine that 😉 — as well as the introduction of cool new tools and reporting tips.

But don’t just take my word for it! All of this info and more is contained below in the weekly recap.

Notes:

If the article times out on mobile, my apologies. Please try viewing on a desktop or WiFi.
I’ve cut back on the amount of info I include; if you’d like to see more, scrolling through my likes on X or following the people in this recap is probably the best place to start. 😉

Missed last week’s recap? Don’t worry, I got you! Read Part 26 to catch up.

Okay, time for (home)work.

Enjoy the recap below! And please support content you find valuable with a like or follow. 🙂

SEO news, Google updates, & SERP tests

These are newsworthy events in the SEO world from the last week or SERP tests to be aware of.

Google-Extended does not stop Google Search Generative Experience from using your site’s content https://t.co/OHFVq6r20l
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) October 9, 2023

Google people also ask carousels with cards https://t.co/FBfEC7HQh5 via @MordyOberstein pic.twitter.com/lfGq7EuoNt
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) October 10, 2023

We stopped doing "indented results" a few weeks ago, and it's unrelated to the core update. Especially with continuous scroll, it wasn't as helpful as in the past. Our site diversity system still works to generally show only two results from the same site in the top results,…
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) October 12, 2023

SEO tips & tidbits

This section has actionable tips, cool tidbits, or other findings and observations that can be teaching moments.

🔥✌️Can structured data help with an E-E-A-T evaluation?👇 #seo #eeat

Google need to recognize entities like authors and organizations and their websites to handle an evaluation according to E-E-A-T.👇
— ✌️Oᒪᗩᖴ KOᑭᑭ 🔥 (@Olaf_Kopp) October 11, 2023

SEO fundamentals & resources

If you’re new to SEO, this section includes essential information, concepts, or resources to learn more about.

.
THIS … is a common occurrence.

G ranks A, B and C … all similar.
So, you produce D, which is nigh identical.

(This is also how comes we ended up with "LongForm", and all the Paraphrased crap, and those lovely Recipes that tell us Granma's history.

But …#SEO https://t.co/pIAZKZmvPc
— Darth Autocrat (Lyndon NA) (@darth_na) October 9, 2023

Website crawling is fundamental to SEO. Help the search engine bots discover your content more efficiently when you follow these top 5 tips.https://t.co/rzISzgZK48 #sitecrawling #contentstrategy #SEOtips #searchmarketing pic.twitter.com/qAuJDdQH2e
— SearchEngineJournal® (@sejournal) October 14, 2023

Articles, videos, case studies & more

These are longer-form content shared on social.

🎯Goal: Make LLMs like ChatGPT as accessible as possible

✍️Content: Beginner’s Guide to LLMs: https://t.co/YxEZm91p8Z

✅Zero technical knowledge required
— Britney Muller (@BritneyMuller) October 9, 2023

Check out the awesome list of tips that @greggifford collected from #pubcon in Austin a few weeks ago…https://t.co/katIDg9FKo
— SearchLab (@SearchLabAgency) October 10, 2023

Okay, I love this by @Zooglymedia

A 6-minute process to diagnose E-E-A-T issues https://t.co/GZ1DI2POCg
— Lidia Infante (@LidiaInfanteM) October 10, 2023

Here's my full Google Helpful Content Update research.

I spent 180+ hours and thousands on collecting and processing the data, experimenting and validating results. Charts and recovery info included.

Constantly updated with the latest test results.https://t.co/aWKmzGFTJp
— Eric Lancheres (@ericlancheres) October 11, 2023

You’re not doing SEO right if you’re ignoring customer pain points.

Teaming up with sales and customer service to identify these pain points will give you the insights necessary to address the needs of your audience.

Learn more: https://t.co/iyq2qmYbGa
— iPullRank Digital Marketing Agency (@iPullRankAgency) October 12, 2023

Brand Entity SEO – Whiteboard Friday – Jes Scholz

Local SEO

If you’re into local Search, this section is for you!

Why can’t I edit that Q&A?@clairecarlile explains that only the account that wrote the question can edit it.

Doesn’t matter if you’re a GBP owner or a manager. If someone else wrote the Q&A, only they can edit it.#localu #localseo
— Darren Shaw (@DarrenShaw_) October 13, 2023

Technical SEO

Yep, it still matters. 😉

Okay, WordPress tag pages got sameAs (or at least mappable to) tags :)) My not so secret agenda for marketing communications with a view to the Web of Data is moving forward 🙂 pic.twitter.com/ASj0KF5Wr2
— Teodora Petkova (@TheodoraPetkova) October 10, 2023

SEO Tip: when doing index coverage analysis for large sites (100K+ pages), one of my favourite and easiest methods to use is filtering by sitemap.

If the site has all of their XML sitemaps submitted individually in Google Search Console, you're able to see data for the total… pic.twitter.com/XOnftuQYbb
— Brodie Clark (@brodieseo) October 11, 2023

Step by step guide to audit how Google is rendering your content!https://t.co/nr0rqXduIg
— Mike Ginley (@mikeginleyseo) October 10, 2023

Content marketing

What’d SEO be without content?

