SEO is dynamic. That’s no secret to anyone familiar with the field. We see a lot of changes in our metrics that result from Google adapting or changing algorithms. Sometimes, Google changes how it processes information through Google Search Console. And other changes are the result of something in the market (or related to it). The many influences on SEO can make it difficult to determine why numbers are changing (or not changing as expected.)
Over the past year, we have seen different things affect our clients. Depending on the client, geography, or industry, some clients felt the impact of the changes more than others. Here are a few of the more notable changes.
Change In Manual URL Submission
Old hat to SEOs, but perhaps unknown to those on the outside, Google Search Console (GSC) provides webmasters with the ability to submit a URL and request that Google index it. And it is just that, a “request.” Manual submissions are used for new pages or pages with substantive or time-sensitive changes.
In theory, GSC will pick these URLs up in the sitemap or as part of its crawling. But those are based on unknown crawling schedules. So, being able to submit the URLs for “priority” indexing manually has been a valuable tool.
Unfortunately, late last year (or perhaps earlier), Google started to delay crawling manual submissions. Though the tool indicates the URL is in a priority queue, Google takes no action in a timely manner.
In our experience, a URL submitted manually would be indexed within a week and often with days. Then last fall, indexing was delayed. Google would acknowledge the URL but not index it for search for quite some time.
The length of the delays indicated that the indexing may not have occurred because of the manual submission but because Google saw the URL while crawling.
Indeed, that was ultimately the guidance Google provided. While you can submit URLs manually, they are more interested in finding links from other sites to your pages.
While linking has always been an important ranking factor, Google is moving to where it may only acknowledge URLs if they find them while crawling other sites/pages. This is pure supposition but within character for Google.
Smarter, more efficient SERPs
Depending on how you look at your search impressions in GCS, you may see a drop that masks actual improvement.
For websites with many pages with similar content (think product pages), we have seen a reduction in the URL impressions but an increase in the query impressions (absolute number of times the site appears for a query).
Previously, Google was delivering 2+ site URLs to a single query. More recently, we are seeing fewer URLs appearing for the same query, but our impressions and position for the URL that does appear are improving.
While our URL impressions decrease, our query impressions increase.
Giving credit to Google’s methods, we also see improvements in the quality of the traffic as measured across engagement, leads, and e-comm. The algorithms better deliver relevant content (though less of ours) to the searchers. Both searches and websites benefit.
Localization in SEO Matters
We do a lot of work in the moving industry with clients in different markets across the country. As you can imagine, people in different areas may search for the same service using different terminology. This is not unique to movers.
But, in addition to users searching differently, the competition is different, and the way Google ranks things appears to change based on the market as well.
We experiment with different content structures and have found that how we construct URLs and arrange content is ‘rewarded’ differently by Google in different markets. In some cases, more encompassing content on a page gets ranked well for search terms, while in other markets, divided, more focused content on a page works well, spreading the same content from one page over multiple pages. The same content performs differently depending on how you structure it, which changes by market.
Implications for national brands and brands with local footprints are the same. To get the best results, you not only have to cater to how people behave at the local level but also to how Google rewards content at the local level (perhaps driven by local behavior we can’t see.)
It informs brands engaging with digital marketing companies with a cookie-cutter industry approach. We have seen this in the medical industry and restaurants as well as moving. Marketing companies that focus on a niche apply the same site structure and KW priorities that may work well in some markets but not others.
Changes in SEO Results that have nothing to do with us
When we review changes in performance, we don’t just look at the absolute delta. We break it down to see what groups of search terms improved and what group of search terms decreased (standard SEO practice.) In any given month, the net of these may be plus or minus, but segmenting them lets us better understand where we can have an impact.
In one case, we saw that nearly 10% of the volume in declining search terms came from a query that has little to do with the products.
The product is a “Throat Goat Pump.” Last year, Google was also showing our URLs for the search “goat throat” as well as the correct term “throat goat.” Understandably, people may have transposed the words.
In 2022, Kim Petras released a song named “Goat Throat.” Now, Google has a highly relevant page to which to direct searchers. While the term was used previously, Google didn’t have a place to direct users. Now it does.
So, of the terms that lost impressions in GSC, 10% came from a word that the vast majority of the searches are irrelevant. May we have lost some revenue? Sure. But, the fact is the new content made much more sense. And, we do still sometimes appear for it, so perhaps it remains relevant for certain users that Google has identified.
There are two takeaways from this: 1) Changes to your SEO metrics can be significantly impacted by things over which you have no control… the landscape is not static. And 2) some changes, even big ones, may not be as negative or positive as they first appeared.
Managing Change in SEO
The secrecy in which Google operates makes knowing what to expect impossible. Even announced changes are sufficiently vague as only to give the warning to keep your eyes open… which you should be doing anyway.
The best way to navigate the changes is to stay focused on best practices. . Even Google’s most recent guidance points back to old guidance for SEO. Relevant content, good code structure, decent site performance, and localization where it makes sense will mitigate the impact of Google’s changes.
But there will be an impact. With consistent reporting, deep dives, and focus, any changes will be apparent early, and you can react to them.
SEO is not rocket science, it is just hard work.