SEO 101 Episode 485 - Helpful Content Update Bad News, Search Console Bug Panic, and ChatGPT Search Launch

Summary

SEO 101 Episode 485 Summary: Helpful Content Update Bad News, Search Console Bug Panic, and ChatGPT Search Launch

Release Date: November 11, 2024
Hosts: Ross Dunn & Scott Vanack
Podcast: SEO 101 by WMR.FM

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Introduction

In SEO 101 Episode 485, hosts Ross Dunn and Scott Vanack delve into a range of pressing topics affecting the SEO landscape. From unexpected developments like the release of an SEO-themed board game to significant updates and challenges within Google's ecosystem, this episode offers valuable insights for both beginners and seasoned professionals in the SEO field.

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Non-SEO News

1. SEO Board Game Release

Timestamp: [03:04]

Scott introduces listeners to a novel product in the SEO community—a strategic SEO board game developed by Gareth Hoyle. Despite his enthusiasm, Scott expresses skepticism about its market reception:

Scott Vanack: "I don't know how well a game like this would do. … People who are unfamiliar with SEO are not going to buy it. People who know about SEO see this stuff every day and want to do something else when they get home."

Ross adds his perspective, highlighting the personal challenge of balancing work-related thoughts outside the office:

Ross Dunn: "I don't want to think about SEO at all outside of work. I just do this so long. I don't like to think about it at all."

Ultimately, both hosts agree that while the idea is innovative, its success largely depends on the niche appeal within the SEO community.

2. Google Fined by Russian and Kremlin-Run TV Channels

Timestamp: [05:34]

Ross and Scott discuss a bizarre news piece where Google was reportedly fined by Russian and Kremlin-run TV channels. The fine, initially set at $1,025 per day, has absurdly escalated to $2.5 decillion dollars—a figure unattainable and indicative of either an error or satire.

Scott Vanack: "2.5 decillion dollars. So to give you an idea what that means, that is a 1 followed by 36 zeros and is equivalent to approximately 1000 times the annual GDP of Earth."

Both hosts express disbelief and skepticism regarding the legitimacy of such a fine, questioning the source and accuracy of this information.

3. Danny Sullivan and the Helpful Content Update

Timestamp: [06:53]

The conversation shifts to the departure of Danny Sullivan from Search Engine Land to Google. Scott elaborates on how Sullivan orchestrated a meeting between content creators adversely affected by Google's Helpful Content Update and Google's team to discuss potential solutions.

However, the outcome was disheartening for many:

Morgan from Charleston Crafted (via Twitter): "If you were hit by the helpful content update and depend on Google, move on. … The higher up employees don't seem sorry. The higher up employees don't seem used to being challenged and did not know how to respond to our frank statements that their sloppy algorithm updates straight effed a lot of businesses and individuals."

Ross shares his frustration with Google's opaque algorithmic changes:

Ross Dunn: "It's scary. It's just the whole thing is a mess."

Scott echoes these sentiments, highlighting the gap between Google's intentions and the real-world impact on businesses:

Scott Vanack: "Right. Like I, I guess the answer is you start a new website and start your online presence from scratch like you're a brand new business. Like, what else could you do? I don't know."

The episode underscores the challenges SEO professionals face when navigating Google's frequent and sometimes opaque algorithm updates.

4. Google Demoting Starkly Different Content

Timestamp: [13:25]

Ross and Scott examine Google's recent change where the search engine demotes content that significantly deviates from the main content of a website. A Google spokesperson clarified that their systems aim to ensure that each section of a site aligns with its primary content to surface the most relevant information.

Scott Vanack: "We always say keep everything relevant. … If you're creating large amounts of irrelevant content, no matter how that's being done, it's gonna hurt you."

Ross reflects on the impact of this update, using his website as an example:

Ross Dunn: "Step Forth has a ton of content from the 2000s that are, you know, it was about MySpace. It's not really relevant to SEO, but it's one of our top articles on our site."

