Link Building Strategies

Google's John Mueller reminded us about when case sensitivity matters for Google Search and SEO when it comes to your URLs. In short, Google will probably figure it out based on two URLs having the same content on it but why leave it up to Google, so make sure to be consistent with your URLs so Google doesn't need to figure it out.View the full article

A new report released by Rand Fishkin at Sparktoro with the help of Datos' panel measure web browser activity showed that about 1/3rd of active web users don't use Google all that much, by that much it means they only do 1-20X searches per month.View the full article

To fuel the debate in the SEO world of the topic of structured data and LLMs and AI engines, we are hearing that once again, AI engines like ChatGPT and Perplexity are not using structured data in any special way. View the full article

The folks at Seer put together a study looking at how the click-through rates of the Google organic and paid search results are impacted by having AI Overviews on the page. And the short answer is, AI Overviews seem to be hurting the click-through rates in a big way.View the full article

Earlier this year, we covered that Google's AI Overviews are killing click-through rates from the Google Search results. Well, Seer Interactive updated the numbers and that CTR decline has continued to decline and get even worse.View the full article

There is new data out from Newzdash that shows just how often AI Overviews appear within Google across new sections. And while AI Overviews shows 60%+ of the time for health queries, when it comes to breaking news and major headlines, it shows less than 6% of the time.View the full article

GMBapi posted data that looks at tens of thousands of Google Business Profiles across multiple countries and showed that review deletions have increased significantly over the year, compared to previous periods.View the full article

If you're using Gemini in Chrome (the sidebar you can summon via a button in Chrome), then you might be happy about the latest feature that showed up in Chrome Canary. After running a prompt...View the full article

Over the past couple of weeks, there have been numerous reports of reviews disappearing, being removed, or being deleted from local business profiles on Google Search and Google Maps. Supposedly, this is now a known bug and is being actively worked on by the Google team.View the full article

Robby Stein, VP, Product at Google Search, was interviewed by Zain Kah on Google AI Search features. While most of the conversation are items we already know, he did say a few interesting things that I want to pull out.View the full article

Google seems to be testing the ability to schedule your Google Posts within Google Business Profiles. At the bottom of the add Google Posts overlay, Google is testing a new option named "Schedule this post" that lets you toggle it on and schedule when you want the post to go live.View the full article

One can always find weird bugs in the Google and Bing Search results but these two really caught my eye. Bing Search seems to have a bug for some searchers where the URL in the search result snippet is being cut off. And Google might have a bug that leads to way too much white space between search result snippets.View the full article

This week, we covered more Google Search ranking volatility mid-week. Google Search Console launched query groups reports. Disney's sitelinks in Google Search seemed to have been hacked. Google reminded us about...View the full article

We are seeing volatility in the Google search results this week, Thanksgiving week. Google Ads accounts are being hijacked and it is super concerning. Gemini 3 now powers Google AI Mode for more complex queries...View the full article

This week we covered the Google AI Mode news that it is more visual for many queries, including shopping queries. Google AI Mode agentic capabilities can now be opted into. Google AI Overviews...View the full article

Google AI Mode is now powered by the new Gemini 3 models. There may have been a Google search update this week, but what was it. Nano Banana is now in AI Mode, works in Google Ads and can make helpful content...View the full article

Google released its much anticipated AI Mode, which is in beta now, but it super cool. Google AI Overviews are now powered by Gemini 2.0. Google had more search ranking volatility this week. Google said they answered...View the full article

This week in search we covered more heated Google ranking volatility this morning, it seems big - so stay tuned. We also covered how Google spoke about how they try to isolate their AI systems because...View the full article

This week we covered a new Google Search spam penalty for back button hijacking. Google also updated its spam report, it may now be used for manual actions. Google is aware of self-serving listicles and warns not to...View the full article

Google's March 2025 core update finished yesterday, I have a standalone video on that, so check it out. The core update caused more volatility at the tail end of the rollout...View the full article

This week, we have a status update on the ongoing Google December 2025 core update. Google also said it does not pre-announce core updates or quality updates. Gemini 3 Flash now powers Google AI Mode. Google Search...View the full article

This week in search, we covered an update on the Google December 2025 core update. Google Search traffic to news publishers continues to vanish, but there is Google Discover. A report shows Google has deleted a ton...View the full article

Google confirmed that the volatility we saw prior to the core update was unrelated to this latest core update. I also posted status updates on the Google March 2025 core update. Google is testing AI Search features beyond the new AI Mode...View the full article

In this week's recap, we covered that the Google December 2025 core update was unleashed. Google also said more core updates are definitely on their way and one should be coming soon Google also updated its...View the full article

Google completed the December 2025 core update this week and it hit some news publishers incredibly hard. I posted the annual Google algorithm update infographic. Google's Frankenstein AI-recipes are a complete horror. Google questioned the need for ccTLDs for international SEO...View the full article