Don’t miss this month’s roundup of the top stories in SEO. You need to know about the big changes that came with the recent update, how site owners are adjusting to them, and what SEO headlines matter most.
The top stories for this month include an announcement and the completion of the latest update. You’ll also see a major case study that argues that Google is punishing good SEO and another that summarizes the dire state of clicks around the world.
Next, you’ll see some of the top guides and videos that will arrive this month. You’ll get the latest SEO ranking factor tier list and evidence of common SEO tactics that can destroy your traffic. Keep reading to learn even more about recent statements from Google and some fresh announcements from Surfer.
June 2024 Spam Update (Announcement & Completion)
https://status.search.google.com/incidents/QdUeCQx3LRVbzQ3E7FiD
Google’s Search Central announces that the latest spam update has come and gone. It started on June 20th and ran until the 27th. While Google provided a few details, reports in the SEO community identified this as a general and broad spam update.
While very few details were shared, the update reportedly did not include any changes to the link spam systems. Google confirmed that the site reputation abuse policy was not automated and will continue only to be done manually.
A deeper analysis from Sistrix found few significant changes after the final announcement. As they pointed out in their examination, Google Update Radar and several other tools remained calm throughout the rollout. That isn’t to say no sites were affected. The Sistrix analysis ranks the top 20 winners and losers; you can find it in the link.
For now, it doesn’t seem like there is much to say about the Spam Update. We may discover more when we can see the effects play out, or we may find that Google is happy with this system’s results and doesn’t intend to change it much.
Some site owners may be hoping that significant changes will come along soon. The case study that is coming up next accuses Google of punishing good SEO.
How Recent Google Updates Punish Good SEO: 50-Site Case Study
https://zyppy.com/seo/google-updates-punish-good-seo/
Cyrus Shepard has some data that may show that Google is demoting “over optimized” sites. The study, which used data from Ahrefs, covered 50 different sites in depth.
He starts by reminding readers that Google’s Helpful Content guidelines warn against creating content designed to draw clicks. It’s not clear what Google meant by this (and they aren’t going to provide any information that would make SEO gameable), so Cyrus’ study examines the SEO features that won and lost across the last series of updates.
During the study, Cyrus and his team learned what features are most represented on the biggest winning and losing sites. For example—
Check out the complete study to learn about other page features correlated with success or failure when new patches arrive. Better SEO won’t always help you, though. As the next item demonstrates, there are far fewer clicks to go around lately.
2024 Zero-Click Search Study: For Every 1,000 EU Google Searches, Only 374 Clicks Go to the Open Web. In the US, It’s 360
Rand Fishkin brings you this report into what happens after an American (and, as of this report, a European) makes a Google search. You may think clicking on a result is the most common action, but the truth is that it happens less than half of the time.
Let’s look at the stats.
In the US, about 41% of searches end in a click. Of that amount, only 70% go to organic results. The rest of the clicks go to features (nearly all Google properties) such as YouTube, Maps, and Images, and a tiny percentage go to paid ads.
That takes non-click searches up to nearly 60%. About 20% of searchers make another search, but the remaining 37% simply end the browsing session after the search.
The numbers for Europe are only off by a few points. As you can see in the graphic in Rand’s article, 40% of searches end in a click in Europe, compared to 59.7% of zero-click searches.
Rand seems to conclude by the end that things aren’t necessarily getting worse. As he puts it near his closing points—These zero-click search numbers are slightly lower than the highs reported by SimilarWeb in December 2020 but considerably greater than the 2019 numbers reported by the now-defunct Jumpshot panel in June 2019.
What comes next for search may depend on many other factors, including what really works as ranking factors in the year 2024.
Google SEO Ranking Factor Tier List (Part 2)
Google SEO Ranking Factor Tier List (Part 2)
In the second part of my SEO Factor Tier List Series, I discuss link sources and their value. If you know my business, you know I take links very seriously, and this video contains the internal tier list that I use for my own projects.
You’ll learn about more than 20 different links sources, along with a bit of history for each one and some judgment on whether they are still effective. Below, you can see some examples of where I place a few common link sources in my list.
S (Super): Digital PR
A: Guest posts
B: Image outreach
C: Link bait
D: Skyscraper
E: (negative SEO against yourself): automated links
Check out the full video to see the final tier list and find out where your favorite link sources stack up. Now that you have a better idea of the top-ranking factors, you may want to hear some news about the environment you’ll be ranking in. It turns out that a search feature is going away.