The hosts agree that maintaining content relevance is crucial to avoid negative impacts on search rankings.

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Technical Issues

Google Search Console Performance Reports Bug

Timestamp: [16:28]

In early October, a significant bug affected Google Search Console, leading many site owners to panic upon seeing zero impressions and traffic data. Ross and Scott provide reassurance by highlighting official confirmations from Google's John Mueller:

Scott Vanack: "John Mueller did confirm that it is an issue on their side. … These bugs work themselves well, they don't work themselves out, but they get found and fixed."

Ross advises listeners to cross-verify data using other tools like Google Analytics before jumping to conclusions:

Ross Dunn: "If you do see something like that, especially at a tool like Search Console, before you panic, check your Google Analytics."

This segment serves as a timely reminder to remain calm and methodical when encountering unexpected data anomalies.

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Google's URL Structure Updates

Timestamp: [16:34]

Ross announces Google's latest update on URL best practices, emphasizing the use of ampersands and equal signs for separating multiple key-value pairs in URL parameters. The use of colons, brackets, commas, or double commas is not recommended.

Ross Dunn: "Very simple and straightforward. … Ampersand and equals is all I've ever really noticed."

Scott shares his experience conducting an audit to ensure compliance with these guidelines:

Scott Vanack: "I went back and checked their shopping cart pages to make sure that wasn't an issue, … none of them are using those."

The update underscores Google's ongoing efforts to standardize URL structures for better indexing and user experience.

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AI News

1. ChatGPT Search Launch

Timestamp: [19:20]

Ross and Scott discuss the official launch of ChatGPT Search, noting the limited accessibility at its inception. While it’s touted as a significant advancement, access is currently restricted to ChatGPT Plus and team users, with plans to broaden availability in the future.

Ross Dunn: "I just don't understand whether or not, I don't know. It says search will become available for free ChatGPT users over the coming months."

Scott likens the rollout to an exclusive club, where not everyone can join immediately:

Scott Vanack: "They've like open the door a little bit but they're still kind of pushing some people back, you know, like a nightclub or something. I guess you're not on the list, man."

Despite the limited access, both hosts acknowledge the technical and infrastructural challenges inherent in deploying such AI-driven tools widely.

2. Meta's AI Search Developments

Timestamp: [21:07]

Ross highlights Meta's (formerly Facebook) foray into AI-driven search technologies as an attempt to challenge Google's dominance. Meta has been indexing the internet using the Meta External Agent and plans to integrate AI-generated search summaries into its chatbot.

Ross Dunn: "They've been doing a lot of crawling, so we'll see. … the search engine would reportedly provide AI generated search summaries of current events within the Meta AI chatbot."

Scott expresses disappointment over Meta's cautious approach, noting the lackluster impact compared to Google's entrenched position:

Scott Vanack: "The needle's not moving much, but disappointing. Yep."

The discussion concludes with a reflection on the formidable challenge Google poses to emerging competitors in the search engine arena.

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Conclusion

Ross and Scott wrap up the episode by reiterating the importance of staying informed and adaptable in the ever-evolving SEO landscape. They encourage listeners to engage with them through their Facebook group, SEO101podcast, and to stay tuned for future episodes packed with actionable insights and updates.

Ross Dunn: "Have a great week and remember to tune into future episodes, which air every week on WMR fm."

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Notable Quotes

• Scott Vanack [03:04]: "I feel like it's cool that it might bring some a little bit more light to what we do, but I just don't know how well it would do."

• Scott Vanack [05:34]: "2.5 decillion dollars. … I don't think Google can afford that. I don't think they have that much money."

• Morgan from Charleston Crafted [06:53]: "The higher up employees don't seem sorry. … their sloppy algorithm updates straight effed a lot of businesses and individuals."

• Ross Dunn [10:34]: "It's scary. It's just the whole thing is a mess."

• Scott Vanack [11:51]: "Like, what else could you do? I don't know."

