15 lessons from 15+ years in search
From search history and technical SEO to imperfect data and AI search, these 15 lessons can help you stay curious, pragmatic, and effective.
Topic: Martin Splitt
How semantics and topical authority improve local SEO
Creating fewer, more purposeful pages can improve relevance, reduce duplication, and strengthen local search performance.
Visual semantics: The missing piece of topical authority
Patents, research, and case studies suggest Google looks beyond text. Learn how page design influences search visibility.
No-JavaScript fallbacks in 2026: Less critical, still necessary
Rendering isn’t always immediate or complete. Learn where no-JavaScript fallbacks still protect critical content, links, and indexing.
How AI decides what your content means and why it gets you wrong
AI systems label and score content before ranking. Annotation determines how you’re understood — and whether you compete at all.
The five infrastructure gates behind crawl, render, and index
Where do AI systems lose confidence in your content? Discovery, selection, crawling, rendering, and indexing hold the answer.
Googlebot fraud (Fake crawlers, bot abuse & how to protect your site)
Learn how Googlebot crawls, renders, and indexes your site. See every crawler type, how crawl budget works, and the technical fixes that improve visibility.
Why global sites amplify technical errors and steps to prevent this
Here’s a playbook for building monitoring systems, workflows, and coordination to help keep your enterprise sites healthy across regions and languages.
How canonical URLs work and why they matter for SEO
Canonical URLs help prevent duplicate content in search. Learn what they are, why they matter, and how to set them up correctly to protect rankings.
As Google shifts to AI search, legacy SEO faces a new reality
Clicks are vanishing and SEO playbooks are being rewritten. And Google has been telling us for a long time where this is all headed.
Google may remove your page from search if users don’t interact with it
Google once again confirms user interactions play a role in ranking and indexing, especially if users don't click on pages in search results.
Optimizing for AI search: Why classic SEO principles still apply
AI-powered search is reshaping SEO, but traditional tactics still hold power. Here's how to optimize for both AI and search engines.
What is search intent in SEO? Using different types of keyword intent
Learn why search intent matters in SEO, the different types of search intent and how to create content that targets keywords effectively.
How SEO moves forward with the Google Content Warehouse API leak
Addressing common questions, critiques and concerns following the massive Google Search leak and how your approach to SEO should change.
9 ways to stay on top of the latest SEO trends
Enhance your SEO expertise with these reliable methods for staying updated on industry news and best practices.
Google on ranking updates: Focus on big picture, not individual signals
Google also stressed the importance of authentic content in an AI world and thinking about satisfying the people who find your content.
Google’s Core Web Vitals INP issues email causing concern
Google Search Console sent out emails to site owners where their INP scores are not meeting the mark.
Google adds INP report to Search Console
In order for you to prepare for when Google replaces FID with INP as a core web vital metric, Google has launched a new report to aid you.
Google will replace FID with INP as Core Web Vitals metric
Google Search Console will add Interaction to Next Paint in the Core Web Vitals report later this year so you can start seeing your scores.
1 million URLs: How to pivot your SEO strategy when you reach enterprise level
How can SEO drive change and create value the fastest to impact the bottom line? Let’s dive into how to answer this question.
SERP trends of the rich and featured: Top tactics for content resilience in a dynamic search landscape
There is no single tactic that works in isolation. The SERP is so highly dynamic at the moment, that aiming for, or banking on a single part of the SERP is likely to leave you vulnerable to traffic disruption if/when things evolve.
Google on how it ranks search results and prevents obvious spam
Don't focus on one or two specific signals, make your site is better overall says Google.
So Google gave you another year to prepare for the Cookiegeddon. Now what?; Thursday’s daily brief
And, 51% of local marketers say their business will hire more SEO staff this year.
Sharing is caring; Wednesday’s daily brief
Plus, Broad Match Modifier goes away in July
Core Web Vitals: Google is not backing down in the fight against the slow web
Core Web Vitals fixes and industry-specific benchmarks
Optimize your email campaigns with the updated Email Marketing Periodic Table; Tuesday’s daily brief
Plus, why you shouldn’t let your employees choose their WFH days.
Why the FTC didn’t sue Google in 2013; Wednesday’s daily brief
Plus, everything we know about FLoC, and some good ole marketing humor.
Google hiding addresses in local pack and should you write meta descriptions: Tuesday’s daily brief
Plus, Google News and Discover penalties
Video: Barry Schwartz and Google’s Martin Splitt discuss strained relations with the search community
The two chat about how the company’s attempts at transparency have backfired, common SEO misconceptions and why the answer is often “it depends.”
How content consolidation can help boost your rankings
Update, remove and/or merge content to avoid split ranking signals and provide users with a better experience.
Google announces ‘Virtual Webmaster Unconference’
It seems like there won't be any formal presentations, instead, expect an open dialog between Google and attendees.
Live with Search Engine Land
Live with Search Engine Land is a series of live discussions, presentations, tutorials and less formal meetups led by the editorial team at Search Engine Land. No matter the format, we want everyone to stay sharp and up-to-date on tactics and best practices. These weekly meetups are about giving great marketers a platform to inform, […]
Common JavaScript errors that can harm your SEO [Video]
And, why JavaScript may not be the real cause of your crawling issues.
Why the evergreen Googlebot is such a big deal [Video]
Google’s Martin Splitt discusses the effort behind making Googlebot ‘evergreen’ in this clip from Live with Search Engine Land.
SEOs and developers: Why they’re better together [Video]
Google’s Martin Splitt discusses his mission to provide both sides with the knowledge and vocabulary necessary to close the gap.
Common oversights that can impede Google from crawling your content [Video]
SEOs and developers shouldn’t over-engineer workarounds when basic, reliable solutions already exist, says Martin Splitt in this clip from Live with Search Engine Land.
How Google crawls and indexes: a non-technical explanation [Video]
Google’s Martin Splitt provides a simple summary of the processes that pave the way for ranking search results.
Replay: Google’s Martin Splitt gets technical on Live with Search Engine Land
If you are having indexing issues with your HTML or JavaScript-based website, then you won’t want to miss this chat.
The right way to apply JavaScript to your links for SEO
Google’s Martin Splitt explains why fragment identifiers don’t get crawled and the importance of href attributes.
Chapter 3: Site Architecture & Search Engine Success Factors
The next major on-page group in the Periodic Table of SEO Factors is site architecture. It plays a critical role in SEO effectiveness. These factors affect the findability and usability of your site. Good architecture makes content easier for search engines and users to access and navigate. Take the following architectural factors into account as […]