Google’s June 2024 spam update rollout is now complete. The spam update started on December 19, 2024, about seven days ago, finishing on December 26, 2024. This was the third spam update of the 2024 year and started a day after Google completed the December 2024 core update.
This update was a general and broad spam update, it was not a link spam update and did not automate the site reputation abuse policy, which is still only done via manual actions.
Google wrote, “The rollout was complete as of December 26, 2024.”
What we saw. While the update was announced the day after the December core update, it does seems that it hit very hard within a few days and was much more widespread than some previous spam updates. Although, it is still a bit too early to dig too much into the update. If you were hit by this update, you may notice the rankings drops in Search Console. Keep in mind, holiday traffic can be very volatile and low for many sites, so look at rankings and not traffic for this specific update.
Previous spam updates. The last spam update was on June 20, 2024 and was named June 2024 spam update, it completed on June 27.
Here’s our past coverage of confirmed Google spam updates:
Why we care. This Google update took a lot of us by surprise, since it happened only a day after the core update and just days before the holiday season. We were taken back by Google releasing an update that will end close to, or into the holiday season.
This is the 7th Google search algorithm update we had in 2024, including four core updates and now three spam updates. It is unclear exactly what type of spam this targets but if you noticed any ranking changes during this update, it might have been related to this spam update.
“While Google’s automated systems to detect search spam are constantly operating, we occasionally make notable improvements to how they work. When we do, we refer to this as a spam update and share when they happen on our list of Google Search ranking updates.
For example, SpamBrain is our AI-based spam-prevention system. From time-to-time, we improve that system to make it better at spotting spam and to help ensure it catches new types of spam.
Sites that see a change after a spam update should review our spam policies to ensure they are complying with those. Sites that violate our policies may rank lower in results or not appear in results at all. Making changes may help a site improve if our automated systems learn over a period of months that the site complies with our spam policies.
In the case of a link spam update (an update that specifically deals with link spam), making changes might not generate an improvement. This is because when our systems remove the effects spammy links may have, any ranking benefit the links may have previously generated for your site is lost. Any potential ranking benefits generated by those links cannot be regained.”
https://i0.wp.com/dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/google-spam-can-1920-800x457-qhOq20.jpeg?fit=800%2C457&ssl=1457800Dubado Solutionshttp://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.pngDubado Solutions2024-12-26 19:04:382024-12-26 19:04:38Google December 2024 spam update done rolling out
Google launched seven official and confirmed algorithmic updates in 2024, four core updates and three spam updates. The March 2024 core update was massive, updating several systems within the core algorithm, plus bringing in a few new large spam policies.
In 2023, Google had 9 confirmed algorithmic updates. In 2022 and 2021, Google had 10 confirmed algorithmic updates.
Google confirmed algorithm update summary
We whipped up this timeline documenting all the confirmed Google search algorithm updates in 2024, so you can visualize the updates over the year.
Four Google core updates in 2024
Google had four core updates in 2024, the same number as it had in 2023, but in 2022 Google only had two core updates. We had core updates in March, August, November and December.
March 2024 core update. The Google March 2024 core update started rolling out March 5, took 45 days to complete, and finished on April 19. Google told us this core update was its largest core update in history, updating multiple core systems.
The March 2024 core update is “more complex update than our usual core updates,” Chris Nelson from the Search Quality team at Google said. Google made “changes to multiple core systems,” he added. A Google spokesperson said, “The updates led to larger quality improvements than we originally thought – you’ll now see 45% less low quality, unoriginal content in search results, versus the 40% improvement we expected across this work.”
This update was a rather large core update, based on what the data providers showed us. Google updated its help page, including more in-depth guidance for those who may see changes after an update.
November 2024 core update. The Google November 2024 core update started on November 11 and completed 24 days later on December 5. This was a normal core update that “This update is designed to continue our work to improve the quality of our search results by showing more content that people find genuinely useful and less content that feels like it was made just to perform well on Search,” Google said.
As a whole, the November 2024 core update felt less volatile overall compared to the other two core updates that seemed to impact a larger number of sites.
December 2024 core update. The Google December 2024 core update started on December 12 and completed 6 days later on December 18. This update was a bit of a surprise, since it started a week after the November core update completed.
Why did Google release this core update so soon? “If you’re wondering why there’s a core update this month after one last month, we have different core systems we’re always improving,” Google told us.
Here is a chart from Similarweb comparing the volatility of these past core updates:
Three Google spam updates in 2024
March 2024 spam update. The Google March 2024 spam update started the same day as the March 2024 core update but completed in less time, only taking about 14 days to complete – it ended on March 20. Google did not say anything specifically new when it came to announcing the spam update. Chris Nelson from Google wrote on March 5, “Along with our new spam policies, we are also launching the March 2024 spam update today.”
June 2024 spam update. The Google June 2024 spam update started on June 30 and completed 7 days later on June 27. This update was a general and broad spam update, it was not a link spam update and did not automate the site reputation abuse policy, which is still only done via manual actions.
December 2024 spam update. The Google December 2024 spam update started the day after the December 2024 spam update took seven days to roll out and completed on December 26th. This update was a general and broad spam update, that applied globally and to all languages, Google said. It seems this update hit very hard within a few days and was much more widespread than some previous spam updates.
Other Google algorithm changes, updates, tweaks or topics
Other Google updates. While we had four core updates and two spam updates, Google also pushed out other search specific updates in 2024. Here is a list of those:
In May, Google began enforcing its site reputation abuse policy. While this is not algorithmic yet, it impacted many large and some small sites through manual action penalties.
In October, Google confirmed it has an algorithm that checks to see if portions of your site are starkly different from other sections and will adjust its site-wide signals accordingly.
Google Search bugs. Google also had several search bugs throughout 2024:
In January, Google confirmed a bug where sites would teeter in and out of the index on weekends. Google confirmed this on February 1 and fixed it on February 8.
In August, Google confirmed a ranking bug on August 15 and resolved it on August 20.
In June, Google confirmed an indexing bug that was confirmed and then fixed both on June 20.
In July, Google confirmed an issue with indexing fresh content on July 9.
SEO has changed significantly over the last decade, largely because Google has continuously updated its algorithms to improve search results. These updates aim to better understand user intent, reward high-quality content, and discourage manipulative practices. From foundational changes like Panda and Penguin to more recent updates like the November and December 2024 core updates, each has shaped how websites rank and how we approach optimization. Below is a look at some of Google’s most impactful updates and what they mean for SEO today.
The Panda update marked a shift in SEO by targeting low-quality content and spammy practices. It penalized sites with thin content or those created solely to manipulate rankings, such as affiliate-heavy pages. Over time, Panda became part of Google’s core algorithm, reinforcing the need for meaningful, high-quality content that provides real value to users.
2012 – Venice
Google’s algorithm update Venice was a noteworthy update, as it showed that Google understood that searchers are sometimes looking for results that are local to them. After Venice, Google’s search results included pages based on the location you set, or your IP address.
2012 – Penguin
The Google Penguin update focused on eliminating manipulative link-building practices. It penalized sites with spammy or paid backlinks, shifting the focus to earning genuine, high-quality links. By 2016, Penguin became part of the core algorithm, emphasizing the importance of ethical and relevant link-building strategies.
2012 – Pirate
The Pirate update addressed copyright infringement by penalizing sites with repeated DMCA takedown requests. It aimed to reduce the visibility of websites sharing unauthorized content, ensuring legitimate sources were prioritized in search results. This update highlighted the importance of respecting intellectual property online.
2013 – Hummingbird
The Hummingbird update improved Google’s ability to understand the meaning behind search queries. Rather than focusing on individual keywords, it considered the entire phrase to deliver more accurate results. This shift encouraged natural, conversational content and reduced the need for over-optimized keyword stuffing. It also laid the foundation for advancements in voice search and semantic search technology.
