The Simple and Smart SEO Show
The best SEO podcast for entrepreneurs and creative small business owners who want to build a better website to grow their business!
✨This SEO-focused podcast combines brand strategies mixed with fresh ideas for websites, digital marketing, and customer experience.
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The Simple and Smart SEO Show
Google Said What? Google Algo Leak + SEO Squad Inside Look
Join my FREE three-day SEO challenge for small business owners with websites.
Breaking News: Leaked Google Document
- Great articles from Michael King from iPullRank and Rand Fishkin
- Highlights from the leak:
- Google uses a "site authority index," contradicting their stance on DA
- Google uses click data (nav boost) for ranking content, despite previous denials
- Existence of a "sandbox" for new or sensitive sites
- Use of Chrome visit data for ranking purposes
- Twiddlers: Reorganize search results before presenting them
- Authors can improve content scores
- Local pages rank better due to relevance
- Small Publishers: Devalued compared to larger sites
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Inside the SEO Squad
- Weekly small group for business owners with websites
- Get real support with Google Search Console and SEO
- Importance of reviews and trust signals
- Recommended using reviews apps
- User Experience Interviews
- Keywords and Blogging
- Google Search Console Insights
- Discussed indexing issues and seasonal business trends
- Provided tips on resubmitting pages for indexing - Reading Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs)
Interviews are back in June!
Stay tuned for more insightful episodes and SEO tips!
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Introduction and Podcast Context
[00:00:00] Crystal Waddell: Welcome back to the simple and smart SEO show podcast. I'm your host, crystal Waddell and because I'm recording this podcast the week I'm releasing the podcast, which is really rare.
[00:00:08] It's only happening because I'm trying to promote the three-day challenge. For small business owners with websites.
[00:00:12] So.
Breaking News: Leaked Google Document
[00:00:12] Crystal Waddell: The great news is that when big news happens, I can actually talk about it in real time. And so that big news is an article that was written by Michael King of iPullRank, who is now one of my new favorite subjects to talk about.
[00:00:27] Or rather entities to talk about.
[00:00:29] He pulled together some information from a leaked Google document.
[00:00:35] And everybody is posting about it and talking about it on LinkedIn. And
[00:00:39] Yeah. Also who else is talking about it?
[00:00:42] Rand Fishkin. Who I feel like I owe Rand Fishkin an apology because I realized just recently.
[00:00:47] I'm embarrassed to say this. Okay.
Domain Authority and Site Authority
[00:00:49] Crystal Waddell: But just recently I was reading about how Google said, oh, there's no domain authority.
[00:00:53] I think I even put it on Tik TOK.
[00:00:55] You know, the fact that there is no domain authority.
[00:00:57] This document didn't necessarily say that there is a domain authority.
[00:01:02] But it did say that there is a site authority index, which Google has kind of denied in the past. They said from their own. You know, spokespeople that domain authority was a made up metric created by SEO software companies to sell you a product. That was like a direct quote almost. Well indirect quote paraphrased.
[00:01:20] That was a paraphrased quote.
[00:01:21] So anyway, I just feel like, wow, I need to apologize to this Rand Fishkin guy that I never even met before.
[00:01:27] Because it kind of sounded like. That comment was made in retaliation to some things that he created. I don't know, whatever I just got here.
[00:01:36] But. Let me just tell you really quick that these are just some of the kind of highlight slash overview type things that were somewhat exposed in this leak.
[00:01:45] So I just talked about the fact that site authority is a metric that they use to rank sites, which, you know, we called domain authority.
[00:01:52] And it's, I still think it's more relevant to, you know, SEOs and people who are working on websites and it is to the actual consumer. I like to think of it as like a brand authority score.
[00:02:01] Because again, you can have low domain authority and still be making lots of money.
[00:02:05] It just depends on, you know, what your people want from you.
Google's Use of Click Data
[00:02:08] Crystal Waddell: And then there was this other thing where I guess Google said that they didn't use click data and rank content.
[00:02:13] But there's something called nav boost that actually does use click data to rank content.
[00:02:18] And I'm like, That doesn't even make any sense for Google to stay in the first place. Because if they created Chrome, just so they could follow everybody around on the internet. Then how would they, I mean, they would be silly not to use the very data that they built a product to collect.
