The SEOs Diners Club - Issue #36 - Weekly SEO Tips & News

October 30, 2022

Here are the weekly SEO insights for the SEOs Diners Club members. You may also join our free SEO Diners Club network to ask questions and share your thoughts on these topics.

How to Adapt to Google's Useful Content and Core Updates

Learn how to create better, more authoritative content that meets Google's revised helpful content guidelines.

In a recent Search Engine Journal webinar, Search Engine Journal marketing director Heather Campbell, Dave Snyder, CEO and Founder of CopyPress, and Jeremy Rivera, Director of Content Analytics, discussed Google's helpful content updates.

In the link below, you can find the recording of the webinar and the presentation shared during the webinar.

Let me briefly summarize the most important topics for you;

  • When approaching editorial content, you should consider how to improve existing content with our methods.

  • Create a system to help you find your lowest-performing content.

  • On a large scale, find out what your old content is missing and what your competitors have. What might Google find lacking in your content?

  • Focus on what you can improve in your underperforming content the fastest.

  • Use different tools to assess SEO shortcomings and quickly create meaningful summaries for optimization.

Use subject matter experts to fact-check articles, and add FAQs and other unique content that cannot be created by a general copywriter or AI authoring system.

Learn how to create better, more authoritative content that complies with Google's revised helpful content guidelines.

State of SEO 2022: Plan for the Year Ahead with SEJ's In-Depth Report

Clarify your 2023 SEO strategy with data, insights, and findings from the SEO community.

Search Engine Journal publishes a State of SEO report every year and takes the pulse of the industry. In this year's report, they used the opinions of 3600 SEO experts.

This year, you can learn about the most critical developments in the SEO industry and how SEO experts respond to changing technology and consumer dynamics. You can download the report from the link below to read all the findings.

  1. Technical SEO is the Highest Priority This Year:

2. Proving Return on SEO Investment and Tracking Results Remains Challenging

3. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Expected to Make a Big Impact Next Year

4. Salaries of SEO Experts (I guess only USA and Canada are included)

Inform your SEO strategy for 2023 with data, insights, and findings from the SEO community. More than 3,600 SEO pros responded.

Google: Don't Translate Image File Names into Local Language

Google says that if you use the same image for different languages, you should not change the image's file name, and you should not translate the file name of that image.

Let's say you have a large multilingual site, and all your pages are translated into the local language. So page A in the US has the same content as page X in France, but the content is translated into French on page X.

Don't translate the image filename if the same image is used in multiple language versions. Keep the filename and URL of the image so that Google doesn't need to merge the images on its side.

Let's say you have a large multilingual site and all your pages are translated into the localized language. So page A in the US has the same content as page X in France, but the content is translated into French on page X. The image however is generic enough where that image is good for all the pages it was translated into.

13 Essential SEO Skills You Need to Succeed

Critical thinking. Problem-solving. Persistence. These are just three essential skills of SEO. You can discover ten more in this article.

This is my 12th year in the SEO industry. Before that, I worked in the marketing department of Maersk Line, an international transportation company, for ten years. I am originally a Naval Architect, and I have never been self-employed.

Since 2010, when I entered the SEO industry, there has been such a significant change that it is tough to fit them into two lines. As of 2022, SEO has become a more complex and complicated business.

If one thing has not changed, it is to know how to persevere and be patient. It is never possible to be successful in every project. Don't look at those who publish success stories. I have seen those who enter projects where they will be successful, where they can publish "case studies."

Critical thinking, in my opinion, is an essential feature that a good SEO expert should have. Moreover, it would be best if you criticized your thoughts the most. Having SEO experts in your team or around you will criticize you fiercely is a great luxury.

Search Engine Land has very nicely summarized the 13 basic features that a successful SEO expert should have according to today's conditions. If you want to be a good SEO expert, it is helpful to ask yourself how many of these features you have.

Critical thinking. Problem-solving. Persistence. These are just three critical SEO skills. Discover 10 more here.

Google Link Wheels Violate Google Guidelines and are Link Schemes

Google's John Mueller said that link wheels are against Google's guidelines.

John Mueller, who has been in the SEO industry for a long time, knows well that the answers to the questions directed to John Mueller are a declaration of knowledge; old things are presented as new.

