Here we were, thinking it would be quiet for the next couple of weeks but then, Google releases another core update, just a week after the completion of the November 2024 Core Update. Not only that, updates to Search Console reports have also been released. That and more in this week’s notable SEO news. Read more about them below:
A week after Google finishes its roll-out of the November 2024 Core Update, they release the December 2024 Core Update. Here we were thinking the November one was already the last for the year!
Google announced the core update roll-out on X and that it is expected to complete in two weeks. As to why the rollout happened this month after having one last month, they state that they have different core systems that they are always improving and have linked to a previous blog post about it.
Google has announced the launch of the new “24 hours” view to the Search Performance reports and the improvement of the freshness of data provided by the tool. These additions and improvements aim to better help site owners monitor the recent performance of their site and content.
The new view includes data from the last available 24 hours and appears with only a few hours delay. This helps site owners and content creators see how pages and queries are performing in the recent timeframe, the performance of content that were recently published, and search queries driving users to their pages/content in the last 24 hours.
The number of clicks, impressions, average CTR, and average position can be seen and can be broken down by different dimensions, such as by query, page, country, etc.
The “24 hours” view includes hourly granularity in an overtime graph, available in all 3 performance reports – Search results, Discover, and Google News. Search Console will show data points as soon as any data is available on them, even if they haven’t completed collecting all the data for these points. This will be indicated in the UI using a dotted line.
The data in this view is displayed in the local time zone and shows the last 24 hours, no matter where search console users are located. Search Console uses the browser’s settings to show the data in your time zone; the underlying data is always the same.
In addition, the team behind Search Console has been working on improving the data freshness of performance data and they have been able to decrease the average data delay by half. With the improved view and data freshness, they hope that site owners/content creators will be able to monitor recently published content in a better and clearer way and be able to help in taking action in a timely manner.
Google has announced that they are rolling out an update on Search Console Insights to all properties and with it, they will no longer include metrics from Google Analytics. They will be focusing on data from Search Console only. With this change, they hope that it would make it easier to look up details from Search Console Insights.
Search Console Insights is tailored for content creators and publishers, to help them understand how audiences discover their site’s content and what resonates with their audiences. It can help answer the following questions:
Search Console Insights can be accessed from the top of Search Console’s Overview page. Moving forward, the data point will be exclusively from Search Console only.
Google Adds FAQs Section On Updated Site Reputation Abuse Policy
A few weeks ago, Google has announced an update to their Site Reputation Abuse Policy. In the updated policy, they have clarified their policy language to further target this type of spammy behavior and made it clear that using third-party content on a site in an attempt to exploit the site’s ranking signals is a violation of this policy — regardless of whether there is first-party involvement or oversight of the content.
In the past week, they have also added an FAQ section to the blog post. Here is the content for it –
What is third-party content?
Third-party content is content created by a separate entity than the host site. Examples of separate entities include users of that site, freelancers, white-label services, content created by people not employed directly by the host site, and other examples listed in the site reputation policy.
Does the use of any third-party content violate the site reputation abuse policy?
No, having third-party content alone is not a violation of the site reputation abuse policy. It’s only a violation if the content is being published in an attempt to abuse search rankings by taking advantage of the host site’s ranking signals. Our policy page has examples of third-party content use that doesn’t violate the policy.
Does freelance content violate the site reputation abuse policy?
No, while freelance content is third-party content, freelance content alone is not a violation of the site reputation abuse policy. It is only a violation if there is ALSO an attempt to abuse search rankings by taking advantage of the host site’s ranking signals.
Does affiliate content violate the site reputation abuse policy?
No, the policy is not about targeting affiliate content. The documentation about the policy notes that affiliate links marked appropriately aren’t considered site reputation abuse.
What does it mean to abuse search rankings by taking advantage of the host site’s ranking signals?
This is when third-party content is being placed on an established site to take advantage of that site’s ranking signals — which the site has earned primarily from its first party content — rather than placing the content on a separate site that lacks the same signals.
If I noindex the content, does that mean the manual action automatically gets removed?
No. You still need to reply to the manual action in Search Console and explain that the content has been noindexed. We recommend doing this rather than letting the manual action remain against your site.
If I move content that’s received a manual action to a new location, will that resolve the site reputation abuse issue?
Maybe, but it depends on where you move it to:
Remember if you move content, you need to also submit a reconsideration request to remove the manual action.
If I move policy-violating content, can I redirect from the old site to the new site?
If you move content that received a manual action, you shouldn’t redirect URLs from the old site to the new site, as this may introduce the site reputation abuse issue again.
If I move policy-violating content, can I link from the old site to the new site?
If you link from the old site to the new site, make use of the nofollow attribute for those links on the old site.
The FAQ has been added to address some new questions that had come in from site owners on the expanded site reputation abuse policy.
After Google’s removal of the cache link, Microsoft follows suit and also removes the cache link from Bing Search.
The Microsoft Bing Webmaster Team announced on X that they have removed the cache links from Bing Search since the internet has evolved for better reliability and many pages are not optimized for cache viewing.
Site owners can still access Bing crawled content through the Bing Webmaster Tools URL Inspection Tool.
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