[00:02:32] Right. So. I don't know.
[00:02:33] They probably were smiling when they said that they didn't do that. And nobody realized they were joking?
[00:02:37] I don't know.
Sandbox and Chrome Data
[00:02:37] Crystal Waddell: Then there's also this idea of a sandbox where New sites or maybe sensitive issue type topic sites go into a sandbox versus released fully into the internet.
[00:02:47] And I guess there has been speculation that something like this exists and it has been denied.
[00:02:52] And, according to this documentation, it does exist.
[00:02:55] And then, back to the Chrome stuff, you know? Yeah. Google uses Chrome visit data. They said they didn't?
[00:03:00] I'm like, that is again, that doesn't make any sense. If you made a product, why would you not use the data that you get from your product?
[00:03:06] And then why would you lie about it? That's I don't know. Somebody explain that to me again. I'm new here.
Twiddlers and Search Result Manipulation
[00:03:10] Crystal Waddell: And then there's something called Twiddlers.
[00:03:11] You should open that up and read about it.
[00:03:13] But it kind of reorganizes stuff before it's actually presented to people in search.
[00:03:18] I think that also relates to maybe within like The top results of a certain query.
[00:03:24] That only so many blog posts are allowed. Or so many entity types are allowed. And so it's like, oh my gosh, that's crazy.
[00:03:31] I mean, that kind of makes sense too, but again.
[00:03:34] I guess, you know, if Google told us everything, then everybody would be scamming even more.
[00:03:37] But it's just, it's really interesting to look at and think about and be like, oh, okay.
[00:03:42] And then there was you know, kind of like a lower debate about whether or not it mattered if you had an author of your content.
Author Importance and Exact Match Domains
[00:03:48] Crystal Waddell: And supposedly.
[00:03:50] According to this leaked document, even though, you know, maybe it was not updated as of 20, 24, but definitely late summer 2023. Yeah, it does matter.
[00:03:59] Who the author is. And that can, you know, Improve your content score.
[00:04:03] One thing that was mentioned is that exact match domains are now pushed down in search results.
[00:04:10] But I mean, again, that kind of makes sense to me because it's just such a, such a great SEO move.
[00:04:15] But also just looks so sketch and kind of spammy when you see like best dash watches dash online. Dot com.
[00:04:24] . You know what I mean? Like I just, I don't like, I don't like websites like that.
[00:04:27] And what we all know from like using a computer and the internet: poor navigation can hurt site rankings. We've talked about this.
[00:04:34] Making sure that things make sense.
[00:04:37] And if you are linking to something and it doesn't match, like on the other side.
[00:04:41] Or you are on the other side of the link and whatever linked to you didn't match.
[00:04:45] That makes the link value go down. So again, that makes sense.
Local vs Global Pages
[00:04:49] Crystal Waddell: And local pages can rank better than global pages because there are demotions in place.
[00:04:54] I have no idea what that means like in computer speak.
[00:04:57] But it makes sense to me because it's about relevance, right? So again, it's not so much about authority when content is super relevant to the person who's looking for it.
[00:05:06] So yeah, of course.
[00:05:07] A local page in a local location is going to rank better than, you know, something that's like super optimized.
Small Publishers and Affiliate Systems
[00:05:12] Crystal Waddell: And another thing that was in there was that Google seemed to really be devaluing in a way.
[00:05:18] That's probably not the right word is probably not the right word, but like small sites and small publishers, which I totally thought was happening.
[00:05:25] You know, and a lot of people were talking about how like big sites, like Forbes and the coupon stuff was getting hit, but I was like, you know what?
[00:05:31] I think it's the small publishers. I think that they kind of figured out the affiliate system. And, you know, there's a lot of people doing it now.
[00:05:38] And with the capabilities of being able to produce stuff.
[00:05:42] A lot of smaller websites are being hit. So that's a whole nother topic for another day.
[00:05:46] I hope to have somebody on to talk about that.
[00:05:48] But that is just kind of my take on the recent SEO news.
[00:05:52] So I would love to know what you think. And remember, you can send me a text message right now. If you go to the show notes, there is a little box that says "Send me a text." It comes right to me.
[00:06:00] I got my first text last week.
[00:06:02] I was so excited. I was so happy. I was like, oh, this is awesome.
[00:06:04] And I also love it when people sign up to search the podcast.
