Hi there! It's Olga Zarr from SEOSLY.

It's been two weeks since you last heard from me. I had to take a short break to recharge after overworking myself again. Now, I'm back with a refreshed mind and body, ready to dive back into SEO and share my passion with you! 😁

The best news? I'll be dedicating more time to sharing my knowledge through YouTube videos, articles, and my SEO course.

Today, I bring you a recap of the most important SEO updates and must-see resources. Plus, keep an eye out for another email coming soon in a new format—focusing on one topic at a time instead of covering multiple ones in one go.

Now, let’s dive into this newsletter!

THE LATEST IN SEO

Google's August 2024 Core Update Causes Significant Ranking Volatility

Google's August 2024 core update, which ran from August 15 to September 3, caused major fluctuations in search rankings across various industries. Data providers reported high volatility, with Similarweb noting "the highest fluctuation level observed since 2021." Despite its impact, Google stated that the March 2024 update was still their largest core update ever.

Google Updates Crawler Documentation, Clarifies Product Impact

Google has reorganized and expanded its documentation on crawlers and user-triggered fetchers. The update includes new sections detailing which Google products are affected by each crawler and provides robots.txt examples for each. Barry Schwartz reports, "Google also expanded what product each crawler affects with a new section next to each crawler and added a robots.txt snippet for each crawler to demonstrate how to use the user agent tokens."

IndexNow Protocol Improves Search Engine Indexing for Various Industries

Fabrice Canel from Microsoft Bing, explains how IndexNow can enhance search engine visibility for different types of websites. The protocol allows webmasters to instantly notify search engines about content changes, improving indexing efficiency and search result accuracy. Canel provides specific guidelines for when and how shopping sites, video platforms, travel sites, and low-engagement websites should use IndexNow to maximize their online presence.

SearchGPT: What you need to know about OpenAI’s search engine

OpenAI's SearchGPT, an AI-powered search engine, combines traditional search capabilities with advanced conversational abilities, providing direct answers and insights rather than a list of links. The tool's key features, including a conversational interface and transparent citations, could significantly impact digital marketing strategies by emphasizing conversational content, rich media integration, earned media importance, and the need for high-quality, regularly updated content.

Google Search adds Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine links to about this page

​Google Search now includes Internet Archive's Wayback Machine links in its "About this page" feature, offering users access to previous versions of webpages after removing the cache link from search results.

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SEO STUFF FOR YOU FROM OLGA ZARR (LAWYER SEO)

Law Firm SEO Guide: How to Rank #1 on Google (Avoid These Mistakes!)

In this video, I'll dive deep into the world of lawyer SEO and share my expert strategies to help you dominate the search results and attract more clients.

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Personal Injury Lawyer SEO Keyword Tactics Almost No One Is Using!

In this video, I analyze the keyword "personal injury lawyer" for the Chicago area. This video aims to show how to analyze a keyword, evaluate competitors, and optimize a webpage for better rankings.

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Google Search Console for Law Firms and Lawyer Websites

In this video, I'm diving deep into Google Search Console for lawyer SEO. I'll walk you through:

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Show Me Your Headings And I Will Tell You Who You Are (Heading Structure in Lawyer SEO)

In this episode, I dive deep into the importance of proper heading structure on the example of lawyer websites.

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If you are interested in SEO for lawyers, you cannot miss my super long and detailed guide on lawyer SEO.
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7 Common Mistakes New SEO Consultants Make

Thinking about becoming an independent SEO consultant? It’s a rewarding path, but there are a few common mistakes that can trip you up early on.

Here are the top 7 pitfalls I’ve seen—and how to steer clear of them.

1️⃣ Not Building Your Brand – Without a strong personal brand, you’ll struggle to stand out. Define what makes you unique from the start. Are you a tech SEO expert? A content optimization specialist? Whatever it is, make sure the world knows it.

2️⃣ Skipping a Website – Your website is your digital business card. It showcases your skills, expertise, and what makes you different. Plus, it’s a platform where you control everything—don’t rely on social media alone!

3️⃣ Only One Income Source – Relying on a single client or income stream is risky. Diversify by working with multiple clients, creating courses, or building a following on platforms like YouTube and newsletters. The more income streams, the more secure you’ll be.

4️⃣ Not Sharing Your Knowledge – Don’t keep your SEO knowledge a secret! Sharing tips, case studies, or tutorials builds trust and attracts clients. The more you share, the more you show off your expertise. It’s one of the best ways to market yourself.

5️⃣ Underestimating Projects – It's easy to get caught up in over-delivering when you're new. But don’t make the mistake of working for free. Set clear scopes for every project and charge for any extra work outside the agreement.