• Ross Dunn [12:10]: "Screw them. Just go for Black Hat and get yourself back up there. But if you're literally stamped with negative, you won't get anywhere anyway."

• Ross Dunn [16:01]: "It has a bit of clout."

• Ross Dunn [19:21]: "It's not a replacement for Google yet. But I know about you, but I'm chomping at the bit for some change there."

• Scott Vanack [20:55]: "Just my mom."

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Final Thoughts

Episode 485 of SEO 101 provides a comprehensive overview of recent developments affecting the SEO community. From the challenges posed by Google's algorithm updates and technical glitches to the broader implications of emerging AI technologies, Ross and Scott offer a balanced perspective that is both informative and engaging. Listeners are encouraged to stay proactive, adapt to changes, and leverage community resources to navigate the dynamic world of SEO effectively.

Transcript

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[Dr. Emily Carter]

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[Ross Dunn]

Hello and welcome to SCO101 on WMR FM episode 485. This is Ross Dunn, CEO of Step Forth Web Marketing and my co host is my company senior SEO Scott Vanac. I'm trying not to think about weather and talk about weather. So how are other things going?

[Scott Vanack]

Well, it's a spooky day today. I don't know, Halloween time.

[Ross Dunn]

Yes, we're recording this on Halloween and.

[Scott Vanack]

In their first year we don't have pumpkins.

[Ross Dunn]

Really.

[Scott Vanack]

It's a speed and get pumped. We kind of forgot and I was telling a friend they're like well you can go down to such and such farm. And I'm like no, no cheap pumpkins like Walmart pumpkins. Three dollar pumpkins. I'm not paying 25 bucks to carve a pumpkin. It's not happening. So we just didn't get any. And I don't know. I'm not sad about it. I don't know why.

[Ross Dunn]

Yeah, I didn't even want to carve mine. I was just like whatever. Okay, sure. I did the silliest thing ever.

[Scott Vanack]

I guess when I turned 40 I didn't care anymore. So Whatever.

[Ross Dunn]

The kids enjoy it. That's good. And they're getting older. Both of ours are getting older, so. All right, well, let's jump into some non SEO news. But are always has always something worth sharing first, SEO the board game. I looked at her notes. I thought I'd mentioned this earlier, but apparently not. So lead away.

[Scott Vanack]

Yeah, so I'm just in the middle of doing something here because I'm an idiot. So. A new strategic SEO board game for two to four players has been released by Gareth Hoyle and his company. And I did not see what his company's name is. I feel like an idiot for that. But they have a company and they've released the board game. It's also partially sponsored by Ahrefs, Pop, Cashar, Dash and others. So there's a bunch of people involved in this. It sounds like they're only releasing a handful of copies. So if you want one, they're 79 bucks a piece, so get it while you can. I kind of thought, I wonder how well a game like this would do. And I saw one comment and I kind of can relate to it. In the comment at SE Round Table on this article said that I don't think very many people are going to buy this. People who are unfamiliar with SEO are not going to buy it. And people who know about SEO see this stuff every day and want to do something else when they get home. Amen. You know, I want this game to do well. I think, you know, people ask me what I do and when I first started this job, I would tell them and you'd get that, you know, deer in the headlights look. No clue what you're talking about. And so I just told people I work in an office. This is a bad reference because this goes back to the 90s. But I used to say I'm like Chandler on Friends. I work in an office and nobody knows what I do. And that's changed. People know about SEO. And I feel like it's cool that it might bring some a little bit more light to what we do, but I just don't know how well it would do. I don't know. Like I'm not going to buy a copy, but if Ross did and I was over at his house, I'd probably give it a shot. I'd play it. But, you know, I don't know. Kind of neat idea though.

[Ross Dunn]

Yeah. I thought about buying it just for the. Just to say that I've got it and just to have it. I don't know though, it's. Yeah. I don't want to think about. I have a hard enough time thinking about SEO at all outside of work. I just doing this so long. I don't like to think about it at all.