2014 – Pigeon
Another bird-related Google update followed in 2014 with Google Pigeon, which focused on local SEO. The Pigeon update affected both the results pages and Google Maps. It led to more accurate localization, giving preference to results near the user’s location. It also aimed to make local results more relevant and higher quality, taking organic ranking factors into account.
2014 – HTTPS/SSL
Google introduced HTTPS as a ranking signal to encourage secure web connections. Sites using HTTPS gained a slight ranking advantage, promoting better data encryption and security for users. While initially a minor factor, it signaled Google’s growing focus on user safety and set the stage for security becoming a standard expectation online.
2015 – Mobile Update
Known as “Mobilegeddon,” this update prioritized mobile-friendly websites in mobile search results. As mobile usage surpassed desktop, Google aimed to ensure a better experience for users on smaller screens. While the immediate impact wasn’t drastic, it marked a clear shift toward mobile-first indexing, emphasizing the importance of mobile optimization for long-term SEO success.
2015 – RankBrain
RankBrain introduced machine learning to Google’s algorithm, helping the search engine interpret unfamiliar or complex queries. It analyzed past searches to predict the most relevant results, even for terms it hadn’t encountered before. While you can’t directly optimize for RankBrain, creating clear, helpful, and user-focused content ensures your site aligns with its goal of improving search relevance.
2016 – Possum
In September 2016 it was time for another local update. Google’s algorithm update Possum update applied several changes to Google’s local ranking filter to further improve local search. After Possum, local results became more varied, depending more on the physical location of the searcher and the phrasing of the query. Some businesses, not doing well in organic search, found it easier to rank locally after this update. This indicated that this update made local search more independent of the organic results.
The Speed Update made page load time a ranking factor for mobile searches, building on its previous importance for desktop. Slow-loading sites were more likely to see a drop in rankings, especially on mobile devices. This update reinforced the need for fast, seamless user experiences, encouraging site owners to prioritize performance optimization.
2018 – Medic
The Medic Update was a broad core algorithm change that heavily impacted “Your Money or Your Life” (YMYL) websites, such as health, finance, and legal sites. It appeared to prioritize expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-A-T) in content, especially for topics affecting users’ well-being. While it wasn’t exclusively aimed at medical sites, it underscored the importance of credible, accurate, and user-focused information.
The BERT update (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers) enhanced Google’s ability to understand the context of words in a search query. By analyzing words in relation to the ones around them, BERT improved how Google interpreted natural language and intent. This update particularly helped with more conversational or complex queries, making search results more accurate and relevant. For content creators, it emphasized the value of clear, natural writing that directly addresses user needs.
The Page Experience update introduced a new ranking signal combining existing factors like mobile-friendliness and HTTPS with Core Web Vitals. These metrics measured real-world user experience, focusing on loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability. While content quality remained the top priority, this update emphasized the importance of delivering a smooth and user-friendly browsing experience.
Announced in 2021, MUM introduced a powerful AI system capable of processing information across multiple formats and languages. It can analyze text, images, and videos to deliver more comprehensive answers to complex queries. For example, MUM can combine insights from various sources to provide layered, context-rich results. This update signaled Google’s focus on deeper understanding and more diverse content delivery in search.
First run in April 2021, these updates prioritized detailed, insightful product reviews over thin or generic content. Google rewarded reviews that showed expertise, included real-world usage, and helped users make informed decisions. It’s a key update for affiliate and e-commerce sites focused on providing genuine value. The update ran multiple times over the years.
2022 – Helpful Content Update
The Helpful Content Update targeted low-quality, unoriginal content designed primarily to game search rankings. Instead, it rewarded “people-first” content—material that genuinely answers user questions and provides a satisfying experience. Sites with lots of unhelpful or shallow content saw declines, while those focused on creating valuable, user-centric content were prioritized. This update reinforced the importance of writing with the audience in mind, not just search engines.
Between 2023 and 2024, Google rolled out a mix of core and spam algorithm updates to enhance search quality and combat manipulative practices. Core updates focused on refining how content is evaluated, rewarding pages that provide high-quality, relevant, and trustworthy information. At the same time, spam updates targeted tactics like keyword stuffing, spammy backlinks, and low-quality AI-generated content. These changes reinforced Google’s priorities: surfacing helpful, user-focused content while penalizing manipulative SEO strategies.
2024 – Site Reputation Abuse
Google is cracking down on site reputation abuse, including parasite SEO. This tactic involves using trusted domains to host unrelated third-party content, like payday loans or casino reviews, to manipulate rankings. Sites caught violating this policy risk manual penalties, which require removing or noindexing the problematic content to recover. Legitimate uses of third-party content, such as syndicated news or user-generated material, are still allowed when properly managed.
Google algorithm updates: What’s next?
Google continues to refine its search algorithms with a growing focus on AI-driven search experiences. Recent advancements, such as Google AI Overviews, show a shift toward providing users with more intuitive and context-rich results. These tools combine AI to summarize complex topics, pull insights from multiple sources, and answer broader questions in a concise way.
Looking ahead, we can expect updates to further enhance understanding of search intent, prioritize high-quality content, and improve how information is presented. At the same time, technical factors like site speed, mobile usability, and security will remain essential. For website owners, the key is to stay adaptable by focusing on creating helpful, accurate, and user-centered content while keeping an eye on emerging AI trends in search.
We love to say that SEO is always changing, and 2024 proved that true. There’s hardly been a year more challenging and exciting than that. But as we’re heading into 2025, we’re sure we have not seen the last of it. With everyone banking on AI, search, and the search industry are set for another sea change. In this post, we hear from seasoned SEO experts for their predictions on the future and how you can prepare.
2024 was a year with many newsworthy developments. We won’t review everything here, as that would need a book, but maybe someone will make a documentary about life as an SEO in 2024. Or maybe life at Google, as the search giant was central to almost all the big news.
Google deemed a monopoly
Let’s start with the biggest: Google faced a significant legal ruling when a federal judge declared it a monopoly in August. This landmark antitrust case found that Google’s dominance in the search engine market violated antitrust laws. Since then, there have been many discussions about potential regulatory changes and impacts on the broader search and tech industry. Currently, it looks like the DOJ will ask Google to sell off Chrome, among other things.
Google launched AI Overviews
In May, Google launched AI Overviews during its I/O event. This new feature uses AI to generate concise summaries in search results, aiming to make searches more efficient and user-friendly. This integration marked a significant advancement in using AI within search engines. AI Overviews are now available in most markets, but not the EU.
Google search documents leak
Around the same time, a massive leak of Google’s search API documentation occurred, revealing over 2,500 pages of internal documents. Although the leaked documents do not contain the algorithm’s secret recipe, they provide valuable insights into Google’s inner workings.
Core updates keeping everyone up at night
Throughout the year, Google’s core updates led to significant swings in search rankings and notable traffic changes for many websites. For many of us, it remains an ongoing challenge to adapt to evolving algorithms quickly.
Keep up to date with the Yoast newsletter SEO is ever-changing. It can be hard to keep up with the latest changes and decide what’s best to focus on. But as a Yoast newsletter subscriber, you no longer need to worry! You’ll receive weekly emails with practical SEO tips and insights to help you quickly improve your site.
Additionally, in March, Google banned Parasite SEO, a practice that exploits high-authority domains for quick ranking. Google uses this ban to improve search quality and eliminate manipulative practices within its search ecosystem. This policy affected major sites like Time, Forbes, CNN, and the Wall Street Journal, as they were penalized for not adhering to Google’s guidelines.
OpenAI launches ChatGPT Search
In non-Google news, OpenAI introduced a search feature within ChatGPT in October, which was another groundbreaking development. This addition allows users to access up-to-date web information directly through the chatbot. As a result, OpenAI became a direct competitor to traditional search engines and offered a new way to find information online.
These were just some of the big events that happened in 2024. SEO is one of the most dynamic industries — there is never a dull moment! But this also means that you must stay informed about SEO trends for 2025 and be able to adapt to a rapidly changing environment.
