Hamsterdam Part 46: SEO News Recap from 2/19 to 2/25, 2024
By Ethan Lazuk
Last updated:
A weekly look-back at SEO news, tips, and other content shared on social media & beyond.
*Updated with news from Feb. 24th & 25th. (Early version was published Friday.) // If you’re on a mobile device, might give this an extra second to load. (Lots of embeds!) 🙂
Opening notes:
>> The SEO for Paws Charity Live Stream is upcoming on February 29th. Mark your calendar!
>> Relatedly, we put up a new profile page for Wuffiyah, our rescue dog.
*Updates since Friday
News
Tips, tactics & tidbits
Recent Articles
What is a Headless CMS – dev.to
Stable Diffusion 3 is a new AI image generator that won’t mess up text in pictures, its makers claim – engadget.com
What is a long context window? – Google, The Keyword
Circle to Search won’t work if Google isn’t your default assistant (Update) – Android Authority
How to craft killer CTAs that convert B2B prospects – MARTECH
Refresher articles
Misc.
*Feel free to jump down to the rest of this week’s recap, or continue for an introduction and summary of the week’s news!
Introduction to week 46: “that’s the brand”
One of the last big accounts I worked on agency side before going out on my own was a company that owned dozens if not hundreds of product brands, and now it was establishing their ecommerce presences.
Some products had brand awareness — they were sold by Walmart, featured on Shark Tank, etc. — others were relative unknowns.
Segmenting non-branded from branded clicks in Google Search Console was one of the ways we evaluated the impact of our SEO work, but another was measuring CTR increases for branded queries.
In essence, we approached each product from both ends.
I saw how paid ads, influencer marketing, and email campaigns intersected with organic search traffic differently depending on the product category but also the level of brand awareness.
I also witnessed how in crowded transactional or even informational intent SERPs, brand recognition influenced user behavior, sometimes more than visibility/rankings. That created a feedback loop, sometimes for us, other times for competitors.
To give an offline example, I shop at Trader Joe’s not because I like its products all that much. I go because I love to fight over parking. No, just kidding! I actually go because I like the brand.
Now, getting away from oatmeal and dried mango slices and back to SEO for a moment, this gets at a theme you’ll see explained by several articles in the recap below.
I also think Mr. Darth Autocrat sums it up well here:
So often we hear “SEO spam“ thrown around as terminology, especially these days.
Here is that term even being used by the CEO of Perplexity AI:
“The times of sifting through SEO spam, sponsored links, and multiple web pages will be replaced by a much more efficient way to consume and share information” [bold added].
In effect, “SEO spam” is its own brand now.
As a result, all SEO gets labeled as a singular activity of search manipulation:
And let’s be real.
That sentiment doesn’t come out of thin air:
But as many of us know, there is a spectrum of philosophies within SEO:
I’m aligned with Jono here.
I’ve also known SEOs who didn’t think this way initially, but came around after exposure to different sources of information.
In my mind, it’s a “people-first” vs. “search engine-first” mentality.
But it’s also a reflection of influence, experience, and objective.
Some learn better; others know better but don’t care.
I’m not here to say if we should believe everything we’re told by search engine companies or not, but I do think we can gain context by listening to their opinions/visions.
After all, they’re interests are driven by user interests, fundamentally.
For example, Google has a long history of “people-first” advice for content creators going back to 2002.
Its past CEO Eric Schmidt called brands a “solution” back in 2008.
Last year, Fabrice Canel of Bing talked about “qualified clicks“ in the context of AI Search on Copilot (then Bing Chat).
Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, also spoke in 2023 about “new incentives“ for SEOs to create more authoritative content.
This week, Rajan Patel, Google VP, described how, “Reddit plays a unique role on the open internet as a large platform with an incredible breadth of authentic, human conversations and experiences“ [bold added].
That sounds a lot like the language in a user’s comment on Hacker News from 2019:
We mentioned how Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity AI, used “SEO spam” terminology in a blog post in January.
