Looking for the premium members version? Log in here or become a member. 

Last week’s episode (274) See all episodes

Google released a new product reviews update. The system now affects many languages other than English. You can now export a bunch of GSC data to Big Query. There’s a bunch of info from me in this episode based on reviewing real sites. Plus some practical and new ChatGPT tips.

Covered in this episode:

• Close (but very early) look at a site doing well with the product reviews update.
• GSC to Big Query bulk data export is a big deal
• Helpful for Local Businesses
• SEO Jobs

In the full version:

• Looking at more sites with recent traffic drops.
• How I used ChatGPT to optimize a blog post and it went from page 11 to #5 on page one in 5 hours.
• Much more insight into Google’s helpful content system. (I believe most sites seeing significant losses recently are feeling the effects of Google’s helpful content classifier.)
• Insights learned from what we’ve seen so far from Bing’s AI chat
• The most helpful SEO tips I found this week
• The most interesting and helpful news on AI I could find
• Updates on my course, and community😲. I’ll be sharing more on this soon, but would like to invite paid newsletter subscribers to a group video call next week. We’ll have a group office hours type of discussion and then I’ll share what I’ve built so far and get your thoughts.

Join the free version of newsletter

You’ll get an email from me once a week with a link to this newsletter.

Become a paid member

Same email, plus also I email you as soon as I hear of a Google update happening. And you get a LOT more of my teachings and musings.

Become a paid member for $18 per month

This Product Reviews update now affects many languages alongside English.

If you were impacted, I'd recommend comparing pages that are winning now against your pages and try and determine which of these could be in play:https://t.co/lvkjPif78l

— Dr. Marie Haynes🐼 (@Marie_Haynes) February 21, 2023

I have not yet analyzed this update. It will take up to two weeks to roll out.

I quickly checked the analytics of sites I have access to that possibly could be impacted by a product reviews update. Most are seeing no change. But here is an interesting one. This is one of the sites we discussed in a recent group Zoom call.

On a quick look, the pages that are improving for this site are indeed reviews of products.

I have not had time to quickly analyze, but I looked to see what changes this site had made on product pages that are improving. While I cannot say with certainty that this change is what resulted in the increases, it makes sense to me.

Previously, the pages did a decent job of summarizing the review and putting the important information at the top as I have been recommending. However, they used to make the reader have to scroll through a screen’s worth of app recommendations (each with an affiliate link) before getting to the meat of their content. It looks like they have removed this content and replaced it with a much shorter call to subscribe to their newsletter.

The result is more actual helpful content is in front of the reader without them having to look too hard for it.

Please note: I’m not saying that I believe Google is penalizing sites for having affiliate content. But, if you have a lot of content, whether it’s affiliate links, carousels, images, or just text that no human will ever read, and it makes searchers have to work harder to find their answer, I think this could be worth playing around with. I have seen case after case of sites winning after these random unannounced updates we have been seeing and in each case the site that wins gets the important content in front of readers first.

I have shared more examples in the full version (of real websites) and how they can improve how they offer content to users to be more helpful.

This is a big deal for sites with lots of data!

Google just announced their new Google Search Console to BigQuery bulk data export 😃

I was lucky enough to get early access 🥳

Here's a GSC + GA4 BigQuery powered Looker Studio report you can use on your site🚀🚀🚀@googlesearchc @danielwaisberg https://t.co/8Y2UW7xlzC pic.twitter.com/gv9zCVNIdW

— Tony McCreath 🇺🇦 (@TonyMcCreath) February 22, 2023

Thoughts on the bulk data transfer service for GSC. (in no order)

1⃣We now all have access to our GSC data in Google Big Query for super fast reporting in Looker Studio.
2⃣ SQL will become a core SEO skill for anyone performing strategy as our datasets will outgrow Sheets.

— Noah Learner (He/Him) (@noahlearner) February 21, 2023

Some of the big pros for this new export:
– Cost savings, no need for third-party integrations that load data into BQ.
– A lower barrier for data accessibility, no need to learn the GSC API to get your data out.
– Ability for replicable dashboarding across sites.

— Martijn Scheijbeler (@MartijnSch) February 21, 2023

If you want to get into the world of BigQuery and SQL and you're feeling slightly overwhelmed, that's okay, we're all in this together 🌟
A few years ago, I needed to learn it for a new job – here are a few resources that can help get you started ⬇️

— Areej (@areej_abuali) February 22, 2023

Did something happen in local on February 16-17?