We’ve asked several trusted experts for their predictions of what’s happening next in SEO in 2025. We’ll present their answers in themes, starting with the biggest one: the role of AI in SEO.
AI’s role in SEO
Artificial Intelligence is reshaping how businesses and professionals approach SEO. As AI tools become more advanced, they offer both opportunities and challenges.
Content generation and strategy
Arnout Hellemans (independent SEO consultant) believes AI will “massively” transform SEO strategies. However, he says, “The issue is that search engines will leave loads more content out of the index because it’s generic content already there.”
This means businesses must focus on creating unique and valuable content rather than relying solely on AI-generated text. AI can help keep content updated and assist in research, but human oversight remains critical. Hellemans suggests that while AI advances rapidly, “human oversight and rewriting is still really needed.” This balance ensures content remains relevant and engaging.
Streamlining content creation
Lily Ray (VP, SEO Strategy & Research at Amsive) points out that AI can make content creation much more efficient: “More and more companies will find ways to integrate AI into their content creation and optimization strategies. Outside of using AI to generate content, AI can create major efficiencies that streamline the content creation, such as analyzing and summarizing data, producing insights and text content at scale; generating metadata and structured data, and much more. While mass-producing AI content on a large scale can present SEO risks in some cases, using AI creatively and intelligently can dramatically speed up and improve the content ideation and creation process.”
Using AI for more than just content creation
Lily’s colleague Johnny Herge added that content writers will start using AI tools to do more than just produce content. “A new way many SEOs will succeed in 2025 is by using AI to help with the final product besides the copy itself. Coding is made infinitely easier with AI. Using AI will allow writers to make data analytics scripts or scripts that organize data and pull insights that would have previously required a writer to have a different skillset entirely. This likely will lead to writers being able to put forward much further quantifiable insights. ”
Kevin Indig (independent consultant) agrees: “AI + no-code offers SEO and other marketers powerful new workflows around building systems instead of working on single campaigns. I expect us to see many more examples of “systemization” next year, which will lead to smaller SEO teams with larger impact.”
AI and SEO tools will improve
As AI and SEO tools evolve, they will become much smarter. They don’t just identify issues but suggest fixes, making them incredibly valuable. Kyle Risley (Senior SEO Lead at Shopify) predicts, “SEO tools will evolve to be more proactive, shifting from merely identifying issues to offering comprehensive solutions. For small businesses with limited time and resources, these recommendations can help improve site quality, even without specialized SEO knowledge. Instead of simply noting “Your title tag is too short,” tools will suggest “Your title tag is too short. Click here to implement a better one.”
AI agents and AI brandbuilding
Jes Scholz (independent Growth Marketing Consultant and SEO Futurist) says, “AI agents will be all the hype, but very few SEOs will actually change their strategy. Only the bold will have the buy-in to take tactics to the cutting edge. But this will be needed as LLM-powered surfaces (AI Overviews, ChatGPT, etc.) start slowly but steadily eating into traditional search. Quick win AI visibility tactics, like best of listicles, will rise and fall like the meta keyword tag of old. Brand building on popular RAGd platforms will likely emerge as a dependable strategy. But no matter what, now is the time you can win the HoM/CMO/CEOs attention.”
Google’s AI Overviews will evolve
Kevin Indig predicts that Google’s AI Overviews will evolve: “I expect AIOs to morph into other formats next year, similar to how they contain products in shopping. Right now, they look like Featured Snippets, but I expect Google to keep iterating. I also expect them to roll AIOs out even further to monetizable queries, widening the gap between what’s measurable and what’s happening in the search results even more.”
Mark Williams-Cook(SEO Director at Candour) adds: “We’ve long seen the trend of Google trying to keep searchers on their SERP, and with their recent announcement they have reduced the cost of generating AIOs by 90%, I think it’s obvious we’re only going to see more of them. However, AI in the form of LLMs does open new doors, especially with content creation, without falling into the no-value trap of having AI write your content for you.”
Yoast SEO expert insights for 2025
Carolyn Shelby – Principal SEO at Yoast
The balancing act of SEO professionals In 2025, the big shift in SEO will be balancing diversified visibility with unified messaging. As AI-powered platforms, alternative search engines, and social discovery tools like TikTok, ChatGPT Search, and even Reddit increasingly influence how users find information, businesses can no longer rely solely on Google to drive traffic. Success will come from creating a consistent, authoritative presence across these fragmented ecosystems.
SEO professionals will need to ensure brand messaging remains cohesive and trustworthy across all channels while adapting to each platform’s unique requirements. Structured data, multimedia content, and a deep understanding of user intent will become critical to connecting the dots between platforms and maintaining a seamless user experience. In 2025, SEO will evolve into an integrated marketing discipline where visibility and messaging work hand in hand to build lasting trust and engagement.
Adapting to zero-click searches
The rise of zero-click searches is changing how businesses approach SEO in 2025. Getting clicks can be harder as users find answers directly on search result pages. Here are our experts’ predictions on this challenging topic.
Maintaining visibility
Arnout Hellemans suggests that you “start looking at other platforms (both search engines and AI interfaces) and try to understand how you can be included in their answers (think Claude, ChatGPT, Bing, Brave search engine). By doing this, you can ensure your business remains visible even when traditional clicks decrease.”
Building a brand following
Building a strong brand presence is essential. Arnout advises businesses to focus on “proper marketing, such as building a following or fans. Visibility will start shifting away from Google; I think this is where we will find plenty of opportunities.” Engaging with your audience on social media and other platforms helps maintain interest and loyalty, even if users don’t click through to your site directly.
Leveraging AI and alternative channels
Kyle Risley says, “As clicks become harder to come by in organic search, there are pretty much two options for organic acquisition: hang on to as much of your remaining click share as you can and activate new traffic acquisition channels.” This could mean looking at channels like TikTok and YouTube. These platforms are gaining traction as starting points for user journeys. Businesses can create engaging content on these channels to reach new audiences and drive traffic.
Becoming a source for AI Overviews
Gus Pelogia (Senior SEO Product Manager at Indeed) notes that being a source in AI Overviews can be more relevant than getting clicks: “Imagine searches displaying a brand’s blog as a source (e.g. software listicles). If one of the players is the main source for AI Overviews, they’ve more control over the message vs competitors. Could they change the wording to say better things about them?
“I’d guess many people will see an AI answer mentioning a few brands and what’s being said about them, and later, they will move to each brand’s website to evaluate their options. That specific search was a zero-click, but there’s a new one happening directly to your company’s website.”
“It’s interesting that clicks will decrease, but since AI Overviews are a RAG (AI answers validate with sources), many pages will still have a reason to exist since they’ll validate the AI answer. This is intent-dependent. Many informational, common-knowledge queries won’t require new articles or have a brand impact.”
Reddit is not going away; make use of it
Kevin Indig doesn’t expect Reddit’s growth to slow: “Searchers want connection and a non-commercialized space. I expect Google to improve at showing Reddit posts that are not outdated or thin. The implication is that domains must compete for one less spot since Reddit takes up many top spots in the search results. On the other hand, it becomes a valuable pool of audience insights and engagement. Brands that develop a playbook to grow their visibility on Reddit have a chance to improve their sentiment and create loyal customers.”
Expand your data tracking
Aleyda Solis predicts that tracking pixels, SERP features, and clicks vs. no-clicks will become fundamental: “Start monitoring your overall SERP visibility and click behavior: Your SERP features shifts — AI overviews included — pixel visibility from the top, as well as clicks (and no-clicks) shifts per content type and SERP feature, to focus your SEO strategy accordingly.”
Yoast SEO expert insights for 2025
Alex Moss – Principal SEO at Yoast
The evolving role of the SEO: It’s more than just “SEO” As an SEO professional, I’ve witnessed a dramatic shift in our field, particularly in 2024. While the traditional “SEO” title remains, it has become an increasingly outdated term. Our role is expanding, becoming more multifaceted, and demanding a broader skillset. We’re no longer solely focused on optimizing for Google; we’re becoming Discovery Optimization Experts responsible for ensuring brands are found across the entire digital landscape.
