🔍 Consolidating content for SEO wins

Plus, BERT's work on News, Facebook Campus and more Sep 11, 2020 Good morning, search marketers, first a quick reminder, I’ll be chatting with Nicole DeLeon, Amanda Jordan and Aledya Solis [today at 1:00 p.m. ET]( on Live with Search Engine Land about closing the gender gap in SEO. Does consolidating content — taking down, redirecting, updating — make you nervous? There’s good reason to get past the fear and think about how to make the most of the content you have. Lily Ray of Path Interactive asked Google’s Martin Splitt whether it makes sense to consolidate two similar pieces of content into one article. His answer: “Definitely.” Of course there will be exceptions to doing that, but [consolidation can help improve your SEO impact](, so don’t be shy. Google says it now uses [BERT to match News stories with fact checks](. The company talked about that as well as other Search reliability initiatives ahead of the U.S. presidential election, including limiting auto-complete on election-related queries. Today marks the 19th year since 9/11, and as my colleague Taylor Peterson noted, the commemorations will look a lot different this year with featured recorded readings from family members and a socially-distanced family gathering in Memorial Plaza. The museum offers [guided virtual tours]( and [an interactive video experience](. “All of which is to say: Today is an important day. It’s also a case study on how, despite the circumstances, technology enables us to share in these experiences, participate, and collectively reflect on important moments,” writes Taylor. “Even while apart, we’re embracing new ways to learn, connect with others, and be present – if even virtually. That’s powerful.” Well put. Ginny Marvin,Editor-In-Chief Product Deep Dive: Customer Match Join our Google product experts to learn how Customer Match helps you re-engage your high quality customers and find new ones. Tune in to discover new features and learn best practices, including how Google handles first-party data in a privacy-safe way. [Watch now »]( Social Shorts Facebook wants those college kids back Facebook launched Facebook Campus yesterday with an announcement that reads like it was written back when Mark Zuckerberg was in that dorm at Harvard — complete with needing a .edu to sign up: “We wanted to create a product where it was easy for classmates to meet each other, foster new relationships and also easily start conversations.” It’s available at roughly 30 U.S. campuses now. Why we care. Facebook’s “young person problem” isn’t new, but this is squarely aimed at trying to fix it with something other than Instagram. We know what you’re wondering. No, there won’t be advertising in the Campus Feed, but Facebook [tells users]( it “may use your activity from Facebook Campus to personalize your experience on our apps to show you more relevant content, including ads. This means your activity on Facebook may influence what you see in Campus, and your activity in Campus may influence what you see elsewhere on Facebook.” Webinar: Great Marketing Starts with Better Planning We can all agree that 2021 can’t come soon enough, and as your start thinking about what next year could look like, the strategic planning process needs to be as good or better than the tactics that your team will produce and execute. But in the “next normal” we find ourselves in, what should strategic planning look like? Join our experts to learn best practices, tips, and strategies that work to improve your strategic marketing planning for next year and beyond. [RSVP here »]( Search Shorts Sign the Google Ads search term report petition. Google Ads petition. There is a [petition the SEM industry is signing to compel Google Ads]( to not [hide search term data from advertisers](. Will the petition make Google change anything? That remains to be seen. Local ranking weirdness. If you noticed ranking changes last week in Google Local results, [you are not alone](. But the good news is that it seems to have reversed itself. Nosnippet. Google’s John Mueller reminds us that the “[nosnippet is just to prevent text from the page from being used as a snippet](. The page and a title may still be shown. Usually for sitelinks, the problems I’ve seen come from a site-structure that can be improved (internal linking).” Free training with SEO & SEM experts Register now to access 40+ search marketing sessions featuring experts from Search Engine Land, T-Mobile, Condé Nast, 1-800-Flowers, and more! Don’t miss out on this free training experience. [Start watching now »]( What we're reading We've curated our picks from across the web so you can retire your feed reader. [Amazon’s new Alexa partnership lets you link your AT&T number to turn your Echo into a phone]( – The Verge [Google confirms that Wear OS fall update is rolling out]( – 9to5Google [Google Finance makes investing information more accessible]( – Google Blog [Google Local Algorithm Weirdness Last Week]( – Search Engine Roundtable [Google Maps for Apple Watch is now available on App Store]( – 9to5Google [Google’s Waze lays off 5 percent of its workforce, closes offices in Asia and Latin America]( – The Verge [How Much Has iGaming SEO Changed In The Last 5 Years?]( – iGamingSEO [How to Work With Influencers to Drive SEO Results]( – Search Metrics [The Top 10 Google Ranking Factors of 2020 (+ How to Optimize for Them)]( – WordStream [Wasteful Wednesday with Wil Reynolds #15 – Keyword of the Week “Pictures”]( – Seer Interactive [Search Engine Land] [( [Want to advertise?]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. 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