SEO 101 Episode 484 - October SEO Volatility, Penalty for Fortune Recommends, & Content Length Insights

Summary

Podcast Summary: SEO 101 Episode 484 – October SEO Volatility, Penalty for Fortune Recommends, & Content Length Insights

Podcast Information:

• Title: SEO 101
• Host/Author: WMR.FM
• Description: SEO 101 is Search Engine Optimization from the very beginning. SEO 101 teaches SEO from square one, with Hosts Ross Dunn and Scott Vanack providing helpful information for beginners without overwhelming you with technical details.
• Episode: SEO 101 Episode 484 - October SEO Volatility, Penalty for Fortune Recommends, & Content Length Insights
• Release Date: November 4, 2024

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Introduction

In Episode 484 of SEO 101, hosts Ross Dunn and Scott Vanack delve into the latest developments in the SEO landscape. This episode covers a range of topics, including search ranking volatility, penalties imposed on reputable sites like Fortune Recommends, changes in Google's search features, and insights into optimal content length for SEO success.

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1. Google Search Ranking Volatility

Timestamp: [02:02] – [05:11]

Discussion: Ross and Scott open the episode by addressing recent fluctuations in Google search rankings. According to Barry from Webmaster World, significant volatility was observed on October 2nd, 10th, 15th, 19th, and 20th. These fluctuations are notable since the last major core update concluded on September 3rd.

Notable Quotes:

• Scott Vanack: “There are a few interesting comments that Barry actually posted from Webmaster World users that I wanted to share...”

Key Points:

• No official statement from Google regarding these fluctuations.
• Some users reported a resurgence of spam sites and outdated news results.
• Scott suggests maintaining vigilance and encouraging listeners to report any unusual SEO changes they encounter.

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2. Penalty for Fortune Recommends

Timestamp: [05:11] – [17:03]

Discussion: The hosts delve into a significant SEO issue where Fortune Recommends, a reputed site, appears to have been manually penalized by Google for site reputation abuse. This follows similar actions against other prominent sites like Forbes Advisor and AP News Byline EUYLINE, which experienced drastic drops in rankings around October 11th.

Notable Quotes:

• Scott Vanack: “Site reputation abuse is when third-party pages are published with little or no first-party oversight or involvement where the purpose is to manipulate search rankings by taking advantage of the first party site's ranking signals.”
• Ross Dunn: “It is a precipitous drop in visibility.”

Key Points:

• Chris Nelson from Google’s Search Quality Team defines site reputation abuse.
• Danny Sullivan mentioned that penalties are currently being applied manually and not via algorithm updates.
• The impact highlights the risks associated with manipulating site reputation through third-party mentions.

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3. Removal of Site Links Search Box

Timestamp: [09:03] – [11:06]

Discussion: Scott discusses Google's decision to remove the Site Links Search Box from search results, effective November 21st. This feature allowed users to perform site-specific searches directly from the search results page.

Notable Quotes:

• Scott Vanack: “Google has made a little bit of a change and they are dropping the site links search box from search results.”
• Ross Dunn: “It would be silly if they did because it's genuinely a benefit of using Google to do research.”

Key Points:

• The search box was primarily used for brand-related searches but could be applied universally.
• Ross expresses concern about the potential loss of the site: operator functionality.
• Both hosts acknowledge the convenience the feature provided for in-depth site-specific searches.

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4. Google's People Insights and Reddit Content

Timestamp: [11:06] – [17:03]

Discussion: Google is testing a new feature called People's Insights, which aggregates online conversations from platforms like Reddit and Quora. This feature includes disclaimers, especially for sensitive topics like medical advice, emphasizing that users should consult professionals.

Notable Quotes:

• Ross Dunn: “This is for informational purposes only, for medical advice or diagnosis, consult a professional.”
• Scott Vanack: “Reddit is definitely not a site I think of as a lead gen tool, but it certainly can be.”

Key Points:

• People’s Insights aims to present diverse viewpoints while ensuring users are aware of the reliability of sources.
• Ross shares a personal anecdote about receiving leads from Reddit, highlighting the platform's potential when used authentically.
• The hosts discuss the dual nature of Reddit content—valuable yet requiring careful navigation and verification.