Here is one of them; John Mueller responded to a question on Twitter that link schemes (link wheels) are against Google guidelines.

For those who don't know, link wheel means the following; To increase your leading site, you open shell sites, produce regular content for them, and strengthen them by getting backlinks. Then you start linking to your leading site using them as leverage. While doing this, you use different servers and IP addresses so that Google doesn't catch on.

There are still a lot of site owners using this method. Even though Google says "if I catch you, I'll strike you," there may still be those still making a living from this, especially in countries like Turkey.

Google's John Mueller said that link wheels are against Google's webmaster guidelines, I mean search essentials, because Google would consider them link schemes and thus spam.

Is Author's Authority a Google Ranking Factor?

Author authority is a concept that has been around for years. But what role does it play in site rankings? Let's take a closer look.

Google has never stated that the author of an article directly affects rankings. But that doesn't mean you can ignore the author's authority.

There is a lot of talk about the role of author authority in Google search results; unfortunately, there is no clear answer.

However, it's wise to follow Google's Quality Assessment Guidelines even if it doesn't directly affect your organic rankings.

Users care about the reputation and relevance of a post's author. This alone is enough to look for the best possible authors and identify them in each article.

Author authority is a concept that has been around for years. But what role does it play it site rankings? Let's take a closer look.

How to Write an Author Bio? E-A-T, SEO Tips and Great Examples

Looking for tips on writing an author bio? Find out why it matters for SEO, readers, E-A-T, and UX, plus see examples and a sample template.

Related to the topic above, how do you create your author tags to have the desired effect on Google? I realized that most SEO experts don't know about this topic.

After a quick search, I discovered that Search Engine Journal has a great article with real examples, which you can use to get the most out of author tags and authority.

Looking for author bio writing tips? Learn why it's important for SEO, readers, E-A-T, and UX, plus see examples and a sample template here.

Google: Human-Written Content Does Not Necessarily Make Content Useful or Helpful

Google's John Mueller said on Twitter that just because a human writes a piece of content does not necessarily make it worthwhile or good content.

Google's John Mueller said on Twitter that just because a human wrote a piece of content doesn't necessarily make it valid or good. The fact that a human wrote the content does not guarantee that it will rank well in Google Search.

"Just because a human wrote a piece of content doesn't make it useful and good content," John said. Instead, John recommends "focusing on making something that's great, unique, engaging, and that people would recommend to their friends, not just something that's technically good."

Google's John Mueller said on Twitter that just because a piece of content is written by a human, it does not make that content necessarily helpful and good content. Having a human write content won't guarantee the content ranks well in Google Search.

Structured Data Title of the Web Almanac Updated

This is the second year in which the Web Almanac has included a section on structured data.

Despite many advances in machine learning and especially in "natural language progression," data still needs to be presented in a machine-readable format.

Structured data aids in the discoverability of information for web search, data linking, and archiving purposes. Engineers and web content creators apply structured data to their websites, making them easier to use.

WordLift is an AI-powered SEO tool that does the most challenging work for us on the structured data side. If you're interested in structured data, I highly recommend trying it.

The SEO service that helps your website speak Google's language. Grow your audience with our Artificial Intelligence.

Among the authors of the structured data article in the Web Almanac is Andrea Volpini, CEO of WordLift.

Structured Data chapter of the 2022 Web Almanac covering adoption and year on year change of RDFa, Opne Graph, Twitter, JSON-LD, Microdata, Facebook, Dublin Core, Microformats and microformats2 structured data.

Book Of The Week: "One Plus One Equals Three: A Masterclass in Creative Thinking" - Dave Trott

How do you make something out of nothing? This book goes straight to the heart of the creative impulse.

Combining Dave Trott's distinctive, almost Zen-like storytelling, humor, and practical advice, its collection of provocative anecdotes and thought experiments is designed to light a fire under your creative ambitions. From tales of 18th-century Japanese samurai to classic battles between "creatives" and "suits" in the boardroom, these stories act as a rallying cry for individuals and businesses who want to think differently, stand out and challenge convention.

One Plus One Equals Three: A Masterclass in Creative Thinking [Trott, Dave] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. One Plus One Equals Three: A Masterclass in Creative Thinking

I hope you enjoyed my weekly SEO insights. Hope to see you the following Sunday in the new episode. I wish you all a great week.

Best,

Mert Erkal