[00:06:08] Because I created a GPT for you. And so if you go in the show notes and look where it says, "search the show."
[00:06:14] You can search all 100 plus episodes. For free.
[00:06:17] All you have to do is give me your email and you get immediate access.
[00:06:20] You can just like ask the virtual crystal. You could say, Hey, tell me about user experience in websites. Or tell me about Shopify or tell me about, you know, this Google leak and yeah. Anything relevant will pop up.
[00:06:32] So yeah, enjoy that.
[00:06:33] But anyway.
[00:06:34] These are just some of the things that I've picked up over and over again from the different things that I was reading.
[00:06:39] And so shout out to Rand Fishkin and of course, Michael King.
[00:06:43] And yeah, it'll be interesting to see what people uncover as time goes by.
[00:06:47] Because people have only just started looking into this, like, Within the last 48 hours or so.
[00:06:51]
SEO Squad and Google Search Console
[00:06:51] Crystal Waddell: And now I'm going to get into what today's episode is all about, which is another look inside my weekly small group called the SEO squad.
[00:06:59] It's for business owners with websites.
[00:07:02] And if you are someone who would like weekly support and accountability. I want to invite you to be a part of that.
[00:07:08] In this clip, we are talking about rankings and Google search console, that type of thing. So, enjoy and I'll see you on the other side.
[00:07:15]
[00:07:15] Crystal Waddell: so whenever you see someone ranking for specific search terms, it's because of the content they have on their website, correct?
[00:07:23] Correct. Okay. All right. And then, so what does it mean if it says zero clicks. But 161 impressions. How can it have no clicks but impressions? And, obviously that's bad, right?
[00:07:36] Okay, so the way I think about impressions, think about driving down the highway and you see a billboard.
[00:07:40] And every once in a while you see the billboard that says, See, you looked here.
[00:07:43] So it's like people are scrolling past and they're seeing you. Now, here's the power of impressions.
[00:07:49] If somebody sees you often enough, they start to recognize you, and that's one reason why I love Pinterest.
[00:07:56] Because Pinterest will stay relevant forever. And when people see your stuff over and over again, that builds trust. So that the first question I would ask, what's the keyword that is getting you impressions, but no clicks, right?
[00:08:09]
[00:08:09] Crystal Waddell: So another thing we've talked about on the podcast and then also in my small group, the SEO squad. Is the importance of social proof. And so in this little clip, We're talking about reviews and how we can use them. To demonstrate trust signals to google and to the people who are visiting our websites.
[00:08:31] See on the. the. other side of this one.
[00:08:33] Crystal: for reviews. I use stamped.io.
[00:08:37] So I'm not sure if you have a reviews app.
[00:08:40] And this is not something that I manually went in and did. Okay?
[00:08:43] It's because I have the reviews app. They have a function where it's like, embed a full page of reviews.
[00:08:50] I do have the reviews on each product. But this is like all of the reviews consolidated together.
[00:08:57] Because one of the things they say is a lot of times people will Google your business name.
[00:09:01] Plus reviews. And I thought shoot, if that ain't easy. And, it makes sense.
[00:09:05] So I just put it right up top. So that way people get that social proof immediately if they're looking for it.
[00:09:11] And in case you guys didn't know there's a lot of reviews out there that are absolutely made up.
[00:09:17] That's actually going to become illegal probably sometime in the next year or two.
[00:09:22] So you just want to be careful, but also know that you can move reviews from 1 provider to another.
[00:09:28] They have spreadsheets that you can upload. It's okay to do that to take your own honest reviews and move them to a new platform.
[00:09:35] But a lot of people are not honest and they add stuff in there. So don't do that.
[00:09:39] Okay. Next step in this clip, we're talking about the importance of user experience interviews.
[00:09:45] And one of the fun things that we did during a session. Was I actually, demonstrated user experience interview.
[00:09:52] Check this out. As we talk about the importance of user experience interviews.
[00:09:57] we look at our website and we think, oh, it's so easy. But then you have somebody else look at it and they're like what does this even mean?
[00:10:03] Like even on products, I have products that are different sizes. So they're different prices. But if you don't have somebody holding it, it's hard to know, like dimensionally what that looks like.
[00:10:11] So that changed the game.