Google Drops Continuous Scroll on Desktop With Mobile to Come
https://www.seroundtable.com/google-continuous-scroll-dead-37618.html
Continuous scroll, the search feature that temporarily allowed you to keep scrolling results endlessly, has now been removed from desktop results. This means that the classic “pages” you remember from years past will return.
Pages have been removed from Google Search results since continuous scroll was launched in 2022 for desktop results and 2021 for mobile results. Google says the motivation for this decision was to speed up searching and limit results to those that more closely match what the searcher asked for.
SEOs had their own theories for why the change may have happened. Glenn Gabe suggested that the change may be related to the AI overviews that are soon arriving. Others, like Ori Zilbershtein, suggested that Google may have simply forgotten the resource and UI advantages of providing results in limited blocks.
While some SEOs seemed surprised by the decision, most seemed to think it was good for both searchers and website owners. Everyone isn’t “on the first page” anymore, which should make explaining gains to clients easier. New features may take over in time, but Google hasn’t announced any.
Next, there’s some more important news about the HCU and how sites have recovered since that time.
(Discussion) HCU Recovery Data
https://x.com/glenngabe/status/1806673850895085631
Glenn Gabe brings you this very quick update on the HCU data he initially checked in September of last year when the update dropped.
When they were first revealed, the numbers, covering nearly 400 sites hit by the update, caused a stir. Some SEOs use the set to gauge how HCU-hit sites are faring overall. If you’re one of them, Glenn doesn’t have good news.
The entire set has been massively down over time. Despite some minor movements around updates (both announced and unannounced), all sites are reliably heading even lower.
Did all of these sites fail to make the proper updates? Has Google even re-evaluated them? Will it ever re-evaluate them? So far, we don’t know. The safe bet seems to be that these sites aren’t going to recover.
Next, more news on Google’s moves. They’ve changed their AI overviews in a way that may predict future changes.
AIO Pullback: Google Shows 2/3 Fewer AIO And More Citations
Kevin brings you this look at Google’s most recent changes to its AI rollout. The overviews now appear less frequently, but when they do appear, they cite more sources. Kevin pulled these conclusions out of his own data set, which involved over 1,500 queries.
Across those queries, he found that AIOs have dropped by about 2/3rds in the US. This may be because the AIO system needs some tweaks. Users have reported that AIO and other Google features provide conflicting answers to searches.
In a recent appearance, Google’s VP of Search suggested that the way users phrase search queries may produce questionable answers from AI. Most of the cuts seem to be to YMYL queries.
Now that you’ve reviewed the SEO news, you need to stay caught up; I want to bring you some big announcements from Surfer. Two new features are coming to the app that will play a large part in some of my future projects.
First, they’ve launched a new content audit. It automates identifying pages that need optimization and organizes them based on performance and content score.
Surfer Content Audit
Keep Your Content Always Optimized – Introducing Content Audit!
Tom brings you news of Surfer’s new content audit and the features that arrived with the launch. This latest audit tool can identify pages on your site that require optimization based on their performance and content score.
The tool combines GSC data with SERP analysis to identify which pages need attention. Once it has identified a set that needs improvement, it automatically imports content into the editor for you to work with.
From inside the editor, you can optimize all of the imported content. A new feature lets you auto-optimize and add relevant internal links throughout your content with just a click.
This tool goes an extra step by monitoring the performance of your content after it has been published. Surfer monitors performance signals (position, traffic, and impressions) daily and alerts you when your content requires attention.
The following new tool, the domain map, offers another way to analyze your site content. It helps you understand your topical authority.
Surfer Domain Map
Create your Content Strategy in Minutes: Introducing Surfer’s Domain Map!
The new domain map tool allows you to connect your Google Search Console (GSC) and get an instant overview of your domain’s topical authority.
The tool is able to tell you which topic clusters are already covered and ranking, which ones still need work, and where you’ll find the content gaps that you have to target as a first priority. It’s a great way to make sure you focus your attention on the most valuable changes.
If you have multiple sites, you’ll appreciate that you can connect multiple domains and create a Domain Map for each one. All of the maps will auto-update every 30 days to reflect your current work and changes in SERP.
If you’re a Surfer subscriber, you’ll want to try out both of these new features now. They have the potential to make a lot of your work much easier.
That concludes the roundup for July. Check in again for more vital SEO news, guides, and case studies.