Several factors drive this shift, including the rise of AI-powered search engines like ChatGPT and Perplexity and the growing importance of platforms like TikTok and Reddit as legitimate discovery channels.
Furthermore, the perception of SEO as purely a marketing function is misguided. SEOs bring a unique understanding of the digital ecosystem far beyond traditional marketing. We should be more involved in high-level business decisions that shape a company’s online presence, influencing everything from website design to content strategy to product development.
The future of SEO is exciting, but our value still tends to be underrated. Our skillset will need to expand further yet again, practicing through experimentation.
The rising importance of video content
Video content is becoming a key component of SEO strategies in 2025. Its engaging nature offers a unique way to connect with audiences.
Video-first approach
Mark Williams-Cook says, “I expect we’ll see many smaller businesses take a ‘top-down’ approach with content now, meaning they will go video first – and I think this is really smart. Video content is cheap, fast to make, and a natural way to pull real insight out of people. With the tooling we have now, it’s easy to automatically produce transcripts, which in turn, LLMs can rewrite into a more traditional ‘article’ style. This approach means you’ll get the video to share over multiple platforms, which is not only hard for AI to replicate but how a lot of people prefer to engage in content.”
Google’s focus on video content
Lily Ray confirms that “video content is increasingly essential, as Google prominently features YouTube and sometimes TikTok across various surfaces, like Search, Discover, Google News, the Video tab, Short Videos, and more. Site owners should be well-versed in changes to how Google indexes video content and expands their text content into visual formats.”
“As it relates to video indexing, Google now requires that a video be the focus of an indexed watch page for the video to get indexed (“Google indexes videos only from indexed watch pages.”) Using YouTube to host the video is another way to ensure that the video is indexed, but be sure to use VideoObject structured data to “connect” your watch page to the YouTube video for the watch page to get video rich features in search results.”
Interactive engagement
Gareth Hoyle emphasizes that “video will also continue to gain importance due to its interactive nature and engagement. AI video will continue to grow, but like the EEAT signals above, curated and well-engaged real video will help businesses showcase themselves to Google’s algorithm and their current and potential new customers.”
E-commerce SEO shifts
The landscape of e-commerce SEO is evolving, particularly with changes in how Google handles shopping queries. Businesses need to adapt to these shifts to stay competitive. These are some of the predictions our SEO experts had to share.
Google Shopping tab focus
Kevin Indig expects “the new Shopping Tab experience to become the default experience for shopping queries. As we’ve seen before, Google often tests a new experience in the shopping tab and then moves it to the main tab. The implication is that e-commerce SEO becomes more about optimizing product pages as Google becomes the new category page.”
Optimizing product pages
As Google will likely integrate more e-commerce features directly into search results, businesses must optimize their product listings. With the emphasis on product pages, businesses should ensure that these pages are detailed and informative. This includes high-quality images, detailed product descriptions, customer reviews, and clear pricing information. Structured data markup can enhance how products appear in search results, increasing visibility and click-through rates.
Product feed accuracy
Accurate and organized product feeds are crucial. Kyle Risley highlights the importance of having “well-organized and error-free product feeds” as search engines increase the visibility of organic product listings. This requires regularly updating product information and ensuring consistency across platforms.
Adapting to new channels
As consumers begin their shopping journeys on platforms like TikTok and YouTube, businesses should consider expanding their presence on these channels. Creating engaging product videos and leveraging social commerce features can attract new customers and drive traffic.
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Today, brand authority is vital if you want to perform well in search results. As search engines evolve, they will develop new ways of determining how valuable your brand is. Building a good — human — brand is one of the best ways to stand out from the crowd.
Targeting branded queries
Aleyda Solis emphasizes that it’s all about brand optimization: “Brand optimization becomes key. It’s clear that Google wants to feature real, authoritative brands at the top of the SERPs, which is also helpful for increasing CTR and optimizing conversions. Grow your brand authority by understanding your company brand positioning and considering it in your SEO strategy: Target your branded queries, specify your brand details with structured data, optimize your knowledge panel details, etc.”
Focusing on EEAT
Gareth Hoyle highlights the importance of EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) referenced content: “As Google continues to improve its ability to weed out low-level, auto-produced AI content, EEAT-referenced content will become increasingly important and visible as Google increases trust based on what it knows about the author rather than just the words on the page. I am sure it will be an ongoing battle as spammers and content sites continue to churn out page after page of content, but the personal brand will help the cream rise to the top.”
Local SEO trends for 2025
Local SEO is essential for small and medium-sized businesses attracting nearby customers. As we move into 2025, businesses should focus on a few key areas.
Google Business Profile optimization
Keeping an updated and complete Google Business Profile is essential. Freelance SEO expert Arnout Hellemans emphasizes that a “regularly updated Google Business Profile and a fully completed profile will be extremely important.” This means ensuring that all business information is accurate and up-to-date. Regularly adding new photos, responding to customer questions, and posting updates can make your business more appealing to local searchers.
The power of reviews
Customer reviews significantly impact local search rankings. According to Arnout, reviews with the “right sentiment,” particularly those discussing “the services received and results,” are crucial. Encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews, highlighting their experiences with your services. Responding to positive and negative reviews shows that you value customer feedback and are committed to improving your business.
User experience (UX) enhancements
Improving user experience is key to boosting SEO performance. A smooth and intuitive website keeps visitors engaged and encourages them to explore more.
Form validation and friction reduction
Arnout Hellemans highlights the importance of “proper form validation on lead forms and checkout.” Ensuring that forms work correctly and are easy to use can prevent user frustration. Make sure users can easily fill out and submit forms without errors.
Removing distractions is also crucial. Arnout advises focusing on “the removal of distractions like pop-ups on every page.” Pop-ups can be annoying and disrupt the browsing experience. Limiting their use or ensuring they’re relevant and easy to close can help maintain user attention.
Leveraging SEO communities
Joining SEO communities can be a game-changer for people looking to enhance their knowledge and network. These communities offer support, insights, and opportunities that can drive growth.
Growth of global SEO communities
Jo Turnbull (Founder and Marketing Consultant at Turn Global) mentions that by 2025, there will be “the growth of global SEO and digital communities.” This growth is particularly beneficial for smaller brands aiming to build authority. Being part of a community provides access to shared experiences and advice from peers facing similar challenges.
Jo says, “We have seen a growth in members of some communities such as Women in Tech SEO, The FCDC and the DMU (a community for freelancers) over the past few years and many communities will continue to grow in 2025. SEO Office Hours has had over 60k views and regularly has between 30 and 40 live attendees per episode. As of November 23rd, there have been 50 episodes.”
“The International Search Summit, run by WebCertain, has grown to over 600 attendees, but when it first started in Barcelona, there were just 50. Search London has been running for nearly 14 years, and we have grown to now run events in Barcelona. They sold out of tickets just by promoting on social media and within our network.”
Support and learning opportunities
SEO can often feel isolating, especially in smaller companies where one person handles most of the SEO tasks. Jo notes that these communities help individuals who “look for external support” as they navigate frequent updates and changes in SEO. Participating in events, webinars, and online forums provides valuable learning opportunities and informs members about the latest SEO trends and techniques.
Building networks and careers
Being active in an SEO community can also open doors to career opportunities. Networking with other professionals can lead to collaborations, job offers, and new projects. Jo points out that people join communities to “feel and be supported,” learn from one another, and advance their careers.
Conclusion to SEO in 2025
As we move into 2025, staying on top of SEO trends is more important than ever. The events of 2024 have shown us how quickly the landscape can change, from legal rulings and algorithm leaks to shifts in digital strategies. These changes underscore the need for you to remain agile and informed.
Join our monthly SEO news webinar to keep up with these changes and gain deeper insights. Alex and Carolyn — our resident SEO experts — talk you through all the latest developments. It’s a great opportunity to stay informed about the latest trends and strategies. Please sign up today and learn how to navigate SEO in 2025. Let’s continue to learn and adapt together.
