The SEOs Diners Club - Issue #38 - Weekly SEO Tips & News

November 13, 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.

AI Content Is Not As Serious An SEO Threat As Google Would Like Us To Think

Use it, and be smart about it. Here are the dos and don'ts.

Content creation with AI was one of my favourite topics this year. It's already clear that we will discuss much more in the coming year.

As well as the increasing number of such tools and better insights, Google's strong ban on what it calls "auto-generated content" is also keeping the topic on the agenda.

So much so that the recent updates to the helpful content and SPAM algorithm in recent months have hit sites that produce content with artificial intelligence, a development too significant to be a coincidence.

Mike King of Ipullrank published a handy article on the subject this week and shared his advice on AI content creation:

Despite Google's policies around AI Content, using the tech correctly does not necessarily impact your visibility and search traffic negatively.

According to King, AI content generation has a much less negative impact on our SEO performance than Google would like us to think.

If we are smart and use the methods he suggests below, it is possible to make this process more successful and not cause a negative situation. I share King's six tips below:

1. Fine-tune the model - To create copy that reflects the brand's voice, you must fine-tune your model. Instead of using off-the-shelf marketing tools (like GPT-3), you should work with your engineering team to create a model that gives you what you want. Alternatively, you can pre-insert where fine-tuning is not possible.

2. Create copy in short bursts - Instead of writing a single lead and asking for 500 words, write a series of leads and vary the length of the content generated by that lead. The longer the copy, the more likely the language model will derail.

3. Include data - Your website is based on a data model; leverage this data model as part of your prompts to create more variety that directly reflects your offerings.

4. Focus on helpful content - AI content generation tools can inform creative brainstorming, but they are not yet essential for creating "creative" content.

5. Run everything through an editorial layer. If you need to scale, consider a service like EditorNinja as part of the workflow.

6. Apply an optimization layer - AI content generation tools may or may not result in similar common word usage encouraged by content optimization tools. It's worth further optimizing entity, word usage, internal linking and semantic markup to position content to perform.

By the way, I would also like to share my presentation on content production with AI compatible with Google algorithms. In this presentation, I share the methods and tools to produce quality and original content in Google standards with artificial intelligence and update it from time to time.

AI-Powered Content Creation Recommendations Compliant with Google Algorithms by Mert Erkal, International SEO Expert, Founder of Stradiji SEO and Conversion Optimization Agency Last Update Date : 7 September 2022

Human Percentage: List of Tools to Detect Low Quality AI Content

Using these tools, you can measure how close the quality of the content you produce with AI is to the content produced by human writers.

The fact that the sites affected by the Useful Content update and the SPAM update in October produced content with artificial intelligence shows that Google has made significant progress in detecting content production with artificial intelligence.

AI content creation has become inevitable. In most cases, they work much more efficiently than human writers. At least, that's what my experience tells me.

In this case, we have two options; either to follow the classical methods by heeding Google's warnings not to produce automated content with artificial intelligence or to produce artificial intelligence content that looks like a human writer (!).

Those who prefer the second method can use the tools mentioned in the article below to see the percentage of the content they produce with AI tools created by a human author. Increasing the rate may make Google recognize this content as more natural.

Glenn Gabe of GSQi provides several tools for detecting lower-quality AI content.

Is Bounce Rate a Google Ranking Factor?

Is there a relationship between bounce rate and search rankings?

Google search representatives have consistently and clearly stated that they do not use Google Analytics data to rank websites.

However, there are contradictions between what Google says and what SEOs believe.

Despite Google's public statements, some SEOs continue to believe that bounce rate is somehow a ranking factor.

Why do they believe this? Do claims contrary to Google's public statements have any validity? Does Google use a bounce rate to rank web pages?

The following article seeks to answer these questions:

Is there a relationship between bounce rate and search rankings? Let's take a look at the evidence and see whether it's a ranking factor that moves the needle.

We can clearly say that bounce rate is not a Google ranking factor. Bounce rate is not a reliable measure of web page relevance, and Google has repeatedly said it does not use it for ranking.

Some experiments may have shown a correlation between bounce rate and SERP ranking. However, it does not seem possible to extend this to all searches. Considering that not all sites use Google Analytics, it is not a good idea to consider a metric like bounce rate as a ranking factor.

