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Google’s December Core Update was immense and it stirred up a lot of emotions (positive and negative) for site owners with improved rankings or those devastated by the update. Ross and Scott review what is known about the update, who was affected, and how to respond to it if you were on the losing side of the results. In addition, they discuss other noteworthy SEO news and answer a question from another valued listener.

Ross interviews John Espley, Chief Connector at ConnectionSkills.ca about his work with small and medium businesses and how businesses connect with SEO, link building, and online marketing overall. The discussion often touches on the merits of networking and how connecting with people online and offline has an impact on SEO and a business’s overall success.

In this episode, Ross interviews prolific Search Engine Journal writer, Roger Montti on his start in the SEO business and the work he does. The discussion then moves on to the latest news from Google such as passages, common SEO issues he encounters with client sites, questionable update rollouts for WordPress, and more.

John and Ross welcome the one and only Barry Schwartz on the show - finally! Barry is the founder and editor of Search Engine Roundtable, CEO of RustyBrick, and News Editor at Search Engine Land. The show first touches on Barry’s origin story, how he manages to get so much done each day, his favourite news sources, and more. The bulk of the episode explores news around Google Passages Ranking, how BERT might figure into Passages, the Request Indexing Feature, and the future of search.

John and Ross discuss a few pieces of search news before diving into the important news that came out of the recent SearchOn event by Google. Discussed was the groundbreaking news about “passages” that Google will be releasing in the New Year, followed by news on BERT, spelling detection, and the expansion of Key Moments on YouTube. The two end the show with answers to some SEO questions from listeners.

Google causes concern for many as it turns off the indexation request tool to make infrastructure updates. John and Ross speculate the updates are partly due to some recently publicized Google bugs while sharing those details. Ross discusses WordPress's automatic platform optimization (APO) and the results on his own site followed by an interesting review of Gary Illyes’s comments on how Caffeine’s indexing infrastructure works. Local SEO news follows with some significant updates followed by John Mueller’s announcement of mobile-only indexation coming in 2021.

The hosts discuss the meeting between the excellent Barry Schwartz from Search Engine Round Table and Martin Splitt from Google about Google’s relationship with the SEO community. They also delve into rare updates from that other search engine, Bing, some interesting local SEO news, a number of Mueller files, and a listener’s SEO question.

From the Google local algorithm to Google Discover, Ross and John discuss the algorithmic glitches and weirdness over the past few weeks. They also talk about picking the best domain for a rebranding, the no snippet tag, the pros and cons of allowing guests posts, and more.

Google is launching People Cards in India to allow individuals to create their own Rolodex-like listing in Google (shades of authorship?), Google suffered a massive indexing glitch, Firefox renews with Google and you won’t believe how much money they make! Scott and Ross also discuss issues with Google News indexing new providers, an important tip on using caching plugins in WordPress, a major issue with the latest WordPress upgrade, and much more.

Google has extended it’s mobile-first deadline in order to minimize negative impacts on many sites during the pandemic. Google My Business has begun testing the inevitable paid upgrade to Google My Business listings. John and Ross also discuss news on enhancements to Google Search Console, hints on local SEO, and they discuss a funny meme about common reasons why SEO fails.

John and Ross discuss the feasibility of “algorithm-proofing” a website, insight into the past indexing issues with Google, and news on the increased use of descriptive text with images in search. They follow-up with insights from the new Google Podcast, whether link building is “wrong” in Google’s eyes, and they answer a question about sitelinks in search results.

John and Ross discuss Google’s amazing acquiescence towards paying news organizations for the right to use their content. A sure game-changer for anyone in the news market. The SEOs next discuss an assortment of Google News from the closure of some Google products to insights into local SEO and a Mueller file.

Scott and Ross discuss the Google Page Experience Update and what it means to website owners, followed by tips on re-opening during COVID and how to attract business during this difficult time. The Local SEO component of the show delved into news from Nextdoor, Manual Action reports, citation updates, and more.

Ross and John cover Core Web Vitals as a ranking signal, more news on Google’s May Core algorithm update, indexing issues, and the impact of COVID-19 on SEO agencies. We follow this info with local SEO news, a Mueller file, and answers to three SEO questions from our listeners.

Ross Dunn and Scott Van Achte welcome a surprise guest before discussing the recent broad core update from Google that has significantly affected a large number of websites. Ross shares examples of how businesses can make the most of the COVID-19 downtime. The rest of the show focuses on news on local reviews, Mueller files, and a shake up in online ordering using Google My Business.

Scott and Ross discuss John Mueller’s hilarious “Quick, The moderators are all busy, post bad advice!” on Reddit, an overview of a few 101 tips on using JavaScript properly for SEO, followed by Ross’s recent SEO 101 tips from his recent round of video website reviews. They tied up the show with a question from a listener.  

Scott and Ross discuss a wide variety of news in this episode. From Google’s latest conference video series and dissuading people from believing EAT is in the algorithm, to a reminder that calls to action are a key component of web design and search success. The show rounds out with answers to two great questions from our listeners.

COVID-19 has taken over all of our lives and many businesses are understandably putting their online marketing on hold. Scott and Ross discuss some of the reasons not to put marketing on hold and how to do it yourself to keep costs low or negotiate better pricing temporarily. In addition, they cover general SEO news, some reassuring Mueller files, and answer SEO questions from the SEO 101 Facebook Group.

From Let’s Encrypt’s critical SSL glitch to SEO WordPress plugins such as Yoast bugging out; bugs were a hot topic in this episode. Ross Dunn and guest host Scott Van Achte also cover issues with multilingual websites, some Mueller files, and a couple of questions from SEO 101 listeners.