SEO
Google FAQ Rich Results Limited to Two Per Page Rolling Out
Google’s Danny Sullivan confirmed that search results showing FAQ structured data are now limited to only two results. Danny also confirmed that it was not done to curb abuse of the structured data rich results by SEOs and explained the reasons why they did this.
Google FAQ Rich Results Not Limited in the UK
Google’s Danny Sullivan tweeted that they have limited FAQ rich results to two per web page.
Yes, we made a change recently that limits these to two maximum.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) June 18, 2021
But that is not the case in the UK and other places around the world.
Here is what an FAQ rich result looks like in the UK:
Screenshot of a UK Rich Result with 3 FAQs
Apparently the update is still rolling out so there may still be some FAQ rich results that show more than two results.
FAQ Rich Results in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) structured data is a way to become eligible to show FAQ content in Google’s SERPs. The benefit of this type of display is that it makes a website’s position take up more space in the search results.
This kind of rich results was announced by Google on May 8, 2019.
“An FAQ page provides a list of frequently asked questions and answers on a particular topic.
For example, an FAQ page on an e-commerce website might provide answers on shipping destinations, purchase options, return policies, and refund processes.
By using FAQPage structured data, you can make your content eligible to display these questions and answers to display directly on Google Search and the Assistant, helping users to quickly find answers to frequently asked questions.”
Another reason why the FAQ structured data display was coveted was because it knocked a competitor or two off the first page of the search results onto page two.
SEO Response to FAQ Structured Data Rich Results
The initial rollout generated both praise and criticism, depending on whether the SEO was benefiting from FAQs in the SERPs or if a competitor was benefiting.
Google showed up to ten FAQs at a time, which could create the situation where two or three web pages could dominate the entire first page of the search results.
One SEO (@brodieseo) tweeted a screenshot of how much the FAQs dominated the search results:
Good morning friends. I’m pretty sure the max is 10 for the FAQs Andy, then it has the ‘view more’ link at the end. So on the first page of the Goog there could potentially be 100 FAQs? I hope I never stumble across that result. pic.twitter.com/RTd2ZZdApk
— Brodie Clark (@brodieseo) September 17, 2019
Lily Ray (@lilyraynyc) posted a screenshot of the FAQ rich results dominating the SERPs.
Here’s that screenshot with highlights that I added to show just how much space these rich results took up:
Screenshot of FAQ Rich Results in 2019
She later tweeted her mixed feelings about the new FAQ rich results:
“I feel a little awkward complaining about organic results taking up too much space.”
August 2020: Google Reduced FAQ Rich Results
Then around a year later in the summer of 2020 the search marketing community noticed that there were less FAQ structured data rich results showing in the SERPs.
Google’s John Mueller answered a question about the seeming disappearance of FAQ rich results.
Mueller said:
“With regards to FAQ markup in general, one of the things that I’ve noticed people talking about online is that we’re showing fewer of these in the search results.
And that’s something from my point of view, that’s kind of natural development, where we try to find the right balance between showing these everywhere and showing these for pages where it kind of makes more sense.
…So we have to kind of fine tune which ones, which queries, which pages we would be showing the FAQ rich results type for.”
May 2021: FAQ Rich Results Still Missing
In another Google office hours hangout in May 2021 someone else asked Mueller what was going on with the FAQ Rich Results.
The person asking the question wanted to know if the structured data no longer returned rich results, asking, “Does it work?”
John Mueller answered that Google was still showing the FAQ rich results and that it’s undergoing the normal process of updating the various features and results to make sure that the rich results are useful.
Mueller said:
“What usually tends to happen with some of these structured data types or rich results types is that over time we try to fine tune how often we show them just to make sure we’re not
overloading the search results with all of these… bling and extra functionality that just confuses people in the end.”
Google Announces FAQ Rich Results are Limited
What changed is that Google’s Danny Sullivan announced on Twitter that Google is limiting FAQ rich results to just two FAQs per web page instead of the previous ten FAQ entries per web page.
Someone asked if it was in response to SEOs “gaming” Google:
And finally Google decided that SEOs pushed too much the FAQ game.
