SEO Updates: Google Phases Out Sitelinks Search Box, Ranking Volatility Continues, Bing Expands Tools & Semrush Acquires SMX? - Date: October 25th, 20

Google SEO News

Farewell to Sitelinks Search Box

Google will remove the site links search box from search results starting November 21, 2024, due to declining usage. This change will affect all languages and countries but won’t impact rankings or other sitelinks. Google will also discontinue the Search Console rich results report and related testing tools for this feature. Removing the structured data is optional, and unsupported data won't cause errors.

SEO Recommendations by Jason

There are no specific actions website owners should take, but from a user experience perspective, it is very positive to see Google focusing on providing a refined SERP experience, fostering better usage of the search function and their continued effort to keep users, browsing.?

Ongoing Google Search Ranking Volatility

Google’s search rankings have continued fluctuating, with notable spikes on October 19th and 20th, echoing months of volatility following the August 2023 core update. Glenn Globe wrote on X and this is one of the replies we've found:?

Google: No Shortcuts in SEO, Avoid Optimizing for Tool Metrics

John Mueller from Google emphasized that optimizing for SEO tool metrics, like Moz’s DA, doesn’t directly improve rankings. In a Reddit thread, he explained that while metrics can be tempting, real SEO success lies in long-term, unique value creation rather than quick fixes. He reminded SEOs to focus on foundational best practices rather than chasing tool-generated scores.

SEO Recommendations by Jason

It is in Google’s best interest that people don’t chase “vanity metrics” from third-party tools, but I am partially disagreeing. As website owners and search engine users, we have next to no transparent data on how Google distinguishes “authority”. Third-party tools allow us to break down authority into a step-by-step pragmatic approach allowing us to understand what moves the needs for our organic visibility and velocity to the SERPs.

Google Search Penalty Hits Fortune Recommends

Fortune Recommends appears to have been hit with a manual search penalty, likely due to violating Google’s site reputation abuse policy. The product reviews site saw a significant drop in search visibility around October 11th, losing nearly 400K queries. This follows similar penalties on large publications like Forbes Advisor as Google continues enforcing its site reputation policies.

SEO Recommendations by Jason

Search Penalties are generally due to usage of black-hat SEO techniques, lack of understanding of essential SEO performance metrics, and mismanagment of AI. We actually talk a lot about this on our Learn AI for SEO program. Using AI in your content without understanding its limitations and without a safe adoption framework has also led to penalties.?

Bing SEO News

Bing Webmaster Tools Update: 16 Months of Data & Copilot Preview

Bing Webmaster Tools now offers 16 months of search performance data, like to Google Search Console, expanding from the previous 6 months. Bing has also replaced the Insights section with a more actionable Recommendations feature. Additionally, Microsoft is previewing a limited integration of its AI-powered Copilot tool, designed to answer user queries about site performance in real-time.

SEO Recommendations by Jason

We haven’t seen much SEO value from the recommendations yet, quite the contrary, they seem to be a bit of a nuisance!! I hope we get to see more improvements in this suggestion feature in the future. The current recommendations or suggestions that both Bing Search Console and Google Search Console provide have been very basic and unpractical.

General Search Marketing News

Google Shopping Goes AI, Bing Webmaster Tools Updates & Semrush Acquires SMX & Search Engine Land

- New Google Shopping Features: Google officially launched new AI-based shopping tools, including personalized feeds and deal-finding features such as price comparison and price tracking.

- SEMrush Acquires Third Door Media: In industry news, SEMrush has acquired Third Door Media, the parent company of major properties like Search Engine Land and SMX.?