Google to struggling sites: Focus on your audience, content quality
Here are some key takeaways around SEO and how to create content and successful websites from Google's Search Liaison Danny Sullivan.
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Danny Goodwin's latest articles
Study: 96% of sites in Google’s top 10 positions have 1,000+ links from unique domains
Only 0.3% of websites ranking in the top 10 had less than 100 backlinks and none had 50 links or less, according to the new study
OpenAI’s growing list of partnerships
Brands partnering with OpenAI will likely gain an unfair advantage – in the form of featured content and citations – in ChatGPT.
Survey: 54% of people look through more search results vs. 5 years ago
What frustrates users most: looking through search results, visiting multiple websites and figuring out the right search term.
Perplexity Pages showing in Google AI Overviews, featured snippets
You can now find AI overviews generated by the Perplexity search engine in your Google AI Overviews and Search results.
Google AI Overviews visibility drops, only shows for 15% of queries
Google's AI Overviews (when it was known as Search Generative Experience in Labs) once showed 84% of the time.
Brave launches Search Ads
Eligible brands in the U.S., Canada, the UK, France and Germany can now run CPC-based ad campaigns on Brave Search.
HUGE Google Search document leak reveals inner workings of ranking algorithm
The documents reveal how Google Search is using, or has used, clicks, links, content, entities, Chrome data and more for ranking.
Google AI Overviews under fire for giving dangerous and wrong answers
Your Money, Your Life seems to not apply to AI Overviews. Google advises users to run with scissors, cook with glue and eat rocks.
Survey: Shoppers open to using AI search to discover products
55% of consumers believe generative AI search engines could make it easier to discover products and services.
Google Ads VP dodges questions on AI Search impact to publishers
Google's Shashi Thakur tells us that users love AI Overviews and click on links. But he has no stats to share at this moment to prove that.
SEO job listings down 37% in Q1 – bad omen or blip?
We're living through a disruptive moment due to AI – and more turbulence is expected in the SEO job market.
Google CEO is ’empathetic’ to content creators Search has wiped out
Sundar Pichai calls this is a disruptive moment. He also avoids commiting to releasing data on AI Overview click-through rates and traffic.
Has ChatGPT launched its Search product in stealth?
ChatGPT can now search the web to find current information, recent events or detailed answers that aren't in its training data.
Ex-Googler: Google’s AI projects are driven by ‘stone cold panic’
Google is afraid of being left behind and thinks the solution is to put AI in everything, a former Google says.
TikTok now testing 60-minute video uploads
We may soon know whether TikTok users actually want hour-long videos. Could this lead to more advertising?
Google AI Overviews: More searches, less satisfaction
What happens when you let Google do the Googling for you, but Google can't find what Google is Googling for on Google?
Search ad costs rise, conversion rates decline again in 2024
Search ad benchmark report finds advertisers are paying more for leads and clicks, while Google continues to report record profits.
Google Search results without SGE jump to 65%, up from 25%
While the number of Google search queries without SGE results have significantly increased, SGE answers now take up less pixel space.
Google CEO on future of links, AI making Search quality worse
Sundar Pichai said links will always be an important part of Search and addressed complaints that AI-generated content is ruining Search.
ChatGPT search feature rumors heating up
OpenAI may be getting closer to launching its ChatGPT product that searches the web and cites sources when answering questions.
Google is not about blue links, says ex-CEO Eric Schmidt
Calling AI 'underhyped,' Eric Schmidt believes Google will be able to monetize AI answers and improve advertising.
Report: 64% of technical SEOs believe AI isn’t a job security threat
However, SEOs view Google SGE as a threat. Also, AI is impacting SEO planning and roadmaps for brands and agencies.
How Google harms search advertisers in 20 slides
The U.S. Department of Justice hammered Google over search ad price manipulation and more in its closing statement on search advertising.
Google’s huge search market share loss wasn’t real: Data revised
While it wasn't as dramatic a drop as first reported, Google has been consistently losing U.S. search market share since August 2023.
Small review site lost 91% of its Google traffic to affiliate-focused SEO content
Google's search results are dominated by big brands. SEOs for smaller sites are complaining. It's like 2003 all over again.
Did Google really lose search market share to Microsoft Bing in April?
Google lost search market share in the U.S., North America, globally and more regions. Meanwhile, Bing and Yahoo grew. Is the data accurate?
Reminder: New Google Search reputation abuse policy starts soon
Google's new Search spam policy related to reputation abuse (or parasite SEO) will take effect in just a few days, after May 5.
Google Ads will pause low-activity keywords starting in June
Active keywords with no impressions in the past 13 months will be paused. If you re-enable them, they could be paused again after 3 months.
Google adds 6 new AI features for Performance Max
New PMax features include Customer Value mode, customer retention goal, detailed demographics, budget pacing insights and more.
Number of concerns over Google Privacy Sandbox grow to 111
The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority's quarterly report comes after Google pushed its cookie deprecation to 2025.
Google CEO says AI overviews are increasing Search usage
Satisfaction with the AI overviews is increasing and Google will continue to evolve the experience this year, according to Sundar Pichai.
Bill requiring TikTok sale or ban becomes law in U.S.
TikTok says the measure, signed into law by President Joe Biden today, is unconstitutional and plans to challenge it in court.
Head of Google Search demands urgency as growth slows
Google Senior VP Prabhakar Raghavan blames increasing competition, costs and regulation for a 'new operating reality'.
Meta AI adds Google Search results
Meta AI will point users to web search results of Google or Microsoft Bing for queries that require the most up-to-date answers.
Brave Search unveils AI answer engine
Brave's new Answer with AI features uses large language models to generate answers to queries directly in the search results.
U.S. search ad revenues hit record $88.8 billion in 2023
Search continues to account for the largest share of digital ad spending. Search revenue grew 5.2% year on year.
Oh, Brother: The Verge games Google again for ‘best printer 2024’
The tech rag used Google Gemini to produce the majority of a satirical product review, pointing out that it shouldn't rank. Yet it does.
Search is evolving toward SGE, says Google CEO Sundar Pichai
Sundar Pichai believes Google can provide AI-generated answers while also helping users navigate to websites for information.
Google AI overviews launch in UK
Google is also reportedly considering making some of its AI-powered search features only available to subscribers.