Join this leadership discussion for proven techniques to build long-term relationships and keep your clients coming back.
Discover the latest trends, tips, and strategies in SEO and PPC marketing. Our curated articles offer in-depth analysis, practical advice, and actionable insights to elevate your digital marketing efforts.
In this guide, industry experts explore the challenges and opportunities presented by the onslaught of AI tools, and provide actionable tips for thriving amid these shifts.
Discover the latest trends, tips, and strategies in SEO and PPC marketing. Our curated articles offer in-depth analysis, practical advice, and actionable insights to elevate your digital marketing efforts.
Join three of Reddit’s top executives in this exclusive AMA (Ask Me Anything) to discover how you can tap into Reddit’s unique platform to drive brand growth.
Join this leadership discussion for proven techniques to build long-term relationships and keep your clients coming back.
Your podcast intro is foundational to its success. Here, podcasters share seven tips to build and engage your listening audience.
Podcast intros are an important quality of a successful podcast.
The right intro sets the podcast on a path to success.
These seven tips will help your podcast build an audience and retain it:
Let’s dig into each one and see how you can put it work for your podcast.
Erin Sparks of Edge of the Web Radio podcast says that there is a subtle but important value in the podcast intro when it comes to what he calls, “click browsing.”
Erin suggests that the intro functions like a hook – to grab the listener’s attention and immediately intrigue them.
He shares this insight:
“The audio ‘hook’ is important to podcast click browsing. Walking through a podcast app, people will click and listen to 7-10 seconds to hear if they ‘feel’ the show.
Much different than any other medium.”
Chris Brogan of Making the Brand podcast agrees that a podcast intro should be short.
He shares these insights on the qualities of a useful podcast intro:
“I’m a huge fan of brief. Once you hear it more than twice, it’s boring to everyone.
An intro should set the mental stage for what’s coming up.
Choose music and words that emulate the show.”
Jorge Hermida, Program Director at WMR.FM and Cannabis Radio Podcasts, observes that it’s important to give listeners a reason to stick around for the podcast but to do it in the shortest amount of time possible.
He says there is absolutely no time to waste within your podcast intro so it’s super important to literally make every second count.
He shares:
“Podcast listeners, just like anybody else, have a short attention span.
You have to give listeners a reason to listen to your content within the first 30 seconds.
Whether you create a cold opener or you run down what you’re going to be talking about on the program, you need to satisfy that listener immediately.
Create the intro as if every listener has a short attention span because in my professional experience, they will either stay and listen to your show, or they’ll drop off and find another show to listen to.”
Azeem Ahmad of the Azeem Digital SEO podcast shares that a good podcast intro will help maintain audience retention, as well as encourage engagement and loyalty.
This is an element of conversion theory, where even seemingly trivial elements can encourage or discourage the action we are looking for.
A classic example is a PPC arbitrage marketer who maximizes the number of sales for every click.
Affiliate PPC marketers succeed or go out of business fast depending on how well they convert every visitor.
This person discovered that detecting the mobile device and adding an “iPhone friendly” or “Android friendly” badge increased their conversion rates by a measurable rate.
The follow-up insight Azeem suggests is similar.
He said that a podcast intro has the same effect of encouraging a user to click and stay for the podcast or to leave.
And for that reason, it’s important to view the intro as a configurable asset that can be used to improve audience retention.
Azeem shares how a podcast intro is important for retention rates and engagement:
“People will get bored with repetition, and regardless of your podcast format – the idea is to engage the listener.
If you lose them within the first 30 seconds, you will very likely see a drop in retention rate and engaged listeners.”
Azeem next shares that a way to improve retention and engagement is to experiment with new intros and outros.
He shares this tip:
“As a host you should change this up sometimes.
Customizing the intro every time is basically an option to test for what works the best.
For example, you could test asking people to subscribe in the intro vs. the outro for a few episodes and see which drives more growth.”
Sparks offers useful information about what should be communicated in a podcast introduction.
He shares how the introduction should communicate the “What’s in it for me?” proposition to the listener.
Figuring out the tried-and-true principle of answering the question of “What’s in it for me?” is a great way to think about how to create a podcast intro that is useful for the listener.
