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Will (IQ Bar Creator)
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Scott Vanack
Los Ahoros de Memorial Day in Los y Compra Los Vasicos Parelo gar pormenos
IQ Bar Advertiser
ahoro centadolares en la parrilla agas de
Scott Vanack
cuatro que madores Charbroil performance series.
Ross Dunn
Foreign. Hello and welcome to SEO 101 on WMR FM episode number 527. This is Ross Dunn, CEO of Stepforth Web Marketing and my co host is my company senior SEO Scott Vanack. Well, Scott, you're going to join me for a night of camping. That's pretty cool.
Scott Vanack
I can't wait. We're going to be so cold. It's going to be ridiculous.
Ross Dunn
But yes. Well, at least we can have fires this time of year. Yeah.
Scott Vanack
Oh, yes, that'll make it better.
Ross Dunn
Yes. Much, much. Finally going to get away and do a little camping and. Yeah, have a nice chill.
Scott Vanack
Is there a safe way to put the fire in the tent?
Ross Dunn
I'm going to look into it. I'm sure there's.
Scott Vanack
I'll bring some rocks in and it'll be fine.
Ross Dunn
They're totally non flammable.
Scott Vanack
Yeah, that's right.
Ross Dunn
Yeah. All right, well, let's jump into some non SEO news. Google makes more name changes. What's this all about?
Scott Vanack
I love this. So you remember when Google changed the name of Google Data Studio to Looker Studio? And you and I and everybody thought this is just stupid. It's a terrible name. Well, it's back to Data Studio. They have officially changed the name back. I actually went looking through some of our old shows because I thought I was sure one of us made a prediction, like a New Year's prediction one year that they were going to change the name back and I can't find a record of that. So I don't. Maybe we thought about saying maybe we said it, but it wasn't in our show notes. I'm not sure, but I was sure we predicted that at some point, but maybe not so Data Studio will remain largely unchanged. The transition should be seamless. So if you're using it currently, you shouldn't have to worry about anything. Like I was in it today and it just said at the top Google Looker Studio is now Google Data Studio and that was it. Everything else seemed the same for anybody out there wanting more. They have also now introduced Data Studio Pro. Data Studio Pro is designed for organizations that require more control, AI features, deeper integration within Google Cloud for expertise grade security, things like that. So there is a more advanced version for those that need it and want it and feel like paying for it. I I have no experience with the Pro, at least not yet. Who knows, maybe we'll go there, we'll see what it has to offer. But at least the name is better.
Ross Dunn
So there we go. Wonderful. We'll see how that pans out. I just love how they change the names. And you know what? This is the one time I'm thrilled. I hated Looker Studio, but it's like Prowler Studio. It just sounded like something really creepy. I don't know. Anyway, okay, so let's get back to script here. SEO News Google March 2026 Core Update rollout is now complete. This Update started on March 27th and we talked about it back then and ended April 8th. Any volatility you experienced with the update should be over by now. As always, if you were impacted by this, well, you need to focus on helpful, reliable, authoritative people first content to help improve the next update. Here's the article I'm trying to get used to jumping in here. So we got some good video. This is the article from Search Engine Land and it says Here Google's first 2026 core update finished its 12 day rollout. You can now assess impact and adjust your content strategy. It's written by Danny Goodwin and has some good pits there and tips. Pits? What the heck are pits? Tips and talks about some has links to some of the past core updates as well. All right, what's next here? Google Search to penalize back button hijacking schemes.
Scott Vanack
Yes. So if you are involved in any kind of back button hijacking, you might want to consider removing or disabling that. Google has reported a rise in back button hijacking and has decided to finally take action. So what is back button hijacking? If you're sitting there listening to me, thinking I'm crazy and saying weird words. So what it is, is it is when a website interferes with a user's browser browser navigation, preventing the back button from sending them to the last visited page. So instead, the button may be used to send users to pages they've never even visited before or. Or to otherwise prevent them from normally browsing the web. So starting on June 15, if you are doing this on your website, Google will begin enforcement and start handing out penalties. So just don't, don't do it. I've definitely seen it occasionally online or you hit back a bunch and then it just stops. It won't let you go past a certain point and things like that. Luckily, our clients have never encountered it on a client website or even in doing an audit. But I think I'll add it as an item list in my audits just in case I do find it. I'll make sure to check for it. But yeah, don't hijack that back button. Google is finally doing something. So that's good.