Do you have any thoughts or predictions about SEO in 2025 to share? Please comment on this post!
Google’s Search Engine Results Page (SERP) offers more than just a list of links. Its layout can change based on what you’re searching for, presenting various SERP features tailored to your needs. You might see different elements like featured snippets, shopping options, or local listings and also AI Overviews. Understanding these can help you navigate the results more effectively. This guide will help you identify and differentiate between the paid and organic results you encounter.
Search features are elements on a search engine results page (SERP) that provide information beyond the standard list of links. They include things like featured snippets, image packs, and knowledge panels. These features make it easier for users to quickly find answers and relevant information in search results.
Google Search is really rich with information these days
A new SERP feature: Google AI Overviews
AI Overviews are a new feature in Google’s search results. They use artificial intelligence to create concise summaries that answer user queries quickly. These summaries appear at the top of search pages, providing immediate information without the user needing to click through links, although links are provided. This feature helps users find the information they need faster and increases the visibility of diverse websites.
Google AI Overview provide a new way of accessing information from search
It depends on what you’re searching for
What the result page looks like largely depends on what you are searching for. If you’re searching for a product you can buy, Google will show shop results on the SERP. For example, when we searched for hockey equipment for an eight-year-old, Google showed us this:
An example of a product search on Google
This results page starts with shopping results, with images on top. On the left-hand side, you will see all kinds of filters to fine-tune your product search as well. To enter the Sponsored section, you must pay Google – note the word ‘sponsored’ in the upper left corner. After those results, the first is an ad, which is another paid result. And then the organic results start.
However, if you’re searching for information about the planet Neptune – because your son is writing an essay about that – you’ll encounter a different-looking SERP:
Different searches show different SERP features on Google
These search results do not show any paid or sponsored results. At the top, you’ll see an AI Overview for the topic, and on the right, you’ll notice a knowledge graph with lots of information about the planet Neptune. There’s even an interactive diagram to learn more about what Neptune looks like.
The default page of Google’s search result is a page on which different results appear. Google decides which results fit your search query best. That could be ‘normal’ results, but also news results, shopping results or images. If you’re searching for information, a knowledge graph could turn up. When you’re searching to buy something online, you’ll probably get lots of shopping results on the default result page.
Google Search has many options than just regular search
You can apply some filters on the search results yourself if you want to. You can, for instance, click on ‘images’ if you’re searching for an image. This allows you to browse through images only. You can also choose ‘shopping’, ‘maps’, ‘forums’, ‘videos’, ‘news’ and ‘more’.
Google shows both paid results and organic results. It can be pretty hard to notice the difference between the two. The ads usually appear on top of the search results. Sometimes it’s only one ad, but Google can show more ads as well. This depends on how many people search for a certain search term and who wants to pay for it.
There are many sponsored listings in Google
You’ll recognize the paid result by the word Sponsored shown in front of the link to the website. The shopping results in Google are also paid results: a company pays Google to appear in the shopping results. If you want to advertise on Google, you should check out Google Adwords.
Organic results
Google’s organic results are all non-paid results. According to Google’s algorithm, the organic results shown first are the best fit for the user’s search query. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) improves the chances of ranking in organic search results.
Snippets
The search result page consists of a number of snippets. A snippet is a result Google shows to the user in the search results. A ‘normal’ snippet usually looks like this:
A regular Google snippet
Google shows the title in blue, the URL in grey, and a description of the page. You’ll also encounter rich snippets on the SERP. A rich snippet shows extra information between the URL and the description. A rich snippet looks like this:
A rich result as shown in Google search
In this snippet, a picture of the ice cream is added. You can see the recipe’s rating and the time it takes to prepare this type of ice cream. A rich snippet contains much more information than a normal snippet does.
Besides snippets, images, videos, news results, shopping results and maps, Google also shows some other elements on the SERPs.
Knowledge Graph panel
The Knowledge Graph Panel appears on the right side of the search results. According to Google, this information is retrieved from many sources, including the CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia. Information from the Knowledge Graph is used to answer spoken questions in Google Assistant and Google Home voice queries.
An example of a knowledge graph panel Google search feature
People also ask
This box appears somewhere between the organic search results. It’ll suggest questions related to the search query you typed in. You’ll encounter these related questions in the organic search results if you’re searching for Minecraft. Clicking on one of the suggestions will directly answer the specific question.
Google’s People also ask search feature
Featured snippets
A featured snippet, aka answer box, is a highlighted search box that answers the question you type in the Google search bar. This featured snippet box is situated above the regular organic search results. Featured snippets often appear as a paragraph or a bulleted list, accompanied by an image.
Featured highlight answers directly at the top of the Google search results
When you search from something locally, the Local 3-pack can show up to highlight three related local businesses. It’s a Google search feature that provides information such as business names, addresses, phone numbers, and customer reviews. This feature is often integrated with Google Maps. It helps users find directions and learn more about local businesses.
This search feature shows three local result based on the query
Image pack
The image pack search feature shows a collection of images related to a search. Typically shown in a grid or carousel format, they allow users to quickly browse visual content without leaving the search page. For some searches, images are a better fit than just regular links or other SERP features.
An example of an image pack in Google’s search results
Top stories
Top stories is a search feature on Google that displays the most recent and relevant news articles. This section typically appears near the top of the search results, highlighting breaking news and timely updates. It includes headlines, publication names, and often images to quickly inform users about current events.
Google’re Top stories feature shows the most important news
Conclusion about SERP features
Google’s search engine results pages can show various elements: the search results (so-called snippets), AI Overviews, a knowledge graph, a featured snippet, an answer box, images, shopping results, and more. Some of these elements will show up depending on the type of query and the data Google finds. You can add structured data to your page so Google can show a ‘rich’ snippet, providing more information about your product or recipe, for instance.
You can pay Google to make the snippet of your page end up high on the search results page as an ad. Or, you can optimize your pages for the search engines – and users! – so it will rank high organically. That’s SEO, and that’s what we write about!
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00Dubado Solutionshttp://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.pngDubado Solutions2024-12-05 11:00:532024-12-05 11:00:53Features of the Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
Do you have a website or maintain the website of the company you work for? Of course, to do this right, you need to keep a keen eye on the performance of your website. Google offers several tools to collect and analyze data from your website. You probably have heard of Google Analytics and Google Search Console before. These tools are free for everyone maintaining a website and can give you valuable insights about your website. Here, we’ll explain how to use Google Search Console for SEO!
Google Search Console helps you track the performance of your website easily. You can get valuable insights from your Google Search Console account, which means you can see what part of your website needs work. This can be a technical part of your website, such as an increasing number of crawl errors that need to be fixed. This can also give a specific keyword more attention because the rankings or impressions are decreasing. Or find the reasons why some pages aren’t indexed.
Besides seeing this kind of data, you’ll get email notifications when Google Search Console notices new errors. Because of these notifications, you’re quickly aware of issues you must fix. That’s why everyone with a website should learn how to use it!
The Google Search Console Overview page
Search Console is structured around various sections
Search Console has several sections, which keep expanding as Google adds more:
URL Inspection
The URL Inspection tool lets you get insights on specific URLs and how Google sees and indexes these. You’ll also see if the page is eligible for rich results.
Performance
In the Performance section, you’ll discover how your site is doing in the regular search results, on Discover, and Google News, if it is eligible for those.
Indexing
In the Indexing section, you’ll find all the insights you need to see how Google discovers and indexes your pages. You can also learn if and how Google is indexing the video content on your site. There’s also a section to check your XML sitemaps and any page removals you may have requested.
Experience
The Experience section gives you an idea of how Google values your page’s performance on mobile and desktop, with a little help from Core Web Vitals, and whether your pages are served via HTTPS connections.