---

5. Changes to Google's Knowledge Panels

Timestamp: [17:03] – [20:21]

Discussion: Scott introduces changes to Google’s Knowledge Panels, where expandable sections are being tested. For example, searching for Elon Musk now shows an expandable list of his children, allowing users to delve deeper without leaving the search interface.

Notable Quotes:

• Scott Vanack: “It just kind of makes it a bit easier... one more way to keep you at Google and not send you somewhere else.”
• Ross Dunn: “It's just kind of cool... interesting changes at Knowledge Panel.”

Key Points:

• The feature enhances user experience by providing more information directly within the search panel.
• Potential SEO implications include keeping users engaged on Google rather than redirecting them to external sites.
• The hosts speculate whether this feature will become permanent based on its test status.

---

6. Google Translate Feature Showing Images

Timestamp: [19:33] – [20:21]

Discussion: Google has updated its Translate feature to include images alongside translations. For instance, translating the word “dog” now displays multiple images of dogs to enhance visual understanding.

Notable Quotes:

• Scott Vanack: “They use the example of a baby. So this was an example where I wasn't lazy and I used a different example. It was an easy one.”

Key Points:

• The visual aid aims to improve comprehension, especially for more visual learners.
• Ross appreciates the added functionality, though Scott notes there could be better examples for such integrations.

---

Break and Advertisements

Timestamp: [20:39] – [20:56] The podcast includes a brief break with advertisements, which the hosts promptly skip to return to the content.

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7. Core Web Vitals and John Mueller’s Statements

Timestamp: [20:45] – [28:28]

Discussion: Upon resuming, Ross discusses the Core Web Vitals debate sparked by research from Andrew McLeod. McLeod’s study indicated significant traffic drops on a high-traffic site after adding advertisements. Contrary to this, John Mueller from Google stated that Core Web Vitals are not major ranking factors.

Notable Quotes:

• John Mueller: “We've been pretty clear that core Web vitals are not giant factors in ranking, and I doubt you'd see a big drop just because of that.”
• Scott Vanack: “If you make a phone that has the same dimensions as a popular smartphone, will you sell as many as they do?”

Key Points:

• Core Web Vitals should be viewed as enhancing user experience rather than direct SEO tools.
• Poorly implemented advertisements can detrimentally affect user engagement and indirectly impact SEO.
• The hosts emphasize focusing on quality user experience over solely optimizing for Core Web Vitals.

---

8. Googlebot Crawling Removed AMP URLs

Timestamp: [23:26] – [26:33]

Discussion: Scott highlights an issue where Googlebot continued to crawl approximately 500,000 AMP URLs even after they were removed and redirected. This persistent crawling poses challenges for site owners attempting to clean up their URLs.

Notable Quotes:

• Scott Vanack: “John offered two small solutions. One is maintain the current redirects...”
• Ross Dunn: “Maybe it's just completely can the subdomain. That's the only thing it would do because as far as I know that's what it would do.”

Key Points:

• Maintaining redirects indefinitely is recommended to prevent Google from attempting to crawl nonexistent AMP pages.
• Complete removal of the subdomain from DNS is another suggested, albeit more drastic, solution.
• The hosts share personal experiences reflecting the frustration and complexity of managing large-scale URL changes.

---

9. Ideal Content Length for SEO

Timestamp: [26:39] – [29:18]

Discussion: The conversation shifts to content length and its impact on SEO. John Mueller addresses queries on whether longer content performs better than shorter, concise articles.

Notable Quotes:

• Scott Vanack: “But the thing is, I think in those situations it's because maybe that topic requires that much content, not because it has to be long.”
• Ross Dunn: “Just add your own expertise to it. Keep it high quality, make sure it's something you would want to share.”

Key Points:

• John Mueller asserts there is no universally ideal content length; instead, focus on providing unique and valuable content.
• Longer content isn't inherently better; it depends on the topic's depth and the value it offers to readers.
• The hosts agree that quality and relevance are paramount, advocating for content that meets user needs rather than adhering to arbitrary word counts.

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Conclusion

Ross and Scott wrap up the episode by reiterating the importance of authentic engagement and quality content in SEO. They encourage listeners to join their Facebook group for further discussions and to stay tuned for future episodes airing weekly on WMR.FM.

