Ecommerce MGMT, Author at Ecommerce Management Education

Nov 14 2024

Ask An SEO: With Topic Clusters, How Important Are Page Paths? via @sejournal, @HelenPollitt1

Our question today comes from Lee, who asked:

“With topic clusters, how important are page paths? We often have our pillar page in the primary navigation, but the support topics will often live in the blog.

They’re interlinked, but the page path doesn’t follow the ideal director of primary-topic/sub-topic/sub-sub-topic.”

This is a great question and touches on a lot of fundamental areas of SEO that we don’t always get right.

Let’s start by addressing topic clusters and what page paths are.

What Are Topic Clusters?

Topic clusters refer to a content system that structures how pages on a website relate to each other.

Essentially, they are a group of pages on a site that are all centered on the same topic.

The pillar page is written to cover the topic broadly, giving an overview of the subject. The “cluster” content goes into more depth on specific aspects of the topic.

For example, your pet store may have a pillar page all about cat toys. It would cover the benefits of toys for cats’ health and what sorts of toys are available.

You would then have more specific pages about each type of toy, toys that aren’t safe for cats, typical cat play behavior, and so on.

This content structure helps website managers create in-depth, relevant copy that covers the breadth of a subject.

The pillar page allows them to target the top-level search queries and questions someone might have about a topic, but the cluster pages will address more specific “long-tail” queries.

As such, the website builds authority in the subject and can show relevance to related search queries.

The key is linking the pages together so that the search bots understand the relationship between the pillar page’s content and the cluster pages.

Reasons Why Page Paths May Be Important For Topic Clusters

Now, onto page paths.

You’ll note that I’ve not mentioned the URL structure in the above explanation.

That’s because, in reality, the pillar and cluster structure relies primarily on links. It is the interlinking between these pages that shows their relationship to each other, not the page path.

Page paths are the bits of the URL that sit after the domain. So, for www.helenspetstore.com/cats/toys/catnip-toys, the “cats/toys/catnip-toys” part is the path.

They Can Make It Easier To Structure Navigation

Page paths can be useful in helping to organize the back end of the website.

If website content is structured in an intuitive and organized way, it can make it obvious what pages should be linking to each other.

For example, breadcrumb links are much easier to create programmatically when they just follow the folder structure shown in the URL.

That doesn’t mean it’s impossible to create breadcrumbs that don’t follow the same structure as the URL. Instead, there may just need to be some strategic thinking about which pages should be next in the sequence of links.

They Can Help With Organizing Your Site

In a similar way, having an easy-to-understand folder structure for your content means your URLs are a lot easier to group.

Going back to my example of a pet store, imagine I have a category page about dog clothes: www.helenspetstore.com/dogs/clothes.

If all of the dog clothing products my company sells sit within that folder, it might look like this:

Category: www.helenspetstore.com/dogs/clothes
Sub-categories:
- www.helenspetstore.com/dogs/clothes/coats
- www.helenspetstore.com/dogs/clothes/hats
- www.helenspetstore.com/dogs/clothes/shoes
Product page: www.helenspetstore.com/dogs/clothes/shoes/red-winter-shoes-xs

If I decide I no longer want Googlebot to crawl any of those URLs, I can just add a disallow line in the robots.txt that prevents Googlebot from crawling any of the URLs in the /dogs/clothes/ folder, like so:

Disallow: /dogs/clothes/

However, if I structured my product pages to sit outside of my folder structure – like this: www.helenspetstore.com/dogs-red-winter-shoes-xs – then this URL would not be encompassed by the above disallow directive, and Googlebot would still be able to crawl it.

Now, imagine that my website has hundreds of dog clothing product pages. Suddenly, it becomes a much larger task to stop Googlebot from crawling them.

They Can Make It Easier To Analyze

Looking at the above example further, the folder structure also helps with analyzing the performance of these pages when using tools like Google Search Console and Google Analytics.

With the product pages sitting within the /dogs/clothes/ folder, I could easily see how all the dog clothes pages, including product pages, were performing by simply looking at the /dogs/clothes/ folder.

