The SEO landscape is always evolving and the beginning of 2023 has been no different! While not every update or enhancement is relevant to every business, there are trends and topics that have applications to many, if not all, BrightEdge customers. Here are the things that have happened in the last month that are important for all BrightEdge customers to be thinking about as they execute their SEO programs. 

Helpful Content Update Rollout Complete

Google recently completed the implementation of its "Helpful Content Update" on January 12, 2023. This update was first announced in August 2022, with the aim of reducing search results content that lacked original value. Google’s guidelines are to avoid content that is either unoriginal or derivative as not being "helpful" and the update took several months to roll out globally. Some websites experienced changes in rankings during this time, however, if you were following Google's content guidelines, your site should not have been negatively affected. The update emphasizes the importance of creating unique and valuable content for your website.

Why this matters: As artificial intelligence-generated content becomes increasingly prevalent, it is likely that Google will implement new measures to ensure that its search results provide maximum value to users. One such measure could be the identification of particularly useful content through flagging mechanisms. By doing so, Google can continue to promote the relevance and reliability of its search results, providing a superior user experience.

AI Generated Content

The introduction of ChatGPT has generated widespread interest in the potential of AI technology. In the past month, we have explored the implications of ChatGPT for SEO. One of its main uses is the generation of human-like content at scale, which can positively impact SEO results. However, as with any new technology, it is important to consider the potential challenges when integrating ChatGPT into your workflow. Firstly, it should be noted that ChatGPT's training data only extends up until 2021, which means it may not accurately reflect more recent developments. Secondly, it is possible that the content generated by ChatGPT may not meet plagiarism standards and may contain inaccuracies, which has been a concern for some early adopters. Despite these considerations, we encourage BrightEdge customers to experiment with ChatGPT and find innovative ways to utilize the platform.

Why this matters: The buzz surrounding the launch of ChatGPT has brought attention to the capabilities of AI technology. At BrightEdge, we have already incorporated AI and similar functionality into our platform. However, with the increased accessibility provided by ChatGPT, it's likely that more organizations will adopt the technology and leverage its functionality to automate manual tasks at scale. This development could result in an increasingly competitive content landscape in search results.

E Added to E-A-T in December

Google uses E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) to determine positive experiences in search results. E-A-T means the content should show clear expertise on the subject, provide authority and credibility, and be a trustworthy resource. Google's algorithms are designed to measure these elements, and the company uses human editors with its Quality Raters Guidelines to assess website quality. This year, Google added an extra "E" for Experience, referring to whether the content demonstrates experience with the subject. This may be an attempt to distinguish between AI-generated content without direct experience and content written by humans with first-hand, original experience.

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Why this matters: The use of AI in content creation should prioritize quality over quantity. Content that shows experience with the subject builds credibility and provides better context. Despite the ease of creating large amounts of content with AI, it's essential to maintain the human element.

Google Is Automatically Configuring GA4

Starting in March 2023, Google will configure a GA4 property for users who haven't set up one with basic settings. This move is motivated by Google's plan to stop collecting data on Universal Analytics accounts in July and to cease housing Universal Analytics data in December 2023. To maintain continuity, marketers need to find an alternative solution to house their historical data. The automatic configuration of GA4 properties will use existing Universal Analytics data such as conversion events, Google Ads links, and website tags.

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Why this matters: BrightEdge is prepared to make the transition from Universal Analytics to GA4 smooth for marketers. Google is proactively setting up GA4 accounts and porting over goals and configurations, which should simplify the process. However, the move from Universal Analytics to GA4 is significant, as the reporting interfaces and integrations are different and will need to be reconfigured. Google's actions suggest that they are serious about this migration.

Google Knowledge Panel - Recent Images

Google has added a new feature to some of its knowledge panels in the form of a "recent images" photo carousel. This displays recent photos taken and published for relevant searches, like events. Brands with a knowledge panel or targeting specific events should make sure their images have structured markup and their articles feature recent images to take advantage of this feature.

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Why this matters: Google's emphasis on recent content in search results presents both a challenge and an opportunity for brands. The increasing competition in SEO creates an entry point for competitors to become more visible in a brand's space, however, it also offers brands a new way to stay prominent in search result pages by promoting recent photos in their knowledge panels. 