So, it makes sense to apply that approach to podcast intros so that a listener is reminded of why they are there, which could be to become better at what they do, to catch up on industry news, to be entertained, etc.
Here is what Sparks shares:
“A good intro provides:
Jim Hedger, the co-host of the popular Webcology SEO podcast, suggests that the podcast intro helps to build a sense of familiarity and ownership of a space.
I’ve noticed that people tend to feel a sense of ownership in a website they enjoy, perhaps because the site might be a part of their self-identity as a baker, sportsperson, or whatever the topic is.
Ever walk into a favorite restaurant and immediately receive a feeling of comfort or anticipation?
It’s a sense of ownership of an experience, that this experience is yours and it’s yours yet again.
Hedger says that a podcast intro can have a similar effect, to bring a sense of comfort and anticipation that one feels in physical spaces that one feels loyal and connected to.
He observes:
“I once read that people aren’t loyal to restaurants as much as they are loyal to spaces they feel comfortable being in.
The same can be said for podcasts.
Like radio, podcasts are a theater of the mind. Your intro is the breath that first forms the space you, your guests, and the audience will create together.
Podcasts are incredibly intimate. I think you need to feel love for your audience and deeply respect the topic and your introduction is your first chance to establish that.
A host’s job is to help the audience develop a zone in which they and the host are virtually in the same place.”
Something to keep in mind is that any music used should be licensed.
There is an idea that it’s okay to use just a little bit of someone else’s music, but that might not be the case.
And if that’s the direction you are moving in, then it may be prudent to check with an attorney first.
The podcasting professionals consulted for this article all agree that it’s important to purchase a license for the right to any music used within a podcast.
Everyone agrees that it’s best to license royalty-free podcast intro music because this safeguards against copyright infringement claims.
Hermida shares:
“Our music is licensed, and most other podcasts most likely use some kind of licensed music from other licensed music providers for some original music that’s not prone to any copyright issues.
It doesn’t really matter where the music comes from, except that I would always recommend to make sure you use music that you are allowed to use and that license to use the music is documented and can be proven.”
Sparks also recommends paying for a license to use music:
“We have a number of music licenses that we have used over the years.
We highly recommend reviewing different sound repositories and utilizing them to create that sonic brand.
Places to license music are Envato Elements, Epidemic Sound, and the like.
We also have a continual license with our deep voice announcer, our voice over talent.
That should also be something to consider when you’re developing a long-term show.”
Brogan recommends:
“Epidemic Sound works fine. Buy a license. “
Always read the license when choosing a digital music asset in order to be aware of what you can and can’t do with the music and for how long you are entitled to use it.
At this point, it should be clear that a seemingly trivial thing like a podcast intro is actually part of the foundation of a successful podcast.
Clearly, the content of the podcast is the most important quality of a podcast.
Yet, as important as the content is, it’s the podcast intro that sets the stage and makes listeners feel they have arrived at their happy place, while also communicating what is in it for the listener, which encourages them to stick around for the content.
More Resources:
Featured Image: Alex from the Rock/Shutterstock
I have 25 years hands-on experience in SEO, evolving along with the search engines by keeping up with the latest …
Conquer your day with daily search marketing news.
Join Our Newsletter.
Get your daily dose of search know-how.
In a world ruled by algorithms, SEJ brings timely, relevant information for SEOs, marketers, and entrepreneurs to optimize and grow their businesses — and careers.
Copyright © 2024 Search Engine Journal. All rights reserved. Published by Alpha Brand Media.
Uncategorized
Halloween 2024 Google Search Ranking Update 👻 – Search Engine Roundtable
I am seeing a significant spike in chatter from within the SEO community about a possible Google Search ranking update and/or heavy volatility happening starting October 31st. Let’s call it the Halloween 2024 Google Search ranking update – because why not…
The chatter began yesterday late morning and has continued throughout the day. There are also some of the tracking tools picking this up, in fact, SimilarWeb spotted the volatility in a big way yesterday, showing its most heated day in over a month.
The chatter seemed to have cooled as of this morning and so did SimilarWeb. Most of the other tools picked up a small spike. Although, it seems more are now talking about it after 7am ET today.
I am suspecting there was some shift in the late morning and then it shifted back? It is hard to say for sure? What did you all see?