Ross Dunn
Thank God. I mean, I don't know how much teeth it has. Hopefully they're really, really being active because nothing infuriates me more. I will never spend money on a site that tries to hijack me. I guess in those cases they're probably trying to get you through ads. I don't know, but it's daft. Completely daft. I don't know what they're thinking. All right, Google is testing jumping to AI mode directly from aios on desktop. This is back in January, Google added a Show More button to the bottom of AI Overviews that would take a user directly into AI mode. This was implemented on mobile searches. Google is now testing this functionality on desktop. Next up, Google is fixing a search console bug that inflated impression counts. Fill us in here.
Scott Vanack
Isn't this great? So we actually had something similar when Google had The whole num equals 100 thing back in August or September or something last year. And numbers were bananas. Well, I guess since May of 2025. So about a year now. Google has been misreporting data impressions due to a logging error. Correct you correctly.
Will (IQ Bar Creator)
What?
Scott Vanack
What is that? That I wrote the show notes correctly. Correct data. I'm assuming I should say correct data will start rolling out in corrections. That's a word. Corrections will start rolling out in the coming weeks. Google said you may notice a decrease in impressions and search console performance reports. Clicks and other metrics were not affected by the error and the issue is affected data logging only. As this issue rolled, as this fix rolls out, reported impressions will decrease decrease. So don't panic if you start to see things look bad. That's just what they always were. You've just been spoiled with incorrect inflated data for a year. So things things will even out. At least the click data and rankings and other stuff was was correct. Apparently. Unless we find out in six months that oh, that was also wrong. But right now they say it's it was correct.
Ross Dunn
All right. All right. Well, let's take a quick break. We come back, we're going to talk about Google Sports. Welcome back to SC0101 on when I found out I was going to be
Scott Vanack
a parent, I immediately felt a lot of anxiety and worry. So I went on to BetterHelp to try to look for a therapist to help me with that.
Will (IQ Bar Creator)
My relationship with my family and with
Ross Dunn
my boyfriend and with myself were suffering.
Scott Vanack
I really needed help. I was ruminating a lot. Really getting those thoughts out to a therapist and getting feedback was just lifechanging.
Will (IQ Bar Creator)
Discover what better help online therapy can do for you. Visit betterhelp.com today.
IQ Bar Advertiser
This podcast is sponsored by IQ Bar.
Will (IQ Bar Creator)
I've got good news and bad news. Here's the bad news. Most protein bars are packed with sugar and unpronounceable ingredients. The good news? There's a better option. I'm Will and I created IQ Bar Plant protein bars to empower doers like you with clean, delicious, low sugar, brain and body fuel. IQ bars are packed with 12 grams of protein, brain nutrients like magnesium and Lion's Mane and Zero Weird Stuff. And right now you can get 20% off all IQ bar products plus free shipping, clean ingredients, amazing taste and you'll love how you feel. Refuel smarter, hydrate harder, caffeinate larger with IQ Bar.
IQ Bar Advertiser
Try our delicious IQ Bar Sampler Pack with nine plant protein bars, eight hydration mixes and four mushroom coffee sticks. And now you can get 20% off all IQ Bar products plus free shipping. When you go to iqbar.com today and enter promo code BAR20 to get this exclusive offer for our listeners. That's iqbar.com promo code BAR20 to get 20% off plus free shipping. Iqbar.com code BAR20 approvecha los ahoros de
Scott Vanack
Memorial Day in Los y compra los vasicos parelo Gar pomenos ahoro Chentadolares en la parria Char Royal Performance Series. Los nosotros ayudamos tu ahoras validos.