[Scott Vanack]

You know, I'm the same like I like my job but when I'm out in the real world doing just normal day stuff, often I'm like, you know, maybe I'm doing a Google search for something and I see something that doesn't fit or something and then I start my work brain starts going like why is that site there? Or I'm trying to buy a pizza from a place and they don't have a good website or I can't find them on. You know like get your.

[Ross Dunn]

Oh, it gets me.

[Scott Vanack]

And I always get into the work. The work mode. It's hard to avoid what I want to spend my casual time basically working for free. Paying to work. I don't know. I don't know. I wish them good luck though.

[Ross Dunn]

So this next one we should probably shorten it a bit here. It's for non SEO news. It's pretty, pretty interesting though. Google is fined. Was fined ages ago by Russian and Kremlin run TV channels. Essentially they were. They were banned because. Or sorry they were fining Google because Google had banned the channels from appearing on YouTube. They blocked them. Well the, the fine has gotten rather big. It started off 1025 USD per day and I'm sure Google's quaking in its boots. Not. Apparently their fine has reached. What is it, Scott?

[Scott Vanack]

I actually have to look up how to pronounce this word because I had no clue. 2.5 decillion dollars. So to give you an idea what that means, that is a 1 followed by 36 zeros and is equivalent to approximately 1000 times the annual GDP of Earth. So I don't think Google can afford that. I don't think they have that much money.

[Ross Dunn]

I don't know so much idiocy coming out of that part of the world.

[Scott Vanack]

Anyways, moving on, one quick stat they said because the way this fine doubles if you go four years from now, if they don't pay it, Google will owe one Google dollars one followed by 100 zeros. So. So that would be. Maybe that's what they're going for. Let's get it up. That's. That's clickbait right there.

[Ross Dunn]

That is. That is. All right. So this next bit really got my goat. So Danny Sullivan we all know from Search World, he was for the longest time one of our heads of our, our whole universe in SEO he would kind of be the guy that was taking Google the task and he was just, he was really good at his job. Anyway, he's gone and works for Google now. That still makes me kind of shake my head. But anyways he was lured in and what he has done here is he pulled together a group of content creators that were hit by the helpful content update and he had them flown in and put up at Google or put up in California to visit Google hq. And the point of this was to have a discussion about why they were removed and what happened and what can be done. But it was pretty quick to say that none of what they're saying will actually have any impact on this update, the next update, but perhaps the third update down the line. So anyways, what came of this is quite interesting. A Morgan from Charleston crafted posted this on Twitter quote, if you were hit by the helpful content update and depend on Google, move on. They made it clear some of us may recover one day, but all would not. And who knows when it might be build a product, get new traffic sources, get a job. Google doesn't care. Once again, Danny's really nice, but nice doesn't pay my bills. She also followed with these tweets the other Google employees there seem to either one, deny that a problem exists or two, here are problems but be 100% clueless as to how to fix it. And she said, quote, the higher up employees don't seem sorry. The higher up employees don't seem used to being challenged and did not know how to respond to our frank statements that their sloppy algorithm updates straight effed a lot of businesses and individuals, unquote. Yeah. And are we surprised that Google employees didn't seem to care? No. You know, Scott and I were talking about it like, you know, these guys are very separated from what matters to a small business. Not all of them like Danny cares and he brought them in and I think that's really cool. And they all said that there was nothing, there wasn't a negative person, negative thought about Danny in this whole thing. They all said, you know, it's great, he was really kind, it was nice to have this happen. They felt it was a big, big thing that he managed to get this to even occur even if it was just them being told tough luck, you know, maybe this will fix in one at some point but it's not happening anytime soon. So yeah, move on. I just think that's terrible. But anyways, she also added this quote, yes, a search engineer sat down with us and said how can I look at two websites and tell which is spam and which is genuine? They are unable to algorithmically assess that nuance. That is why some good sites were caught up with the bad and they do not have a plan to fix it. Unquote. Wow.