Shopping
In the Shopping tab, you’ll find more information about how Google sees your products — if you own an ecommerce site or sell something else online. You can see which products have rich results, plus insights into your merchant listings and how you appear in Google Shopping.
Enhancements
The Enhancements section lists all the structured data that Google found on your site and whether or not it is eligible for rich results. This includes events, reviews, job postings, and more.
Security & Manual Actions
The Security & Manual Actions destination shouldn’t be visited often, as it lists security issues found by Google or when it issues a manual action against your site.
Links
The Links section overviews your site’s internal and external links.
Setting up an account
You’ll need to create an account to start using Google Search Console. Within Google Search Console, you can click on ‘add a new property’ in the top bar:
Add a new property to get started
You can insert the website you want to add by clicking the ‘Add property’ button. If you choose the new Domain option, you only need to add the domain name without www or subdomains. This option tracks everything connected to that domain. With the ‘old’ URL prefix option, you must add the correct URL, so with ‘HTTPS’ if you have an HTTPS website and with or without ‘www’. To collect the correct data, it’s essential to add the correct version:
Choose domain if you want to track all your URLs or URL prefix if you want to track specific URLs
You must verify that you’re the owner when you’ve added a website. There are several options to verify your ownership. The Domain option only works with DNS verification, while the URL prefix supports different methods. You can learn more about the differences in Google’s documentation: adding a new property and verifying your site ownership. You can also use Google’s Site Kit WordPress plugin to connect Analytics and Search Console while giving you statistics in your site dashboard.
Add to Yoast SEO
For WordPress users who use Yoast SEO, get the verification code via the ‘HTML tag’ method from the Ownership settings in Search Console. Copy the long, random string of characters.
See your verification methods in the Google Search Console ownership settings
You can easily copy the code and paste it into the Google field in the ‘Site connections’ section in the settings of your Yoast SEO plugin:
Paste your code into the Google field to finish the process
After saving this, you can return to Google Search Console and click the ‘Verify’ button to confirm. If everything is ok, you’ll get a success message, and GSC will start collecting data for your website.
Features in Google Search Console
Now that you’ve set up your account, what’s the next step? Well, it’s time to look at some of your data! In the rest of this article, we’ll explore some of the reports and information available.
Performance tab
In the Performance tab, you can see the pages and keywords your website ranks for in Google. If you’re eligible for that, you’ll also find reports on your content’s performance in Google Discover and on Google News. You’ll get 16 months of performance data for your reports.
If you check the performance tab regularly, you can quickly see what keywords or pages need more attention and optimization. So, where to begin? Within the performance tab, you see a list of ‘queries’, ‘pages’, ‘countries’, or ‘devices’. With ‘search appearance,’ you can check how your rich results are doing in search. You can sort each section by the number of ‘clicks’, ‘impressions’, ‘average CTR’, or ‘average position’. We’ll explain each of them below:
The Performance overview harbors a ton of information
1. Clicks
The number of clicks tells you how often people clicked on your website in Google’s search results. This number can say something about the performance of your page titles and meta descriptions: if just a few people click on your result, your result might not stand out in the search results. It can be helpful to check what other results are displayed around you to see how you can optimize your snippet.
The position of the search result also impacts the number of clicks. If your page is in the top three of Google’s first result page, it will automatically get more clicks than a page that ranks on the second page of the search results.
2. Impressions
The impressions tell you how often your website or a specific page is shown in the search results. The number of impressions after this keyword shows how often our website is shown for that keyword in Google’s search results. You don’t know yet what page ranks for that keyword.
To see what pages might rank for the specific keyword, you can click on the line of the keyword. Doing this for a keyword, the keyword is added as a filter:
You can query the data in many ways
Afterward, you can navigate to the ‘Pages’ tab to see what pages rank for this keyword. Are those pages the ones you’d want to rank for that keyword? If not, you might need to optimize the page you’d like to rank. Think of writing better content containing the keyword on that page, adding internal links from relevant pages or posts to the page, making the page load faster, etc.
3. Average CTR
The CTR – Click-through rate – tells you what percentage of the people who have seen your website in the search results also clicked through to your website. You probably understand that higher rankings mostly also lead to higher click-through rates.
However, you can also do things yourself to increase the CTR. For example, you could rewrite your meta description and page title to make it more appealing — Yoast SEO has AI features to help you do that. When the title and description of your site stand out from the other results, more people will probably click on your result, and your CTR will increase. Remember that this will not significantly impact you if you’re not ranking on the first page yet. You might need to try other things first to improve your ranking.
4. Average position
The last one on this list is the ‘Average position’. This tells you the average ranking of a specific keyword or page in your selected period. Of course, this position isn’t always reliable since more and more people seem to get different search results. Google seems to understand better and better which results fit which visitor best. However, this indicator still shows whether the clicks, impressions and average CTR are explainable.
Indexing
The’ Indexing’ section is a more technical but treasured addition to Google Search Console. This section shows how many pages have been in Google’s index since the last update, how many pages haven’t, and what errors and warnings caused Google to index your pages incorrectly. Google split this section into parts, collecting your regular pages and video pages while giving a home for your XML sitemap and the removals sections.
You can see how Google indexes your content over time
We recommend you check this tab regularly to see what errors and warnings appear on your website. However, you also get notifications when Google has found new errors. Please check the error in more detail when you get such a notification.
You may find that errors are caused when, e.g., a redirect doesn’t seem to work correctly, or Google finds broken code or error pages in your theme. You also find error messages like “Crawled – currently not indexed“. Google has a long list of possible reasons why pages aren’t indexed and what you can do to fix that.
Clicking on one of the issues, you can analyze the error more in-depth to see what specific URLs are affected. When you’ve fixed the error, you can mark it as fixed to make sure Google will test the URL again:
Fixed the specific error? Validate it so Google can check if it’s gone for real
Things to look out for
There are a few things you should always look for when checking out your indexing coverage reports:
If you’re writing new content, your indexed pages should steadily increase. This tells you two things: Google can index your site, and you keep your site ‘alive’ by adding content.
Watch out for sudden drops! This might mean that Google is having trouble accessing (all of) your website. Something may be blocking Google; whether it’s robots.txt changes or server downtime, you need to look into it!
We recommend you monitor these situations closely and resolve errors quickly, as too many errors could signal low quality (poor maintenance) to Google.
URL Inspection
The URL Inspection tool helps you analyze specific URLs. You retrieve the page from Google’s index and compare it with the page as it lives now on your site to see if there are differences. You can also find more technical info on this page, such as when and how Google crawled it and how it looked at that moment. Sometimes, you’ll also notice several errors. This might be regarding Google’s inability to crawl your page correctly. It also gives information about the structured data found on this URL.
The URL Inspection tool gives insights into every URL on your site
Experience
The experience report is an invaluable addition. It gives a good idea of how fast your site loads on mobile and desktop and how Google uses core web vitals to grade page experience. It shows which pages have issues that keep them from performing well. The data is based on the Chrome UX report, so it’s accurate data from real users.
Site speed, page experience, and user experience are complex topics with many moving parts, so learning how to think about page speed is good. The answer is here: how to check site speed.
Find out which pages offer a bad experience and how you can fix that
Enhancements: rich results
If you have structured data on your site — provided by Yoast SEO, for instance — it’s a good idea to check out the Enhancements reports in Search Console. The Enhancements tab collects all the insights and improvements that could lead to rich results. It lists all the structured data that Google found on your site. There’s an ever-expanding list of rich results, and you can find the following, among other things:
Breadcrumbs
Events
FAQs
Job postings
Profile pages
Review snippets
Sitelinks searchboxes
Videos
All these tabs show how many valid enhancements you have or how many have errors or warnings. You get details about the kind of errors and warnings and on which URLs these are found. There’s also a trend line that shows if the number of issues is increasing or decreasing. And that’s just the start of it.
Here’s an example of a job posting enhancement. You can overlay Impressions to get more context for the stats
The Enhancements reports help you find and fix issues that hinder the performance of your rich results in search. By checking the issues, reading the support documentation, and validating fixes, you can increase your chance of getting rich results in search. We have a more expansive guide on the structured data Enhancement reports in Google Search Console.
