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Good morning, Marketers, with the July 2021 core update fully rolled out, we’re all looking for answers.

A couple of common questions I get often after any update include, “What did this update target, and how do I improve my site for this specific update?” The truth is, when it comes to these big core updates, the answer is that there is simply not one single thing to focus on fixing. We are humans, we want a quick, easy, and direct approach to fix our problems. The same applies to our SEO problems. But this is not 2002 anymore and Google updates are way more sophisticated than the old days.

Back then we could say one algorithm update focused on targeting spammy links, or low-quality content, or burner sites, or targeted a specific link network and so on. But Google is more advanced now and core updates no longer focus on just one thing.

My advice? Be careful with different theories about what a specific core update was about.  It is not about one thing — but dozens of things that you need to improve on your site. If you need help here, see our story on core update advice. But it is probably more dangerous to run down the rabbit hole of focusing on a single thing and losing focus on the bigger picture: making your site better for your users.

Barry Schwartz,
Realist SEO specialist

AMP debugging moved out of Search Console

Google has moved some of the AMP debugging out of Google Search Console and directly to the AMP page experience guide tool. Specifically, when you go to the Google Search Console page experience report, then access a specific AMP URL you want to debug, you will see that Google links you over to the AMP page experience guide tool for further analysis.

“This new functionality will make it easier for you to act on performance issues reported by Search Console,” Google said. I am not too sure if this is easier for you or easier for Google to maintain. So just a quick heads up that this report has moved.

Read more over here.

GoDaddy shops integrated into Google Merchant Center

After announcing its integration with Shopify at I/O, Google also promised easy connections to Square, Woocommerce, and GoDaddy. The latest integration with GoDaddy has officially launched today.

“We welcome GoDaddy online store customers to more easily integrate their product inventory across Google at no additional cost. This means that GoDaddy merchants can now get discovered across Search, Shopping, Image Search and YouTube in just a few clicks. With this integration, GoDaddy merchants can upload their products to Google, create free listings and ad campaigns and review performance metrics — all without leaving GoDaddy’s Online Store,” Google announced.

Why we care. This integration will likely help SMBs and smaller retailers the most. Many moved their inventory online last year when the pandemic forced many businesses to pivot to an online strategy. The Google integration means they will be able to reach an even wider audience to sell their products and services.

Read more over here.

New job posting guidelines and direct apply markup from Google

Google has announced a new property to the job posting structured data and updated its editorial guidelines for job postings in Google Search. “Today we are announcing a new structured data property and new editorial content policy,” the company said.

New guidelines. Google’s new guidelines aim to improve the quality of the job posting results in Google search. The new guidelines “include guidance around obstructive text and images, excessive and distractive ads, or content that doesn’t add any value to the job posting.” Google will also look at basic grammar rules as part of these guidelines.

Direct apply markup. Google added a new direct apply property to the job posting structured data. This property gives websites an optional way to share if your job listing offers a direct apply experience right from Google Search.  In short, it makes the process of applying for your job post faster and easier, potentially through Google Search.

Read more over here.

Google local rankings and core updates are unrelated

Local rankings and core updates. Danny Sullivan of Google said local rankings are not really impacted by the Google core updates.  So if you saw local ranking changes, it is not core update-specific.

Primary language. Google Search does try to find a single primary language per page, said John Mueller of Google. So keep that in mind if you are looking to use mixed languages on a single page, it might not be the best idea for Google, nor may it be the best idea for your users.

Dan Bell RIP. We lost another young soul in the search marketing community, his name is Dan Bell. A tribute was posted here by his colleagues and friends in the search industry.