SEO UPdate #21 | 12-04-2022

The 21st SEO update, written by an SEO specialist. Let’s start right away, we have plenty to discuss.

The final phase of the product reviews update: fluctuations in the SERP

I think if you work a lot for smaller clients, you notice more of these fluctuations than you do for the big parties. Indeed, this concerns more the comparison websites (of course, there are some larger comparison websites, but they often have this in better order).

According to Lily Ray, these fluctuations have something to do with the product reviews update we also discussed earlier.

Google Trusted Shops Badge is now live for web shops

Google had already announced this a few weeks ago, but Google has now put the badge live for web shops. These are now shown with ads in search results, among other things.

Google is testing relevant to previous searches

Google is testing relevant to previous searches and trending searches. I believe this is now being rolled out in America. Thus, two additional elements are now shown.

• The possible searches of interest for the past searches you have made.
• The searches that are trending.

Seems like a nice development to me, as long as it remains design-appropriate for Google (and doesn’t get too busy).

The Fast News

Some points for the fast-paced news from SEO land today. Let’s dive right in.

• It is now possible to browse local search results by product and by company. This can be done by scrolling sideways or down. See the link here where Khusal Bherwani demonstrates it.
• Google again indicates that negative SEO is really an issue for SEO specialists, not for Google tools. Feel free to use the disavow tools (when it comes to links), but Google cannot start setting up its algorithm for this (by the way, the value of many negative links is simply ignored by Google). See John Mueller’s response here.
• An interesting podcast for structured data in search engine optimization, see this link here. Martin Splitt discusses with Lizzi Sassman what structured data is and how it can be used. They also provide some background around the “why” Google deploys this.

Closing

This was the SEO update of April 12, 2022. Hopefully you have gained knowledge here that you can apply to your own clients. Good luck!