CrushPress.AI

Tag: SEO News

  • Remembering Bruce Clay: SEO Pioneer, Mentor and Leader

    Remembering Bruce Clay: SEO Pioneer, Mentor and Leader

    I’m deeply saddened to share that Bruce Clay, widely known as the Father of SEO, passed away in late May. Bruce was one of the true founding figures of the SEO industry, having launched a professional SEO agency back in 1996, long before search marketing became the discipline we know today.

    For me, Bruce’s impact is hard to overstate. He was the first sponsor of the first-ever SEO conference, and he gave an extraordinary amount of his time, resources and money to help build the search community. Few people have supported this industry for as long, or with as much generosity, as Bruce did.

    Tribute video. The Bruce Clay, Inc. team prepared a tribute video honoring Bruce’s life and legacy. It describes him as a pioneer who devoted much of his life to helping the SEO industry grow. During his three decades as CEO of Bruce Clay Inc., he wrote three books, built tools, spoke at conferences, hosted training events and helped the company expand internationally.

    Because of Bruce’s founding principles, hundreds of employees around the world have contributed to SEO, and thousands of students have benefited from his experience and teaching.

    Here is the tribute video: Watch this video on YouTube.

    The Bruce Clay team told me, “We are absolutely heartbroken, but we find strength in the vibrant community and lasting values that Bruce built. Our teams in the U.S. and  around the world remain dedicated to carrying forward the mission Bruce loved so dearly.”

    Kyle Pouliot, Sr. Video Production Manager at Third Door Media, also shared a personal reflection with me.

    “I’ve gotten to know Bruce on a more personal level over these past few years and interacted with him frequently for our online conferences. What I’ve learned about Bruce in that time is that he was genuinely thoughtful and caring about the search community. Never short of an honest opinion, Bruce shared some really practical ideas for Search Engine Land and SMX. He loved sharing his deep experienced knowledge to everyone, it didn’t matter if you were a beginner or 20+ year industry veteran, he treated everyone the same. We talked about the hundreds of golf balls that would find their way into his property every day, food, raising kids and how incredible the weather was in Simi Valley. He will be greatly missed.”

    On a personal note, I’ve known Bruce Clay since I entered the SEO industry more than 20 years ago. He was a role model to me, often a mentor, and always someone who was approachable, professional and deeply caring. In many rooms, he was likely the most generous and thoughtful person there.

    I loved his SEO talks. I loved meeting him at industry events. And I especially valued the personal emails he sent about shaping the future of our industry. Those moments showed me how much Bruce cared, not just about search, but about the people building it.

    You will be deeply missed, Bruce.

    Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.

    crushpress.ai community screenshot
  • Google’s Job Data Bug: What’s Happening with Search Console?

    Google’s Job Data Bug: What’s Happening with Search Console?

    I’ve noticed that Google is currently investigating an issue with the Google Search Console. Specifically, this concerns the data logging and reporting of “Job listing” and “Job details” search appearance filters.

    On April 16th, a bug began affecting how this data is logged, causing Google to report zero clicks and impressions for job-related reports. Although traffic is still being received, it’s not being recorded correctly.

    What Google said. According to an update from Google, “A logging error is preventing Search Console from reporting impressions and clicks for ‘Job listing’ and ‘Job details’ Search appearance types from April 16, 2026 onward. We’re working to resolve this issue. This issue affects data logging only.”

    Complaints. I’ve also seen numerous SEOs voicing their concerns on social media, as shared in a tweet by Max Peters. The bug seems to impact impressions and clicks, but the traffic still comes through other measurement methods like google_jobs_apply UTM.

    Why we care. If you’ve noticed a decrease in search data for job listings, rest assured, it’s due to this bug on Google’s side. Your listings are likely still active and receiving traffic, although this isn’t reflected in Search Console at the moment.

    Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.

    crushpress.ai community screenshot
  • Google Unveils Powerful March 2026 Spam Update Impacting All

    Google Unveils Powerful March 2026 Spam Update Impacting All

    Today, Google released its March 2026 spam update, making it the second announced algorithm change this year, following the February 2026 Discover core update.

    This marks the first spam update of 2026. The previous one was rolled out in August 2025.

    Timing. Google mentioned that this update might “take a few days to complete.” They reiterated on LinkedIn: “This is a normal spam update, and it will roll out for all languages and locations. The rollout may take a few days to complete.”

    Why we care. Since this is the second major algorithm update of 2026, I need to stay alert for any changes in rankings or traffic on my sites. Google hasn’t specified what spam is being targeted, but shifts in performance could be related.

    More on the spam update. Google’s documentation states: “While Google’s automated systems to detect search spam are constantly operating, we occasionally make notable improvements to how they work. When we do, we refer to this as a spam update and share when they happen on our list of Google Search ranking updates.”

