SEO News. Episode #6

Here we go!

?? Updates

Unconfirmed February 14 update

Although the update is simply designated as one from February 14th, the community noticed indications of changes in volatility late on the 13th. As the evidence says, the release lasted until February 16th.?

Despite its impact on search results and rollout duration for several days, Google has not acknowledged the update, leaving it unnamed and known only through Twitter posts.

Source: https://www.seroundtable.com/google-search-ranking-algorithm-update-around-february-14th-34912.html

?? Documentation

Sitemap documentation reorganized

The titles and structure of the documentation were updated at the request of the users.

Source: https://www.seroundtable.com/google-reorganizes-sitemaps-documentation-34895.html

Link best practices

The previous version of the document was mostly about making links crawlable.?

The updated version has been significantly improved and expanded. It now includes advice on anchor text placement, writing good anchor texts, and best practices on internal links, as well as backlinks.

Source: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/links-crawlable

Spam Policy Circumvention

While the documentation on links has been expanded, the opposite is true for this document. In response to user feedback, the document from November 2022 has been simplified to improve clarity.

However, the core message remains the same: if you attempt to bypass Google's content guidelines or continue to post spam after it has been removed from search results or other platforms, Google has the authority to take action and remove your content from the view of users.

Source: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies#policy-circumvention

?? Search

(test) New interface for mobile search

The tabs for filtering search results, such as All, Images, Videos, Maps, and so on, have been converted into a drop-down button on the left side of the search bar.

In my opinion, it looks quite nice.

Source: https://twitter.com/ShalomGood/status/1626366605839028228?s=20

?? Tech SEO tips from Gary Illyes

Noindex, nofollow & redirects

Question:

If a page contains both noindex, nofollow directives and 301, 302 redirects, will the crawler recognize the redirects?

Answer:

"I think we shouldn't forward the noindex with redirects unless we can be exceptionally certain that the target also wants the noindex. I imagine that on some sites the noindex would forward in some cases, but across sites it would not. This is a pretty bad hijack vector, hence being vague."

Source: https://mastodon.social/@methode/109888076676617200