Notable Quotes:

• Ross Dunn: “Have a great week and remember to tune into future episodes which air every week on WMR.FM.”
• Scott Vanack: “Thank you for listening everyone.”

---

Final Thoughts

Episode 484 of SEO 101 provides a comprehensive look into current SEO challenges and updates. From algorithmic volatility and manual penalties to feature enhancements and content strategies, Ross and Scott offer insightful analysis and practical advice for both novice and seasoned SEO practitioners. Their emphasis on quality, user experience, and authentic engagement underscores the evolving nature of search engine optimization.

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Connect with SEO 101:

• Facebook Group: Search for SEO101podcast on Facebook to join the community and engage with the hosts.

Transcript

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[Ross Dunn]

Hello and welcome to SEO 101 on WMR FM episode number 484. This is Ross Dunn, CEO of Step 4th Web Marketing and my co host is my company Senior SEO Scott Vanack. Well, for once this has been pretty common. The last few episodes we don't have non SEO news. We're going to jump right into the news for SEO. So this is where things get back to normal. Google Search Ranking Volatility what's going on Scott?

[Scott Vanack]

Yeah, the same old same old sort of. So Barry's actually reporting that there's been a lot of volatility on October 2nd, October 10th, October 15th, and then again on October 19th and 20th. Things are kind of crazy. The last time we saw a core update, it wrapped up in September, September 3rd. So you might be seeing all kinds of crazy fluctuations going up and down. Right now. There's no word from Google about any updates, so we're not really sure what's going on as a lot of these updates sort of start out as. Is it part of something bigger? We're not really sure. There are a few interesting comments that Barry actually posted from Webmaster World users that I wanted to share. One person said that they're seeing an increase in spam sites and sponsored content that previously had disappeared from results. And he's seeing them or she. I'm not sure they seen this return. A person in Germany has said that news results are hopelessly outdated. In some cases four days old. They're not seeing current news results. Maybe that's related to this, maybe it's not. We're not sure. And another person had said that their rankings are back to exactly how they were before the August Core Update, which is kind of interesting. Again, a lot of these could be coincidental. We're talking one offs here. Not large numbers of people, but some things to watch out for and keep your eyes peeled and let us know if you're seeing anything crazy or unusual. I'd love to hear about it.

[Ross Dunn]

Yeah, it's not the first time I've. Oddly, it's not the first time I've heard that things have returned back to. Prior to the August Core Update. A lot of guys are doing really, really well and I noticed that they were saying that it's just they're screwed again. I don't know what's going on there. I almost wonder if. I mean you gotta think data centers aren't the same as they used to be. Like you would think they're more homogenized, but maybe not. Maybe they are getting a different data center. I don't know. It's. I feel like I'm dating myself there. I'm not sure if that stuff is. If it works that way anymore.

[Scott Vanack]

It kind of sounds like some people are saying cached results from before, but I don't know how realistic that is anymore. I don't think it is, but I don't know. Google changes stuff so frequently that it's really hard to know.

[Ross Dunn]

Yeah. And for listeners who don't know what I'm talking about, there used to be. Well, there still are data centers all around the world that are Google and sometimes you would get a connection to one particular data center and have different results. I'm sure that's still the same to a degree. I just don't know how much. That's pretty old technology. But then again it's a big world and there's. There's bound to be a lot of data centers.

[Scott Vanack]

So. Well, I remember long before I mean, the world of personalization has gone so far in the last several years. Like, it's just crazy. But I remember back, you know, in the earlier days, you know, everything was this. You do a search for whatever puppies and you're going to get the same result at every computer. Searching Google in the world kind of thing. And. And then it was to the point where I could be sitting next to Ross in the same room on the same network and do the same search and get totally different results every now and then when there was like a Google dance happening. You know, you just, you didn't know where you're going to tap into. And now we're kind of back into that a little bit where things are different, but now for different reasons because they're looking at your search history and your location and, you know, so many factors that it's. You don't really see the exact same results on two different computers at the same time.

[Ross Dunn]

Yeah. It makes you wonder, maybe that's one of the questions we could ask if we get John on the show. John Mueller. Is our data center still a factor? I don't know. Anyway, I'll make a note right now. I gotta do that or I'll forget.

[Scott Vanack]

He will forget.