6️⃣ No Boundaries With Clients – You’re your own boss now, which means you set the rules. Make sure to establish boundaries with clients early on. This helps prevent burnout and ensures you can keep delivering great work without sacrificing your personal life.

7️⃣ No Newsletter – Don’t overlook the power of building a loyal audience from day one. Starting a newsletter not only helps you stay in touch with potential clients but also builds a long-term community that can support your future projects, whether that’s courses, services, or sponsorships.

Make sure to read my entire article on Search Engine Journal about that topic.

UPDATES FROM GOOGLE

Google Search adds Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine links to about this page

​Google Search now includes Internet Archive's Wayback Machine links in its "About this page" feature, offering users access to previous versions of webpages after removing the cache link from search results.

Let's talk shopping markup

In this episode of Search Off the Record, Irina Tuduce from the shopping team joins John Mueller and Lizzi Sassman to chat all things shopping data, from schema.org to feeds spec. Listen along as we chat about how shopping infrastructure gets its data, why pricing data can be tricky, and what the Shopping team has been working on this year.

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Google Trends Advanced Tips

In this episode of Google Trends Tutorials, Daniel Waisberg, Search Advocate at Google, and Omri Weisman, Google Trends Engineering Manager, showcase Google Trends advanced features such as special characters and detailed comparison filters. Watch along to learn a few tricks to make the most out of Google Trends data.

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SEO TIPS

Google's Martin Splitt Confirms Exif Data Not Used for Ranking

​Martin Splitt from Google's Search team stated at SMX Advanced in London that Google does not use Exif (Exchangeable image file format) data for ranking purposes. This clarifies conflicting information from previous years, with Gary Illyes making a similar statement in 2019. However, it contradicts earlier statements from Matt Cutts in 2014 and John Mueller in 2017. Barry Schwartz notes, "I will say it is weird that Martin Splitt answered a ranking question - I thought he had a policy to never discuss ranking."

DON'T MISS THESE SEO RESOURCES

AI Overviews Significantly Impact SEO Landscape, Study Finds

A comprehensive analysis of over 546,000 AI Overviews (AIOs) reveals significant changes in domain visibility and citation trends. The study, conducted by Kevin Indig, shows that social networks like YouTube and LinkedIn are among the most cited sources in AIOs, while only 12.1% of top 20 search results appear in AIO citations. Indig states, "AIOs can lead to a significant traffic decrease of -10%," emphasizing the importance of understanding and optimizing for this new search feature.

Glenn Gabe Warns Against Back Button Hijacking, Explores Potential Impacts on Google RankingsArticle

​Glenn Gabe examines the practice of hijacking browser back buttons by publishers to keep users on their sites, potentially gaming Google's Navboost system. While this tactic may increase pageviews and ad revenue, Gabe warns it could anger users and negatively impact SEO. He suggests Google should consider policy changes, stating, "If manipulating engagement is impacting rankings (even a little), then maybe Google needs to do something about it."

The Expert SEO Guide To URL Parameter Handling

​Jes Scholz provides a comprehensive guide on handling URL parameters for SEO, explaining their potential negative impacts on crawling, indexing, and search visibility. The article outlines various solutions, including limiting parameter-based URLs, using rel="canonical" tags, implementing meta robots noindex tags, utilizing robots.txt disallow, and converting dynamic to static URLs, while emphasizing that the best approach depends on individual website priorities.

Hreflang and Canonical Tags: The Right Ways to Use Both

​Jake Serota discusses the correct implementation of hreflang and canonical tags for improved SEO performance. He provides examples of both tags in HTML and outlines their positive impacts on SEO, including improved user experience, consolidated link equity, and increased crawling efficiency.

SERP analysis 101: How can I rank for this keyword?

​Gus Pelogia discusses the importance of SERP (Search Engine Results Page) analysis in determining keyword ranking potential. He emphasizes understanding Google's interpretation of user intent for specific searches, explaining various SERP features like local packs, knowledge panels, and shopping results.

Marie Haynes Explains Google's 'Twiddlers' and Their Impact on Search Rankings

​Marie Haynes explores Google's use of 'Twiddlers', C++ code objects that help reorder search results. These algorithms, part of Google's Superroot ranking framework, make recommendations to re-rank web pages based on various signals. Marie advises SEOs to focus on meta descriptions, create diverse and original content, and consider content freshness to potentially benefit from Twiddler-based ranking adjustments. She states, "Even if I'm wrong on this, the snippet shown in search results can influence user click behaviour, which we know is important to the Navboost system."

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