Sitemaps
An XML sitemap is a roadmap to all important pages and posts on your website. Every website would benefit from having one. Do you run the Yoast SEO plugin on your website? Then, you automatically have an XML sitemap. If not, we recommend creating one to ensure Google can easily find your most important pages and posts.
You can find an option for XML sitemaps within the Indexing tab of Google Search Console. Here, you can tell Google where your XML sitemap is located on your site:
Don’t forget to check your XML sitemap
We recommend that everyone enter the URL of their XML sitemap into GSC to make it easy for Google to find. In addition, you can quickly see if your sitemap gives errors or if some pages aren’t indexed. Regularly checking this ensures that Google can find and read your XML sitemap.
We recommend regularly checking the XML sitemap section in our plugin to manage which post types or taxonomies you include in your sitemaps!
Shopping
Google Search Console also has a Shopping section. Here, you can check how Google sees your products and if they get proper rich results. You’ll see if they are valid or if they are missing fields that make the product snippets more prominent. Click on a product to see which fields are missing for particular products and if these are essential parts or nice-to-haves. If you’ve added these to the structured data of your products, you validate the fix in Search Console.
In the Shopping section, you’ll also find your Google Merchant listings and an option to enable shopping tab listings to show your products on the Shopping tab in Google Search. With these options, Google gives ecommerce site owners — and people selling stuff — more ways of checking how their listings are doing.
Optimize your product listings in Google search
Links
Within the links to your site section, you can see how many links from other sites are pointing to your website. Besides, you can see what websites link, how many links those websites contain, and what anchor texts are used most when linking to your website. This can be valuable information because links are still vital for SEO.
Find out which pages receive lots of links
Within the internal links section, you can check what pages of your website are most linked from other spots on your site. This list can be valuable to analyze regularly because you want your most important pages and posts to get the most internal links. By doing this, you make sure Google understands your cornerstones as well.
You can even see how many links individual pages get
Manual Actions
You don’t want to see anything in the manual actions tab. If Google penalizes your site, you’ll get more information. If your site is affected by a manual action, you’ll also get an email message.
Several scenarios can lead to these kinds of penalties, including:
You have unnatural/bought links Ensure links from and to your site are valuable, not just for SEO. Preferably, your links come from related content that is valuable for your readers.
Your site has been hacked A message stating your site’s probably hacked by a third party. Google might label your site as compromised or lower your rankings.
You’re hiding something from Google If you’re ‘cloaking’ (that is, intentionally showing different content to users to deceive them), or using ‘sneaky’ redirects (e.g., hiding affiliate URLs), then you’re violating Google’s guidelines (now known as Google Search Essentials).
Plain Spam Automatically generated content, scraped content, and aggressive cloaking could cause Google to blocklist your site.
Spammy structured markup If you use rich snippets for too many irrelevant elements on a page or mark up content hidden from the visitor, that might be considered spammy. Mark up what’s necessary and only necessary things.
Security issues
Within the security issues tab, you’ll get a notification when your website seems to have a security issue.
Google Search Console is essential
Reading this post should give you a good idea of what Search Console is capable of and how to use it, so we’d like to ask you this: Do you already use Google Search Console for your website? If not, create an account to collect data about your website. Do you think something is missing? Feel free to leave a comment!
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00Dubado Solutionshttp://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.pngDubado Solutions2024-11-21 13:00:002024-11-21 13:00:00How to use Google Search Console: a beginner’s guide
There’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all SEO strategy for SaaS companies. The best SaaS SEO agencies will take the time to learn your business inside out and adapt their services to your goals.
Read on to find out what else separates the best from the rest, along with our recommendations for the top SaaS SEO agencies in today’s market.
How to Choose the Best SaaS SEO Company
Choosing the best SaaS SEO agency comes down to how well it can meet your requirements for factors like:
Services offered
Results they’ve delivered
Ability to scale services
Experience in your industry
Reporting and analytics provided
Pricing and deliverables
Discovery process
Ultimately, no single agency is a good fit for every business. But it’s worth understanding what separates the wheat from the chaff for each factor so you can choose the best agency for your needs.
Services
Effective SaaS SEO hinges on a comprehensive approach that usually includes:
Full-funnel keyword research
Competitive analysis
Product-led content creation
Digital PR and authoritative link building
Technical audits and fixes
Performance reporting and optimizations
If you hire a full-service agency, you should get all of the above (and then some).
The best full-service SaaS SEO agencies will likely go above and beyond by also focusing on other areas, such as:
Programmatic SEO opportunities to help scale content output and lead generation
In saying this, if you only need a specific service from the list above, a full-stack agency may be overkill. That’s where specialists or consultants are a better fit for some projects. For instance, content production is often a significant bottleneck that you can scale much easier if you outsource it to a dedicated SaaS content agency.
Specialist Agencies
Full-Service Agencies
Ideal if you: – Already have some in-house resources – Need a specific skills gap filled – Want to scale one area of your marketing quickly
Ideal for: – Avoiding the risk of over-hiring – Scaling at a comfortable pace – Leveraging experts in multiple areas – Streamlining communications across campaigns and channels
Results
All decent SEO agencies showcase their results somehow, usually by publishing case studies. But the best SaaS SEO agencies have case studies that connect specific actions to tangible business results, like improvements in:
New trial sign-ups
Demos booked
Marketing and sales qualified leads
Cost-per-lead
Closed deals
Revenue
While SEO-specific metrics, like rankings and traffic, are a good leading indicator of campaign performance, they don’t show bottom-line value. So, ideally, you should look beyond these metrics and scope out the tangible impact on core business objectives instead.
For example, here’s a SaaS SEO case study showcasing the approach, services delivered, and the growth in SQLs.
Scale
Whether you’ve decided to hire a specialist or a full-service agency, their ability to scale services to match your pace is crucial.
In your decision-making process, assess how well an agency might be able to adapt to the future needs of your business.
Consider things like:
What size companies have they worked with?
Are the services delivered in a fixed package or a flexible arrangement that you can scale up or down as needed?
How big is the team, and how well might they handle sudden influxes of new projects during busy times?
The best agencies will be able to scale with you well into the future.
Industry experience
Look for agencies with extensive experience working with other SaaS companies.
They need to implicitly understand just how different SaaS is from eCommerce or other types of business models. Many generalist agencies that work with all types of businesses don’t have this understanding and lean on cookie-cutter strategies for all clients.
Reporting
Reporting is a critical piece of any SEO service. It’s how you can keep an agency accountable for the services and results they’re delivering.
All good agencies deliver reporting from analytics tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, or SEO tools like Ahrefs. The best agencies also align these reports to the metrics you track in-house via your CRM. Leveraging this mix of reporting technology will give you a complete picture of campaign performance and business impact, from rankings and traffic to leads and revenue.
If an agency doesn’t mention business metrics like qualified leads, demos booked, or cost per lead in its case studies, it’s likely they don’t track or report on these. It never hurts to ask if they can report on the metrics that matter most to you during your initial discussions. Or, even better, ask for examples of how they track pipeline impact with other SaaS clients.
Pricing
When looking for the best SaaS SEO services, pricing can be an arbitrary factor. For instance, which scenario is better?
A. You hire a cost-effective agency. In 12 months, you’ve barely broken even on the service. B. You hire a premium agency. In 12 months, they’ve delivered 2x return on investment.
In our book, option B is always better, no matter how big your investment is. In saying this, there is a point of diminishing returns with SEO, as with many other services. That is, there’s a point where spending more money won’t get you proportionally better results. So, you need to find a balance.
To work with most quality agencies, plan a monthly budget in the mid-high 4-figure or low 5-figure range as a starting point. If you’re growing fast and can afford to put more resources behind an engagement, aim for low to mid 5-figures per month for an agency that can scale with you.