Google Answers How Long it Takes to Recover

During a recent Google SEO office-hours session, a question was raised regarding the time it takes to recover from an algorithmic penalty for poor quality content. Google replied that the evaluation process after cleaning up low quality content can take several months and emphasized the importance of fixing as much of the low-quality content as possible. Although algorithmic penalties are not a common occurrence, this response highlights the significance of following Google's guidelines for content quality. The office-hours session did not provide a comprehensive list of content that may result in penalties but stressed that poor quality content or content that does not meet advertiser guidelines could be penalized.

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Why this matters: The exact time it takes to recover from an algorithmic penalty has never been specified, but this month it has been indicated that it is not a quick process. Google will take several months to reevaluate a website after cleaning up low-quality content. It's crucial to follow Google's guidelines for content creation to avoid suffering from an algorithmic penalty and experiencing poor organic results for an extended period.

Google Stresses Multiple Date Signals

A user flagged a mistake to Google in their news feed and upon receipt, Google has emphasized the importance of using multiple date signals on webpages to ensure the correct date is displayed in search results. This is crucial in maintaining the credibility and reliability of a website, as inaccurate or outdated dates can lead to confusion and deter potential visitors. Both Google and publishers have a role to play in ensuring the correct date is displayed in SERPs.

Google's search liaison, Danny Sullivan, links to Google's documentation on influencing byline dates in search results which states that Google does not rely on a single date factor, but instead uses several factors to determine the best estimate of when a page was published or updated. This is why it's crucial for publishers to follow Google's best practices for article dates to help Google algorithms accurately locate and process the information.

The best practices for article dates in Google search results include using the <time> element, the lastmod tag, the pubdate tag, and the article:published_time tag. In addition to these HTML tags, keeping content fresh can also increase the likelihood of Google displaying the correct date. Publishers should also avoid confusing signals, such as displaying multiple dates on the same page, and instead follow Google's guidance of having one clear, visible date and time between the headline and the article text.

While Google is working on improving its ability to detect and display article dates, it's still recommended for publishers to follow these best practices. Ensuring the correct date is displayed in search results is crucial in maintaining the credibility and reliability of a website, and ultimately, attracting potential visitors.

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Why this matters: As we scale up content production, it's important to provide clear signals to Google regarding the publication date of the content. This helps Google understand when the content was created and avoids any misunderstandings. This is crucial in ensuring that your content is properly indexed and receives the visibility it deserves.

Continuous Scroll

The Continuous Scroll feature has been fully implemented for all desktop searches, allowing users to seamlessly scroll through search listings up to the 60th result, rather than having to click on individual pages.  Google’s position is that this could potentially improve how users engage with lower ranking organic results because scrolling is easier than clicking to a second page.  The feature itself is being refined ongoing because new developments and features are continuing to be uncovered deeper in the site.   This change does not affect BrightEdge's rank tracking methodology, as the number of results remains unchanged. To align with Google's approach in Search Console, this feature is designed to deliver a more comprehensive Search Engine Results Page (SERP) to users, potentially boosting traffic for pages with lower rankings. Although users are likely to continue clicking on the top results with most clicks concentrated in the top 5-10, this underscores the significance of keeping an eye on both classic and blended rank data.

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Why this matters: This could potentially impact traffic in a positive way for organizations that have significant second and third page rankings that would not have otherwise received any visibility. Now, with continuous scroll, users could potentially click on results they may not have otherwise seen.  It is important that brands are aware of where this is happening so they can assess how the change impacts their landscape. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has revolutionized how marketers approach their strategies for a long time. From IBM’s Watson and Google’s RankBrain, AI has revolutionized how search engines work, and how marketers utilize AI-led technologies. The introduction of ChatGPT is now bringing conversational elements of AI direct to the consumer.

Whether we realize it or not, AI touches consumers – running in the background – every day. AI is everywhere, from virtual assistants such as Siri and Alexa, to smart home devices that control lighting and temperature, to recommendation systems that personalize shopping and entertainment experiences.

Today, AI technologies are being used by marketers across all industries to provide insights and business intelligence, automate processes and improve decision-making. The current focus in AI is on developing systems that can think and act like humans. 