As a reminder, Google did tell us that an search update is coming soon. The last time we reported on an update was on October 23, 24 and 26 and 27th and before that, October 19th and 20th volatility and then on October 15th, October 10th and then before that on October 2nd which lasted a couple of days. The Google August 2024 core update started on August 15th and officially completed on September 3rd. But it was still super volatile the day after it completed and also weeks after it completed and it has not cooled.
We saw big signals on and around September 6th, September 10th or so and maybe around September 14th. We also saw movement around September 18th, last weekend and Septmeber 25th and September 28th or so.
SEO Chatter
Let’s start with the chatter in the past 24-hours from both WebmasterWorld and on this site:
It must be here already my traffic was down yesterday and is down hugely this morning. Let’s see if this is just a short term shakeup because if not it’s going to be ugly…
Oh, and as usual…I had one week where I had a normal level of new inquiries and then back to zero this week, not one new customer inquiry just spam.
After 13 hours of my Googleday I am seeing a total collapse across global, national and regional sites. Global sites are at 20% and regional at 30% … What have they done now?
There’s also a lot of volatility here. There were 4 days of huge drops, yesterday was a little better. Today there’s a lot of traffic, but curiously, it doesn’t match the AdSense data…
Usually when this happens to my sites, they announce the beginning of an update right after…
Seeing a 50% drop in traffic today.
18 hours and at 40%!
At this time of year I expect our travel-planning site’s traffic to drop off (week over week), because that’s been the seasonal pattern for 20+ years. And to be sure, our overall traffic is showing its usual post-summer decline, but our Google traffic has actually been up for the last several days. Caveat: I don’t expect Google’s burst of mild generosity to hold. (It never does.)
seeing about – 35 % today here in Germany, yesterday was already not the best, but today the traffic is coming in very slow
Google is starting to shuffle again. haha. I am sure they will punish us some more because of this GPT launch.
It’s a Thursday. Every damn Thursday or Friday, they do the shuffle. I don’t care anymore. I hope GPT sends me some traffic. I am broke. lol
OK, so early observation. I have as much traffic to my site today (7AM), as I would usually get till 12PM. It is a Friday and these tend to be slow. I don’t see any ranking change on Google. is it because of GPT? I have to delve deeper.
in Romania there are big problems on the organic traffic side of Google. Big Drop everywhere.. about -40-45%. We manage over 60 websites and not one has remained intact.
A sharp increase in Dsicover traffic today, back to where it was two weeks ago, just before the massive collapse. Does anyone else actually understand what Google is doing all this time? I just don’t see the point of all the changes and it looks more and more like Google has lost control of its algorithm.
Google Tracking Tools
SimilarWebm showed a massive spike yesterday, some of the other tools are showing a bit of a lift today/yesterday but it may have cooled a bit today. Maybe Google was testing something spooky yesterday morning/afternoon? Super hard to say…
SimilarWeb:
Accuranker:
Advanced Web Rankings:
Mozcast:
Wincher:
Cognitive SEO:
Semrush:
Mangools:
Algoroo:
Sistrix:
SERPstat:
Data For SEO:
SERPmetrics (not updated in a couple of week or so):
So what are you all seeing?
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
The content at the Search Engine Roundtable are the sole opinion of the authors and in no way reflect views of RustyBrick ®, Inc
Copyright © 1994-2024 RustyBrick ®, Inc. Web Development All Rights Reserved.
This work by Search Engine Roundtable is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License. Creative Commons License and YouTube videos under YouTube’s ToS.
Google Releases New ‘How Search Works’ Episode On Crawling – Search Engine Journal
Join this leadership discussion for proven techniques to build long-term relationships and keep your clients coming back.
Discover the latest trends, tips, and strategies in SEO and PPC marketing. Our curated articles offer in-depth analysis, practical advice, and actionable insights to elevate your digital marketing efforts.
In this guide, industry experts explore the challenges and opportunities presented by the onslaught of AI tools, and provide actionable tips for thriving amid these shifts.
Discover the latest trends, tips, and strategies in SEO and PPC marketing. Our curated articles offer in-depth analysis, practical advice, and actionable insights to elevate your digital marketing efforts.