Ross Dunn
MasterCano WMR FM hosted by myself, Ross Dunn, CEO of Stepforth Web Marketing, and my company, Senior SEO Scott Vanack. Okay, Google Spam reports can trigger manual actions and may be shared with site owners. Google has noted that it may use spam report submissions to take manual actions against violations. Previously, Google has stated that spam reports were only used for improving Google's spam detection algorithms and not for manual actions. Oh my God, they changed their. What? How? How could they ever change what they were talking about before? Wow. Anyway, I can't even speak. That doesn't help, Google says. And to quote, send whatever you write in the submission report verbatim to the site owner to help them understand the context of the manual action. We don't include any other identifying information when we notify the site owner. As long as you avoid including personal information in the open text field, the report remains anonymous. Oh my gosh, can you imagine? Please call me at this number if there if you do the best part about this is that SEOs that encounter spam websites actually have a slight chance of doing something about it. When sites are being beat out by spammers. Perhaps we finally have a way to have those sites removed. I'll believe it when I see it, but we'll see. All right, local SEO News. The repeat post feature is now live. What's this all about?
Scott Vanack
Yeah, so after testing this repeat post feature a few months back, Google has now officially made it live to all users. So with this new feature, when posting a new offer or event to your Google business profile, you can set the post to repeat daily, weekly or monthly. So this feature is not available on regular update posts, but again, just events and offers. Google had said if your business has a weekly rhythm like a Wednesday trivia night or Friday happy hour, you no longer have to repost them manually. Every week we've added a repeat dropdown for events and offers so that they can automatically. Sorry, so that they can update automatically. It is a simple way to keep your customers informed without adding another task to your to do list. How it works is the next time you create a post, just select the frequency that fits your schedule and it will stay updated on search and maps.
Ross Dunn
Hmm. All right. I like it. Any more enhancements to that area is a good thing. I know Rose, our local SEO in house. She's always working with Google posts and appreciates any of these increases and improvements are always a good thing.
Scott Vanack
Good reminder so far, send her that link to make sure she sees it.
Ross Dunn
Yeah, definitely. She probably already knows it, but it's worth a shot. Yes, she's always keeping on top of this stuff, so. All right, the new Google review guideline update is hilarious. I. It's inexplicable. I don't know, whatever quote. This is a quote from Google. Do not solicit reviews that include specific content, including content that identifies a staff member, unquote. So for those of you who are quite intelligently being saying please, you know, mention like tell your staff to say, you know, if you leave a message, a review and you put my name in it, I'll get a bit of a bonus. And businesses have been able to build reviews that way and give credits to their staff. It's not undue solicitation. People aren't going to go and leave a review that's positive simply because they've been asked to. And they're mentioning a staff member, which is good for staff morale. It's good for boost building the company service quality. There's nothing wrong with this, but these idiots have put this in here that this is now against their guidelines. Merchants requesting that staff solicit reviews that include specific content, including content that identifies a staff member is against guidelines.
Scott Vanack
Just so weird.
Ross Dunn
How are they going to ever. Like, how do you enforce that?
Scott Vanack
I guess if you had a business where suddenly they're getting, I don't know, huge numbers of reviews every day that include staff names. Google might be like, this looks fishy. I mean it could be totally legit, but that might be like a trigger. But even still, like, how does that prove anything? Like what if you're a staff member that you're just. And you're exceptional and then your businesses reviews get, you know, penalized from Google because people love you. Like, I don't know.
Ross Dunn
Yeah, I mean, you're right. I mean if they could see a ton of this happening, it always included staff members, it could look bad. It again makes no sense that this is a bad thing. Even soliciting reviews is not bad. Infuriates me. This, this whole thing.
Scott Vanack
Anyway, getting reviews can be hard enough as it is. Why are they making it even harder? Yeah, for legit, for legit businesses. Right? Like that's a legit thing to do. So it's not like don't.
Ross Dunn
Yeah, don't incentivize reviews that I get. You don't tell people you're going to give them something for a review that's not cool. That that is clearly incentivizing someone to leave something that could be fake. But just genuinely asking them to leave a review. And yeah, mention your staff member if they did a good job. Just grow up, Google.
Scott Vanack
Grow up.
Ross Dunn
Teenagers.
Scott Vanack
They're just trouble.
Ross Dunn
All right, Mueller files. Google says it can handle multiple URLs to the same content. Well, this shouldn't be a surprise. I'll take this one since you got the next one here. A person had posted to Reddit that they had did a site redesign and switched themes. During this switch, their URLs changed to remove recipe from the path later. They later realized that despite the URL changing, the old URLs remain visible to Google. And we're worried about penalties related to the duplication. You know, just share the screen here. We can share the article by Roger Monti on Search Engine Journal. John Mueller responded to the post, says it's fine, but you're making it harder on yourself. Google will pick one to keep, but you might have preferences. There is no penalty or ranking demotion if you have multiple URLs going to the same content. Almost all sites have it in variations. A lot of technical SEO is basically search engine whispering being consistent with hints and monitoring to see that they get picked up. Ooh, I like that. Search engine whispering.
