November SEO notes: The latest in the industry

Our SEO consultant in Denver reports that these are the three biggest changes that were noticed and reported by Google itself in the SEO community.

Bold text within content

One could say this has been debated in the community for some time, but John Mueller, Google’s Search Liaison recently commented in a Google Search Central SEO office-hours hangout meeting that bolding important parts of text in a paragraph can help with SEO.

This was once an extensive part of 2012 SEO strategies, and while most considered this practice to be extinct, with the proper strategies, could this actually help?

You shouldn’t bold your entire blog or service page, Google is able to differentiate the most important content on this page, but bolding can add a bit of extra value here and there.

Did you know about this in 2012? Our SEO consultant in Denver didn’t think this would be a trend in 2021.

November 2021 Spam update

As part of the never-ending changes to improve the search engine’s user experience, Google released another update called the November 2021 Spam Update.

The November 2021 Spam Update started on Nov. 3 and targeted content that would go against Google’s Webmaster guidelines set in place regarding blackhat SEO strategies.

But, what if a website follows all of the guidelines in place and still gets dinged by Google? This can be due to a website not being secure. If a website is not properly secure and up-to-date with plugins, which is one of the best ways to avoid hacking with WordPress, a site can find itself considered spam to Google.

This is because the site is more prone to hacking and malware, and in return, affects the user experience and security of each person who visits the website.

One way this could be avoided is by adding a SSL certificate to your website to provide an extra layer of security.

While it is not the end-all for hacking and malware, it does show in the URL to Google and consumers that the website is secure.

What else would be considered spammy? What is considered as going against these guidelines and what is acceptable? Read more from Google itself.

November 2021 Core Update

The November 2021 Core Update hit SEO consultants by surprise. On Nov. 16, there was chatter in the SEO industry of changes being made and there was a note made that there might be a new update, but nothing was reported yet.

The very next day, Google released a statement about the November 2021 Core Update. While websites that follow their guidelines are fine, everyone could notice a decrease or increase in ranking.

Any SEO consultant in Denver should be aware of these changes and ensure that all strategies are in place to follow Google’s Webmaster guidelines. As a Google Development Partner, we are proud to follow all guidelines set in place by Google to keep this partnership.

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