The evolution of AI and conversational applications 

Advancements in natural language processing, data science, and machine learning algorithms have enabled AI to understand and respond to human speech and behavior. 

ChatGPT is now allowing people to have a direct interaction with AI 

ChatGPT is a language generation model developed by OpenAI. In essence, it is a chatbot based on Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) architecture and is trained on a large dataset  to generate human-like text. 

For so many, the introduction of ChatGPT is the first time people are interacting with AI directly.  So, it is no surprise that the mass adaption of ChatGPT has been record-breaking. In the first 3 months, ChatGPT  reached one million users.

What does ChatGPT mean for business and marketers 

No marketer will be able to ignore this technology and we anticipate more demand for guidance on when and how to use it. AI is becoming integral for marketing and can help marketers through insights and automation, and when utilized correctly with human supervision, it can also, with help with content ideation and generation.

Businesses and developers have been embracing ChatGPT, with an increasing number utilizing it to streamline their content operations, enrich customer service experiences for clients and prospects, and upgrading marketing strategies with insights and content development.

McKinsey highlights some important use cases for business below:

• "Marketing and sales—crafting personalized marketing, social media, and technical sales content (including text, images, and video); creating assistants aligned to specific businesses, such as retail
• Operations—generating task lists for efficient execution of a given activity
• IT/engineering—writing, documenting, and reviewing code
• Risk and legal—answering complex questions, pulling from vast amounts of legal documentation, and drafting and reviewing annual reports
• R&D—accelerating drug discovery through better understanding of diseases and discovery of chemical structures"

What are the benefits and limitations to digital marketers 

Benefits 

ChatGPT provides valuable content-generation capabilities to help build out digital marketing campaigns. 

• Ideation: It can help generate new and unique ideas for content, which can help differentiate your business from your competitors.
• Personalization: Marketers can generate personalized content based on customer data, which can improve the relevance and effectiveness of the content.
• Time and Resource:  ChatGPT can quickly generate large amounts of high-quality text, improving efficiencies for content marketers.
• Multilingual generation:  It can generate text in multiple languages, which can help reach a wider audience and expand into new markets.
• Versatility: ChatGPT can be used by marketers for digital and content marketing tasks such as emails, blog posts, product descriptions, social media posts, and more.

Limitations

With any new technology, it is important to consider limitations also.

• Limited specific knowledge: ChatGPT is trained on a large dataset of text but may not have detailed knowledge of a particular domain. This can lead to inaccuracies or inconsistencies.
• Bias in data: Results may contain preferences, which may be reflected in the content generated.
• Creativity limitations:  While it can generate human-like text, it may not be able to generate truly original content. The output is based on patterns and structures learned from its data sources, which can lead to repetitive or formulaic content.
• Quality of the generated content: Although the text quality is high, it is not always perfect. It may contain errors, inaccuracies or inconsistencies, especially when the model is not fine-tuned to a specific task.
• Ethics: Using such models raises ethical considerations, such as the possibility of creating fake news, impersonation and spreading misinformation.
• Accuracy: ChatGPT is still limited to 2021 data, which means it can't answer current/topical questions. However, this limitation will change over time.

In summary, ChatGPT can help marketers  by offering features like text data for generating eBooks, informational content, and infographics – as well as providing the advantage of handling high demands tasks such as FAQs.

What does ChatGPT mean for content marketers

AI and ChatGPT are creating a new content explosion and battleground in the field of content writing. Many large websites are now using AI to write some of their content, such as BankRate.com and CreditCards.com. The latter even added a caveat in the footer of articles stating the content is auto generated. 

CNET has done this also, producing over 75 AI-generated articles since November. However, it is now having to review its AI-written articles after being notified of severe errors.

While we will see an increasing  amount of machine-generated content on the web, it is important to note that a machine cannot replace the art of human storytelling and emotional connection. 

“The best content writers can align business objectives and messages with the needs and wants of the user (the searcher).” – CEO Jim Yu, Mediapost Interview 

AI can assist in various aspects of content writing, such as ideation, copyediting, grammar, and spelling. It can also help with formatting and research, but with limitations. Human supervision will always be necessary at the front and end of the content production process.