However, if the product pages sit outside the /dogs/clothes/ folder, analyzing this would not include the performance of the individual product pages.

They May Impact User Engagement

There are arguments to be made that the URL structure can impact user engagement.

This is a much larger topic, but before doing anything drastic like changing your URLs purely to include more descriptive folders in them, consider that we’re seeing URLs in the SERPs less and less, especially on mobile.

They Can Be A Minor Ranking Factor

Again, a small element to consider is that URLs with keywords can have a minor ranking factor.

It’s not something I would advise restructuring a site over, but I would be remiss not to mention it.

They May Be Used As The Anchor Text

It is also important to note that in some instances where URLs are being linked to, rather than using a word or phrase for the anchor text, publishers may just link with the “naked” URL.

If your URL path contains keywords, they may help search engines understand the context of the link. This could give an overview of what the page linked to contains.

Essentially, the URL itself becomes the anchor text.

Reasons Why URL Paths Aren’t Important For Topic Clusters

There are a couple of reasons why page paths aren’t as important as we sometimes think they are.

To Denote Site Hierarchy

There’s often a bit of confusion in the SEO world that website hierarchy = your URL structure.

That is, the folder structure of your site denotes which are the parent pages, which are child pages, and the importance of each. However, it’s really much more nuanced than this.

For all the reasons listed above, having an easy-to-understand folder structure is helpful, but it does not mean that your site cannot denote hierarchy without it.

If we think about how users and search bots navigate a website, it is primarily through links. I would argue that the way the website is linked together is much more indicative of the relationship and hierarchy of the pages.

To Give Context

Some people will argue that URL paths help give context to the content that sits within the pages – that you can easily deduce what the likely content of www.helenspetstore.com/dogs/clothes/shoes/red-winter-shoes-xs is before you click on it.

Absolutely! A readable URL will help give that context. But I don’t believe you get much more context from that URL than you would from www.helenspetstore.com/dogs-red-winter-shoes-xs.

Should You Focus On The Page Path?

Yes. That is when you are creating the website. If you are working from scratch, you should think about the page paths for all of the reasons I listed before.

For Lee’s question about an existing website’s live supporting pages sitting in a different folder from the cluster page, then no.

As long as the internal linking between these pages is robust, and other signals like anchor text and content relevance are there, then it is not worth changing the URLs of existing pages to fit within the “ideal” folder structure.

The Risks Of Changing Your Page Paths

If you decide to make a change to the page paths of your already live, crawled, and indexed pages, remember that there is risk.

Changing the URLs means that Googlebot will need to understand that the new URL has the same content as the old URL and should, therefore, be indexed and ranked instead of it.

It isn’t just a case of implementing a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one. 301 redirects are just a canonicalization signal.

They are a suggestion to the search bots that the new URL should be indexed and ranked instead of the old one.

However, if you make mistakes with other indexing and ranking signals, Google might not respect it.

For example, it may take longer for the old URL to fall out of the index if you continue to link to it from your internal navigation system.

Even though users and Googlebot would still end up on the final page in the redirect, the signal is there that the original URL is still important.

Page Paths Are Important, But Consider The Risks Of Making Changes

In summary, a well-foldered website has a lot of benefits to it.

I would always consider the page path when designing a site’s architecture from scratch. It makes life a lot simpler down the line.

It isn’t a major factor in that content’s ability to rank, however. As long as you get the other signals correct, the actual URL path really isn’t that important.

If you are making changes to a significant volume of URLs, or pages that are of particular importance, then consider it a website migration.

Put in all the checks and balances that you would for that project. Check your internal links, update your XML sitemaps, put the redirects in place.

Give Googlebot as much evidence that the new URLs are rank-worthy.

More resources:

Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal

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Nov 14 2024

13 Black Hat Techniques That Can Harm An SEO Campaign via @sejournal, @jonleeclark

To remain the most popular search engine in the world, Google has to continuously update its algorithm to continue delivering users useful results.

