Wave Issue 89

First...

I've had other sites copy content and copy sites in full. But I recently experienced "copying" through iframes.

It was a large site that allowed realtors to create their own webpages for house listings. What happened is multiple "realtor" pages embedded one of my site's pages through iframes.

It looked to be a large site, so it seemed that there are individual bad actors in creating these pages.

I found them when going through the links in Google Search Console and saw nearly 100 backlinks from one domain. I checked out the backlinks and saw that they were exact duplicates of my pages. I looked at the page source to see that they were using iframes.

I tried the normal ways to get those pages taken down, but it wasn't until I happened to be talking to Dim about negative SEO attacks and copying of sites that he mentioned adding some htaccess code that can block external sites from using iframes on my site.

All it took was adding this security header code to htaccess:

<IfModule mod_headers.c>
Header set X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN"
</IfModule>

BUT, my site is on a LiteSpeed Server, so it doesn't allow mod_header changes in htaccess. I had to go searching for what to do. It took me a loooong time, but I finally found out how to implement the security headers in the vHost Conf file on the LiteSpeed Server.

context / {
X-Frame-Options SAMEORIGIN
rewrite {
}

Definitely look into security headers to protect your sites and content from attacks. Dim sent me that page and it's easy to read if you want to implement anything.

Big thanks to Dim for his help. Be sure to follow his LowFruits case study and check out his Niche Creator interview

Niche Creators

Niche Creators - Q&A Interviews

This week's two Niche Creators - Allison and Mila - are very active in sharing their knowledge on Twitter. Both share great tips and positive messages.

If you're interested in programmatic SEO, you'll want to check out Allison's interview. She's currently building PageFactory, a SaaS tool that will make it easy for you to get involved with programmatic SEO. She also has a public case study that you can follow along with too.

Check out their interviews:

SEO

Comparing the May 2022 Core Update to the June Update

Shay Harel, CEO of Rank Ranger, compares the May Core Update that started on May 26th and the June Update that started June 20th, a couple weeks after the May Update ended.

He looks at the winners and losers, and the evidence to see that the June Update was a partial reversal of the May Update.

Google Stacking: Entity Authority Stacks for SEO Explained

Google entity stacking is a form of brand authority link building that can help a website rank faster in the search engine results pages (SERPs) for its target keywords.

Google authority stacking like this is a common form of search engine optimization (SEO) for local SEO services; however, it can also be effective for national, and international websites that compete on a larger scale in the SERPs.

This is a really interesting way to use Google's own platforms to get backlinks. I would say that if you're not planning to build other links, doing all the actions may be overkill. But if you do, these links could be good diversity. When it comes to backlinks, I will basically do what a "business" in the niche would do and keep things balanced all-around without being too heavy in any areas.

5 Reasons for an Impression Spike in Google Search Console (With Barely Any, Or Zero Clicks)

Ever wonder why you have a big increase in search impressions, but not clicks? Brodie Clark goes into the top 5 reasons why you're seeing the spikes. SERP Features With High Influence on Impressions

Internal Sitelinks
Images in Image Packs
Images in Knowledge Panels
Links in Tweet Carousels
Web Stories in the Visual Stories Unit

The complete Wix SEO guide: Everything you need to know | Wix SEO Hub

While there have been many articles written about Wix SEO, both on the Wix site and by third-parties, there has not been one definitive guide to doing SEO on a Wix site - this is that guide - from Wix themselves.

Here’s everything you need to know about Wix’s SEO features and capabilities, along with how you can use them to optimize your site.

Google Search News (June ‘22) - Ecommerce Essentials, Google I/O Announcements, and more! - YouTube

In this June episode of Google Search News, John Mueller goes over recent updates in Google Search. From event news to algorithmic updates, this video should get you up to speed:

Intro
ECommerce Essentials
Search Console bubbles
Events
Google I/O 2022 Search Announcements
Core Updates
Aleyda Solis’ flow chart for algorithmic changes
Bill Slawski
URL Parameters tool deprecation
Site Map deprecations
Annual Web Spam Report

Google Still Says Underscores In URLs Are Not Recommended, Use Hyphens

Gary Illyes from Google reiterated that it is still best for SEO purposes to use hyphens as separators in your URLs over using underscores are separators in your URLs.