[Scott Vanack]

Yeah. They don't even know how.

[Ross Dunn]

No. And I think this comes down to something. And someone else mentioned this and it, it makes sense. Google has created such a black box now because their algorithms are no longer they, they don't appear to be as tweakable as they used to be because it's, it's sort of being self run. I mean, it's not all AI, but I think there are aspects of it that they, they don't even know how to tweak because they don't know how they're getting the result now. It's scary. It's just the whole thing is a mess. And frankly, you know, you got to wonder, is this the new way Google's going to publicly approach anyone who isn't a big brand? I think no. They probably will not even bother having a get together like this. Or they might not even tell anyone.

[Scott Vanack]

You'll just get burned. And then.

[Ross Dunn]

Yeah, they won't even tell you that it might get better or it won't.

[Scott Vanack]

It's, it's hard too from our perspective because if someone comes to us and they're one of these companies that have been burned and they want us to help them, Google can't even figure out how to help them. How are we supposed to sort it out? Right. Like I, I guess the answer is you start a new website and start your online presence from scratch like you're a brand new business. Like, what else could you do? I don't know.

[Ross Dunn]

Yeah, I don't know. If you're permanently branded as a problem child with that website, then not even doing Black Hat will get you out of it. So I mean, that's what I would have suggest at that point. Screw them. Just go for Black Hat and get yourself back up there. But if you're literally stamped with negative, you won't get anywhere anyway.

[Scott Vanack]

No.

[Ross Dunn]

And that's the only time I think I'd ever condone Black Hat. You know, screw Google. You're going to destroy your livelihood for doing good work.

[Jamie Smith]

Well, people are driven by the search for better. But when it comes to hiring, the best way to search for a candidate isn't to search at all. Don't search. Match with indeed. The hiring process can be slow and overwhelming. Simplify hiring with indeed. Indeed. Is your matching and hiring platform with over 350 million global monthly visitors, according to Indeed data. And a matching engine that helps you find quality candidates fast. Ditch the busywork. Use Indeed for scheduling, screening and messaging so you can connect with candidates faster. Join more than 3.5 million businesses worldwide that use Indeed to hire great talent fast. Listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more [e-mail] p o d k a t z 12. That's indeed.com p o d k a T z 12. Terms and conditions apply.

[Scott Vanack]

The last resort. What are you going to do? You're like Walter White. You're going to break bad now. And here we go.

[Ross Dunn]

All right, well, that's just too much. Let's move on to something else here. So Google Search is demoting content that is starkly different from the main content of the site. What's this all about?

[Scott Vanack]

Yeah, so Google has confirmed that it has systems that look to see if content or portions of content are independent or starkly different from your main content. A Google spokesperson told Glenn Gabe, our systems aim to understand if a section of a site is independent or starkly different from the main content of the site. This helps us surface the most useful information from a range of websites. And so, you know, we were talking about, I think last week and maybe even the week before recent declines over at Fortune recommends CNN Underscored and other big, big sites that have these subdomains of just unrelated stuff, you know, whether they be directories. What have you and Glenn Gabe heard from Danny that this is not due to the site reputation abuse algorithm. We, we were kind of talking about that and speculating that might be responsible for it. Danny Sullivan confirmed that Google is not testing its site reputation abuse algorithm at this time. So the drops are from other changes at Google that other changes Google is pushing that must be impacting those affiliate directories strongly. So, you know, it kind of sticks with everything. We always say keep everything relevant. And having these other portions of your site created, I mean, these are the big guys. I mean, you don't have a locksmith. Well, maybe locksmith. That's a really bad example. They do anything. But you might not have, you know, your mom and pop shop putting up all these subdirectories of their site, trying to sell page rank and what have you. But you know, if you're creating large amounts of irrelevant content, no matter how that's being done, it's gonna hurt you.