The way we like to explain pricing to our clients is through the payback period. Often, a client can choose a lower engagement pricing tier that simply means we’ll work slower through the deliverables compared to our higher tiers. Essentially, you can achieve the same output, and likely results, for a similar price point on both engagement tiers. On higher tiers the client is paying more in the initial months, but also reaches ROI+ faster.
For example: One SaaS company chooses a $5,000/mo. engagement for 12 months to hit its organic growth goal. Another SaaS business chooses a $10,000/mo. engagement for 6 months to hit the same goal. The investment amount is the same, but the second company reach its goal, or payback period, faster. The decision between the two will often come down to risk tolerance, which should be addressed on the discovery call..
Discovery call
The discovery call is a great opportunity to vet your shortlist of agencies.
Most agencies will book a call to get to know your business and needs. It’s how they go about the call that makes all the difference.
During the call, consider these questions:
Has the agency researched your business, competitors and industry?
Did the agency provide any valuable insights on the call?
Did the agency explain how their process will meet your business needs?
What capacity can the agency operate in – strategic partner, extension of team, full-service?
How does the agency show business impact?
7 Best SaaS SEO Agencies
You now know how to evaluate the best SaaS SEO agencies. Here’s a list of the best in the market.
And yes, of course, my agency is on it
But as mentioned above, no agency’s an ideal fit for every business out there. We specialize in integrated search marketing strategies for SaaS brands. The other agencies on this list offer a different take, but are also reputable.
Either way, we’re confident you’ll find the ideal partner for your needs below.
Virayo – Full Service B2B SaaS SEO and Google Ads Agency
Virayo has proven track record of helping industry-leading B2B SaaS companies scale organic traffic, qualified lead volume and ARR, with its repeatable 7-step search marketing framework.
The agency has a selective client intake process, only taking on 1-2 new clients per month that it believes it can help scale, and is invested in growth.
“Over the last two years, Virayo has helped grow our organic traffic from around 6,000 organic visits per month to over 70,000 organic visits per month. More importantly, organic traffic is now the number one driver of new trial signups for our business.”
– Charlotte Morineau, CMO, Cedreo
Book a call with me
If you’re interested in learning how my agency, Virayo, can help your SaaS business achieve its growth targets, schedule a 1:1 discovery call with me.
Powered by Search specializes in helping mid-market and mature B2B SaaS companies achieve unstoppable growth through its Predictable Growth Method. The agency focuses on scaling demos, trials, and sales, ensuring clients hit their revenue and pipeline targets efficiently.
Services Offered
SEO
PPC
Paid Social Media Marketing
Content Marketing
Full-Funnel Marketing Strategies
Results
Generated $11.1M in SEO Pipeline for a Data Privacy SaaS.
Delivered 135% of Paid Ads Pipeline Target for a CyberSec SaaS.
Doubled MQL to SQL Conversion with ABM for Named Accounts.
Testimonial
“I 100% recommend Powered By Search. They’ve completely transformed our paid media strategy. The results are incredible and we’re extremely happy with them.”
— Jill McCarville, VP Marketing, iWave
Kalungi – Full-Service B2B SaaS Marketing Agency
Notable clients: FleetRunner, Fraxion, Degrees of Change, Beezy, CPGVision
Kalungi offers “Growth-as-a-Service” for B2B SaaS ventures, scaling with their clients’ needs to increase speed and achieve ambitious growth goals. Specializing in outsourced marketing, Kalungi uses a proven playbook to support software entrepreneurs needing more time or expertise to build an in-house team.
Services Offered
Fractional CMO Services
Full-Stack Marketing Team
SEO and Content Creation
Paid Media
CRO
Branding Design
Web Development
HubSpot Management
Results
Boosted Patch’s MQLs by 1500%
Sourced $4.7M in pipeline for CPGvision
Enhanced CCD Health’s MQLs by 750% with full-service engagement
Testimonial
“Not only does Kalungi have the experience and expertise, they have the people to execute everything from establishing positioning and messaging to building websites and SEO. They’re an all-in-one solution.”
Directive Consulting excels in performance marketing and leverages a comprehensive customer generation methodology. Trusted by some of the world’s largest tech brands, Directive has driven over $1 billion in client revenue in the last decade. Their integrated approach combines Paid Media, SEO, Lifecycle Marketing, and more to meet growth goals efficiently and predictably.
Services Offered
Paid Media (Search, Social, Programmatic)
Content Marketing & SEO
Integrated Strategy Development
Marketing Operations Optimization
Creative Design & Video Production
Results
Generated over $1B in revenue for clients.
Trusted by 200+ tech companies.
Architected growth for major brands like Adobe and Amazon.
Testimonial
“Directive is our trusted performance marketing agency that really covers everything from paid media all the way to strategy. From day one, they helped us look at the right metrics that made sense to enable growth efficiency, and they gave us a good base for what we should be looking at going forward.”
— Jose Bormey, Head of Digital Marketing, Manta
SimpleTiger – SEO, PPC and Web Design for SaaS Companies
SimpleTiger uses a proprietary AI-empowered methodology to drive demand and convert customers. It offers clients keyword data intelligence, content optimization to target buyers at every stage of the buying journey, and holistic marketing efforts across organic and paid channels for maximum efficiency.
Services Offered
SEO
PPC (Paid Search & Social)
Content Marketing
Link Building
Web Design
Results
597% increase in organic traffic to the primary page target for Jotform.
1200% increase in first-page keyword rankings for Gelato.
Testimonial
“SimpleTiger fits their services around your specific SEO needs. After working with them, I am confident in my own SEO knowledge and can help my team out for quick decisions and questions.”
Codeless delivers high-quality content that achieves top rankings, specializing in SEO and content marketing for competitive industries. Their “Pillar and Post” strategy, combined with expert vertical writers and rigorous optimization processes, ensures that content reaches and resonates with the target audience, driving traffic, leads, and sales effectively.
Services Offered
SEO Content Strategy
Content Production and Management
SEO Advisory for SaaS brands
Results
Increased keyword visibility by 96.15% for Remote.
Boosted new organic keywords for Miro by 28,000 with 2,400 achieving 1st page rankings.
Testimonial
“By far the best decision we’ve made.” — Comment from monday.com highlighting the impactful results from Codeless’s content strategies.
Single Grain – Digital Marketing Agency for SaaS Companies
Single Grain is a full-service digital marketing agency focused on helping companies expand their business through strategic and effective digital marketing solutions. They excel in search engine marketing, and various other digital ad channels. Their team of expert marketers uses a data-driven approach to ensure the best return on investment, constantly innovating to keep their clients ahead of the curve.
Services Offered
SEO & Content Marketing
PPC: Google & Facebook Advertising
Conversion Rate Optimization
SaaS Marketing
Paid Social (across platforms)
Programmatic SEO
Results
Reduced cost per click by 41.37% while increasing leads for Nextiva.
Achieved a 44% increase in organic sessions for BatteriesPlus.
Testimonial
“Their expertise has helped Nextiva grow its brand and overall business The Single Grain team has been instrumental in providing us with forward-thinking, growth-impacting marketing support. Their expertise has helped Nextiva grow its brand and overall business.” — Yaniv Masjedi, CMO, Nextiva
Choose the right agency for your SaaS business
Hiring a SaaS SEO agency is a big investment for most companies. Getting it wrong can be costly.
Use the evaluation criteria above to shortlist agency candidates, and then schedule discovery calls with each one to better gauge the right partner for your business.
Book a call with me
If you’re interested in learning how my agency, Virayo, can help your SaaS business achieve its growth targets, schedule a 1:1 discovery call with me.
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00Dubado Solutionshttp://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.pngDubado Solutions2024-10-12 10:18:002024-12-31 18:04:377 Best SaaS SEO Agencies For Pipeline Growth
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00Dubado Solutionshttp://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.pngDubado Solutions2024-03-28 15:01:402024-03-28 15:01:40SGE (AI overviews): How Google Wants to Take Over Online Retail
