Search Engine Recap - Week 48

Google's Advice: Address Technical Errors Before Chasing the 'Next Big Thing'

It's no secret in SEO that before ranking with content, a strong technical foundation is necessary. Despite this, many technical tasks are often deprioritized when Google launches new features or when new SEO hacks emerge.

Therefore Google's Martin Splitt, Gary Illyes, and John Mueller from the Search Relations team have reiterated the importance of focusing on fundamental technical SEO issues like site crawlability, indexing, and page rendering before pursuing advanced trends.

Technical SEO, ensuring your website's architecture supports efficient crawling and indexing, is crucial. The Google team also emphasized the importance of quality content (helpful content) and advised against focusing only on traffic, suggesting that user engagement and satisfaction are important indicators of a website's quality​​.

Google Removes 'Crawl Rate Limiter Tool' from Search Console

Google has announced the removal of the crawl rate limiter tool from Search Console, effective from January 8, 2024. The decision is due to improvements in crawl algorithms, making the tool unnecessary - Googlebot can now automatically sense when a server reaches its capacity and adjust the crawl rate accordingly.

This change aims to simplify the user experience in Google Search Console, while still allowing websites to provide feedback on Googlebot's crawl rate through a different reporting format​​.

If you continue to have issues with Googlebot's crawl rate, the Googlebot report form is still a format that can be used to send feedback to Google.

Enhancing Structured Data Capabilities

Google is expanding the scope of structured data for organizations, forums, and profile pages. The latest update enables businesses to offer more detailed information in search results using various markups. These markups are instrumental in displaying business details in knowledge panels and other visual elements on the search page.

For instance, websites can now incorporate additional information such as name, address, contact info, and more. Local businesses are advised to utilize both local business and organization markup, while online-only entities should leverage the "OnlineBusiness" subtype of organization markup.

The introduction of 'ProfilePage' and 'DiscussionForumPosting' markup enhances Google's ability to recognize content creators and display online discussions, thus refining the visibility of creator profiles and related metrics in search results​​.

Key Takeaways and Recommendations

Technical SEO remains the cornerstone of optimal search engine performance. Despite this, many companies prematurely chase the latest trends without solidifying their technical base.

A crucial step is therefore to evaluate your page experience and technical performance to ensure everything is running smoothly.

Additionally, Google's ongoing evolution in removing redundant tools and introducing new formats within structured data, presents fresh opportunities for optimization. Embrace these updates to align with the modern landscape of search results.

Remember, the more accessible our content is to search engines and users, the better we connect with our audiences, addressing their needs efficiently​​.