Join three of Reddit’s top executives in this exclusive AMA (Ask Me Anything) to discover how you can tap into Reddit’s unique platform to drive brand growth.
Join this leadership discussion for proven techniques to build long-term relationships and keep your clients coming back.
Google explains how its search engine crawls the web in latest “How Search Works” video.
Google has published a fresh installment of its educational video series “How Search Works,” explaining how its search engine discovers and accesses web pages through crawling.
In the seven-minute episode hosted by Google Analyst Gary Illyes, the company provides an in-depth look at the technical aspects of how Googlebot—the software Google uses to crawl the web—functions.
Illyes outlines the steps Googlebot takes to find new and updated content across the internet’s trillions of webpages and make them searchable on Google.
Illyes explains:
“Most new URLs Google discovers are from other known pages that Google previously crawled.
You can think about a news site with different category pages that then link out to individual news articles.
Google can discover most published articles by revisiting the Category page every now and then and extracting the URLs that lead to the articles.”
Googlebot starts by following links from known webpages to uncover new URLs, a process called URL discovery.
It avoids overloading sites by crawling each one at a unique, customized speed based on server response times and content quality.
Googlebot renders pages using a current version of the Chrome browser to execute any JavaScript and correctly display dynamic content loaded by scripts. It also only crawls publicly available pages, not those behind logins.
Related: Google Answers A Crawl Budget Issue Question
Illyes highlighted the usefulness of sitemaps—XML files that list a site’s URLs—to help Google find and crawl new content.
He advised developers to have their content management systems automatically generate sitemaps.
Optimizing technical SEO factors like site architecture, speed, and crawl directives can also improve crawlability.
Here are some additional tactics for making your site more crawlable:
The latest video comes after Google launched the educational “How Search Works” series last week to shed light on the search and indexing processes.
The newly released episode on crawling provides insight into one of the search engine’s most fundamental operations.
In the coming months, Google will produce additional episodes exploring topics like indexing, quality evaluation, and search refinements.
The series is available on the Google Search Central YouTube channel.
Google’s crawling process, as outlined in their recent “How Search Works” series episode, involves the following key steps:
Marketers can adopt the following strategies to enhance their content’s discoverability and crawlability for Googlebot:
Matt G. Southern, Senior News Writer, has been with Search Engine Journal since 2013. With a bachelor’s degree in communications, …
Conquer your day with daily search marketing news.
Join Our Newsletter.
Get your daily dose of search know-how.
In a world ruled by algorithms, SEJ brings timely, relevant information for SEOs, marketers, and entrepreneurs to optimize and grow their businesses — and careers.
Copyright © 2024 Search Engine Journal. All rights reserved. Published by Alpha Brand Media.
SEO and meta descriptions: Everything you need to know in 2025 – Search Engine Land
sel logo
Search Engine Land » SEO »
Chat with SearchBot
SearchBot:
Meta descriptions are crucial in shaping how search engines and users perceive your content.
While meta descriptions don’t directly impact search rankings, they can significantly influence user engagement, click-through rates (CTR) and, ultimately, a site’s SEO performance.
Meta descriptions are often the first interaction potential visitors have with a website, making it essential to create informative and enticing descriptions.
Just as you would carefully choose words when introducing yourself at a networking event, the same attention should be given to crafting your meta descriptions.
As search engines continue to prioritize user experience, particularly with the rapid advancements in AI and semantic search, 2025 marks an ideal time to give meta descriptions the attention they deserve.
A well-crafted meta description can be the deciding factor that drives clicks to your site instead of your competition.
This article covers everything you need to know about meta descriptions in 2025, including:
Let’s start with on-page SEO basics.
Metadata refers to the snippets of information that provide context to a webpage’s content. It helps search engines understand what a page is about, assisting in indexing and improving search result relevance.
Your meta description is one of these elements. It isn’t visible on the content page itself, but it could be visible in the search results as a search snippet.
Although meta descriptions are not a direct ranking factor, they significantly encourage users to click on a result.
A good meta description should be concise (around 150-160 characters), informative and compelling, making it clear what the user can expect from the page.
It should spark curiosity and provide a reason to click, indirectly benefiting SEO by improving CTR.