To this end, Google also makes available Google Search Essentials, so everyone from web developers to SEO professionals knows the rules of the game.

Of course, there are plenty of people who want to win the game without following its rules.

The tactics they use are known as black hat SEO.

Black hat SEO gets its name from old cowboy movies where the bad guys wear a black hat.

Black hat SEO practitioners know the rules of search engine optimization and use that understanding to take shortcuts that aren’t exactly laid out in Google’s best practices.

This is in juxtaposition to white hat SEO practitioners who promote high-value content, and engage in deep keyword research to win in the SERPs.

Google is good at identifying and penalizing black hat SEO techniques, but that doesn’t stop people from trying them anyway. As technology develops, new techniques are invented, which push Google to intensify the fight against them.

Here are 13 black hat practices to avoid because they can land you an algorithmic or manual penalty.

Some of these you may do without intending to, so it’s good to familiarize yourself with black hat SEO to make sure you’re in the clear.

Black Hat Link Techniques

1. Buying Links

A high-quality, relevant link can drive traffic to your domain while telling Google’s algorithm that you’re a trustworthy source.

A good backlink can also help Google map your website so that it has a better idea of what you’re all about, making it easier to serve you up as a search result.

Buying a link, however, is against Google’s Search Essentials, and – according to Google – it doesn’t work.

If you’re caught, you could get an automatic and manual penalty that affects specific pages or, worse, the entire site.

Google tracks links that are likely to have been bought and those that have been earned.

Additionally, the sort of website that sells you a link is the sort of website you wouldn’t want to buy a link from because it is easier than you think for Google to identify unnatural patterns – even for Google’s own properties.

For this reason, Google created a form to help you disavow links.

This way, when you go through your backlinks, you can disentangle yourself from any undesirable domains.

2. PBNs

Image from author, November 2024

PBNs are websites that link to each other.

They used to be much more prevalent in the 1990s and early 2000s, particularly among fan pages for TV shows, movies, musicians, etc.

It is considered a link scheme when it is designed to manipulate algorithms, and with current AI advancements, search engines are perfect for catching such patterns.

3. Comment Spam

Image from author, November 2024

You may be able to share a link to your website in the comments section of a website, but you should avoid doing so unless it’s relevant.

Otherwise, you risk being penalized for being a spammer, as using comments to build links is essentially not effective.

4. Footer Links

Image from author, November 2024

The footer is prime real estate for a link because footers appear on every website page.

If you’ve been adding footer links with commercial anchor text at scale to manipulate results, Google will likely be able to identify those and penalize you for it.

5. Hidden Links

Image from author, November 2024

You may think that you can hide a link in your website’s text or by having the link appear as the same color as the background, but Google will notice and penalize you for trying to game the system.

Additionally, if you include enough irrelevant links, you’ll give Google less reason to direct traffic to your target audience since you’ll be diluting your relevance.

Deceptively hidden links are a violation of Google’s guidelines. That means:

No hiding text behind an image.
No keeping text off-screen using CSS or JavaScript.
No using a font size of 0.
No making one little character, like a period, a link.

For the full list of unnatural link types, see this article.

Content Black Hat Techniques

6. AI-Generated Content At A Scale

With the rise of AI, chatbots producing large volumes of content has become easier than ever.

Google has updated its guidelines to address the use of AI-generated content at a scale and advises that it should be thoroughly reviewed and fact-checked to ensure accuracy and reliability.

This means the use of AI to mass-generate content without human oversight violates Google’s guidelines.

However, black hat SEO pros in the early days of AI exploited these technologies by creating large volumes of content without proper human supervision.

Consequently, many of these sites were removed from search results when Google updated its algorithm and detected AI-generated spam patterns.

Below is what it looks like to be penalized by Google for AI-generated spam.

A website that gained 830K monthly visits from Google search vanished after the algorithm update.

A website that gained 830,000 monthly visits from Google search vanished after the algorithm update.