Will SEO Die With Web3?

SEO has been killed and killed and is under a new threat with Web3. Will it survive this ordeal?

First, let's take a look at what Web3 is:

Web 3.0 is a version of the ınternet that is decentralized and individual-driven, offering a self-sovereign digital identity. Not controlled by any entity, Web 3.0 will consist of platforms using consensus mechanisms that everyone can trust.

When we talk about a decentralized and individual-oriented (private) system, one inevitably thinks, "well, does Google know about this?". Indeed, Google is currently used in most of the world as a highly centralized and dominant search engine.

On the other hand, the fact that we will spend time in Metaverse etc., with Web3 shows that while our search needs will remain the same, the methods will be very different from those we know.

Will we still need SEO in such a process?

Here is the answer to this question based on the opinions of 9 different experts:

What many SEO-ers fear is that SEO will or might die in web3. Google will no longer own the people's data, so how to optimize for a search engine without data?

There's no denying that SEO is integral to how we use the internet today. But with the advent of Web 3.0, some wonder if this means the death of SEO. Rest assured, search engines are here to stay in the new age of the internet. Everything we use on the internet today will probably be available in Web 3.0.

Because, as of now, there is no replacement for search engines. So, even though the internet is evolving, SEO is here to stay. As long as search engines exist, people will continue to use YouTube in the metaverse, just like Google. So there will always be a need for SEO.

Is TikTok Beating Google?

We hear that Generation Z is using TikTok a lot more to find things they might have previously queried on Google. Does this mean that TikTok is becoming a more frequently used search engine than Google?

Seer Interactive founder Will Reynolds has published a tremendous data-driven article to answer this question.

Wil Reynolds takes on the headline-hype of TikTok overtaking Google. Find out what SEOs should be focusing on and what is just a distraction.

According to Reynolds, when we look at what works on TikTok, it's clear that, depending on the nature of the app, it will be camera-generated content.

So how do we recognize where camera-generated content is preferable to keyboard-generated content?

Back to our old friend Google.

Google has spent decades trying to understand what content users find most valuable for specific queries. We have this data. Let's use it.

As search experts, we have a role that is more than just saying, "that was just for lunch, so don't worry" in a TikTok chat.

The challenge we face is using Google's understanding of the correct answer for a query to determine when camera-generated content is a better answer than keyboard-generated content. However, there seems to be plenty of time for that yet.

How to Optimize Crawl Budget?

How can you get Googlebot to discover or quickly crawl your URLs as soon as you publish or update them?

There is no guarantee that Googlebot will crawl every URL it can access on your site. On the contrary, most sites are missing a significant number of pages.

In reality, Google doesn't have the resources to crawl every page it finds. All URLs that Googlebot has discovered but has not yet crawled, and URLs that it plans to re-crawl, are prioritized in a crawl queue.

This means that Googlebot only crawls those assigned a high enough priority. Because the crawl queue is dynamic, it constantly changes as Google processes new URLs. And not all URLs end up at the back of the queue.

So how can you ensure that your site's URLs are VIPs and skip the queue?

This article from Search Engine Land offers some advice on this topic:

Crawl budget is a vanity metric. Your goal should be to guide Googlebot in crawling important URLs fast once they are published or updated.

In summary, you are advised to do the following:

1. Ensure a fast, healthy server response

2. Clean up low-quality content (delete your unindexed, unexplained pages or 301 redirect them to relevant pages)

3. Review indexing controls (Are your Canonical practices correct? Are there pages where you should have placed a Noindex tag? Or do you have pages that have been noindexed by mistake?

4. Tell search engine spiders what to crawl and when (manage your XML Sitemap and Robots.txt files effectively)

5. Try to get relevant backlinks (I'm not saying to buy them, your essential pages without backlinks have low crawl and indexing rates)

Google Needs 9 Times More Time to Crawl JS Sites Than HTML

Can Google crawl JavaScript content? Of course, it can. But it's a bit slower than HTML sites.

Can Google crawl JavaScript content? Of course, it can.