Search engines like Google monitor how users interact with search results. If your meta description is enticing enough to generate clicks, it signals to the search engine that your page is relevant and engaging, potentially improving its ranking indirectly.
With advancements in semantic search algorithms, meta descriptions must convey context, not just keywords.
Implementing structured data (like schema markup) further helps search engines understand the content’s meaning, linking it to broader concepts or entities. This can help improve rankings for long-tail or voice search queries.
Metadata plays a pivotal role in SEO, user engagement and your website’s overall visibility.
While it may seem like a small detail in the grander scheme of SEO, well-optimized metadata can make a significant difference in:
Let’s take a deep dive into the best practices for writing effective meta descriptions.
The ideal length for a meta description is around 150-160 characters. Any longer and Google may truncate it.
Although Google sometimes rewrites descriptions based on the search query, keeping yours within this limit ensures more control over how your page is presented.
A good meta description should clearly address the intent behind the user’s search query.
Consider what the user is looking for and how your page can solve or answer that problem. This helps increase relevance and the likelihood of a click.
While keywords in the meta description don’t directly affect rankings, they will be bolded in SERPs when they match the user’s search query.
This bolding can make your listing stand out, so it’s a good idea to include relevant keywords without overstuffing.
A meta description can include a soft call to action. Phrases like “Learn more,” “Find out how” or “Get started today” can gently encourage users to click your link.
Leaving a bit of mystery can pique curiosity and encourage users to click.
For example, hint at the information they’ll find on your page instead of explaining everything in your meta description. This tactic is particularly effective for informational searches.
For large sites like ecommerce platforms, manually writing unique meta descriptions for every product can be challenging.
In such cases, dynamic meta descriptions that pull key information such as product names, categories and prices can be useful. However, ensure these are still readable and make sense to users.
Although not strictly metadata, structured data (schema markup) can enhance your metadata by providing additional context to search engines.
Implementing schema can result in rich snippets, such as product reviews or recipe cards, which can improve your listing’s visibility in SERPs.
Optimizing metadata is not a one-time task. Over time, as user behavior and search algorithms evolve, so should your metadata.
Regularly review your pages’ performance, tweak the metadata as needed, and A/B test different versions to see what works best for your audience.
Several common mistakes can undermine your efforts in writing compelling meta descriptions. Here are the key things to avoid when optimizing for search engines and users.
While cramming as many keywords as possible into your meta description may be tempting, this is a major mistake.
It can harm your performance rather than improve it. Moreover, keyword-stuffed content tends to read poorly, leading to lower user engagement and click-through rates.
Your meta description should clearly reflect the content of the page.
Misleading or vague information might increase clicks initially, but it can lead to low engagement rates when users realize the content doesn’t match their expectations.
This mismatch hurts your SEO in the long run, as search engines track how quickly users leave your page.
Using the same meta description across multiple pages dilutes the effectiveness of your metadata.
Every page on your site should have unique metadata that accurately reflects the content of that specific page.
Duplicate metadata can confuse search engines and negatively impact your SEO, as it reduces the perceived uniqueness and relevance of your pages.
Google typically shortens meta descriptions longer than 160 characters, which can result in important information being “cut off,” reducing the clarity and appeal of your listing.
Keeping descriptions within recommended character limits ensures that users can see the entire message in search results.
As more users rely on mobile devices and voice search, it’s essential to optimize for these formats.
Avoid overly complex or technical language and aim for a conversational tone that matches the more natural, query-based language of voice search.
Your meta descriptions should be designed with the searcher’s intent in mind. Failing to match user intent can result in fewer clicks or mismatched traffic.
For example, if your page addresses informational queries, the meta description should reflect that by providing clarity and inviting the user to learn more.
Ignoring user intent means your page is less likely to resonate with the target audience.
Search engines now place a strong emphasis on context and intent rather than just keywords.
Avoid focusing exclusively on keywords without considering the overall relevance to the page’s content and the user’s search query. You should provide value and context, not just keyword signals.
Your meta descriptions should evolve as your content changes and as SEO best practices are updated.
Failing to update them, especially on older content, can result in outdated information, which affects user experience and, therefore, search engine ranking.
Regularly auditing and refreshing your descriptions as you update content across a website helps keep them relevant and effective.
Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.