7. Article Spinning & Scraped Content

Image from author, November 2024

Article spinning is a technique that involves re-writing content by substituting synonyms, changing sentence structure, or re-writing text entirely while communicating the same information as the source material.

Article spinning or scraping can be done manually, but modern techniques often use AI and sophisticated software, making it harder to detect.

For a good reason, such articles degrade the quality of the internet, which is why Google penalizes you.

8. Cloaking

Cloaking is an old black hat trick that’s still used to this day – use a flash or animated page to conceal information your visitors that only Google can see in the HTML.

It’s very difficult to mislead Google without being detected. Google uses Google Chrome’s data, which means it can see what is rendered on the webpage on the users’ side and compare it to what is crawled.

If Google catches you cloaking, you’ll get a penalty.

9. Doorway Pages

Doorway pages are a form of cloaking.

They’re designed to rank for particular keywords but then redirect visitors to other pages.

They’re also known as:

Bridge pages.
Portal pages.
Jump pages.
Gateway pages.
Entry pages.

10. Scraping Search Results And Click Simulation

Scraping search results for rank-checking purposes or using bots to access Google Search is against their spam policies.

This often takes place in conjunction with article scraping, when an automated script scrapes Google Search to find articles ranking in the top 10 positions for automatic spinning.

Another type of spam is to program a bot that accesses Google and clicks on search results to manipulate click-through rates.

They aim to mislead search engines into thinking that certain pages are more popular or relevant than they are. This manipulation can temporarily boost a site’s perceived engagement metrics but harshly violates Google’s guidelines.

11. Hidden Content

Like a hidden link, hidden content is content that’s made the same color as the background or moved away from users’ screen view using CSS techniques.

It’s a tactic that intends to include as many keyword phrases, long-tail keywords, and semantically linked words as possible on a page.

Of course, Google’s algorithm can tell the difference between keywords within the body of a paragraph and keywords hidden in the background.

Hidden content can take several routes to your site beyond being intentionally placed there by the site owner.

You could publish a guest post from someone who includes hidden content.
Your commenting system could be insufficiently rigorous and, as a result, fail to pick up on hidden content.
Your website could get hacked, and the hackers could put up hidden content. This is also known as parasite hosting.
An authorized user could accidentally put up hidden content because they copied and pasted text with CSS styling from a different source.

Not all hidden content, like accordions or tabs, is forbidden.

The rule of thumb is that content is okay as long as it is visible to both the user and the search engine.

An example may be content that’s only visible to mobile visitors but is hidden to desktop visitors.

12. Keyword Stuffing

Image from author, November 2024

If SEO were only about using keywords, then a block of keywords would be all it takes to rank as No. 1.

However, since Google wants to deliver high-quality results, it is looking for content-rich in semantically linked keywords.

That way, the algorithm is more likely to provide high-quality content instead of content that simply bears the superficial markings of high-quality content.

13. Rich Snippets Spam

Image from author, November 2024

Rich snippets are snippets with more information on SERP pages. Enhanced visibility can increase CTR to your site from SERPs and drive more traffic.

But there are many ways that the schema used to generate these snippets can be manipulated. In fact, there is an entire Google support page dedicated to it.

However, if you get a manual action because of abusing structured data, it will not affect the rankings of your website. Instead, it will remove all rich snippet appearence from SERP for your website.

Bottom Line

The rewards of the black hat path are short-lived. They’re also unethical because they make the internet worse.

But you can’t do something right without knowing how to do it wrong, which is why every white hat SEO also needs to know about the black hat path.

That way, you know how to steer clear of it.

And if you accidentally get penalized or decide to change your practices, there are ways to recover from Google’s penalties.

More Resources:

Featured Image: PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock

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Nov 14 2024

Can Ecommerce Spur On-Demand Manufacturing?

On-demand manufacturing has taken much longer to mature than some would have wished. The idea is straightforward: Don’t build or complete a product until someone orders it.

The advantages are numerous, including enhanced customization, elevated sustainability, cross-border ecommerce, and lower inventory holding costs.