[Ross Dunn]

So or you don't care. It's not Going to hurt you so much. I mean, these are just content emotions, not the whole site. Right. Like, for example, step 4th has a ton of content from the 2000s that are, you know, it was about MySpace. It's not really relevant to SEO, but it's one of our top articles on our site.

[Scott Vanack]

Yeah. It's fair.

[Ross Dunn]

I'm like, what? I was looking at the data the other day. I was shaking my head.

[Scott Vanack]

Oh, dear.

[Ross Dunn]

Yeah.

[Scott Vanack]

Who's Even searching for MySpace to even find it?

[Ross Dunn]

I think it's kids doing like history.

[Scott Vanack]

It's a history lesson.

[Ross Dunn]

We're so old that it's history now.

[Scott Vanack]

Does MySpace even still exist? I don't think so. Maybe.

[Ross Dunn]

It's certainly nothing like it was.

[Scott Vanack]

Yeah. I don't know.

[Ross Dunn]

Yeah, we're both going to have to look now. Yeah.

[Scott Vanack]

MySpace. It was dot com, I'm assuming.

[Ross Dunn]

Yeah.

[Scott Vanack]

Oh, yeah, MySpace. It's still there. Well, I'll be damned. Look at that. I don't. I'd have to look more. I'm not going to spend time right now investigating because I don't really care either.

[Ross Dunn]

I'm shocked.

[Scott Vanack]

I thought it'd be long gone, redirecting to Yahoo or something.

[Ross Dunn]

Such a good domain. Yeah. Anyway, it has a bit of clout.

[Scott Vanack]

It does, yeah.

[Ross Dunn]

A bit of authority. All right, so next up, and this is definitely in your wheelhouse, Google Search Console performance reports. A report bug causes panic.

[Scott Vanack]

Yeah. So October 28th, if you woke up looking at Google Search Console and things were looking bad. Yeah. It is a confirmed bug. So rest assured you will be okay. A lot of site owners woke up and saw zero impressions for the last. It was the last couple of days in there and some of them were panicking. John Mueller did confirm that it is an issue on their side. Their team is looking into it. Thanks everybody for noticing and letting us know. This wasn't meant to replace your traditional morning wake up beverage. Yeah. Wouldn't that wake you up? Suddenly you've got nothing for a website. It's a bug, you're okay. And I just want to reinstate here. We've said stuff like this before. If you do see something like that, especially at a tool like Search Console, before you panic, check your Google Analytics. Check other things to make sure that, you know, Google Analytics will show what your actual traffic is. So Search Console is showing no traffic, but analytics is. GA4 is. You don't really have to panic if everything is showing no traffic. Well, maybe check your RAW server logs and just really confirm that it's not a bug before you Try to do stuff and give it a couple days. These bugs work themselves well, they don't work themselves out, but they get found and fixed. So cool.

[Ross Dunn]

All right, a quick bit here. Google has updated its URL structure. Best practices. Essentially, this is very simple. When specifying URL parameters, Google recommends the use of ampersands and equal signs to separate multiple key value pairs. They do not recommend the use of colons, brackets, commas, or double commas. Well, there you go. Very simple and straightforward. I don't think I've even seen those used. I didn't even know they could be used. Honestly. Ampersand and equals is all I've ever really noticed.

[Scott Vanack]

Yeah, we did a big audit or I did a big consult for a client. Well, you know about it, Ross. But the last couple weeks and I. When I. As soon as I saw this, I'm like, I don't think I checked for that because I've never thought to check for that. So I went back and checked their shopping cart pages to make sure that wasn't an issue, because they're having a lot of issues anyways. It wasn't. So that was good in a way. I was kind of hoping it was because then I could contact them. Be like, wait, I found something else and I want to.

[Ross Dunn]

Another smoking. Smoking gun. We love smoking guns. When we finally.

[Scott Vanack]

I know, but it. It wasn't. And actually check all of our clients with e commerce stuff, and none of them are using those. So I don't really know how common that practice would be, but clearly some people are using it or Google wouldn't have updated their documentation to show that, so.

