Summary of SEO 101 Episode 356

The SEO 101 Logo for WebmasterRadio.FMJohn and Ross weigh in on the bugs that have been plaguing Google’s index at a never-before-seen level. They discuss what can be done in cases where it is not clear why a site is not ranking well on Google, and how 2000-era SPAM can still be the culprit in an example Ross encountered this past week.

Last up, the hosts discuss snippets as well as the surprising level of detail Yandex Webmaster Tools appears to provide.

Important Links from SEO 101 Episode 356

Google Indexing Bug on May 22nd – Google Webmasters

One after another, Google indexing bug issues have continued to plague the search engine giant. On early morning of May 22nd, Google stopped indexing new content, causing yet another stir among SEOs and publishers.

Google confirmed that morning that they were “experiencing indexing issues that may cause stale search results.” Later in the evening, they announced the issues were fixed. The latest bug was not expected to impact Google Search Console data.

Google Won’t Show Content Hidden Within Tabs In Search Snippets – Search Engine Roundtable

Google says content hidden behind tabs on mobile pages will be used for indexing and ranking. However, this content won’t appear in the snippets in search results.

Because users won’t be able to see the hidden content by default, it won’t have to be shown in search result snippets, as per Google.

Yandex Webmaster Tools: SEOs Should Check It Out – Search Engine Roundtable

Aleyda Solis has urged fellow SEOs to check out the Yandex webmaster tools. She described it as a “handy free SEO tool” that will be helpful to users even to those not optimizing for Russian search engine Yandex.

Among its impressive features include internal and external links reports, an important pages tracking feature, a customisable site architecture report, and more.

Cars.com vs. CarGurus.com saga shows the importance of SEO – Search Engine Land

“If your competitor gets hits by Google…take advantage of that opportunity to get ahead.”

Google’s March 2019 core update gave Cars.com a massive win, with the company enjoying a 49% increase in search visibility since. On the other hand, its big rival CarGurus.com saw a significant drop in its Google rankings post-update.

Apparently, while Cars.com SEO strategy was content focused, CarGurus.com SEO Strategy was link focused.

End of Show Notes

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