Female factory worker operating a machine

An on-demand manufacturing project starts only after a customer places an order.

Zero Inventory

Print-on-demand firms, a subset of on-demand manufacturing, have emphasized the advantages for years, often focusing on reduced inventory costs and borrowing the “zero inventory” moniker from the heavy manufacturing industry.

“Part of what makes the zero-inventory model interesting is that it can empower more people to start and scale their businesses globally, without the hassles of managing inventory, shipping, or making significant upfront investments — while reducing the impact on the environment through local production,” wrote Julie Ryland, vice president of public relations and communications at print-on-demand sourcing firm Gelato in an email message to Practical Ecommerce.

“Bigger picture, this model helps redefine global manufacturing and distribution — enabling small business owners and creators to start and grow a business in a way that is better for both people and the planet. The shift from mass production to mass customization on demand also presents a market opportunity for the print industry,” continued Ryland.

That opportunity has arrived. According to a July 2024 report from Precedence Research, a consultancy, the worldwide market for print-on-demand products will hit $10.2 billion in 2024, reaching $87 billion in a decade.

In the United States, Precedence projects the print-on-demand industry to reach $2 billion in 2024 and $22 billion in the next 10 years, roughly a 27.6% compound annual growth rate.

Meanwhile, the on-demand manufacturing industry is smaller. Various sources put the global market for on-demand manufacturing (ODM) using technologies such as 3D printing and computer numerical control machining at approximately $10 billion in 2024.

The segment becomes more or less nonexistent when isolated to products sold via ecommerce.

There are, however, rays of hope.

ODM Opportunity

Print-on-demand has demonstrated the potential. Many entrepreneurs run profitable businesses using Gelato or its competitors, such as Printful, Gooten, and Printify.

These printing solutions integrate with leading ecommerce platforms, and just like that, one has a global, zero-inventory drop-shipping business.

What if other products could do that? Even large items.

Here is an example. An Idaho-based manufacturer specializing in kayak trailers for the fishing industry plans to release an on-demand trailer system in 2025. When a customer orders, workers will pass metal sheets and tubes through a laser cleaning, cutting, and welding process, producing a ship-flat trailer kit, ready to package in a couple of hours.

This general idea applies to other products, such as furniture, antique auto parts, medical devices, and jewelry.

ODM for Ecommerce

To take off in ecommerce, on-demand manufacturing would need implementation, automation, and integration.

Implementation

Implementation in this context is having shops willing to manufacture a given product when an order comes in.

Hundreds of printing shops, for example, are connected to Gelato and Shopify and ready to take a standard blank t-shirt, print on it using standard methods, and ship it on behalf of the merchant.

The on-demand manufacturing industry needs this same level of shop implementation. The made-to-order fishing kayak example came from the brand actually producing the item. It had the specialized equipment and owned the raw materials. For on-demand manufacturing to work broadly with ecommerce, job shops must be able to pick up an order and manufacture it in a standard way.

Automation

Automation and even artificial intelligence could help manage shop capacity and handle technical files.

First, a network must instantly match orders with the best manufacturing facility. Print-on-demand services automatically route a t-shirt order to the closest available printer with the right equipment. Creating a similar system for complex manufacturing requires sophisticated automation and intelligence to assess shop capabilities, workload, and geographic location.

Second is the technical challenge of file preparation. Unlike standard product photos in print-on-demand, manufacturing requires precise technical specifications. Each facility might use different equipment requiring specific file formats for specialized machines and 3D printers. Enter AI, which could convert file formats.

For on-demand manufacturing to scale, these automation systems must work behind the scenes, making complex decisions instantly while keeping the process simple for merchants.

Integration

Integration could be the last step. It involves making it easy for small or mid-sized ecommerce shops to start an on-demand manufacturing business. The process could include adding an app to Shopify, installing a drag-and-drop product designer, and selling made-to-order items.

The company that solves these three hurdles could bring manufacturing on demand to ecommerce.