This is a good reminder to use hyphens. Separate words out with hyphens too, instead of making them as one long word. Check out Google's URL Structure guidelines for more tips.

Googlebot and the 15 MB thing | Google Search Central Blog

Google explains more about their recent update to the Googlebot documentation about the bot grabbing only the first 15 MB.

There's little concern for the majority of people though. You can test the size of your page in Chrome and use the Developer Tools.

Is AI-Generated Content Detected by Google?

A good round-up of comments from SEOs on different aspects of the Google vs. AI Content Generation discussion.

Some good tips to consider like this one from Mert Erkal, SEO:

Google Docs has started providing AI-powered content summaries. I recommend that you edit the content you create in artificial intelligence-supported content production tools in Google Docs to make sure that the content summaries are created correctly by the algorithm.

So you can see if Google's AI-powered algorithm correctly understands your content. If not, you can rearrange the content.

Tools and Resources

Surfer ╳ Semrush | The dynamic duo you’ve been waiting for

Use this Surfer ╳ Semrush integration to discover which backlinks appeared in your competitors’ indexes to adjust, update or improve your own link-building strategy.

A very nice addition to SurferSEO's Grow Flow tool. All you need is to sign up for a free Semrush account, if you don't already have one.

Link Building

SEO Link Building: How to Get Powerful Links in 2022

Wondering whether your SEO link building strategies still work in 2022? Matt Diggity covers 5 techniques that will help you land HUNDREDS of high quality DR90+ backlinks in any niche.

Guest Posting
HARO
Link Insertion
Broken Link Building
Unlinked Brand Mention

These are a little different way of thinking too, not just the normal "Get HARO digest emails and reply quickly." This is the kind of "flipping the script" tips that he shares in his Affiliate Lab course that I highly recommend.

Education

The Winner Doesn’t Take It All: ‘Information Gain’ and the New Future of SEO

In April 2020, Google filed a patent that set out to solve a familiar problem: copycat content. Most search results contain the same information. Once a reader has read one article, they’ve effectively read them all.

Google’s solution is straightforward: reward articles that bring new information to the table. The simplest way to measure information gain is to compare the content of a given article to those already ranking in the SERP, but Google suggests going a step further and taking into account the user’s search journey to work out what constitutes “new information.”

The simplest interpretation of this patent is that an article that adds something new to the discussion may rank more highly than an article that repeats the same information as others. Inversely, if your article offers the same core information as one the searcher has already read, it might be ranked lower.

Ryan Law discusses what to do based on this patent application. If it's been implemented into the algo already, he offers up a few things you can do:

Create Content That Builds on Its Predecessors
Experiment With Risky Framings and Angles
Build an Information Moat With Original Research

Using Google Search Console to Better Test SEO Changes

Semrush has a good article on how to use GSC to see results of SEO changes. It goes through steps of using the Regex filter, as well as a Google Sheet you can use to get the Regex to plug into GSC for a group of URLs.

What Is PageRank?

Detailed look at Google's PageRank, an algorithm that measures the importance of websites by assessing the number and quality of links. It allows Google to generate better search results.

PageRank used to be more publicly discussed, but eventually brought it in-house only. They still use it, but just don't publicly discuss it.

Some interesting things in here, including punishments handed out to The Washington Post for selling links and Google Chrome's websites for buying sponsored guest posts.

News

Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update Brewing Again June 27-28th

Seeing new signs of more larger Google Search ranking algorithm update tremors and volatility. This new one seems to just be kicking off, some of the tracking tools are already picking up on it and we have chatter from within the SEO community about a possible update on June 27th and June 28th.

This isn't the first signs of volatility since the core update was to have ended. I've been saying that Google does continuous updates all year round. There'll be bigger updates every few months that are announced, but do expect small-medium-sized updates to be the norm.

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Have a great week taking your niche sites to another level!