[00:10:13] All right, Jo, you've got a question.
[00:10:15] Morning, yes, I want to just jump on that and say that just the thought of someone taking a look at my website.
[00:10:22] It's probably the best thing from the group because I want that constructive criticism.
[00:10:28] It's just going to help me so much more.
[00:10:29] I literally change it almost every other hour and I'm like, okay, that's it.
[00:10:34] Can't change it anymore. And yeah, it's still be changed.
[00:10:36] And then of course we always talk about keywords, right?
[00:10:40] I can't get away from keywords. So in this clip, we're talking really briefly about keywords and blogging and building a blog outline together.
[00:10:50] Ideally, yes. When you do your keyword research I'm assuming that your keyword here is travel toys for two year olds.
[00:10:57] You'd want to have a supporting keyword here, and we're going to put this in the surfer in just a minute, so we'll follow up with that particular thing about where to put the keywords.
[00:11:05] Because I like the way that Sarah has done this, and it's as tempting as it is to write a blog, say inside of a surfer editor or some sort of tool.
[00:11:14] You are the expert for your business and you are the expert for that topic. And it's best that you write the article from, even if you use like a chat GPT or something to help you.
[00:11:23] It's just better that you write it naturally so that then you can go back and optimize. But your voice is what's going to make that content helpful.
[00:11:31] And it's, what's going to distinguish it from just mass generated AI content. You really want it to be helpful and align with who you are.
[00:11:38] So when people work with you, it's like a continued conversation.
[00:11:41] All right. My friends. We are taking a look inside of a Google search console.
[00:11:46] Looking at pages and specifically pages being indexed and, just those types of issues.
[00:11:53] Yeah.
[00:11:53] Crystal W: Like my business is so seasonal and cyclical that looking back three months, isn't going to give me what I need to know for right now.
[00:12:04] Because I'm about to enter into a spring season, and so that's not the same as Christmas season.
[00:12:09] I will just say, I was looking at the video replays. I've only done two, but I have a lot of work to do because I noticed that I have 88 pages that are not even indexed.
[00:12:19] And I'm just like, yeah, and we can look at that real quick together here too.
[00:12:24] Because we did that in previous videos for other people. Might be a good refresher.
[00:12:28] The good news about that is some of those pages you may not want indexed.
[00:12:33] So it's not necessarily a bad thing, but what we want to do is we want to look at them and see, okay, are there any pages that are not indexed that we do want indexed?
[00:12:40] And, if so, then we just need to resubmit them at the very top of the screen like we did for Sarah's blog.
[00:12:47] Okay, well, congratulations. You've made it to the final clip of this special episode, looking inside my SEO squad.
[00:12:56] Next, we are going to talk about how to read the search engine results pages, which are also known as the SERPs.
[00:13:03] And using SEO tools, understand how domain authority plays a role in your ability to rank on the results pages.
[00:13:12] So.
[00:13:12] Enjoy the last clip.
[00:13:14] And their domain authority is 15, 6, 28, those are fairly attainable and look at you there. You are right there. Oh, wow.
[00:13:23] Those are places where you can jump because everybody is about the same.
[00:13:27] So these questions right here, I don't know if you guys have ever heard the term featured snippets, not like that. Okay.
[00:13:33] Featured snippets are when people ask the question, but somebody gets to answer it.
[00:13:39] So I. Let's see, which one of these do you think is the most applicable question?
[00:13:44] Wow, all of them...
[00:13:45] okay, so once I hit this carrot to expand it, it's going to also expand the questions.
[00:13:51] So that's something important to realize, because if you decide, okay, I want to create some content around this particular idea.
[00:13:57] It's going to give me more questions that people ask around that.
[00:14:00] I just want to say thank you again for joining me today for this episode of the simple and smart SEO show podcast. If you are interested in joining my free three-day challenge, the supercharger SEO, all you have to do right now is go to crystal waddell.com forward slash supercharge. And that will take you to the registration page.
[00:14:20] The challenge starts on June 4th, which is next week. If you're listening to this in real time and we will be back to our regularly scheduled interviews in June.
[00:14:32] But I thank you for letting me share with you just this Personal passion . I have to help other entrepreneurs understand how the internet works. And get to the top of the search engine results pages.
[00:14:44] Thanks so much. We'll see you next time. Bye.
