Welcome to another insightful week with The SEOs Diners Club newsletter. Leveraging over a decade of SEO expertise, I aim to distill the week's most critical developments into a concise read that will take less than seven minutes to read. Let's dive into the insights that matter.

How Google's March 2024 Update Transforms SEO?

This analysis details the Update's potential impact on SEO and the critical points to which SEO experts should pay attention.

As an ever-evolving powerhouse in search engine optimization (SEO), Google successfully transformed SEO strategies with its core update in March 2024. This Update further deepens Google's focus on “useful content” while presenting new challenges and opportunities for content creators and SEO experts. So, how is this Update transforming SEO, and how should web admins adapt to these changes?

Google announced this week that it has launched the March 2024 core algorithm update:

This Update is expected to be more comprehensive than a regular update and will last around a month. Simultaneously, the SPAM update was also released. If you haven't been involved in harmful activities, Google has told you not to do so; it would be best to wait calmly.

Let's analyze this Update in detail together.

The essence of the Update:

With this Update, Google aims to reduce “unhelpful” content in search results by 40%. To achieve this, the algorithm will penalize sites with low-quality, inauthentic, and spam content and reward sites with valuable, high-quality, and original content.

• You must wait at least two weeks to fully understand the effects of the Update. Therefore, take a deep breath, wait calmly, and do not immediately press the panic button.

• If you think your site is affected, analyze data such as crawl activity, visibility scores, traffic, and search volume.

• Focus on creating high-quality and original content to protect against future updates.

Update Details:

The Update includes significant changes in the following areas:

1. Changes in Link Signal:

• SPAM links: Google will detect SPAM links better and reduce their impact on rankings.

• Natural links: Google will pay more attention to natural and organic links.

• Diversity of links: Google will pay more attention to links from different sources.

2. Changes in Content Quality:

• Non-useful content: Google will better detect “unhelpful” content and push it back in the rankings.

• High-quality content: Google will highlight original, informative, and helpful content to the user.

• EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Competence, and Reliability): Google will pay more attention to EEAT factors and highlight content from expert, competent, and reliable sources.

3. Changes to SPAM Policies:

• Scaled content exploitation: Google will prevent sites from generating content using automated or semi-automatic methods to manipulate search results.

• Site reputation abuse: Google will prevent sites from gaining a reputation through fraudulent or misleading means.

• Expired domains: Google will block attempts to manipulate search results using expired domains.

Sectors and Sites Expected to be affected by the Update:

• E-Commerce: E-commerce sites containing fake products, misleading information, and SPAM content are among the sites that will be most affected by the Update.

• Finance: The Update may also negatively affect websites that offer illegal financial products and services or contain false information.

• Health: Websites that provide medical advice or sell health products will likely experience ranking losses after the Update.

• Sites with Completely Artificial Intelligence Content: Sites whose entire content is automatically produced with artificial intelligence. There is already news that many such sites have started to be removed from the Google index.

To elaborate on the last point, Google is not allergic to helpful content produced by artificial intelligence and inspected and edited by humans. Sites that try to perform on Google by producing thousands of SEO-focused pages with the help of artificial intelligence described here. Most of this information is false and inaccurate because an expert in the field has not reviewed it. We can say that these site owners have incurred the wrath of Google because they exposed themselves on Social Media.

A New Era in SEO:

This Update is the beginning of a new era in SEO. Just doing keyword optimization will no longer be enough. Your site's content will be much more critical, as will its natural and diverse link profile. Additionally, it will be much more vital that your site's content is original, informative, and valuable to the user.

My Recommendations to My Newsletter Readers:

• Review your site's content: Make sure your content is original, informative, and helpful to the user.

• Examine your link profile: Get rid of SPAM links and try to get natural links.

• Focus on EAT factors: Increase your site's perception of expertise, competence, and trustworthiness.

• Comply with Google's SPAM policies: Do not engage in any activity that violates Google's SPAM policies.

Google's March 2024 Core Algorithm Update marks a significant change in SEO. With this Update, Google aims to reduce unhelpful content in search results and highlight valuable, high-quality, original content. Therefore, aligning your SEO strategy with this new Update is crucial.

Google Search Quality Raters Guidelines Updated!

Google has updated its “Search Quality Raters Guidelines. This Update provides detailed examples of how to identify untrusted websites.

Google has updated its “Search Quality Raters Guidelines,” a comprehensive 170-page document that serves as a framework for quality raters to evaluate websites effectively. The Update is significant after the search engine's latest Core and SPAM updates. We can say that these two are interconnected.

The updated file includes new features of untrusted pages and case studies to help recognize them. These updates emphasize the importance of reliable and accurate content in the rapidly evolving structure of the internet.

To summarize these updates;

• The updates focus more on EEAT.

• The new guidance includes stricter rules for sites related to YMYL (Your Money or Your Life).

• Quality assessors will further examine the site's author and the author's area of ​​expertise.

• The site's design, user-friendliness, and advertising density are also among the evaluation criteria.

Google Star Rating Guide: Summary for SEO Professionals

Let's look at how the Google Star rating system works and its impact on SEO.

I realized that most of my SEO expert friends do not know enough about how the Google star rating system works and its effects on SEO.

What is Google Star Rating?

The Google Star rating system is a system that allows consumers to rate how good a business is on a scale of 1 to 5 stars.