[Ross Dunn]

Yeah, yeah. So this title is very difficult to understand. But first of all, you should know that Fortune Recommends is actually a site. The section. So here's the title. This is from Search Engine Roundtable. Did Google hit Fortune Recommends with a search penalty over site reputation abuse Question? All right, so here's the lowdown. And we really debated whether or not we were going to talk about this. But it's interesting because a lot of people these days are being pitched, hey, we can get you an authorship. We can get you some visibility on Fortune magazine or Forbes. And this is the cost and all this stuff. And it's. They're ludicrous fees. Just ludicrous. Out of curiosity, I think I let one person just take me down the funnel a bit to see what it would cost. And it was like 2000 bucks or something and maybe it'd be worth it, maybe not. It really depends what you're going to do with Milk it. But from an SEO perspective, it sure doesn't sound good. According to Glenn Gabe, and he's been monitoring this. Fortune Recommends may be the next content source that was manually penalized for Google by Google for site reputation abuse. This is based on what he's seen as a heavy drop in rankings as of October 11th. He's been monitoring that similar sites that were Hit earlier were Forbes Advisor and the AP News byline E U Y L I N E which dropped heavily. Now what is citate Site reputation abuse? I I know that it's essentially the trying to sell your reputation to others and rub it off, but there's a really good description here and this is from Google. Site reputation abuse is quote when third party pages are published with little or no first party, sorry, first party oversight or involvement where the purpose is to manipulate search rankings by taking advantage of the first party site's ranking signals, unquote, says Chris Nelson from the Google Search Quality Team. So essentially you're getting, you can post in these areas and get benefit of the overall site reputation. Forbes or Fortune or AP News. Anyway, it's being hammered on pretty hard. Danny Sullivan did mention recent, not sure if it was recently but did mention in the past that this is all being manually targeted by Google at this stage. It's not in their algorithm yet. So stands to reason it's probably is a pretty heavy duty penalty on Fortune's recommends because the graphic they showed on Search Roundtable was staggering. It is a precipitous drop invisibility. All right, what's next?

[Scott Vanack]

Yeah, I'm going to skip over core web vitals and let you talk about that one because you added it and I'll go to the next one because I added it and then none of us get confused. So Google has made a little bit of a change and they are dropping the site links search box from search results. So this is a search box and I don't see it happen very often but every now and then I run into it and now my screen just moved because Ross copied something with troublemaker. So every now and then you'll do a search and this is most commonly, this most commonly appears if you do a brand related search but not always like YouTube for instance brings it up or Reddit brings it up and that's when you'll see where the site links would normally be in search results. You'll see a search box basically and you can search and dig deeper into that website's results or index pages. And it works the same way as a site colon operator. So if you, if you did site colon website.com and then some words, that's how it acts. So it's just like kind of a shortcut for that. Google implemented it originally back in 2014 and now they're saying no, as of I think it's November 21st. Yeah, November 21st. Google is removing it. So you know it's not something that I ever really use. It is something I get to see because we're in Canada and we don't always get to see everything. But this feature has been available to us and I can see it is still active. And like my two examples, YouTube and Reddit are the ones I use to see if it was showing up and it did. So if you use that, it's going away. Hopefully this isn't an indicator that the site search command will someday disappear because I use that fairly often and for various reasons and that would really suck if that went away. It would, but I don't know that's the case necessarily. I'm just sort of hoping it isn't.

[Ross Dunn]

It would be silly if they did because it's genuinely a benefit of using Google to do research. Absolutely. That would just be nuts for them to remove. They really want to be the source of information. Totally. Not that they don't do things that.

[Scott Vanack]

Are nuts, but I can't think of what the website is offhand, but there's a website I frequent sometimes and I need to search that site and their in house search built onto their website is absolute garbage. You try searching on the site search in the website and it just doesn't work. So I always go to Google and go site, search whatever the site is and do my searching there and it always brings up the right stuff. So I use it alternatively just to search a site for whatever. So I don't know how many people do that, but I'm one of them and if that goes away I'll cry a little bit.

[Ross Dunn]

Oh yeah, okay. All right, so next up, Google has added the people's insights for unprofessional medical device or advice, I should say. This is Gary is, I believe might mentioned this. Is that right?

[Scott Vanack]

Oh you know, it was on se Round Table. I'm not sure who the individual was. It might have been. Oh, I don't think Barry, I don't think Barry specified.