ChatGPT is not here to replace human roles, but rather to assist and streamline tasks for them, allowing for more creative tasks that require a human touch.

What does ChatGPT mean for search  

Recent history has shown that with every transformative change, search has grown. This has happened with mobile, local, video, voice, and short-term formats. The job of a search engine is to make the most relevant and accurate content discoverable. 

Google also has an AI chatbot called LaMDA and plans to launch over 20 new AI products and showcase a version of its search engine with chatbot capabilities in the coming months. Google is also testing a chatbot called “Bard”.

Microsoft has announced it will be adding OpenAI's ChatGPT features to Bing search in the coming months, according to Forbes. In addition, according to Reuters, Chinese search engine Baidu is set to release a chatbot in March.  

It is expected that all search engines will accelerate their innovation in AI.

What does ChatGPT mean for SEO

The core fundamentals of SEO have not changed

1. Utilize insights for intent 
2. Focus on website and user experiences and infrastructure optimization
3. Create content that is helpful and balanced for discoverability on engines and is engaging ad valuable for the human reader 
4. Measure performance and utilize automation technology for efficiency and scale

Same as for content marketers. AI allows SEOs to focus on more creative tasks that require a human touch.

ChatGPT can help small sites create SEO-friendly content much faster. For larger sites, if utilized correctly, it will add an additional level of scaled automation. It can help with writing and suggesting meta descriptions and titles, keyword research, heading suggestions for your pages and posts, article ideation, and writing copy – but be aware of the limitations.

Regarding ChatGPT and AI-generated content, Google's Search Liaison, Danny Sullivan, reiterated on SearchEngineLand that "content created primarily for search engine rankings; however, it is done, is against our guidance." But he added, "if content is helpful and created for people first, that's not an issue." 

ChatGPT is now helping marketers see the value in conversational search

ChatGPT is also providing a mechanism for the massive adoption of conversational search. As people are increasingly searching in a more conversational manner, marketers and SEOs must understand and utilize this trend. 

At BrightEdge, we recognized the importance of conversational search five years ago, and how it can enhance marketers’ overall search strategy, and made sure to account for this shift in our platform. 

BrightEdge recommendations

New technology, such as ChatGPT, is something you should try and experiment with. 

It has the potential to help content marketers and SEOs – but the limitations mean marketers should exercise caution and ensure human supervision. 

Many technologies, including Google, will be building and up-grading AI detection and spam systems. A combination of eyeballs and brains will be looking for content that is not factual, contains inaccuracies, and lacks human perspective. Always remember - don't produce content that is written just for search ranking. 

Ensure you follow Google's E-E-A-T and Helpful Content guidelines when using ChatGPT for content for SEO.

BrightEdge and AI 

We have been on a journey to become an Artificial-Intelligence (AI-First) company for over 14 years. We believe that it is essential for every business to have AI-First capabilities. This journey started with Data Cube. 

Since then, we have been the first to market with next-generation deep-learning technology, DataMind, using the same deep-learning best practices applied by Google in its voice and image recognition algorithms. AI has been woven into the BrightEdge platform to power search, content, and digital marketing solutions and to enable our customers on their own AI journeys.

BrightEdge Autopilot, used by thousands of large enterprises, has been helping organizations identify and perform SEO tasks that don't require a human touch. BrightEdge Autopilot uses GPT-3 in some cases to help fine-tune natural language tasks. 

ChatGPT is being looked into to improve existing and create new platform use cases.

Learn how a leading beauty retailer tripled traffic and revenue for its key e-commerce pages using BrightEdge Autopilot.

Read more about AI at BrightEdge

BrightEdge Data Cube : the industry's largest content repository and ore complete data set for tracking performance across the web

BrightEdge Insights : AI-powered solution that acts like marketers' personal data analyst

BrightEdge Instant : Allowing marketers to conduct real-time research and optimize content within a single platform

BrightEdge Autopilot: Helping organizations identify and perform SEO tasks that don't need a human touch, including duplicate content issues, broken links, mobile issues. page performance and Infrastructure issues

BrightEdge SearchIQ : Combines deep and machine learning to simply research and workflows

BrightEdge and Oncrawl Create Industry's First Intelligent System for SEO