There is so much happening in Google’s algorithms now it is hard for even Dr. Pete and I to keep track:

I'm seeing a bump up in local packs and image results on our tracking SERPs (both had fallen somewhat over the past few months).

— Dr. Pete Meyers (@dr_pete) February 21, 2023

Business profile strength rolling out now

This seems to represent how complete your Google Business Profile is.

The Google Business Profile "profile strength" label is rolling out now and many local SEOs are not happy about it https://t.co/ArpGbSmyBK via @ClaudiaTomina @ColanNielsen @DarrenShaw_ pic.twitter.com/gkHeiYu2T2

— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 20, 2023

3. What's the info I need to complete, you ask?

Oh, it's that I need to sign up for Google Ads. pic.twitter.com/7Hcb0G11OY

— Darren Shaw (@DarrenShaw_) February 17, 2023

And before anyone freaks out, you need to be running Ads + Messaging enabled to get 100% – so its all a little borked. https://t.co/nWeazMpPUk

— Tim Capper (@GuideTwit) February 20, 2023

Do not use the opening date feature on GBP if you are temporarily closed

Local SEO Heads-up: Do NOT use the opening date feature on GBP if your business is temporarily closed.

If you set the opening date to a date in the future, your profile and your reviews will become INVISIBLE. 😱

via @SterlingSkyInc @JoyanneHawkins#seo #localseo pic.twitter.com/9WijbGhSwi

— Darren Shaw (@DarrenShaw_) February 15, 2023

Should you use ChatGPT for local content?

💬 Creating Local Content With AI – What You Need to Know

Our recent Chat GPT testing uncovered some interesting information. If you're utilizing AI to create local content, proceed with caution ⚠️

📹 https://t.co/X1769DGygZ pic.twitter.com/2PVvi4c51O

— Sterling Sky Inc (@SterlingSkyInc) February 17, 2023

More justifications seen in local results

Seeing double justifications on mobile, in this case from services and reviews. Woah, nice! pic.twitter.com/nMQnqzaqVN

— Amy Toman ❄️🎄❄️ (@BubblesUp) February 23, 2023

The services you use in GBP are important

Report via @JoyanneHawkins now shows that "services" in your Google Business Profile makes a much bigger impact on your local rankings https://t.co/ZTPq9wdQdX pic.twitter.com/aNuozPXbOX

— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 22, 2023

Looking for a new SEO job? SEOjobs.com is a job board curated by real SEOs for SEOs. Take a look at five of the hottest SEO job listing this week (below) and sign up for the weekly job listing email only available at SEOjobs.com.

• Senior SEO Account Manager ~ Greenlane ~ $80k-$95k ~ Remote
  
• SEO Manager ~ RiteAid ~ Remote
  
• SEO Specialist ~ Clearlink ~ $65k-$80k ~ Remote
  
• Senior SEO Associate ~ Bankrate ~ Remote
  
• SEO Digital Strategist ~ Ignite Visibility ~ Remote

Course – Helping site owners improve quality and helpfulness

The majority of this course is written although there is more to do yet!

Here is where this week’s surprise came for me…I had intended to publish this course as a Google Doc workbook that users could work their way through. It turns out though that there is a much better way. And it fits in so well with something that I have kept secret for several months now…I’ve shared much more in the paid version.

Consulting

I have closed my consulting calendar for now.

If you need SEO consulting, here are a few options:

• Sign up for my waiting list when I start doing site reviews again.
• Contact me for a recommendation to a professional. (Please know I’m only in email 1-2 times per week now so there may be a bit of a delay in my response.)

I hope you have found this week’s newsletter helpful! One final thought…it’s been almost three weeks now since Google said Bard was coming to Search first, “in the coming weeks”.

Why are they so silent?

In the full version of episode 275

• Looking at more sites with recent traffic drops.
• How I used ChatGPT to optimize a blog post and it went from page 11 to #5 on page one in 5 hours.
• Much more insight into Google’s helpful content system. (I believe most sites seeing significant losses recently are feeling the effects of Google’s helpful content classifier.)
• Insights learned from what we’ve seen so far from Bing’s AI chat
• The most helpful SEO tips I found this week
• The most interesting and helpful news on AI I could find
• Updates on my course, and community😲. I’ll be sharing more on this soon, but would like to invite paid newsletter subscribers to a group video call next week. We’ll have a group office hours type of discussion and then I’ll share what I’ve built so far and get your thoughts.

Become a paid member

Same email, plus also I email you as soon as I hear of a Google update happening. And you get a LOT more of my teachings and musings.

Become a paid member for $18 per month

Join the free version

You’ll get an email from me once a week with a link to this newsletter.