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Business

Nov 14 2024

Charts: Ecommerce in Europe 2024

Total B2C ecommerce sales in Europe will grow 8% in 2024, reaching €958 billion ($1.02 trillion), up from €887 billion in 2023. That’s according to the “European E-commerce Report 2024” (PDF) from Ecommerce Europe, an association representing 150,000 companies selling consumer goods or services online in that continent.

The report encompasses 38 countries and includes data and trends surrounding internet penetration, e-shoppers, and B2C ecommerce sales. The report’s data comes from direct collaboration, interviews, and questionnaires with national ecommerce associations across the continent.

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According to the data, 71% of European internet users shopped online in 2023, increasing slightly to a projected 72% in 2024.

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In addition, The Netherlands has the highest share of internet users who buy online (92%), followed by Norway (91%) and Denmark (89%).

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Moreover, the report also looks at data for the 27 E.U. member countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.

According to the data, the most popular categories for E.U. internet shoppers in 2023 were “Clothes, shoes, accessories” (70%), followed by “Multimedia: music, films, books, games” (48%).

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Nov 13 2024

HTTP Archive Report: 61% Of Cookies Enable Third-Party Tracking via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

HTTP Archive published 12 chapters of its annual Web Almanac, revealing disparities between mobile and desktop web performance.

The Almanac analyzes data from millions of sites to track trends in web technologies, performance metrics, and user experience.

This year’s Almanac details changes in technology adoption patterns that will impact businesses and users.

Key Highlights

Mobile Performance Gap

The most significant finding centers on the growing performance gap between desktop and mobile experiences.

With the introduction of Google’s new Core Web Vital metric, Interaction to Next Paint (INP), the gap has become wider than ever.

“Web performance is tied to what devices and networks people can afford,” the report notes, highlighting the socioeconomic implications of this growing divide.

The data shows that while desktop performance remains strong, mobile users—particularly those with lower-end devices—face challenges:

Desktop sites achieve 97% “good” INP scores
Mobile sites lag at 74% “good” INP scores
Mobile median Total Blocking Time is 18 times higher than desktop

Third-Party Tracking

The report found that tracking remains pervasive across the web.

“We find that 61% of cookies are set in a third-party context,” the report states, noting that these cookies can be used for cross-site tracking and targeted advertising.

Key privacy findings include:

Google’s DoubleClick sets cookies on 44% of top websites
Only 6% of third-party cookies use partitioning for privacy protection
11% of first-party cookies have SameSite set to None, potentially enabling tracking

CMS Market Share

In the content management space, WordPress continues its dominance, with the report stating:

“Of the over 16 million mobile sites in this year’s crawl, WordPress is used by 5.7 millions sites for a total of 36% of sites.”

However, among the top 1,000 most-visited websites, only 8% use identifiable CMS platforms, suggesting larger organizations opt for custom solutions.

In the ecommerce sector, WooCommerce leads with 38% market share, followed by Shopify at 18%.

The report found that “OpenCart is the last of the 362 detected shop systems that manage to secure a share above 1% of the market.”

PayPal remains most detected payment method (3.5% of sites), followed by Apple Pay and Shop Pay.

Performance By Platform

Some platforms markedly improved Core Web Vitals scores over the past year.

Squarespace increased from 33% good scores in 2022 to 60% in 2024, while others like Magento and WooCommerce continue to face performance challenges.

The remaining chapters of the Web Almanac are expected to be published in the coming weeks.

Structured Data Trends

The deprecation of FAQ and HowTo rich results by Google hasn’t significantly impacted their implementation.

This suggests website owners find value in these features beyond search.

Google expanded support for structured data types for various verticals, including vehicles, courses, and vacation rentals.

Why This Matters

These findings highlight that mobile optimization remains a challenge for developers and businesses.

HTTP Archive researchers noted in the report:

“These results highlight the ongoing need for focused optimization efforts, particularly in mobile experience.

The performance gap between devices suggests that many users, especially those on lower-end mobile devices, may be experiencing a significantly degraded web experience.”

