Summary of SEO 101 Episode 366
Ross and guest co-host Scott Van Achte briefly discuss the results of the September Google Algorithm Update, followed by improvements in Video analytics via the Google Search Console.
Next up, Bingbot now indexes with Chrome, and a multitude of SEO questions are answered.
Notes from SEO 101 Episode 366
September Core Update
Looks like core area impacted were YMYL sites – RankRanger Blog
Did Google’s latest core update impact YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) sites more than others? Check out the Volatility Chart here.
Bingbot goes evergreen – Search Engine Land
Microsoft announced last week that Bing is transitioning to Chromium-based Edge browser. SEOs and developers will likely see the change over the next few months.
New reports for video results in Search Console – Google Webmaster Blog
Google introduced two new tools to help webmasters understand how their videos perform in Search and to identify and fix video issues.
Below are the highlights from the article:
- There are three main ways people can see videos on Google Search today: on the main Search page; on the videos Search tab; and in Discover.
- A new report for “Videos” is now available in Search Console for sites that use structured data to annotate videos. The report allows you to see any errors and warnings for markup implemented on your site. When you fix an issue, you can use the report to validate if it was resolved by re-crawling your affected pages.
- The Search Console performance report already includes an option to see the performance of your video tab search results (type = video). Google has extended its support for videos, so you can now also see the performance of your videos in the main Search results tab (type = web) and in Discover using the new “Videos” appearance.
Local SEO News Segment (Weekly) 
Google’s Spin: “Making Review Rich Results more helpful” – Google Webmasters Blog
On Sept. 16, Google introduced algorithmic updates to reviews in rich results.
“What they’re saying here is they’re actually removing the ability for you to get star ratings from your website.” – Ross
Which service-area business types perform best in local search? – Search Engine Land
Below are some questions addressed in the article:
- How do consumers discover service-area businesses on Google?
- Do consumers look for service-area businesses on Google Maps?
- How do consumers contact service-area businesses?
- How many images do service area business’ Google My Business listings have?
- So, what should service-area businesses do to improve their Google My Business listings?
Questions from SEO 101 Listeners
Ross and John also welcome some SEO-related concerns from listeners. Please listen to the show to find out their detailed answers to these questions.
Q: “Is silo SEO still good practice? I have my blog section and all posts URL are /blog/post-url. I have been thinking about switching some of the posts that talk about cocktail making to /how-to/post-url. Thoughts?” – Carl B.
A: “Yes, siloing is still a good practice.” – Ross
Q: “One of my clients received a GMB notice that his profile has been updated with the addition of a city that he does not go to. It was listed as a new service area. We cannot figure out how to remove it. Any advice?” – Steven K.D.
A: “This is a tricky, tricky one… I would go to somewhere like the Local Search Forum and ask some of the people there.” – Ross
Q: “I have a client whose site 302 redirects each URL to the .HTML version. Example: Domain.com/aboutpage redirects to Domain.com/aboutpage.html and Domain.com/contactpage redirects to Domain.com/contactpage.html etc…
This is true for 400+ pages this site has. What’s the significance of adding canonicals for each of these pages? This would be time-consuming so is it worth it?” – Jacob F.
A: “I think we need to address why there are 302 redirects and not 301 redirecting.” – Scott
End of Show Notes
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