So… let see what sites will be “graced”… right now, in travel, I tend to see the classic OTAs earning them (the ones who actually pushed too much the FAQ needle) https://t.co/fwWcZtPZmV— Gianluca Fiorelli (@gfiorelli1) June 18, 2021
Danny Sullivan responded that no, it’s not a response to anyone gaming the FAQ rich results.
Danny tweeted:
I’ve seen several people suggest this is something we did because of SEO gaming. It’s not. SEOs couldn’t game how many we displayed. Our automated systems did that. We just review things all the time and determined showing up to two was most useful, when we show at all.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) June 18, 2021
Danny expanded on his explanation:
It shows because our systems have determined it may be useful to show. That’s why they — like any other structured data — don’t always show. It’s not always useful. More here: https://t.co/OKIPc9vfZo
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) June 18, 2021
Are FAQ Rich Results Limited Only in the USA?
At this writing the update to the FAQ structured data is still rolling out.
It was beginning to feel that the FAQ Rich Results had gone away or had been put on hold.
This new way of displaying FAQ rich results seems more fair than the initial way which tended to knock more sites off the front page of the search results.
Limiting web pages to just two FAQs in the rich results seems like a fair way to implement this feature while still being useful to users.
But don’t expect this implementation to be permanent because everything about search is in a state of constant change.
Citations
2019 Google
New in structured data: FAQ and How-to
2019 Google
FAQ on Search and the Google Assistant
SEJ September 2019
Is FAQ Structured Data Dominating Google Search?
SEJ August 2020
Why Google Might Show Less FAQ Rich Results
SEJ May 2021
Google on What’s Going on With FAQ Rich Results
SEO
Google Updating Cryptocurrency Advertising Policy For 2024
Google published an announcement of upcoming changes to their cryptocurrency advertising policies and advises advertisers to make themselves aware of the changes and prepare to be in compliance with the new requirements.
The upcoming updates are to Google’s Cryptocurrencies and related products policy for the advertisement of Cryptocurrency Coin Trusts. The changes are set to take effect on January 29th, 2024.
Cryptocurrency Coin Trusts are financial products that enable investors to trade shares in trusts holding substantial amounts of digital currency. These trusts provide investors with equity in cryptocurrencies without having direct ownership. They are also an option for creating a more diversified portfolio.
The policy updates by Google that are coming in 2024 aim to describe the scope and requirements for the advertisement of Cryptocurrency Coin Trusts. Advertisers targeting the United States will be able to promote these products and services as long as they abide by specific policies outlined in the updated requirements and that they also obtain certification from Google.
The updated policy changes are not limited to the United States. They will apply globally to all accounts advertising Cryptocurrency Coin Trusts.
Google’s announcement also reminded advertisers of their obligation for compliance to local laws in the areas where the ads are targeted.
Google’s approach for violations of the new policy will be to first give a warning before imposing an account suspension.
Advertisers that fail to comply with the updated policy will receive a warning at least seven days before a potential account suspension. This time period provides advertisers with an opportunity to fix non-compliance issues and to get back into compliance with the revised guidelines.
Advertisers are encouraged to refer to Google’s documentation on “About restricted financial products certification.”
The deadline for the change in policy is January 29th, 2024. Cryptocurrency Coin Trusts advertisers will need to pay close attention to the updated policies in order to ensure compliance.
Read Google’s announcement:
Updates to Cryptocurrencies and related products policy (December 2023)
SEO
SEO Trends You Can’t Ignore In 2024
Most SEO trends fade quickly. But some of them stick and deserve your attention.
Let’s explore what those are and how to take advantage of them.
If you give ChatGPT a title and ask it to write a blog post, it will—in seconds.
This is super impressive, but there are a couple of issues:
- Everyone else using ChatGPT is creating the same content. It’s the same for users of other GPT-powered AI writing tools, too—which is basically all of them.
- The content is extremely dull. Sure, you can ask ChatGPT to “make it more entertaining,” but it usually overcompensates and hands back a cringe version of the same boring content.
In the words of Gael Breton:
How to take advantage of this SEO trend
Don’t use AI to write entire articles. They’ll be boring as heck. Instead, use it as a creative sparring partner to help you write better content and automate monotonous tasks.