This week, he also gave a quote in an interview about how with traffic from AI search, “there’s a very high intent there so you cannot measure the value of the traffic in the same way.” [Bold added.]
He also mentioned, “that’s the brand; there is a value for the brand. People pay for the brand.” [Bold added.]
So we have representatives from three search engines or AI answer engines, including CEOs, saying or hinting at similar themes:
- Low quality “SEO” content / authenticity
- Brand value
- Qualified or “high intent” clicks
At the same time, we have different schools of thought within the SEO industry, which can be summed up in different ways:
As someone who used to study political conversations every day, spanning all levels of sophistication, and who no longer follows politics, my opinion is that it’s always easier to inform open minds than to change behavior.
I believe in the power of brand building for SEO. That’s my focus.
However, I understand the reasons and incentives for why others might think and/or operate differently.
I’m not saying I condone it, but I also have no interest in arguing about it. Instead, I’ll focus on showing why I believe what I do. That’s part of my brand. 😉
Buckle up for a full week’s recap, and enjoy the vibes (<- Removed the embedded music video to help this load on mobile.)
Summary of the week’s SEO news and content
- Gartner report predicted 25% organic traffic decline by 2026; draws skepticism
- HouseFresh gave a case for big brand bias in Google Search; draws industry discussion
- Google added schema support for product variants, such as “sizes, colors, materials, or patterns”
- AJ Kohn gave an insightful interview about generative AI and brand representation
- Cyrus Shepard did an interesting correlation study for on-page factors associated with third-HCU traffic losses
- Google released Gemma open models from the same AI technology behind Gemini
- Google announced it’s the mystery partner behind the Reddit deal; sparks discussion, to say the least
- Lots more! (Again, will update again Sunday with the newsletter)
- Enjoy!
Missed last week? Don’t worry, I got you! Read Part 45 to catch up.
Thank you for supporting Hamsterdam and helping make SEO accessible to all!
Ok, time for (home)work.
Jump to a section of this week’s recap
- Top posts
- News, Google updates, & SERP tests
- SEO tips & tidbits
- Fundamentals & resources
- Articles, videos & case studies
- Local SEO
- Technical SEO
- Content marketing
- SEO tools, AI & reporting
- Humor section
- Miscellaneous & general posts
Or keep scrolling to see it all.
Also, feel free to support content you find valuable with a like, follow, or friendly comment.
Now, let’s step inside the white flags …
Top posts
These are highlights of news items, tips, or other content for the week. Great for when you just want a quick recap!
Winning & Losing Big Google Updates: 50-Site Case Study – Cyrus Shepard, Zyppy SEO
SEO news, Google updates, & SERP tests
These are newsworthy events in the SEO world, search engine updates, or SERP tests to be aware of from the last week.
SEO tips & tidbits
This section has actionable tips, cool tidbits, and other findings and observations that can be teaching moments.
SEO (and AI) fundamentals & resources
If you’re new to SEO, this section is for you and includes essential information, concepts, or resources to learn more.
Articles, videos, case studies & more
These are longer-form content pieces shared on social and elsewhere.
Thoughts on why big brands dominate Google. And how this is soon likely to change. – Marie Haynes, Marie Haynes Consulting
Local SEO
If you’re into local Search, this section is for you!
Technical SEO
Everything from basics to advanced techniques.
Content marketing
What’d SEO be without helpful content?
Tools, AI & reporting
Here’s a recap of AI news, SEO tool updates, new tools, along with tips for reporting on data.
Humor
Humor is subjective; these are funny!
General Marketing & Miscellaneous
This is for great content that isn’t necessarily SEO or marketing-specific. PPC, PR, dev, design, and social friends, check it out!
Social strategy workout routine – Gary Vaynerchuck (TikTok)
I took my shot at the Shopify President’s store – Oliver Kenyon
What we learned when we challenged our own video marketing formula – Marianna Nash, Think with Google
Great job making it to the end. You rock!
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Want help with your brand’s SEO?
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