[Ross Dunn]

All right. All right, well, let's take a quick break. We'll be right back. SEO 101 will be back right after recess. Welcome back to SEO 101 on WMR FM, hosted by myself, Ross Dunn, CEO of Stepforth Web Marketing, and my company's senior SEO, Scott Vanack. Okay, some AI news now. ChatGPT Search has officially launched. Sort of.

[Scott Vanack]

Sort of.

[Ross Dunn]

So when I saw that, I'm like, woo, woo. I can go try it. Oh, no, you still have to have access. The hell? Why do they even say that officially launches anyways? Yeah, you have to be a ChatGPT plus or team user to use it, but it will open widely. I just don't understand whether or not, I don't know. It says search will become available for free ChatGPT users over the coming months. So I guess you still have to be a user. So certainly no fix. It's not A replacement for Google yet. But I know about you, but I'm chomping at the bit for some change there.

[Scott Vanack]

It's definitely closer. But I see what they've done probably is if you before you had to be whitelisted or waitlisted. Sorry. And then get access to it. And now I guess if you are a GPT plus or team user, you just automatically get that access now, whereas you didn't necessarily have that access before. So they've like open the door a little bit but they're still kind of pushing some people back, you know, like a nightclub or something. I guess you're not on the list, man.

[Ross Dunn]

It does make sense for rolling out. And I mean yeah, we know how like the data requirements and the power requirements to using AI is insane. So that you really don't want everyone using chatgpt at all times right away. I can't even imagine how much of a crash that would cause.

[Jamie Smith]

So.

[Ross Dunn]

So yeah, I'm glad they're doing it in stages. I just a little confused about it. Quote unquote, officially launching if it's not really available to everyone.

[Scott Vanack]

Anywho, the grand opening. But you're not invited.

[Ross Dunn]

Yes, yes. Most people aren't actually.

[Scott Vanack]

Nobody can come. Just my mom.

[Jamie Smith]

Yeah.

[Ross Dunn]

Only special people. So say we anyway. All right, what's next up here?

[Scott Vanack]

Yeah, so Google has been expanding AI overviews. It is now available in over 100 countries. So if you previously did not have access, you probably do now. But I mean there are. And I did have to look this up 195 countries. So about half of the world's countries now have access to it. So the rollout is underway. If you don't have access today, you might tomorrow. Google said they're also extending language support across the board. So if, if you can access it, you should be able to access it in your language as well. And it brings AI overviews to over a billion users now. So we're. We're getting there. Pretty much everybody can see it that matters I guess. I don't know. But just keeps growing.

[Ross Dunn]

Awesome. Okay. And also Meta, we all know as Facebook, at least one of their main platforms takes a step to replace Google index in its AI search. So at this stage when you do any kind of meta AI searches, you will get results, but they typically link to Google results if you want more information. I guess they're trying to cut Google out of the game. So since at least last summer, Meta has been indexing the Internet using a user agent known as Meta External agent The current information indicates that the focus is on developing a search index to enhance their Meta AI. Now, according to the Verge quote, the search engine would reportedly provide AI generated search summaries of current events within the Meta AI chatbot, unquote. Well, anyway, at this point it just resembles a search engine and just shows Google's search index, so we'll see what happens and when it gets launched. But they've been doing a lot of crawling, so we'll see. I'm still utterly shocked that Meta hasn't gone after Google in a more concerted way. I guess it just goes to show just how big Google's gotten and they're just, you know, why go after the giant when you can't even go there when they've got all these other things they're focused on? It's amazing. I really would have thought by now that a search engine competitor would have done something significant. By now the only one out there still is Bing, who's They've done a lot, but they're nowhere near Google.

[Scott Vanack]

The needle's not moving much, but disappointing. Yep.

[Ross Dunn]

Well, on behalf of myself, Ross Dunn, CEO of Stepforth Web Marketing, and my company, Senior SEO Scott Van Eck, 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 everybody.

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