See terms.
If you follow all these tips and avoid the pitfalls, you should always see your carefully crafted meta description in the SERPs, right?
Unfortunately not. While this may seem concerning when it happens, it’s not necessarily something to worry about.
Depending on which study you look at, you’ll soon see that Google rewrites somewhere between 60% and 70% of all meta descriptions.
Considering Google’s goal to deliver the most relevant and useful information to searchers, it makes perfect sense that they would do this. Here are some key reasons why:
Dig deeper: Google shares 4 examples of how to improve a meta description
While seeing Google alter your metadata can be disconcerting, it’s usually done to improve the overall user experience and to better match the search intent.
Google’s primary focus is delivering the most helpful results to users.
If Google adjusts your description, it’s usually a signal that they’re trying to align your page with the specific needs of searchers.
In many cases, these rewrites improve click-through rates (CTR) by making the result more relevant to the query.
Google now increasingly delivers personalized and dynamic search results.
Factors such as location, device, or search history can affect the description shown.
Depending on the context, Google may adjust it for certain queries but still use your original version for others.
Even if Google sometimes rewrites your meta description, following best practices for SEO is still essential.
A well-optimized meta description that clearly describes your content and incorporates relevant keywords will often remain intact, especially when they closely align with user intent.
As SEO and search technologies continue to evolve, 2025 brings several noteworthy changes to how meta descriptions are used and perceived by search engines, particularly Google.
Here are the key changes to be aware of in 2025.
With advancements in AI, search engines are becoming more sophisticated in understanding context, meaning and user intent.
Google is increasingly rewriting meta descriptions dynamically to better match users’ search queries and provide more relevant results.
This shift began in recent years, but by 2025, AI-generated meta descriptions and title tags will become more prevalent.
This trend will expand, with search engines taking more liberty in rewriting meta descriptions on the fly based on the user’s specific query, location and intent.
The era of lexical search is over. Google is a semantic search engine.
This means Google places less emphasis on exact keywords in meta descriptions and more on understanding the meaning behind search queries.
For 2025, you must reflect this shift by focusing on intent-based, conversational phrases rather than rigid keyword optimization.
To adapt:
Structured data will continue to be critical in helping search engines understand your page’s content and display rich results.
Google increasingly rewards websites that implement structured data, allowing them to appear with rich snippets, such as how-tos and reviews.
In 2025, the SERPs will be more influenced by user engagement metrics such as click-through rates, time spent on the page and engagement rates.
Google is becoming smarter at gauging whether your meta descriptions are drawing in users and keeping them engaged.
If they aren’t, Google may continue rewriting them to boost performance.
For local businesses, using structured data and optimizing meta descriptions with location-based keywords and clear contact information will become even more important.
By 2025, local results may rely more on AI to show meta descriptions tailored to the searcher’s specific area and intent.
Effective meta description strategies in 2025 will need to align closely with AI, user intent and semantic search.
While core best practices remain essential, emphasis will shift to:
Success will come from creating user-focused, context-rich descriptions that go beyond keywords to fully address search intent and improve the overall search experience.
Dig deeper: The complete guide to optimizing content for SEO (with checklist)
Contributing authors are invited to create content for Search Engine Land and are chosen for their expertise and contribution to the search community. Our contributors work under the oversight of the editorial staff and contributions are checked for quality and relevance to our readers. The opinions they express are their own.
Related stories
New on Search Engine Land
About the author
Related topics
Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.
See terms.
Learn actionable search marketing tactics that can help you drive more traffic, leads, and revenue.
Online Nov. 13-14: SMX Next
Available on-demand: SMX Advanced
Available on-demand: SMX Master Classes
Discover time-saving technologies and actionable tactics that can help you overcome crucial marketing challenges.
April 15-17, 2020: San Jose
Get More Out of Your Webinars: Strategies for 24/7 Engagement
How Content is Critical to a Winning Ecommerce Strategy
ABM and AI for Marketers: Priority Use Cases for 2025
Enterprise SEO Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide
Email Marketing Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide
Customer Data Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide
Elevate Your Executive Brand with Proven Social Media Strategies
Meet your new AI-powered marketing assistant!
Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.