[Ross Dunn]

Okay, maybe he's meant as Barry notes, as maybe you're supposed to anyway.

[Scott Vanack]

Oh, sorry, that's supposed to say Barry. Oh, we're off to a great start, aren't we?

[Ross Dunn]

Yeah. Anyway, Google is showing a lot of Reddit these days. We all know that there's a lot of results out there and Reddit is definitely questionable in terms of the quality of content. It's, it's really quite an excellent resource but you just can't ever take everything directly and honest like you can't. You gotta take everything with a grain of salt essentially. AI is gonna love trying to translate that anyway. Anyways, it's sometimes dangerous, sometimes incorrect, but it also can be beneficial. So what is Google? What Google has decided to do is they're testing a section called People's Insights with a subheading from Online Conversations. The section includes several dropdowns related to the search, each with references to various online conversations at places like Reddit, Quora, etc. So when there's a, a medical related searches, they have added disclaimer below all this and it's quite prominent. This is for informational purposes only, for medical advice or diagnosis, consult a professional, which is very good. I'm glad they've done that. I don't know, pardon me, how this is going to play out, but it looks like a good idea. Universal search has sure gotten universal though. I mean it's amazing how many different aspects of a, how many different ways a page can appear in Google search. And now this is yet another way, having these different tips and stuff in there. So interesting. It's definitely a way to tackle all that content on Reddit. I, I just shudder at the thought of people taking everything there seriously.

[Scott Vanack]

Reddit is, it's one of those guilty pleasures, you know, when I'm bored I'll go there and you get, you get trapped, you can't leave because there's so much, there's good stuff on Reddit, there's like a whole good worry area of Reddit and then there's, you know, troll land where it's just, you can't trust anything anybody says and it's just garbage. And, and if you use Reddit at all, you really need to know how to filter through and fact check. Unless you're there for pure entertainment purposes, looking at videos or whatever, who knows? But yeah.

[Ross Dunn]

And you know, from an SEO standpoint, I don't know how much benefit, I mean there's always a benefit to being mentioned somewhere, having your website mentioned, but I don't think there's going to be a lot of benefit in terms of link backs and such for from Reddit. However, if you get your clients out there and talking about you on Reddit and suggesting your business, that's a good idea. I mean, it's got to be authentic. There's always that. You have to.

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[Ross Dunn]

Make sure it's authentic and but I have seen it work, so do keep that in mind. It is a pretty good resource for that. And yeah, we've been lucky to have someone mention us in the past and we've gotten a few leads from Reddit, so I was a really nice surprise. I was quite shocked actually. You heard from us? About us from where? Wow, that's interesting. I had to do some research and I found a nice comment from a client about us. So there you go.

[Scott Vanack]

Reddit is definitely not a site I think of as a lead gen tool, but it certainly can be.

[Ross Dunn]

No, again, I think it's because as soon as you start thinking of it as lead gen tool, it becomes less authentic. You know, whatever comes from it, or whatever you're trying to do to make it happen, this just happened naturally for us, which is amazing. Yeah, not. Not everyone gets that kind of lucky. All right, what's going on here with the Google knowledge panels?

[Scott Vanack]

Yeah, so it's just a small change. And I apologize for the example. I'm not a fan of Elon Musk myself, but that's the example that Barry used and I just went with it instead of, you know, I decided to be lazy. I could have looked for a different example, but I didn't. So in the knowledge panels, Google's testing some expandable sections. This is appearing through desktop search specifically. So in the example, if you search for Elon Musk, a little box pops up as part of the Knowledge Panel and it says children. And it's got a list of, you know, a few of his children, two or three of them. And then if you click the little, you know, there's a little arrow in the top right corner, that box expands and it gives you more information. And then another link that you can click to expand that even further with a new Google search about, in this case, his children. And I've never. Google's definitely been doing that a bit more now with this expanding content. Like people also ask kind of expands a bit and has for a while. The. What was the one we just talked about? The people's insight. So that one expands. It's the first time I've seen it on Knowledge Panel. It's just. I don't know, it's just kind of cool. It just makes it a bit easier. I do wonder though, like, if you've got your content appearing there, is it. It's just one more way to keep you at Google and not send you somewhere else. So that's kind of a downside to it, of course. But yeah, just interesting changes at Knowledge Panel. We'll see how that plays out. I think this is just a test. It might actually be a permanent feature. As of right now, I'm not 100 certain on that.