For example, you can ask ChatGPT To write an outline from a working title and a list of keywords (which you can pull from Ahrefs)—and it does a pretty decent job.
Prompt:
Create an outline for a post entitled “[working title]” based on these keywords: [list]
Result:
When you’ve written your draft, you can ask to polish it in seconds by asking ChatGPT to proofread it.
Then you can automate the boring stuff, like creating more enticing title tags…
… and writing a meta description:
If you notice a few months down the line that your content ranks well but hasn’t won the featured snippet, ChatGPT can help with that, too.
For example, Ahrefs tells us we rank in position 3 for “affiliate marketing” but don’t own the snippet.
If we check Google, the snippet is a definition. Asking ChatGPT to simplify our definition may solve this problem.
In short, there are a near-infinite number of ways to use ChatGPT (and other AI writing tools) to create better content. And all of them buck the trend of asking it to write boring, boilerplate articles from scratch.
Programmatic SEO refers to the creation of keyword-targeted pages in an automatic (or near automatic) way.
Nomadlist’s location pages are a perfect example:
Each page focuses on a specific city and shares the same core information—internet speeds, cost, temperature, etc. All of this information is pulled programmatically from a database and the site gets an estimated 46k monthly search visits in total.
Programmatic SEO is nothing new. It’s been around forever. It’s just the hot thing right now because AI tools like ChatGPT make it easier and more accessible than ever before.
The problem? As John Mueller pointed out on Twitter X, much of it is spam:
I love fire, but also programmatic SEO is often a fancy banner for spam.
— I am John – ⭐ Say no to cookies – biscuits only ⭐ (@JohnMu) July 25, 2023
How to take advantage of this SEO trend
Don’t use programmatic SEO to publish insane amounts of spam that’ll probably get hit in the next Google update. Use it to scale valuable content that will stand the test of time.
For example, Wise’s currency conversion pages currently get an estimated 31.7M monthly search visits:
This is because the content is actually useful. Each page features an interactive tool showing the live exchange rate for any amount…
… the exchange rate over time…
… a handy email notification option when the exchange rates exceed a certain amount…
… handy conversion charts for popular amounts…
… and a comparison of the cheapest ways to send money abroad in your chosen currency:
It doesn’t matter that all of these pages use the same template. The data is exactly what you want to see when you search [currency 1] to [currency 2].
That’s probably why Wise ranks in the top 10 for over 66,000 of these keywords:
Looking to take advantage of programmatic content in 2024 like Wise? Check out the guide below.
People love ChatGPT because it answers questions fast and succinctly, so it’s no surprise that generative AI is already making its way into search.
For example, if you ask Bing for a definition or how to do something basic, AI will generate an answer on the fly right there in the search results.
In other words, thanks to AI, users no longer have to click on a search result for answers to simple questions. It’s like featured snippets on steroids.
This might not be a huge deal right now, but when Google’s version of this (Search Generative Experience) comes out of beta, many websites will see clicks fall off a cliff.
How to take advantage of this SEO trend
Don’t invest too much in topics that generative AI can easily answer. You’ll only lose clicks like crazy to AI in the long run. Instead, start prioritizing topics that AI will struggle to answer.
How do you know which topics it will struggle to answer? Try asking ChatGPT. If it gives a good and concise answer, it’s clearly an easy question.
For example, there are hundreds of searches for how to calculate a percentage in Google Sheets every month in the US:
If you ask ChatGPT for the solution, it gives you a perfect answer in about fifty words.
This is the perfect example of a topic where generative AI will remove the need to click on a search result for many.
That’s probably not going to be the case for a topic like this:
Sure. Generative AI might be able to tell you how to create a template—but it can’t make one for you. And even if it can in the future, it will never be a personal finance expert with experience. You’ll always have to click on a search result for a template created by that person.
These are the kinds of topics to prioritize in 2024 and beyond.
Sidenote.
None of this means you should stop targeting “simple” topics altogether. You’ll always be able to get some traffic from them. My point is not to be obsessed with ranking for keywords whose days are numbered. Prioritize topics with long-term value instead.