But does it crawl JavaScript content like HTML? Ziemek Bućko from Onely.com did a test to find out.

The result is that Google needs nine times more time to crawl JavaScript pages than plain HTML ones.

It shows a processing queue in Google's indexing pipeline and how waiting in this queue can significantly affect the speed at which your content is crawled and indexed.

This seems like another reason to export as much of your content as possible to plain HTML. You can find out how the test was conducted and reached this conclusion by clicking on the link below.

An experiment in which Googlebot needed 9x more time to crawl JS pages than HTML pages demonstrates the existence of a rendering queue at Google.

Semrush Backlink Analytics Introduced "Network Graph" Feature

Backlinks are essential for SEO, but sometimes they are hard to see. But what if there was an easier way to see everything at a glance?

Semrush announced the Network Graph feature this week. With this new interactive graph, you can visually explore the most significant links of any domain. Green nodes represent links from reputable sites. Below you can find Semrush's analysis of the backlink profile. This can also be useful for giving points about authority...

With this new feature, you can do the following in Semrush's Backlink Analytics module:

  1. Evaluate the backlinks of a domain in general

  2. You can discover new opportunities to get backlinks

  3. Find backlinks of competitor sites in niche areas

  4. You can see the percentage of highly relevant backlinks of a domain

  5. You can uncover the most critical 2nd and 3rd-tier backlinks of a site

With this new Semrush feature, it may be possible to see link schemes that Google finds objectionable. If Semrush can see it, Google can probably see it too.

With this new feature, you can see how sites in your industry are linked. You can export the data and compare it with your competitors.

A similar feature was announced by the Majestic SEO tool. However, it seems that Semrush Network Graph works faster and its interface is clearer and simpler. Of course, it seems to need a little more development.

You can try it out by clicking the link below. Unfortunately, free users can only see certain parts of this new feature. You can test the tool for a while by starting your 30-day trial.

50+ tools on SEO, content marketing, competitor research, PPC and social media marketing to help you attract and grow your audience online faster.

Get the backlink data you need from Semrush. Find competitors, new prospects, and backlink profile comparisons.

Save Up to $695 on Guru Pack with Semrush Black Friday Campaign

From Semrush comes a great Black Friday campaign that will make you say, "the boss has gone crazy!"

Semrush seems to be offering a significant discount with this year's Black Friday campaign. The campaign will start tomorrow, and it will be possible to save up to $695 on Semrush's Guru bundle.

If you consider buying Semrush, you should not miss this opportunity. I should also mention that the campaign is valid for first-time Semrush buyers.

You can go to the campaign page by clicking on the link below and take advantage of the discounted campaign opportunity starting tomorrow:

Power up your marketing with our exclusive 40% off package: Semrush Guru + 500 bonus keywords to track.

Book Of The Week: "Leading Without Authority: How the New Power of Co-Elevation Can Break Down Silos, Transform Teams, and Reinvent Collaboration" - Keith Ferrazzi

In times of stress, we have a choice: we can retreat further into our isolated silos or commit to “going higher together.”

When external pressures are mounting and employees are working from far-flung locations across the globe, says bestselling author Keith Ferrazzi, we can no longer afford to waste time navigating the complex chains of command or bureaucratic bottlenecks present in most companies. But when we choose the bold new methodology of co-elevation as our operating model, we unlock the potential to boost productivity, deepen commitment and engagement, and create a level of trust, mutual accountability, and purpose that exceeds what could have been accomplished under the status quo.

And you don’t need any formal authority to do it. You have to marshal a commitment to a shared mission and care about the success and development of others as much as you care about your own. Regardless of your title, position, or where or how you work, the ability to lead without authority is an essential workplace competency.

Here, Ferrazzi draws on over a decade of research and over thirty years of helping CEOs and senior leaders drive innovation and build high-performing teams to show how we can all turn our colleagues and partners into teammates and reboot how we work together.

Leading Without Authority: How the New Power of Co-Elevation Can Break Down Silos, Transform Teams, and Reinvent Collaboration [Ferrazzi, Keith, Weyrich, Noel] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Leading Without Authority: How the New Power of Co-Elevation Can Break Down Silos, Transform Teams, and Reinvent Collaboration

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