These scores appear in Google Maps and different Google search results features, such as standard blue link search listings, ads, rich results like recipe cards, local bundle results, third-party review sites, and app store results.

How Does Google Star Rating Work?

Google uses an algorithm and average to determine the number of stars displayed on different review features. Google explains that its star rating system works based on the average of all review scores for that business published on Google.

It's important to know that these averages are not calculated in real-time and may take up to two weeks to update after creating a new review.

Impact on SEO

Star ratings are significant for SEO. Stars give consumers a quick idea of ​​the quality of a business and can significantly impact click-through rates (CTR).

Consumers tend to trust and buy from brands with higher star ratings.

My advice on this matter:

• Encourage your customers to leave reviews on Google.

• Respond to negative reviews courteously and professionally.

• Follow Google's guidelines to keep reviews from being fake or misleading.

• Protect your business's reputation by providing high-quality products and services.

The Google Star rating system is an integral part of SEO. A high star rating can help increase your business's visibility and click-through rates. Brands can use this system to their advantage by encouraging customers to leave reviews, responding to negative reviews, and providing high-quality products and services.

SEO for Video Content: Take Your Site to the Top with Visual Storytelling

WordLift's blog post explains video content's critical role in SEO and the best ways to optimize your videos for search engines.

This week, I read the article published on the WordLift blog, and I wanted to share it with you:

Critical issues mentioned in the article:

• The Power of Visual Storytelling: Videos help build stronger connections with viewers by effectively conveying emotions and concepts.

• Local SEO Advantage: Video content optimized with Local SEO increases your search rankings and visibility in your region.

• Authority and Expertise: High-quality videos position you as a thought leader in your field and build credibility.

• Importance of Schema Markup: Video schema markup helps search engines better understand your videos and present them more accurately in search results.

• Title and Description Optimization: Your video titles and descriptions should include keywords and engaging text.

• Subtitles and Transcripts: Add subtitles and transcripts to your videos for accessibility and SEO.

• Video Platform Selection: Popular platforms like YouTube can help your videos reach a wider audience.

• Social Media Promotion: Increase reach and engagement by sharing your videos on social media.

Based on the article and incorporating my own YouTube SEO experience, I can recommend the following:

• Create a video content strategy. Identify your target audience and the goals you want to achieve with your videos.

• Produce high-quality and engaging videos. Focus on quality production values ​​and a gripping narrative.

• Optimize your videos for SEO. Use schema markup, keywords, and engaging titles.

• Promote your videos on social media and other channels. Create a broad reach so your target audience can discover your videos.

When integrated into your SEO strategy, video content can help you improve your search rankings, increase your site's visibility, and reach larger audiences.

New Local SEO Tool from Semrush: Map Rank Tracker

Are you a business owner who wants to rank higher on Google Maps and local pack? If so, check out Semrush Map Rank Tracker, a tool that helps you track and optimize your local SEO performance.

A day goes by without Semrush adding a new tool to its repertoire. Although I find most of these unnecessary, some are very useful. Semrush's Map Rank Tracker tool, which I recently discovered, seems useful in local SEO work.

With Semrush Map Rank Tracker, you can:

• Track your local rankings for different locations and devices,

• Analyze your competitors' performance and identify the best opportunities to surpass them,

• Optimize your local SEO strategy based on insights from the heat map and ranking distribution report,

• Create custom reports to share your results with your customers or team.

Semrush Map Rank Tracker is a game-changing tool for local businesses looking to dominate their niche and attract more customers. I've been using the free version for a while now, and I'm impressed with its ease and effectiveness. If you want to learn more about Semrush Map Rank Tracker, you can visit this page for a detailed guide.

Recommended Tools & Services

• WhitePress: WhitePress is a content marketing platform that enables accessible article publishing across 90,571 websites in 30 languages, offering native copywriting and automated global publication services.

• Cannibalization Explorer Looker Studio Report is a tool for identifying keyword cannibalization and providing insights into how keywords perform across different pages.

• SurferSEO is a tool that helps you create and optimize content for SEO. It analyzes the top-ranking pages for your target keywords and gives you suggestions on how to improve your content. Surfer AI also has a feature that can generate ready-to-rank articles in minutes.

• Copilot Pro: Copilot Pro is available for $20/month for cloud-based GenAI models and $27/month with Microsoft 365. It is integrated with Microsoft 365 applications and provides access to GPT-4 Turbo and advanced AI rendering tools.

• AlsoAsked is a helpful tool that can boost your visibility on Google’s Search Engine Results Pages in the “People Also Ask” section.

• ContentShake AI is an intelligent writing tool that combines AI with real-life competitor insights. It guides you from ideation to publishing directly to the blog, generates SEO-friendly articles, and helps you optimize them for organic traffic and engagement.

• Microsoft Clarity has recently introduced a feature called Copilot, which incorporates Generative AI through Large Language Models (LLMs) into the analytics tool. This integration aims to make data more accessible and understandable for users by leveraging the same technology created by OpenAI, which powers the new Bing or ChatGPT.

• InLinks is an SEO tool that uses a knowledge graph to optimize content for search engines. It automates internal linking and schema markup, simplifying SEO processes and content strategies.

Subscribe to my newsletter to stay informed about the latest in SEO and digital marketing. Next week, I'll continue to share the newest insights, tactics, and strategies for navigating the ever-evolving digital marketing landscape.

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Best,

Mert