This one is more nuanced. A blog about NYC tips, which – as a NYC local – caught my attention.

All articles are anonymous because site claims "it's about NYC, not our authors" but site also claims they're experienced NYC locals that are writing from real experience… (1/2) pic.twitter.com/vuTm6NnP3L
— Lily Ray 😏 (@lilyraynyc) October 9, 2023

I've said it before but the whole business model of hiring cheap, non-subject matter expert writers to crank out commodity "SEO content" at scale to rank is coming to an end.

Not only can AI create that kind of content from a workflow standpoint, Google won't reward it anyway.🧵
— Blair MacGregor (@blairmacgregor) October 9, 2023

Don't blindly use AI to create "topical maps" and start writing content.

Those aren't 'Real Topical Maps'. Topical maps should be created with "avoid keyword cannibalization" in mind. If you don't, then what's the point of a topical map?

One key benefit of real topical maps… pic.twitter.com/A9hfaGmFQq
— Yoyao (@yoyaoh) October 9, 2023

Dear "SEO content writers…"

You can get the Featured snippet for your term without putting a huge "What is X?" H2 tag at the beginning of your article.

Focus on your readers, not on Google. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/CJYw0f3bX8
— Tim Soulo 🇺🇦 (@timsoulo) October 11, 2023

many content marketers try to write interesting titles for boring blog posts

in the best-case scenario—people actually click into your article—you're just setting the reader up for a disappointing mismatch between expectation and reality

describing a boring thing with…
— Ryan Law (@thinking_slow) October 13, 2023

Every time you make a claim, your next sentence must support it.

Don’t hope readers believe you.

Give them a reason to.

❌ Do this. Trust me.

✅ Do this. Here’s why. Here’s how. Don’t trust me, go try it yourself. Then report back.
— Erica Schneider (@ericasmyname) October 15, 2023

🤔 Tired of ending articles with “Conclusion” or “Final Thoughts”? @himani_kankaria is sharing 5 creative alternatives via @missivedigital that resonate with readers & search engines. Check it out! https://t.co/40An6VOMcJ
— Gray Dot Company (@GrayDotCo) October 10, 2023

Tools, AI & reporting

Here’s a recap of updates to tools, and new tools, along with tips for reporting on data.

Google Search Console Data & BigQuery For Enhanced Analytics. Get unlimited data from Google Search Console with bulk exports to BigQuery. No messy API setup, no pesky 1,000 row limitations. : https://t.co/fN5LWxFK6K #Google #searchconsole #SEO
— SearchEngineJournal® (@sejournal) October 10, 2023

Google Trends: How To Use It For SEO & Content Marketing – Roger Montti

It does a better job if you tell it to case fold, stem, and remove stop words. pic.twitter.com/I64e0offv2
— Mic King (@iPullRank) October 14, 2023

Humor

Humor is subjective; hopefully, you find these funny as well!

Blasting out more content because your site lost traffic..?

That’s like getting a hair transplant because your girlfriend dumped you.

The solution isn’t a match to the problem.
— Niche Site Lady (@NicheSiteLady) October 11, 2023

Have a helpful content meme from the session I just ran on people-first content 🙂 pic.twitter.com/8mZmJh8p3B
— Chloe Smith 🪩 (@chloeivyroseseo) October 10, 2023

All time great SEO Twitter reply right here 👇👇👇 pic.twitter.com/rynR6z95M3
— Martin MacDonald 🐊🇧🇧🇺🇸🇪🇸🇬🇧 🦖 (@searchmartin) October 15, 2023

General Marketing & Miscellaneous

This is for great content that isn’t necessarily SEO (i.e., PPC, PR, dev, and content friends check it out!) or even marketing-specific.

If the final result looks simple, doesn't mean it was easy. Friendly reminder to treat other people's craft with respect.

🚫 Lazy thinking: “Looks easy, I could do it if I wanted to.”

✅ Rigorous thinking: “That looks easy bc they perfected their craft to make it look easy.”
— Wes Kao 🏛 (@wes_kao) October 11, 2023

TikTok Video: A lecture on Nothing by Nick Saban.

Sharing when you don’t know something can be a cheat code to growth.

Smart leaders share when they don’t understand.

Idiot leaders feel small when they don’t understand and pretend that everything is under control.

Here's the thing:

Openly admitting confusion often paves…
— Ross Simmonds (@TheCoolestCool) October 15, 2023

Great job making it to the end. You rock!

Show your support for creators: If you liked any of the content shared above, please support that person by liking their post or following them. 🙂

Hungry for more? Check out the past weeks of Hamsterdam.

Or sign up for the newsletter! (Until I get the form back up and running, feel free to shoot me an email to get added to the list.)

Want to work together on your brand’s SEO?

I’m currently taking clients for SEO and content audits and strategy consulting, and soon training. You can learn more about me on my about page.

Get in touch: hit me up on social at @EthanLazuk, by text or call at 813-557-9745, or via email at ethan.lazuk@gmail.com.

Cheers!

SEO Strategist u0026amp; Consultant

Ethan Lazuk