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Rand helps us explore the implications of the Google Web Search leak and how it impacts our understanding of how the search ranking aglo actually works

This week we interviewed Rand Fishkin of SparkToro on the details and importance of the Google Search API leak. In discussing the “biggest leak of the last 25 years” we look at

• how it provides SEO practitioners with menu of possible experiments to explore
• the role of Chrome as a source for click through data and what it means for link builders
• How this click through data seems to be one of the most important ranking factors
• Why links on low performing pages have absolutely no value and thus why many citations no longer do either
• whether Ad clicks might in fact influence rank
• How should we think about “web references” aka mentions vs Links

The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.

• Ep 159

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New SAB Local Ranking Factor:

Service area businesses have long been a problem on Google Maps. Spam, privacy, suspension AND ranking issues have plagued them since the beginning. Now it appears that there may be hope on the ranking issue. Historically they were ranked around the location from which they were claimed regardless of the service area. Darren Shaw of Whitespark has uncovered some indications that this is starting to change and the ranking signals are more around the service area chosen. Stay tuned.

Interpreting Google AI Tea leaves & What it Says About Google’s Product Development:

Lots of questions swirled around Google’s AI Overviews: Would their effect be apocalyptic on publishers? What did Pichai mean when he talked about an increase in web visits? Was Google going to surface the data in Search Console?

The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Ep 158

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ChatGPT 4o Makes an Impression:

OpenAI, not so subtly, introduced improvements to ChatGPT 4.0 just before I/O Google's event. The presentation was crisp and focused highlighting OpenAI's ChatGPT 4o enhanced speech capabilities and creative functionalities, such as summarizing audio streams shows and organizing the resultant notes into coherent outlines. Despite some features demoed on Monday being API-exclusive, the potential for ChatGPT to rival Google's search, at least on informational queries, is becoming more clear. Speculation about a potential integration with Apple's iOS adds to this potential, as this could significantly boost ChatGPT's reach, access to training data and even possibly local search capabilities.

The Chaos that was Google I/O, is Google:

The recent Google I/O event, from the DJ to the presentations, felt chaotic much like the increasing complexity and seemingly disjointed nature of Google's product strategies. The showcase included a range of multimodal search results and demonstrations, such as trip planning and dining recommendations, which, while technically impressive, seemed to add to the cognitive load rather than streamline the user experience.

The event highlighted Google's shift from its original, simpler search interface to a more cluttered and multifaceted array of services and features, spreading functionality across various platforms without clear integration. In contrast, competitors like OpenAI are offering more straightforward, user-friendly interfaces, claiming a position Google once held. Discussions also touched on Google's potential in workspace solutions, which could transform into valuable tools for small businesses, though the realization of these potentials remains uncertain amid concerns about which products were real and which were vaporware.

How Will Users & SEOs Adapt to the New Google AI Features:

At Google I/O's announced the launch of AI overviews (SGE) in the U.S., theoretically aiming to improve user engagement by highlighting lesser-known sites. Users are already searching for ways to disable this feature, with over 2,000 downloads for a Chrome extension designed to do just that. Google's introduction of dynamically organized search result pages for categories like restaurants and recipes is another significant change. These pages adapt based on user queries, a move seen as both innovative and potentially disruptive for SEO.

Meanwhile, Google's strategic vision appears unclear. As users habituate to the many new AI tools, with users gravitating towards simpler, more effective interfaces like ChatGPT, Google's position as the go-to search engine could be at risk.

Note: During the show David exponentially misstated the number of downloads of the chrome extension which hides AI overviews, conflating a completely different post on the number of SGE results in previous AI overview studies. The number of opt-out downloads is currently in the thousands, not 2 million as stated on the show. He regrets the error.

The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
Ep 157

Subscribe to our 3x per week newsletter at https://www.nearmedia.co/subscribe/