Ethan Lazuk

SEO & marketing professional.

Hamsterdam Part 31: SEO News Recap from 11/6 to 11/12 (brightonSEO Edition!)

By Ethan Lazuk

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

Hamsterdam Part 31 SEO recap with quote from Danny Sullivan at brightonSEO San Diego.

Quote source: Jeff Ferguson on X

Opening notes:

This week is the brightonSEO edition! I’m a little jet lagged and probably missing some cool news of the week, but hope you enjoy the introduction and content below!

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

Introduction to week 31: “Never Cry Over Spilled Milk”

When I saw Danny Sullivan speak Friday morning at brightonSEO San Diego, I have to say, it really changed how I perceive some things.

He’s a well-known person (at least in SEO circles) speaking on behalf of the world’s most prominent search engine, and he’s doing a Q&A.

I was expecting a polished and corporate Apple product release presentation vibe.

Not. At. All.

My impression as a bystander from maybe 40 feet away was that Danny was speaking passionately and sincerely. It seemed to me he knows the position he’s in, that people will hang on and parse his every word, and that he has to be careful about what he says, but he’s not intentionally trying to be opaque, but rather he and others working on Google Search genuinely want quality results led by a people-first web, and not everyone with the power to influence rankings shares that goal.

Following the conference, I realized something about myself as well. I’m into Google documentation.

I’ve been involved in search marketing since 2015, and early on I was guilty of pumping out generic, search-engine first content, but I truly believe in the tenets of helpful content and aligning with E-E-A-T.

I know Google is a business and all that, but the reason I believe in Google documentation is because it’s heavily informed the strategies I’ve used to help businesses.

Danny showed a screenshot of an article about how to pour milk.

It was to demonstrate the concept of pointless content for clicks, and why some of the trends we’re seeing in search results may be happening.

Except the slide was from 2013.

He also had receipts from the pre-Google 1990s regarding search-engine first tactics like doorway pages (at the time known as “bridge” pages, I think he called them).

And does Google use clicks for ranking results?

Danny said the answer has been right there on the How Search Works page. I think he meant this section on “Relevance of content”:

“Beyond looking at keywords, our systems also analyze if content is relevant to a query in other ways. We also use aggregated and anonymized interaction data to assess whether search results are relevant to queries. We transform that data into signals that help our machine-learned systems better estimate relevance. Just think: when you search for “dogs”, you likely don’t want a page with the word “dogs” on it hundreds of times. With that in mind, algorithms assess if a page contains other relevant content beyond the keyword “dogs” — such as pictures of dogs, videos, or even a list of breeds.” [Highlights added.] 

– Google Search, How Search works, Ranking results

He also had a “people-first” reference from I believe 2002.

I was close enough to take pictures of all these slides, but I was too busy trying to parse his every word lol.

Anyway, infer from all that as you will, but I just want to say I thought brightonSEO San Diego 2023 was spectacular. I look forward to attending again in the future.

(Someday I also hope to have something uniquely valuable to contribute on a stage as well. We’ll see what happens with “11x content” and “SEO anthropology” (or maybe a new idea) down the line!)

Buckle up for a full week’s recap, and enjoy the vibes:

Summary of the week’s SEO news and content

  • Custom GPTs everywhere! So many to test — several shared in the tools section — but also, why not try making your own? (I’m working on one that gives SEO answers and related quotes from The Wire.) 🙂
  • Google November 2023 Reviews Update launched, the final time we’ll get an announcement of a reviews system update.
  • Google November 2023 Core Update still in progress.
  • Google SGE expands to 120+ countries.
  • Google launches “shop deals” and other ecommerce features for Chrome ahead of the holiday season in many countries.

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 30 to catch up.

Okay, time for (home)work.

The Big Lebowski is this your homework Larry scene.

Jump to a section of this week’s recap

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

Top posts

These are key news items, tips, or other content I felt were relevant to highlight for the week, particularly if you just want a quick glance.

As pointed out, the create your own GPT is a big development. A lot of people have been experimenting with these for different SEO purposes already. In general, I’d say pay attention to who shares the too, how it’s created, and its suggested uses. I’ve seen some GPTs shared on TikTok claiming to be for SEO that were questionable. I’ve also seen some brilliant use cases for hreflang, analytics, and perhaps even helpful content or quality evaluations.
Not only does this article have a reference to The Wire (OK, now you have to read it!), it’s also one of the best SEO articles to come out this year, exploring a whole range of items. As Danny Sullivan said at brightonSEO San Diego, Google isn’t perfect. Great read!

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.

SEO tips & tidbits

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

Ross Hudgens said this about above the fold copy:

Ross Hudgens post on LinkedIn about above the fold body copy.
Abby Gleason post on LinkedIn about A/B SEO title tag test.

SEO fundamentals & resources

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

The first thought I had after reading this was Cindy Krum’s presentation at brightonSEO San Diego, where she talked about how often the SERPs can change for a query, showing an example of a site ranking #1 in the regular organic results, yet each day the appearance of the result changed, impacting CTR.

Articles, videos, case studies & more

These are longer-form content shared on social.

This is one of the most interesting podcast episodes to listen to because of the presentation style. It’s fun yet super informational and a bit snarky, which I’m here for.
I watched this interview with Fabrice Canel live and read an article about it afterward, yet I still somehow missed the concept of cascading queries mentioned in here. Great read!

Local SEO

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

Technical SEO

Yep, it still matters. 😉

Content marketing

What’d SEO be without content?

Tools, AI & reporting

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

Humor

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

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.

Lil Wayne – Motivation and belief (Watch on TikTok)

Bill Hicks – General philosophy (Watch on TikTok)

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

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