    Google’s AI-based spam-prevention system, SpamBrain, gets enhanced from time to time to better detect and manage new types of spam. If I notice changes after this update, reviewing and ensuring compliance with Google’s spam policies is essential for maintaining or improving rankings. Violations can lead to lower rankings or removal from search results entirely.

    For link spam updates, improvements might not translate to immediate gains since any ranking boost from spammy links is nullified. Hence, reclaiming lost benefits isn’t possible.

    Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.

    crushpress.ai community screenshot
  • Unveiling 2025’s Top SEO Changes: Google’s AI Revolution

    Unveiling 2025’s Top SEO Changes: Google’s AI Revolution

    Reflecting on another year in the world of search, I’ve seen how Google labeled 2025 as year three of a 10-year transformative shift. This change, centering on AI, became undeniably evident. No longer just an experiment, AI has now firmly integrated into the core processes of search.

    Here, I’ll share the most significant SEO news stories of 2025 from Search Engine Land.

    Note: This overview excludes Google algorithm updates, which Barry Schwartz has covered in a separate recap published today.

    10. Perplexity Ranking Factors and Systems

    Diving into the intricacies, independent researcher Metehan Yesilyurt examined browser-level interactions, revealing how Perplexity scores, ranks, and sometimes drops content. His findings uncovered a three-layer machine learning system reordering entity searches, manual authority whitelists, and many engagement signals.

    He also observed that authoritative domains, early strong performance, and tech-focused topics received boosts. The ranking further mirrored time decay, interconnected content clusters, and trending YouTube content that amplified visibility.

    9. Google Search Console Query Groups

    In a move all about clarity, Google introduced Query groups to the Search Console Insights report. By employing AI, it groups similar search queries into distinct audience topics. These don’t influence rankings but make performance trends more apparent, especially for high-volume sites.

    8. HubSpot’s SEO Decline

    I was surprised to see HubSpot’s organic traffic plummet from 13.5 million to 8.6 million within a month, mainly impacting its blog. This followed several Google updates, with SEOs pointing to thin, broad content not aligned with HubSpot’s core expertise.

    7. SEO vs. GEO

    The ongoing identity debate in SEO continues as Google rejects new terminologies like GEO (generative engine optimization) and AEO (answer engine optimization). They maintain that strong SEO practices are also effective for GEO, underpinning AI Overview rankings’ fundamentals.

    Yet, as AI answers replace clicks, traditional search still plays a vital role in discovery, despite search behavior evolving with users seeking AI for quick answers but relying on Google for extensive research.

    6. Google AI Mode

    The expansion of Google AI Mode from a trial to an almost default, comprehensive search experience was rapid. It incorporated more in-depth research, agentic activities, personalization, and the advanced Gemini 2.5—a drastic evolution toward complex search behaviors.

    This AI Mode initially struggled with transparency, breaking referral tracking and merging its performance data with standard Search Console reports, sparking concerns over visibility and attribution in a more AI-centric search landscape.

    5. Cloudflare vs. Google

    When Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince spoke about AI disrupting the web’s search-driven business model, it resonated with many. He highlighted the disproportionate relationship—Google and AI companies scrape extensive content while returning minimal traffic, jeopardizing original publishing unless the economic model adapts.

    4. Google Search Market Share Drops

    Seeing Google’s search share dip below 90% globally for the first time since 2015 was significant, driven by shifts in Asia and the U.S. This opened opportunities for Bing, Yandex, and Yahoo to capture some of Google’s shrinking share.

    3. AI-Generated Content

    Google’s stricter stance on AI-generated content was clear when it instructed quality raters to assign the Lowest ratings to predominantly auto-generated pages. The expanded spam definitions targeted scaled, low-effort AI implementations.

    Concurrent tests of AI-generated and AI-summarized search snippets indicated a future where AI not only critically examines content but also influences its presentation in searches.

    2. Impact of Google AI Overviews on Clicks

    I noticed analysis from various sources showing a troubling trend: Google Search offered more impressions and AI Overview visibility but resulted in fewer clicks. This was especially evident with non-branded, informational queries where AI Overview overshadowed classic results.

    Brands mentioned in AI Overviews saw improved CTR, whereas those outside these features lost prominence, emphasizing that AI visibility is pivotal in driving successful outcomes.

    1. R.I.P., num=100

    Google’s removal of the &num=100 search parameter has widely impacted the SEO industry, disrupting rank-tracking tools and coinciding with a noticeable decrease in Google Search Console impressions and query counts.

    Initial evaluations suggested that the majority of sites experienced reduced visibility, especially beyond Page 1, hinting at historic overreported metrics and a more realistic view of organic performance going forward.

    Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.

    crushpress.ai community screenshot