Stay Ahead of the Curve with This Week's Top SEO News

Hi there, As usual, we've got you covered with a roundup of the top SEO news and tips you need to know from the past week. Enjoy! Google Tests “Ask Your Own” Feature Google is testing a new “Ask your own” feature that allows users to ask follow-up questions under the “People also ask” section. This chat-like experience seems tied to Google's Search Generative Experience (SGE) and aims to provide more personalized answers. While still in early testing, this feature could allow users to have more of a conversation with Google rather than just receiving static search results. It will be interesting to see if this scales across search verticals and how it impacts traditional blue link results. Source: Search [Engine Round Table]( More Sites Blocking ChatGPT Access According to a study by Originality.ai, at least 26 of the top 100 websites and 242 of the top 1,000 sites are now blocking access to ChatGPT's web crawler, GPTBot. This represents a 250% increase over the past month as more publishers aim to prevent OpenAI from scraping content without permission or compensation. Source: [SearchEngineLand]( Major sites like Pinterest, Indeed, The Guardian, and USA Today are among those now blocking the AI tool. While some argue blocking reduces potential traffic, others see it as protecting their content from being used to train AI without consent. Source: What is Thin and Duplicate Content? Thin and duplicate content can harm search performance, so it's important to identify and address these issues. Thin content provides little value to readers while duplicate content confuses search engines about which page to rank. Common thin content includes pages with just a video, sparse photo galleries, limited author pages, and more. Duplicate content can come from syndication, recurring features like daily horoscopes, and regional URL variants. This guide, written by Jessie Willms and Shelby Blackley, walks you through the topic and provides actionable tips. Check it out [here](. SEO Testing A/B testing in SEO is just one of many methods for conducting valuable tests. This is an invaluable way to optimize your marketing campaigns and website performance. Here's what you need to know to run effective split tests: - What to test: Headlines, CTAs, email subject lines, page layouts, and social proof elements like testimonials are great starting points. - Set a hypothesis: Be clear on what you want to prove or disprove before beginning a test. - Pick metrics: Pageviews, time on site, conversions, etc. Choose 1-2 key metrics to measure success. - Control vs. challenger: The control is your existing version, the challenger is the one with changes. - Sample size matters: Bigger is better for accuracy. For new content, a 1-month test is a good baseline. - Evaluate carefully: Watch for false positives, the novelty effect, and external factors that could skew results. - Start simple: Headlines and CTAs are good introductory tests before tackling more advanced multivariate testing. Effective A/B testing takes some trial and error, but it provides the data you need to make informed decisions in SEO. Link Building: Is Guest Blogging Still Worth It? Guest blogging can be a useful SEO and content marketing tactic, but only if done right. Here are 3 essential tips on maximizing the value of guest posts: - Bring expertise and original perspectives. Repurposed or thinly researched content will likely get rejected. - Limit links and make them natural. Excess links look spammy. Use no-follow links where possible. - Create fully unique content. Never straight-up reuse old blog posts. The main goal of guest posting should be providing value to audiences through insightful, engaging content. If done strategically, it can still benefit SEO. But link-stuffed guest posts that offer little value are at risk. [Read more here](. Hope it was useful. Have a wonderful weekend. Cheers, Jennifer [Refer a friend to OutreachMama]( and earn up to a 50% discount! Sent to: {EMAIL} [Unsubscribe]( OutreachMama, 388 Market St, #1300, San Francisco, CA 94111, United States