Each week the Croud SEO team collate the latest news from relevant sources around the web so you don’t have to. Read through the top SEO news stories for this week below and follow us on Twitter or sign up to our newsletter.
Keeping privacy and security simple for you
02/10/2019
Google has announced it is rolling out incognito mode for Google Maps and activity data deletion options via Assistant to improve privacy.
Google Search Console adds Change of Address tool to new interface
02/10/2019
Google has announced that it is adding a Change of Address tool to Search Console – this was available in the old Search Console but wasn’t migrated over initially. This will allow webmasters to inform Google when migrating a site to a different URL.
Updating the user agent of Googlebot
02/10/2019
Google has announced that it will update the user agent of GoogleBot in December 2019. Google has said most sites will be unaffected , though if a site has user detection methods for GoogleBot it is worth testing to see if it supports the new agent.
Google Assistant in Chrome testing Duplex to help users buy movie tickets
01/10/2019
Google’s automated concierge tool has been applied to Chrome for movie ticket booking sites as part of Google Assistant. This could get more people engaging with Assistant, using it to make purchases through voice.
Competitor content analysis: Here’s what you can learn
30/09/2019
SEL looks at how to use competitor content analysis to improve site content and outperform competitors. This includes how to analyse and which tools are best suited, how to improve upon competitor content and how to leverage competitor content to create linkable assets.
Robots meta changes for Google
26/09/2019
In response to changes from Google, Yoast SEO is planning to opt all users into all snippet features as default. This is in response to the European Copyright Directive by France which aimed to get Google and other internet companies to pay publishers to use their content in the search results.
Google Sept. 2019 Core Update ‘weaker’ than June core update
27/09/2019
A more detailed look at the September 2019 Core Update revealed it to be weaker than the June 2019 Core Update, with health and finance related site taking most of the brunt of the update.
Google: optimising for RankBrain is the same as optimising for users
01/10/2019
Google’s Gary Illyes has stated that “you optimise your content for users and thus for RankBrain.” i.e. if you make great content that user love, then RankBrain will work for you.
Google is investigating spikes in impressions & queries
01/10/2019
Google’s John Mueller has stated that they are investigating spikes in impressions for specific queries, some of which are seen in Google Trends also. It is worth bearing in mind if this is something that has occurred in Search Console for you.
Google review stars drop by 14%
24/09/2019
Google appears to have dropped star ratings in the SERPs by 14% since it announced it would be restricting them to a specific schema and would stop displaying those deemed “self-serving”.