Topics
Our events
About
Follow us
© 2024 Search Engine Land is a Trademark of Semrush Inc.
Third Door Media, Inc. is a publisher and marketing solutions provider incorporated in Delaware, USA, with an address 88 Schoolhouse Road, P.O. Box 3103, Edgartown, MA 02539. Third Door Media operates business-to-business media properties and produces events, including SMX. It is the publisher of Search Engine Land, the leading digital publication covering the latest search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) marketing news, trends and advice.
Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Update Coming Soon, Downgrading Content, AI Overviews Expands, ChatGPT Search, Volatility Continues & Unauthorized Ad Rep Changes – Search Engine Roundtable
This week, we covered that Google told creators that a new search ranking update is coming fairly soon, but you shouldn’t expect to recover with this update. Google is now downgrading the rankings of content that is starkly different from the main content of the site. Google said again that it is doubtful you’d see big ranking declines over core web vital issues. Google AI Overviews is rolling out to 100+ countries and over a billion users. OpenAI started to roll out search in ChatGPT. Google Search ranking volatility was heated again last week, including some spooky ranking changes. Google updated its URL structure documentation and favicon documentation and added new Google Trends documentation. Google is testing a frequently saved label and also testing snippets with mentioned products carousels. Google has trust scores in its knowledge panels. Google Ads rep made unauthorized changes to an ad account; it is a big deal. Google Ads recommendation for raising your budget is improved. Google Ads has new conversion reports with sales and leads tabs. Google Ads has a new business links asset type. Google Ads will sunset call ads next year. Google is testing scrollable ad categories. Bing is testing hiding its ad label again. Bing is testing a new local knowledge panel design. Google Maps released a bunch of Gemini AI-powered features. Google Business Profiles is testing reviews within the photos carousel. Google and Microsoft both reported high earnings reports, with ad revenue still on the incline. That was the search news this week at the Search Engine Roundtable.
Sponsor: BruceClay one of the founding fathers of the SEO space, doing search marketing optimization since 1996. Bruce Clay is big into SEO training, check out seotraining.com to learn more and check them out at bruceclay.com. Also, check out their new product, Prewriter.ai – this tool empowers writers to write better and more efficiently, so check it out.
Make sure to subscribe to our video feed or subscribe directly on iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or your favorite podcast player to be notified of these updates and download the video in the background. Here is the YouTube version of the feed. For the original iTunes version, click here
Search Topics of Discussion:
- 0:00 – Introduction
- 1:00 – Google: Search Ranking Update Coming Soon But HCU Victims May Not Recover
- 2:41 – Google Search Downgrading Rankings Of Content Starkly Different From Main Content
- 3:35 – Google: Doubtful You’d See Big Ranking Drop Over Core Web Vitals Issues
- 3:47 – Google AI Overviews Rolling Out To 100+ Countries & Billion+ Users
- 4:07 – OpenAI Releases ChatGPT Search
- 4:49 – Halloween 2024 Google Search Ranking Update
- 5:11 – Google Search Ranking Volatility Again On October 26th & 27th & 23rd & 24th
- 5:18 – Google Updates URL Structure, Favicon & Adds Google Trends Docs
- 5:29 – Google Tests Frequently Saved Label On Search Result Snippets
- 5:42 – Google Search Snippet With Mentioned Products Carousel
- 5:57 – Google Search Entity Trust Scores From APIVoid & ScamAdviser
- 6:19 – Confirmed: Google Ad Rep Made Unauthorized Changes To Ad Account
- 6:53 – Google Ads Raise Your Budgets Recommendation Gains Information
- 7:17 – Google Ads New Sales & Leads Conversion Reports
- 7:24 – New Google Ads Business Links Asset Type
- 7:33 – Google To Sunset Call Ads; Migrating To Responsive Search Ads
- 8:03 – Google Tests Scrollable Search Ads Categories
- 8:15 – Bing Tests Hiding Ads Labels After Domain
- 8:38 – Bing Tests New Local Knowledge Panel Design
- 8:46 – Google AI Answers In Google Maps: Things To Do, Review Summaries & About This Place
- 9:22 – Google Business Profiles Testing Reviews Within Photo Carousels
- 9:38 – Google Menu Highlights Search Carousel
- 9:51 – Google Ad Revenue Up 10% – With Biggest Ad Revenue Quarter Ever
- 10:10 – Microsoft Bing Advertising Revenue Up 18%
- 10:20 – Conclusion
Please do subscribe on YouTube or subscribe via iTunes or on your favorite RSS reader. Don’t forget to comment below with the right answer and good luck!
