Topic: search rankings
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Google Boosts Video, Forums & User Content in Search
Google is updating its search ranking systems to prioritize user-generated content like short videos and forum discussions, reflecting a shift in how people seek information. The company is adapting to user preferences by adjusting algorithms to surface more dynamic content, while also working on...
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Google Update Boosts Niche Sites, Penalizes AI Errors
Google's latest core algorithm update now prioritizes websites with deep, specialized expertise over generalist content, rewarding niche authority in search results. An investigation reveals that AI-generated health summaries in Google Search can present confident but incorrect information, creat...
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December Core Update Boosts Brands in "Best Of" Searches
Google's December core update concluded, rewarding specialized authority and category-specific expertise over generalist content, particularly in product and commercial searches. The update reclassified many "best of" queries as having commercial intent, boosting official brand pages and niche re...
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EU to Investigate Google for Reputation Abuse
The EU is launching an antitrust investigation into Alphabet over claims Google unfairly demotes news publishers in search results for hosting sponsored content, threatening a key revenue source for media. The probe, to be conducted under the Digital Markets Act, could result in fines up to 10% o...
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Google's August 2025 Spam Update Is Now Complete
Google completed its August 2025 spam update, the only one of the year so far, which ran from August 26 to September 22 and caused significant ranking volatility. The update was broad and general, leading to sharp traffic declines for many websites but recoveries for some previously penalized sit...
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Yext's Guide to AI Search Visibility
The nature of online discovery has fundamentally shifted, moving beyond traditional search rankings to include AI-driven experiences that provide direct answers without requiring clicks. A brand's foundational data accuracy, consistency, and trust signals are now as critical as keywords, directly...
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AI Overviews Boost Citation Chances by 161%, Study Finds
New research shows web pages ranking for related "fan-out" queries are significantly more likely to be cited in Google's AI Overviews than pages only ranking for the primary search term, with a 161% higher citation probability. Analysis reveals that over half of all AI Overview citations go to pa...
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Agentic AI: The End of OTA Search Dominance?
Agentic AI is transforming travel planning by handling everything from research to booking within its interface, bypassing traditional online travel agency (OTA) websites and threatening their visibility and customer loyalty. This shift reduces user engagement with OTAs, potentially harming their...
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Google's Mueller: Fixing 'Page Indexed Without Content' Error
The "Page Indexed without content" error in Google Search Console is typically caused by a server or CDN blocking Googlebot's access, not by JavaScript, and is often invisible in standard tests. This IP-based blockage, frequently from security rules or automatic CDN updates, can cause rankings to...
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Master AEO Now to Dominate Google in 2026
The shift from traditional search to AI-powered answer engines means visibility now depends on being the single, trusted recommendation an AI provides, not just ranking on a list. Businesses must optimize for AI through Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), focusing on complete, consistent, and accur...
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Google Details JavaScript Execution on Non-200 HTTP Statuses
Google has clarified that its crawler only fully processes JavaScript on pages returning a standard 200 HTTP status code, skipping rendering for pages with non-200 codes like 404 errors or redirects. If rendering is skipped, Google indexes the page based on the initial HTML snapshot, which for Ja...
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Google's Unannounced Core Updates: What You Need to Know
Google has officially confirmed it regularly implements smaller, unannounced core algorithm updates alongside major publicized ones, allowing improved content to gain rankings at any time. These continuous, subtle adjustments are not broadly announced because their effects are typically limited, ...
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Digital PR vs. Traditional Link Building: Which Wins?
Digital PR focuses on earning genuine brand coverage and citations in reputable media to build authentic awareness and drive relevant traffic, contrasting with traditional link building's narrower goal of acquiring links primarily for search rankings. A strategic, audience-centric framework is es...
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Don't Let Technical SEO Debt Kill Your AI Rankings
The rise of AI search tools like ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews means brand visibility now depends on more than traditional SEO, as technical SEO debt poses a severe threat to AI content inclusion. A key flawed assumption is that strong Google rankings guarantee AI visibility, but AI crawlers op...
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