SEO 101 Episode 351 – The March Core Update, Neural Matching vs Rankbrain, and Local Q&A

Summary of SEO 101 Episode 351

John and Ross discuss the very little known details about Google’s March 2019 Core Update, and the definition and use cases of neural matching versus Rankbrain at Google.

Meanwhile, the SEO 101 Facebook Group continues to grow, and the hosts welcome questions to answer on the air. Lastly, some Mueller files are noted along with one about rel=next and rel=prev that really gets John and Ross ranting.

Important Links from SEO 101 Episode 351

Google on the March 2019 core update: This is not the biggest update we’ve released – Search Engine Land
The latest March core update to Google’s algorithms has caused a bit of a stir and Google is offering little-to-nothing in terms of insight into its purpose.

Google’s neural matching versus RankBrain: How Google uses each in search – Search Engine Land
“Neural matching helps Google better relate words to searches, while RankBrain helps Google better relate pages to concepts.” This description is great at providing some clarity to this often confusing topic.

Membership News for the Private SEO 101 Facebook Group
The new Facebook Group that took over for SEO 101’s large Google+ Community is already 61 members strong!

SMX Overtime: The new realities of local search – Search Engine Land
The hosts discuss an excellent presentation by Damian Rollison at SMX Advanced. The presentation discusses other important local platforms than Google and some of the major issues Google is facing with its local systems, and much more.

The Mueller Files

Our weekly section of commentary from Google’s John Mueller.

• Rel=prev/next Is Not An Indexing Signal Anymore; Help Docs Removed – Search Engine Round Table
  The SEO industry gets a bit miffed when Google announces rel=prev/next hasn’t been important for a while now…
• Google: Most Algorithm Updates Have Incremental Changes to Previous Updates – Search Engine Journal
  John didn’t directly reference the latest update but mentions it is normal for new updates to continue to build on past updates.
• Links that Google Ignores – Search Engine Journal
  Discussions around a range of link building techniques that Google ignores.
• Differentiate Structured Markup Between Recorded & Live Stream Videos – Search Engine Round Table
  It is important to use the appropriate structured data for video content to differentiate between live streams and recorded video.

End of Show Notes

If you have any questions you would like to share with Ross and John, please feel free to post them on the SEO 101 Facebook Group. And, if you enjoy SEO 101 on WebmasterRadio.FM please consider supporting the hosts with feedback on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or your favourite podcast stream.