🐹 Hamsterdam Part 78-79: Weekly SEO & AI News Recap (11/31 to 12/15, 2024)
By Ethan Lazuk
Last updated:
A weekly look-back at SEO & AI news, tips, and other content shared on social media & beyond.
Opening notes, thoughts, and musings:
- Welcome to another new week of Hamsterdam! 🐹
- I appreciate you being here, and look forward to sharing the week’s news! 🙌
- I was away traveling for a week, so this is a two-parter. Enjoy!
- The Christmas tree in Lake Eola Park (downtown Orlando) is lit up, so we bundled up to see it:
If you’re in a rush, hop down to the news portion. 📰
Or continue reading for two vocabulary lessons, this month in SEO history, plus an introduction.
And we’re off …
🎯 Marketing word of the week: “Niche market”
A niche market is a specific segment of a larger market, usually defined by having its own unique needs, preferences, and characteristics that differentiate it from the broader market.
Some of the characteristics that can define a niche market include demographics (age, gender, income, location), psychographics (lifestyle, values, interests), behavior (purchasing habits, usage patterns, brand loyalty), and geography (specific region or climate).
An example of a niche market might be plus-size athletic wear, which would fall under the broader market of clothing.
Niche markets tend to be less competitive than mass markets but require targeted marketing, stronger customer relationships, and usually brand loyalty.
🧐 AI word of the week: “Neural network”
A neural network is a machine learning model inspired by the human brain that consists of interconnected nodes (neurons) organized in layers. The network processes information to learn complex patterns from data.
Neurons are the basic units of a neural network, which receive input data and process a weighted sum of these inputs (including a bias) using a mathematical function called an activation function to produce output.
Data travels through connections between the layers of neurons and associated weights determine the connection’s strength. These weights are adjusted during training as the model learns the desired output.
A neural network with multiple hidden layers is considered a deep neural network (DNN).
Neural networks come in many different types and have various applications, such as natural language processing.
This month in SEO history: Macromedia Flash 1.0
In December of 1996, Macromedia released Macromedia Flash 1.0, the first version of what would become a ubiquitous multimedia software platform on the web.
Flash 1.0 originated as FutureSplash Animator, developed by FutureWave Software.
It was conceived as a two-part system with Macromedia Flash — the authoring tool used to create graphics and animations — and Macromedia Flash Player — a plugin that allowed users to view Flash content in their web browsers.
Key features of Flash 1.0 were its use of vector graphics that allowed for scalable images that didn’t lost quality when resized along with small file sizes, ideal for distribution over the internet, especially in the early days of slower connections.
Here’s an example from 1998 of what Flash graphics looked like:
🏈 🏀 ⚾️ Introduction to week 78-79: Sports card mania
Multimodal search seems like an increasingly large part of the future, and I’ve found Google Lens handy for a few purposes.
Most recently was pricing my card collectibles.
I took a trip to visit my parents in Helena, Montana recently, and spent some time reviewing my sports cards.
Thanks to Google Lens, I was able to snap a pic of the card and then (in most cases) be given a price for a comparable card, usually on eBay.
It was a nifty way to revisit my childhood collectibles to see which had accumulated value.
I also introduced my mom to Gemini. She found its multimodal capabilities particularly helpful for gardening (identifying plants), but she also got a kick out of the voice capabilities.
Seeing how easily people adapt to multimodal search (when they know its available) makes me think it’s primed to be a big piece of the future.
Thank you for supporting Hamsterdam and the cause of SEO & AI learning. 🙏
Enjoy the vibes:
Missed last week? Don’t worry, I got you! Read Part 77 to catch up.
🌟 Other great sources of weekly SEO news:
- The SEO Weekly – Garret Sussman, iPullRank
- SEOFOMO – Aleyda Solis
- Weekly Video Recaps – Barry Schwartz, SER
- Weekly SEO News YouTube channel – Olga Zarr, Seosly
- Niche Surfer – Yoyao Hsueh
Time for our weekly review of SEO social posts, articles, & more …
Now, let’s step inside the white flags of Hamsterdam …
⏩ Jump to a section:
- News, Google updates, & SERP tests
- SEO tips & tidbits
- Fundamentals & resources
- Articles, videos & case studies
- Local SEO
- Technical SEO
- Content marketing
- Local SEO
- Data analysis & reporting
- AI, LLMS, & machine learning
- Miscellaneous & general posts
- Older stuff that’s good!
Or keep scrolling to see it all. ⏬
📰 SEO news, Google updates, SERP tests & notable posts
Notable updates or news related to Google Search or related SEO topics.
🍟 SEO tips & tidbits
Actionable tips, cool tidbits, and other snackable findings and observations that can be teaching moments.
Essential information, concepts, or resources to learn about SEO or AI.
Longer-form content pieces shared on social, in newsletters, and elsewhere.
🧑💻 Technical SEO
Everything from basics to advanced moves (and also tools).
✍️ Content marketing
From what is helpful content to user journeys and beyond.
📍 Local SEO
From Google Business Profiles or reviews and more!
📊 Data analysis & reporting
Showing that what you’re doing is helping.
🤖 AI, machine learning, & LLMs
News related to models, papers, and companies.
🤔 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!
💎 Older stuff that’s good!
Not everything I find worth sharing is new as of this week, so these are gems I came across published in the past.
Great job making it to the end. You rock! 🪨
🤝 Want help with your SEO strategy?
I’m an independent SEO consultant focusing on custom audits and holistic strategies for brands. Don’t hesitate to reach out, or visit my about page for more information.
Let’s connect!
Hit me up anytime via text or call at 813-557-9745 or on social or email:
Cheers! ✌️
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