Bonus: 3 SEO trends to ignore in 2024
Not all SEO trends move the needle. Here are just a few of those trends and why you should ignore them.
People are using voice search more than ever
In 2014, Google revealed that 41% of Americans use voice search daily. According to research by UpCity, that number was up to 50% as of 2022. I haven’t seen any data for 2023 yet, but I’d imagine it’s above 50%.
Why you should ignore this SEO trend
75% of voice search results come from a page ranking in the top 3, and 40.7% come from a featured snippet. If you’re already optimizing for those things, there’s not much more you can do.
People are using visual search for shopping more than ever
In 2022, Insider Intelligence reported that 22% of US adults have shopped with visual search (Google Lens, Bing Visual Search, etc.). That number is up from just 15% in 2021.
Why you should ignore this SEO trend
Much like voice search, there’s no real way to optimize for visual search. Sure, it helps to have good quality product images, optimized filenames and alt text, and product schema markup on your pages—but you should be doing this stuff anyway as it’s been a best practice since forever.
People are using Bing more than ever before
Bing’s Yusuf Mehdi announced in March 2023 that the search engine had surpassed 100M daily active users for the first time ever. This came just one month after the launch of AI-powered Bing.
Why you should ignore this SEO trend
Bing might be more popular than ever, but its market share still only stands at around ~3% according to estimates by Statcounter. Google’s market share stands at roughly 92%, so that’s the one you should be optimizing for.
Plus, it’s often the case that if you rank in Google, you also rank in Bing—so it really doesn’t deserve any focus.
Final thoughts
Keeping your finger on the pulse and taking advantage of trends makes sense, but don’t let them distract you from the boring stuff that’s always worked: find what people are searching for > create content about it > build backlinks > repeat.
Got questions? Ping me on Twitter X.
SEO
Mozilla VPN Security Risks Discovered
Mozilla published the results of a recent third-party security audit of its VPN services as part of it’s commitment to user privacy and security. The survey revealed security issues which were presented to Mozilla to be addressed with fixes to ensure user privacy and security.
Many search marketers use VPNs during the course of their business especially when using a Wi-Fi connection in order to protect sensitive data, so the trustworthiness of a VNP is essential.
Mozilla VPN
A Virtual Private Network (VPN), is a service that hides (encrypts) a user’s Internet traffic so that no third party (like an ISP) can snoop and see what sites a user is visiting.
VPNs also add a layer of security from malicious activities such as session hijacking which can give an attacker full access to the websites a user is visiting.
There is a high expectation from users that the VPN will protect their privacy when they are browsing on the Internet.
Mozilla thus employs the services of a third party to conduct a security audit to make sure their VPN is thoroughly locked down.
Security Risks Discovered
The audit revealed vulnerabilities of medium or higher severity, ranging from Denial of Service (DoS). risks to keychain access leaks (related to encryption) and the lack of access controls.
Cure53, the third party security firm, discovered and addressed several risks. Among the issues were potential VPN leaks to the vulnerability of a rogue extension that disabled the VPN.
The scope of the audit encompassed the following products:
- Mozilla VPN Qt6 App for macOS
- Mozilla VPN Qt6 App for Linux
- Mozilla VPN Qt6 App for Windows
- Mozilla VPN Qt6 App for iOS
- Mozilla VPN Qt6 App for Androi
These are the risks identified by the security audit:
- FVP-03-003: DoS via serialized intent
- FVP-03-008: Keychain access level leaks WG private key to iCloud
- VP-03-010: VPN leak via captive portal detection
- FVP-03-011: Lack of local TCP server access controls
- FVP-03-012: Rogue extension can disable VPN using mozillavpnnp (High)
The rogue extension issue was rated as high severity. Each risk was subsequently addressed by Mozilla.
Mozilla presented the results of the security audit as part of their commitment to transparency and to maintain the trust and security of their users. Conducting a third party security audit is a best practice for a VPN provider that helps assure that the VPN is trustworthy and reliable.
Read Mozilla’s announcement:
Mozilla VPN Security Audit 2023
Featured Image by Shutterstock/Meilun
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