Additionally, as privacy concerns grow, the industry faces pressure to balance user tracking with privacy protection.

Businesses reliant on third-party tracking mechanisms may need to adapt their marketing and analytics strategies accordingly.

The 2024 Web Almanac is available on HTTP Archive’s website; the remaining chapters are expected to be published in the coming weeks.

Featured Image: BestForBest/Shutterstock

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Nov 13 2024

Google’s Updated Machine Learning Courses Build SEO Understanding via @sejournal, @martinibuster

Google has updated its machine learning crash course with new videos and modules on large language models and automated machine learning. These courses are useful introductions to the technologies behind modern search engines and generative AI, information that will make you a better SEO.

What Is Google’s Machine Learning Crash Course?

Google’s machine learning course is an easy to understand introduction to machine learning. It shows what machine learning is all about and how it can be useful to you and your business.

The different courses are self-contained in modules, beginning with introductions to the fundamentals of Linear Regression, Logistic Regression, and Binary Classification Models

The other modules cover:

Data
How to work with machine learning data
Advanced Machine Learning Models
Introductions to Neural Networks, Embeddings, and Large Language Models
Real-world ML
These modules cover best practices for deploying machine learning models in the real world.

The new course adds topics that include:

Large language models

New Large Language Model (LLM) Module

The Large Language Models module is a new addition to the courses and is a good way to get up to speed fast with the technology and be conversant about it.

Google’s documentation shows what students learn with the module:

“Define a few different types of language models and their components.

Describe how large language models are created and the importance of context and parameters.

Identify how large language models take advantage of self-attention.

Reveal three key problems with large language models.

Explain how fine-tuning and distillation can improve a model’s predictions and efficiency.”

Google recommends first taking six other courses before starting the LLM module, so as to gain an understanding of the fundamentals. The six recommended courses look very interesting:

Introduction to Machine Learning
Linear regression
Working with categorical data
Datasets, generalization, and overfitting
Neural networks
Embeddings

The courses for linear regression, neural networks and embeddings can arguably be called essential for SEOs because these technologies have been a major part of how search ranking algorithms work. Obtaining a basic understanding about these technologies will improve your ability to understand how the backend of search engines work.

Many misleading ideas are popular in the SEO community because they sound like common sense, much like some answers you may have experienced from generative AI make sense but are hallucinations. Learning what these technologies are and how they work will help you become a better search marketer.

Read Google’s announcement:

Our Machine Learning Crash Course goes in depth on generative AI

Featured Image by Shutterstock/ProStockStudio

Featured Image by Shutterstock/studiostoks

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Nov 13 2024

YouTube Ad Updates: Enhanced Shorts Monetization via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

YouTube expands Shorts monetization with new ad controls, measurement tools, and creator partnerships.

Advertisers can now run campaigns exclusively in Shorts feed or focus on horizontal content.
New interactive stickers and animated ads will enhance advertising options by year-end.
YouTube is expanding measurement capabilities with third-party sales lift tracking and improved Brand Lift surveys.

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Nov 13 2024

AMA Recap: Reddit Leadership On Leveraging The Platform For Business Success via @sejournal, @brentcsutoras

On November 7, we hosted an exclusive Ask Me Anything (AMA) event and invited three of Reddit’s top executives to share their insights.

The insights they shared about Reddit’s growth, advertising potential, and community engagement are pure gold for any marketer looking to tap into the power of Reddit.

And the best part?

They didn’t just give us high-level fluff – they dug into the nitty-gritty with real-world examples and actionable strategies.

With close to two decades of experience on Reddit, I aimed to ask the right questions to get the most value from our panel of experts. The executive panel included:

Susan Billingsley, who leads Reddit’s global business brand and audience marketing. Susan is responsible for crafting impactful narratives that resonate with audiences and drive brand loyalty.
Rob Gaige, who uses insights from Reddit’s conversations and communities to help brands stay ahead of consumer trends, turning real-time discussions into actionable marketing strategies.
Nishé Modoyan, who oversees Reddit’s core ads platform, leads go-to-market strategies, and has a passion for identifying products and opportunities for Reddit’s business partners.