[Ross Dunn]

Okay, cool. Yeah. So next one before we take a break is Google Search Translate feature can show images. This is from Search Engine Roundtable. It's a really small update, but it is interesting. So if you open Translate by simply searching Translating Google, select your to and from languages and translate something. Maybe a dog. Perhaps along with the translation comes an image of a dog. Pretty straightforward.

[Scott Vanack]

Multiple images of dogs.

[Ross Dunn]

Oh, multiple. Well, there you go. There you go. I have not tested that, but I guess it does make sense if someone is more visual. I don't know. Anyway, there are probably better examples.

[Scott Vanack]

They use the example of a baby. So this was an example where I wasn't lazy and I used a different example. It was an easy one. So, you know.

[Ross Dunn]

Okay, all right, fair enough, Fair enough. Excellent work. Excellent work. All right, we'll be right back after this break.

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SEO101 will be back right after recess.

[Ross Dunn]

And welcome back to SEO 101 on WMR FM hosted by myself, Ross Dunn, CEO of Step 4th Web Marketing, and my company, Senior SEO Scott Vanac. All right, now we got a bunch of Mueller files here. He's being chatty. All right, first bit here. Google or Mueller has dismissed Core Web Vitals as having a huge impact on rankings. Now, this was in response to an earlier bit of research by Andrew McLeod which showed us. I couldn't actually figure out which show we talked about this on, but it felt recent where he had found that a site with over 50,000 monthly visitors experienced a drop in traffic within 72 hours of implementing advertisements. So. And a significant one. So he, his proposition was that, you know, adding advertisements, doing that kind of thing to your site can be a major issue. And I believe it was around listening to your, your advisors that you should not be doing this. And they just went ahead and did it and everything plummeted. Well, John Mueller states that, quote, we've been pretty clear that core Web vitals are not giant factors in ranking, and I doubt you'd see a big drop just because of that, unquote. Now take everything with a grain of salt. I think it's perfectly possible that that was caused by this. We've seen crazier things happen and a lot of advertisements, especially ones that are really annoying, cause people to bounce off the site, appear right away. Take most of your screen, all that stuff that can have a pretty big impact. I. I don't know. I don't know. Anyway, he also noted that having a website that provides a good experience for users is worthwhile. Blah, blah, blah, that, you know. Anyways, Core Web Vitals isn't essentially saying Core Web Vitals is a good thing to go by because it's improving the experience for visitors. It's not so much about SEO and you want people to come back and you want people to enjoy their experience. There's very clear, very true. But I, you know, I think that Andrew's research there says to me that advertisements, when done really poorly, can have a big impact and likely did cause that kind of a drop. But it is conjecture, I guess, on both sides.

[Scott Vanack]

It would be good to see screenshots or examples or be able to visit the site with that to actually get a sense of how intrusive those advertisements really were.

[Ross Dunn]

Exactly.

[Scott Vanack]

And I mean, without knowing that, it's hard to say for sure.

[Ross Dunn]

All right, what's the next one?

[Scott Vanack]

Yeah, so this was a guy over at Reddit was reporting that Googlebot continued to crawl about 500,000amp like accelerated mobile pages ooh I remembered good news. Another win for me. Look at this, look at me go. He had about 500,000AMP URLs being crawled by Googlebot. Despite the fact that they had been removed from the site, they were gone. He got rid of the amp section of his site. And this is three years later. Google was still trying to spider these URLs and the site. There's no sitemap file, it was empty. All the URLs were 301 redirected away. Why is Google coming back? So John offered two small solutions. One is maintain the current redirects. Well, thanks. And the other is remove the host name from DNS entirely. In this case it was a subdomain. I am not a technical person, so I don't. Well, I am, but not in this case. So I don't know exactly how to do that. But John had said if it's a separate subdomain, it's generally, it will generally have its own crawl budget. Also with 500,000 pages, I don't know if you really need to worry about the crawl budget even if we're not on a separate host name. So John's sensor saying you don't need to worry about it. It doesn't matter. Kind of a non answer really. And I actually had a similar ish situation with a client years ago where they got rid of their website. They actually changed websites. They changed domains and their original domain for years it was still indexed in Google. We went in through Google Search Console, I think it was Google Webmaster Tools at the time removed the URL and then after several months it came back and everything was redirected. It was just crazy. So this might be kind of a similar situation where it's like a ghost. I don't know. Google just, they really want to index that subdomain, but there's nothing there to index.