The content at the Search Engine Roundtable are the sole opinion of the authors and in no way reflect views of RustyBrick ®, Inc
Copyright © 1994-2024 RustyBrick ®, Inc. Web Development All Rights Reserved.
This work by Search Engine Roundtable is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License. Creative Commons License and YouTube videos under YouTube’s ToS.
Google Removes Embedded Podcasts From Search Results – Search Engine Journal
Join this leadership discussion for proven techniques to build long-term relationships and keep your clients coming back.
Discover the latest trends, tips, and strategies in SEO and PPC marketing. Our curated articles offer in-depth analysis, practical advice, and actionable insights to elevate your digital marketing efforts.
In this guide, industry experts explore the challenges and opportunities presented by the onslaught of AI tools, and provide actionable tips for thriving amid these shifts.
Discover the latest trends, tips, and strategies in SEO and PPC marketing. Our curated articles offer in-depth analysis, practical advice, and actionable insights to elevate your digital marketing efforts.
Join three of Reddit’s top executives in this exclusive AMA (Ask Me Anything) to discover how you can tap into Reddit’s unique platform to drive brand growth.
Join this leadership discussion for proven techniques to build long-term relationships and keep your clients coming back.
Google has removed the ability to listen to podcasts directly from search results, which may indicate a shift to promote podcasts on YouTube.
Google has quietly removed embedded podcasts from search results, which means users will no longer be able to listen to podcast episodes directly from the SERPs.
This change was first spotted by Podnews, who received confirmation from a Google spokesperson that the removal was intentional.
This change will affect the ability to listen to individual podcast episodes without leaving Google, a feature that was launched in 2019.
Google will still include links to podcast episodes in search results, but users cannot listen to them directly from the search page.
Instead, users will be directed to the website where the podcast is hosted.
The decision to remove embedded podcasts from search results was made to provide a better user experience, according to a Google spokesperson.
“We’re constantly experimenting with ways to improve the experience for our users,” the spokesperson says in a statement to Podnews.
It’s unclear how this improves the user experience other than creating a leaner SERP.
Although Google didn’t give any prior notice, removing embedded podcasts from search results isn’t unexpected since the Google Podcasts app hasn’t been updated for 18 months.
The move will likely be met with some disappointment from searchers who routinely use the feature.
On the other hand, this change could result in more individuals subscribing to podcasts as they will no longer be able to listen to them through a quick search.
Google’s decision to remove embedded podcasts from search results might be part of a larger strategy to phase out the Google Podcasts product.
The fact that the app hasn’t been updated for over a year indicates that it may be headed for the Google graveyard.
However, this doesn’t imply that Google is abandoning the podcast industry altogether.
In 2021, a report from Bloomberg revealed that YouTube sought to hire someone to oversee its podcasting business.
This suggests that Google is committed to enhancing the podcast experience on YouTube, and the company may not want to compete against itself in that area.
Per a 2022 study conducted by Edison Research, YouTube is the leading platform for podcast listening, followed closely by Spotify.
That said, it makes sense why YouTube is the priority for Google for podcasts.
It’s worth noting that YouTube achieved this level of popularity without having a specific podcast category.
Before August, YouTube didn’t have a specific podcast category. Users had to search for them manually.
If Google discontinues its Podcasts app, the company will likely shift its focus to YouTube. This could mean that a YouTube Podcasts app is on the horizon.
Featured Image: Primakov/Shutterstock
Matt G. Southern, Senior News Writer, has been with Search Engine Journal since 2013. With a bachelor’s degree in communications, …
Conquer your day with daily search marketing news.
Join Our Newsletter.
Get your daily dose of search know-how.
In a world ruled by algorithms, SEJ brings timely, relevant information for SEOs, marketers, and entrepreneurs to optimize and grow their businesses — and careers.
Copyright © 2024 Search Engine Journal. All rights reserved. Published by Alpha Brand Media.