Scott Vanack
Ooh, we're the engine whisperers. I wonder if that's taken. Quick, register the domain today. Sewhisperer.com is taken.
Ross Dunn
So, yeah, there's got to be a company now that's named at her or will be very soon. All right, well, this next one's joyous. I love this. Please do go ahead.
Scott Vanack
Yeah, so I was working on an SEO audit last week actually, and I, you know, I don't see new things very often. So it's really cool when I learn something new. Even if it's as useless as this. It was still kind of funny. So Everybody's heard of 404 errors, but have you ever heard of 418 status code or 418 error? Well, I hadn't and it popped up in Screaming Frog a bunch of. And it said 418. Usually it'll be like 404 not found. 302 redirect. 301 redirect. Well, it said 418. I am a teapot. And I'm like, what the heck is this? So my first reaction is this Client's been hacked. There's some weird crap going on on this website. And I was like, it kind of was a little bit stressful at first. I don't even know what this could be or how to figure out what this is. It seems so technical. Well, it turned out this is according to AI Overviews. I should have looked it up in other places, but I didn't because, you know, AI makes us lazy sometimes. But AI overview said that the HTTP 418 I'm a teapot error is a humorous Easter egg status code defined in 1998 and I guess again in 2014 that indicates a server refuses to brew coffee because it is fundamentally a teapot. Well, while generally a joke, it is sometimes used as a lighthearted way to block automated bots, crawlers, or suspicious requests, acting as a polite refusal. And as I read, you show a picture of a teapot.
Ross Dunn
I did. Awesome.
Scott Vanack
So I'm thinking about this now and this particular audit that I did. Ross had done sort of a mini technical audit because their site had major issues a few months back and they came to us because they're having trouble. And it turned out their site had been blocking all bots for. I can't remember what it was like three or four years. Their traffic went to nothing for years before they noticed. Like, how is that even possible? How do you not realize your site is crashing? I was even telling Ross this particular site had something like 80,000 internal linking errors. They had thousands of broken affiliate links throughout their site. Like, how do they not notice for so long they stop making money? I don't know. But that's probably this. 418 would have come from some of their weird HT access blockages. Probably.
Ross Dunn
Well, and in their defense, this is just a passion site they do on the side. It's not like it's their income. I think that would change how they'd see this stuff. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, it's, it's, it's mind blowing that. Anyway, I love the teapot. That's just the best. I, I can't believe we haven't heard of that. And I'm 29 years. I've never heard of such a thing. And I think it's just fantastic to be surprised.
Scott Vanack
Yeah. In 1998. So this was a thing that began when step fourth was one year old.
Ross Dunn
Yes.
Scott Vanack
And we've never heard of it. I don't know how it hasn't come up. We've done. I don't know how many audits I've done now. I was gonna say thousands, but I definitely haven't done thousands. But I've done a lot of audits and a couple hundred easily. Hundreds. Hundreds easily. Without a doubt.
Ross Dunn
Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah. Good episode, I think. And you know, listeners, we would love to know what you'd like to hear from the podcast. We feel like it's time for a shake up some changes to make this podcast a little more appealing to everyone. And you know, I would love to get some feedback. So if you do have any, please do. Maybe put it through our contact page on stepforth.com that's S T E P F O-R-T dash dot com. Just go to the contact page and just, you know, let us know. What, what are your thoughts? How would you like the podcast to. To grow and change? It's been doing the same thing for. Well, I've been doing it 17 years. Just blah. Blows my mind. And it's, it hasn't changed a lot and I think it's time. So I would love to get your feedback on that. We also, of course have our Facebook group easily found by searching SEO101podcast on Facebook. However, it's kind of dead. It's crickets. So that may be people abandoning Facebook, which I can't blame you or just a lack of interest, but that's another place you can leave your messages and I'd love to hear, love to hear from you. Well, on behalf of myself, Ross Dunn, CEO of Step Forth Web Marketing, and my company, Senior SEO Scott Van Ak, thank you very much for joining us today. If you have any questions, remember where to go. We just mentioned it. It's great if you could go there. Have a great week and remember to tune into future episodes which air every week on WMR fm.