[Ross Dunn]

Yeah, the only thing I can think of when he says remove the host name from DNS entirely, I think it's just completely can the subdomain. That's the only thing it would do because as far as I know that's what it would do. Just remove it. Interesting. I don't know. Anyway, like you said, it's kind of a non answer, but it's, it's, it's something they replied.

[Scott Vanack]

Yeah, well, one thing, my kind of takeaway here is he says maintain the current redirect setup. And that's something I tell people they'll when they're doing a domain change. How long do I need to keep these redirects up for. And my answer is usually forever. You know, I mean, unless you can go out there and change every single inbound link you have going to the page that's going away, you know, you don't want to ever get rid of those redirects. Keep it forever.

[Ross Dunn]

So yeah, I mean, forever is a long time though. I mean, we've got links pointing to us from 2001. If those sites are still around, they aren't going to have much benefit.

[Scott Vanack]

That's true.

[Ross Dunn]

But if you can keep it going, why not? But it can get unwieldy. Some sites get way too many redirects.

[Scott Vanack]

That's true.

[Ross Dunn]

Anyways, there's. It's always a schmabby, right?

[Scott Vanack]

Maybe.

[Ross Dunn]

Yeah. All right, so last one here. I'll let you do the quote because I know you wanted to Google's answer on Ideal Content Length for SEO now this is something actually John Mueller had talked about in a couple shows ago, I think, and we, we enjoyed his response. Here's another good one though. Essentially this is the question though, via LinkedIn. Hi John, is there an ideal content length that performs better on Google search results? Should we focus on creating longer in depth articles or can short form content rank just as well if it's concise and valuable? John's response is there's no universally versatilely ideal content link. Focus on bringing unique value to the web overall, which doesn't mean just adding more words. And here's the quote that we both love. But Scott, you go for it.

[Scott Vanack]

Yeah. He says if you count the words in bestseller books, average that count and then write the same number of words in your own book, will it become a bestseller? If you make a phone that has the same dimensions as a popular smartphone, will you sell as many as they do? I love spreadsheets, but numbers aren't everything. And you know, I often look for good analogies with clients. We get this question all the time from clients. I'm writing some new blog posts. How long should it be? Well, it's like, well, how long does it need to be? You know, it used to be you need a thousand words, three hundred words, whatever, whatever it was, and now it doesn't matter as long as it's good. Right? Well, write good quality content and you'll be fine. Probably.

[Ross Dunn]

Yeah. I hate toeing the old Google line there, but it's true. Yeah. I mean there's just no, no way around it. Just add your own expertise to it. Keep it high quality, make sure it's something you would want to Share. That's a good litmus test. And, and keep churning it out. And it does pay off.

[Scott Vanack]

I do get why people though, fixate on the length. Right? I mean, it makes sense. And you know, even I will sometimes I'll go in and be, okay, well, let's see what's going on. What content is ranking for a certain term to try to get an idea what the client needs to do. And if you see the entire top 10 consists of 10 pages that are all long form content and the client wants to write a, you know, a 300 word blurb about something that wants to rank you, you can see why you'd automatically think, well, no, I need 5,000 words like every single ranking page in the top 10. And you know, but the thing is, I think in those situations it's because maybe that topic requires that much content, not because it has to be long, but there's just that much stuff to say about it, possibly. And so, but if you can do it and be concise, I think your chances of ranking are just as good.

[Ross Dunn]

Awesome. Well, on behalf of Myself, Ross Dunn, CEO of Step 4th Web Marketing, and my company, Senior SEO Scott Vanac, thank you for joining us today. If you have any questions you'd like to share with us, please feel free to post them on our Facebook group. Easily found by searching SEO101podcast on Facebook. Have a great week and remember to tune into future episodes which air every week on WMR fm.

[Scott Vanack]

Great. Thank you for listening everyone.

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Hey mom, you seen my toothbrush? Yeah, I'm almost done with it.

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