Featured Episodes of “SEO From The Front Lines”:
Glenn’s goal with “SEO From The Front Lines” is simple. Provide valuable SEO information via concise podcast episodes based on the latest findings. That includes covering major algorithm updates, new search features, AI in Search, new tools and functionality, and more. Glenn tries to keep each episode under 15 minutes in length, with most of them under ten minutes.
Below, you can find some featured episodes from “SEO From The Front Lines”. The podcast is available across platforms, including YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and more. Definitely subscribe and follow the podcast wherever you consume podcasts to make sure you don’t miss an episode! Remember, there’s never a dull moment in “Google Land”.
Google’s August 2024 core update completes in 19 days, Final “Core Update Notes” and moving forward
Episode 13: Part 4 of “Core Update Notes” for the August Google broad core update. Glenn covers September helpful content update (HCUX) sites recovering, the big tremor from 8/24 into 8/25, forums seeing volatility, an update on a site pumping out a ton of AI content that’s dropping heavily in the SERPs, and then how site owners can move forward after the core update. Glenn also covers important tips about delta reports, “quality” and how taking a “kitchen sink” approach to remediation is the path forward for many sites impacted.
A Nightmare on Affiliate Street – How Google is picking off sites one by one that are violating its ‘Site reputation abuse’ spam policy
Episode 17: I cover some huge visibility drops for sites that are violating Google’s ‘Site reputation abuse’ spam policy. For example, some prominent sites are dropping over time including some of the largest publishers on the web. Over time, Google seems to have algorithmically hit large publishers with affiliate sections of their sites, including Forbes, Fortune, CNN Underscored, WSJ Buyside, Marketwatch Guides, and more.
More Episodes, More SEO:
Browse previous episodes covering a wide range of SEO topics. Glenn typically publishes new episodes each week (and sometimes multiple times per week depending on what’s going on in the SEO world.)
Each podcast episode is based on something Glenn has uncovered while helping companies deal with SEO issues. From technical SEO problems to algorithm updates to AI in Search to spam policies, Glenn covers it all via his podcast.
Beyond Reddit and Quora: Many Forums Saw Explosive Growth From Google’s Hidden Gems Update
With Google’s hidden gems update in the fall of 2023, both Reddit and Quora surged like crazy. Although many are focused on the surge of Reddit, with good reason, it’s important to understand that many forums surged in the fall of 2023. So, Glenn ran the visibility numbers for 97 forums he’s tracking across verticals. The percentage change year-over-year was wild. 88% of the forums saw 100% growth or more. And a number saw 1000% growth or more.
Hijacking the back button and SEO: Gaming Navboost, Spam Policies, and Aggressive Advertising
Glenn covers how some publishers are hijacking the browser back button and providing a feed of articles driving users to more publisher content, including sponsored content and ads. He explores the impact to Navboost (an important system to Google tracking 13 months of user interactions signals), if Google should apply manual actions to sites employing the tactic, and what it could signal about a site’s overall aggressive advertising situation.
Why An Algorithmic Approach To Fighting Site Reputation Abuse Is The Way Forward
Learn why an algorithmic approach to enforcing Google’s site reputation abuse policy is the way forward. Glenn first covers manual actions that Google applied on May 7, 2024 and how sites handled the content violating the site reputation abuse spam policy. Then he explains why blocking via robots.txt isn’t a valid approach to blocking that content, as well as how noindexing content can also go haywire.
Google Testing A New AI Overviews Link Treatment (which has now rolled out officially.)
Google was testing a change to how it provides links in AI Overviews in the search results. Glenn was in the test last week and captured some video of it in action. The new treatment provides an overlay of search results on top of the AI overview. You can tap a group of favicons to see all of the pages where the AI sourced the answer from. In addition, there were small link icons that would trigger a smaller overlay containing the page(s) where that part of the answer was sourced from. Glenn also covers how Google could include ads in the overlays.
Crazy Google Volatility, Ranking Swings, and Reversals AFTER The August 2024 Core Update
Episode 15: Glenn covers the wild ranking swings and volatility in Google Search AFTER the August core update completed. Important dates include 9/6, 9/10, 9/14, and even more after. Some sites are reversing course after being impacted by the 8/24 tremor during the August core update, while some sites impacted by the September helpful content update (HCUX) are losing ground again. As I’ve covered many times, “Welcome to Google Land.” And the volatility has continues into October and beyond now as we wait for the next broad core update.
The Ad Experience Report in Search Console: Why It Fails Site Owners With Aggressive Ads
Confused about aggressive and disruptive ads and how that impacts a site with major algorithm updates? Well, the Ad Experience Report in Google Search Console might add to that confusion. Glenn explains how the Ad Experience Report in Google Search Console fails to provide an accurate view of the advertising situation for site owners, and how that provides a false sense of security. Glenn explains how aggressive ads can impact a site during broad core updates and how the Ad Experience Report could help if Google provided stronger data there.
Scary Indexing Spikes in GSC’s Coverage Reporting and Why It Might Be Totally Fine
Glenn covers scary and confusing surges and drops in indexing in Google Search Console (GSC) and why that might be totally fine for site owners and SEOs. If the surges are due to urls categorized as “Indexed, though blocked by robots.txt”, then that can cause the spike and drop you are seeing. And since Google is on record that it can’t impact the site quality-wise, it can be totally fine.
Tracking AI Overview data in Google Search Console (GSC) – Case Study
Now that AI overviews rolled out in the United States, Glenn dug into Search Console to track the change in clicks, click through rate, and more. Glenn walks through several examples of sites ranking lower on page one in the 10-blue links, but also ranking in AI overviews. Glenn was hoping that he would clearly be able to see differences there when that was the case. Nope, not clear at all.
The Missing Slides – Glenn Gabe’s Missing SMX Advanced Slides From June 2024
Glenn presented at SMX Advanced about the latest Google algorithm updates in 2023 and 2024, but due to a technical glitch, he couldn’t finish the entire presentation. Glenn had to leave several slides out… So, he decided to record the end of the presentation as his first video podcast! You can catch the rest of Glenn’s SMX presentation via the first episode.