Scott Vanack
Thanks for listening everybod.
Ross Dunn
When I found out I was going
Scott Vanack
to be a parent, I immediately felt a lot of anxiety and worry. So I went on to BetterHelp to try to look for a therapist to help me with that.
Will (IQ Bar Creator)
My relationship with my family and with
Ross Dunn
my boyfriend and with myself were suffering.
Scott Vanack
I really needed help.
Ross Dunn
I was ruminating a lot.
Scott Vanack
Really getting those thoughts out to a therapist and getting feedback was just life changing.
Will (IQ Bar Creator)
Discover what BetterHelp online therapy can do for you. Visit betterhelp.com today.
Scott Vanack
Apro vecha los ahoros de Memorial Day en los y compra los vasicos parelo
IQ Bar Advertiser
gar pormenos ahoro centadolares en la parria
Scott Vanack
gas de cuatro que madores char broil performance series.
Podcast: SEO 101
Hosts: Ross Dunn (CEO, Stepforth Web Marketing) & Scott Van Achte (Senior SEO, Stepforth)
Date: April 15, 2026
This episode covers several hot topics in SEO: the latest Google name change reversal, completion of the March 2026 core update, imminent penalties for "back button hijacking," surprising changes in Google Spam reporting, a new review rule that confuses businesses, local SEO improvements, fun HTTP error trivia, and more. Ross and Scott break complex topics down for beginners with their signature blend of expertise and humor.
[02:21 – 03:51]
“This is the one time I’m thrilled. I hated Looker Studio... it sounded like something really creepy.”
— Ross Dunn [03:51]
[03:51 – 05:27]
[05:27 – 06:43]
“Don’t hijack that back button. Google is finally doing something. So that’s good.”
— Scott Van Achte [06:43]
“I will never spend money on a site that tries to hijack me... It’s daft, completely daft.”
[06:43]
[06:43 – 07:40]
[07:40 – 08:57]
“Don’t panic if you start to see things look bad. That’s just what they always were. You’ve just been spoiled with incorrect inflated data for a year.”
— Scott Van Achte [08:57]
[11:11 – 12:52]
“SEOs encountering spam websites actually have a slight chance of doing something about it... I’ll believe it when I see it.”
[12:19]
[12:52 – 14:03]
“No longer have to repost them manually every week... A simple way to keep your customers informed without adding another task.”
— Scott Van Achte [13:26-13:39]
[14:06 – 16:55]
“There’s nothing wrong with this, but these idiots have put this in here that this is now against their guidelines.”
— Ross Dunn [14:55]
“Why are they making it even harder? For legit businesses... just grow up, Google.”
— Scott Van Achte & Ross Dunn [16:22–16:55]
[17:02 – 18:21]
“Ooh, we’re the engine whisperers. I wonder if that’s taken. Quick, register the domain!”
— Scott Van Achte [18:11–18:21]
[18:33 – 21:36]
“Usually it’ll be like 404 not found. 302 redirect. 301 redirect. Well, it said 418. I am a teapot. And I’m like, what the heck is this?”
“I can’t believe we haven’t heard of that. In 29 years. I think it’s just fantastic to be surprised.”
— Ross Dunn [21:15]
| Timestamp | Topic | |-----------|-------------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:21 | Google Data Studio Name Change | | 03:51 | March 2026 Core Update Complete | | 05:27 | Back Button Hijack Penalties | | 06:43 | Google Expands AI Mode, Search Console Bug | | 08:57 | Segment Break | | 11:11 | Google Spam Reports: Manual Actions & Site Owner Notifications | | 12:52 | Google Business Profile: Repeat Post Feature | | 14:06 | Updated, Confusing Review Rules | | 17:02 | Mueller Files: Duplicate URLs | | 18:33 | HTTP 418 “I’m a Teapot” Status Code Discovery |
Ross and Scott reflect on being open to listener feedback for future podcasts, wanting to refresh the format, and encourage engagement via Facebook or their website.
For beginners, this episode offers a useful, jargon-free synthesis of current SEO events—with humor, practical tips, and candid takes on Google’s evolving landscape.