My team and I have been helping brands reach their SEO traffic and conversion goals through content and links for over 10 years. Recognized by industry leaders and household brands as an authority in both organic content and digital PR.
Share
Content Caffeine #11: SGE rollout delayed? DPR survey checklist, Is TikTok a search engine & more.
Published 4 months ago • 6 min read
Content Caffeine: a newsletter for the content-obsessed.
Hi everyone!
We've hit 3200 subscribers! I can't believe so many of you are enjoying my occasional missives. I aim to continually increase the quality of the info you're getting from me. I'm planning my 2024 conference schedule and would love to meet some of you in person. Are there any that you're attending? Let me know.
News & Analysis
It was another huge couple of weeks for SEO. Here's my take on all the stories you should be watching.
TikTok vs. Google
Is TikTok a search engine? Is it beating out Google?
This week, I saw two reports and tracked 6+ massive threads across LinkedIn and X with SEOs arguing over whether TikTok is a search engine and if it has more search volume and users than the big G.
It was wild, with one post getting 330 comments alone.
Many of the arguments are not new, but the controversy is getting bigger instead of settling.
First, nobody disputes that TikTok users search the platform. Whether that makes TikTok a search engine or not is a distraction. Personally, I think it's sensational to call TikTok a search engine. I use the search function on all major platforms I frequent, including Reddit, LinkedIn, X, YouTube, Instagram, Amazon, and Facebook.
Second, any information marketers can obtain about keywords and volume on a platform is valuable to efforts on that platform.
Most importantly, there is currently no reliable way to compare search volumes between Google and TikTok.
Some in the industry combine data from different third-party applications without understanding how that data is reported. It's like measuring one thing in centimeters and another in inches and pretending those measures are the same.
Using the same third-party tool and comparing relative volume is a slightly better attempt. Keywordtool.io is emerging as the tool of choice here.
The problem is that, as data consumers, we must understand where and how our tools source and process data.
Keywordtool.io uses Google Keyword Planner for its Google search volume data. GKP uses broad search for volume, so this data should be inflated.
The tool provides a guesstimate of search volume for TikTok based on its own scrape from autocomplete. Very unreliable, and I would not recommend anyone make business decisions based on this data.
This allows users to interact with images and videos by circling or scribbling on them. Users can then begin a more traditional search experience on Google. I think it is a genius way to pull people back into Google from native video apps like TikTok.
Users may not find SGE useful. In their recent announcement of Circle, they mention: "But our goal is to make AI helpful for everyone, not just early adopters." I read this to mean their user data on SGE found that not enough people liked it or found it useful, and it largely remains a tool for the tech community to play with.
Bing’s market share has barely increased since rolling out AI-assisted search. Remember, Google only began moving toward SGE due to pressure from Bing. But that pressure amounted to only a 1% increase in market share for the Bing search engine over the last year. Hardly enough to motivate Google to change its golden goose dramatically.
Absent a clear preference for generative search by users, Google will continue to slow-roll these changes to ensure the continuation of the ecosystem that's worked so well for them. Nicole's LinkedIn discussion. Lily Ray's LinkedIn discussion.
This news quickly sent the SEO community into a tizzy as speculation spread that AI would replace the raters.
In fact, Dawn Anderson wrote a detailed article openly speculating about a move like this back in November.
Barry Schwartz spoke with Google, who told him they were merely moving those contracts to new vendors. See the update at the bottom here.
My big takeaway here is that we're on edge, people. There's been so much news and so many changes happening so quickly that it's easy to get excited. This news story was a good reminder to keep calm and SEO on.
Axios and Futurism reported this week that the company's troubles may stem from the reputational harm caused by the AI content fiasco last year.
Red Ventures is a good company with phenomenal SEOs and content marketers. I wish them well individually. But I am glad that we live in a world where AI misinformation and lack of transparency cause enough damage to a brand to impact value.
I'm not convinced that's what's happening here, though. If the site's organic footprint was on the rise, there might be a different story.
In response to a hilarious meme from Lily Ray, Danny Sullivan posted a meme of his own saying someone's "cooking up a storm tonight." It sure would be nice for an update to address all the recent spam.
I spotted a new type of job opening that may interest readers--Generative Search Specialist.
As our industry digests the changes brought by AI, these will become best practices that bleed into job descriptions and create new jobs. Though I haven't created a jobs area in this newsletter, I'll definitely track this evolution in roles as they happen.
I hope these insights help. For more tips, follow me here. To explore our work further, reach out here.
See our work!
Check out more of our work or how we might help you achieve your organic goals.
Inspiration
This week's inspiration is an internal checklist we use to ensure our client surveys provide newsmaking stats. This process is the same one we've used to gain coverage in the Wall Street Journal, The Independent, Fortune, and 100s of other top-tier media.
I've never shared this externally. And I gotta say, I'm a little nervous.
Let me know if this helps.
Digital PR Survey Development Checklist
Download Button
Got something to share?
If you've got a resource or campaign you're proud of, let me know. We'd love to feature your awesome work.
Upcoming PR & Seasonal Dates
March 1, 2024: Share a Smile Day March 1, 2024: National Barista Day March 1, 2024: Employee Appreciation Day March 1, 2024: NHS Workers Day March 2, 2024: Dr. Seuss Day March 2, 2024: International Rescue Cat Day March 3, 2024: World Hearing Day March 3, 2024: World Wildlife Day March 3, 2024: National Cold Cuts Day March 3, 2024: Start of Consumer Protection Week March 3, 2024: Start of Professional Pet Sitters Week March 4, 2024: National Sons Day March 4, 2024: National Grammar Day March 4, 2024: World Obesity Day March 5, 2024: Unique Names Day March 6, 2024: National Dress Day March 6, 2024: Oreo Cookie Day March 6, 2024: Dentist's Day March 7, 2024: World Book Day March 7, 2024: Plant Power Day March 8. 2024: International Women's Day March 8, 2024: National Freelancers Day March 9, 2024: Made in UK Day March 9, 2024: National Barbie Day March 9, 2024: National Meatball Day March 10, 2024: National Mario Day March 10, 2024: Start of Ramadan March 11, 2024: World Plumbing Day March 12, 2024: National Girl Scout Day March 12, 2024: National Working Moms Day March 14, 2024: National Pi Day March is also:
National Reading Month National Colon Cancer Awareness Month Epilepsy Awareness Month National Women's History Month National Credit Education Month Irish American History Month National Nutrition Month MS Awareness Month National Peanut Month National Caffeine Awareness Month
Share with friends, get cool stuff!
Have friends who'd love our newsletter too? Give them your unique referral link (below) and get an awesome reward when they subscribe.
Refer 3 Subscribers: Get tagged in a LinkedIn post to thank you for your support.
Refer 10 Subscribers: Get included in a Content Caffeine email as a supporter.
Refer 25 Subscribers: Get 1 month free subscription to Liam Fallen’s MostlyMarketing private Slack community.
Refer 50 Subscribers: Get 1 month free AlsoAsked Lite subscription.
Refer 100 Subscribers: Get a free 1 month free subscription to Superpath private Slack community.
Refer 250 Subscribers: Get a free copy of Marie Haynes’ Creating Helpful Content Workbook.
My team and I have been helping brands reach their SEO traffic and conversion goals through content and links for over 10 years. Recognized by industry leaders and household brands as an authority in both organic content and digital PR.
Content Caffeine: a newsletter for the content-obsessed. Hi everyone! We’re working on a new initiative at the agency so this week’s issue is on the shorter side. I'm covering the most important headlines here. News & Analysis March Core Update is still rolling out. When Google announced this update on March 5th, it said it would likely last 3 to 4 weeks. According to the Google status dashboard, it’s still rolling out 5 weeks later.And the community continues to see volatility. A site seeing...
Content Caffeine: a newsletter for the content-obsessed. Hi everyone! Once again, there’s a lot to talk about. It’s been a hectic couple of weeks. I try to touch on the critical stuff to give you more than just the headlines.If it’s too much or too little, please let me know what I could do better or differently. News & Analysis Google Spam Update is done rolling out The spam update finished rolling out on March 20, 2024. Lily Ray started following Craigslist queries a few months back to...
Content Caffeine: a newsletter for the content-obsessed. Hi everyone! There's so much happening with this set of updates. And unless you've been hiding under a rock, you know Google's making massive changes. But if you've been too heads down to notice, we've got you covered. Read on. News & Analysis Everything we know about the algorithm updates. On March 5th, Google announced SEVERAL concurrent updates that would be rolling out over the ensuing weeks and months. Taken together, they are the...