Here are the key takeaways and insights they shared during the AMA:

Reddit’s Key Growth Drivers In 2024

When asked about the key elements driving Reddit’s growth in 2024, Susan explained that improvements to the platform, such as better findability and posting tools, have led to increased engagement on conversation pages.

She also highlighted strong international growth due to machine learning-based language translation. On the advertiser side, performance marketing and SMB/mid-market growth have been significant.

Overall, the key driver of growth is people’s desire for human connection and authenticity in a world overwhelmed with information and paid influencers.

As Susan put it, “Really what’s driving a lot of our user growth and even growth within the advertiser communities and the way they’re communicating is just that need for authenticity.”

I added, “I was actually thinking back to when you first broke 10 million users, and I remember saying back then, look, where do you see a company that has a ridiculous growth rate month over month? And this was 10 years ago, five years ago, two years ago, and it just continues and continues.”

Reddit’s Staying Power

Addressing whether Reddit’s growth is a temporary trend, Rob emphasized that Reddit is not a passing fad.

He also highlighted that users don’t grow out of Reddit. They may join as a 20-year-old gamer, but as they progress through life stages, there are always relevant communities for them to engage with. This results in long-term user retention and increased engagement over time.

Rob explained, “If Reddit is a trend, it’s the slowest trend on Earth, given that the platform has been around for 19 years. With half of America coming to Reddit weekly, and the platform being evenly split between men and women, Reddit is ubiquitous.”

Reddit’s Unique Advertising Proposition

Susan broke down three key factors that make Reddit unique as an advertising platform:

“Conversations are organized by interest, making it the only platform structured entirely around passions, where people actively signal, ‘I’m into this, I’m interested in this’.”
“Our audience is large, growing quickly, and full of highly engaged users with strong intent. Finally, these conversations drive real, impactful decisions.”
“Conversations are ultimately driving real decisions,” Susan said. “People come to Reddit hungry for information and validation, which leads to real actions – purchases, spending, and long-term value.”

As a result, advertising on Reddit combines the benefits of social media and search, allowing brands to reach their target audience in a context that drives business outcomes.

Balancing Organic Presence And Paid Advertising

When asked about the relationship between organic and paid presence on Reddit, Nishé explained that while combining both approaches is optimal, companies can start with either organic or paid advertising based on their resources.

She emphasized that authenticity is key and every business has expertise they can share on Reddit, regardless of category.

Nishé noted, “You do not have to take on both. You can absolutely do one or the other, but obviously what I’m going to talk about is the power of doing them together.”

She detailed how Reddit Pro can be used as a free tool to understand communities and trends, which can inform both organic engagement and paid campaigns.

I added insight about matching the approach to the user journey – using ads for purchase-ready users and organic engagement for awareness phases.

How Brands Can Join Conversations Authentically

Responding to a question about how brands can join meaningful conversations on Reddit without annoying users, Susan provided multiple real-world examples of successful brand engagement.

She emphasized treating Reddit users as humans deserving of respect and authentic interaction.

Susan advised, “Authenticity is a really big thing. Just remember that you’re talking to humans. So people on Reddit want to be talked to, just like all of us want to be talked to, you want to be talked to with respect, you want to be talked to as if your opinion matters.”

Examples ranged from Fidelity’s customer service approach to a vegan company’s community engagement, to Keith from Sonos’s personal approach to crisis management.

I highlighted how humanizing brand interactions changes user responses positively. Susan also shared how a publisher discovered new audience segments through organic content sharing.

The key themes were authenticity, human connection, and providing genuine value to communities, whether through customer service, content sharing, or community engagement.

Effective Reddit Monitoring Strategies

When asked about effective strategies for monitoring Reddit both for opportunities and reputation management, Rob explained that while monitoring Reddit can be challenging due to its massive content volume, Reddit Pro is an effective tool for tracking brand mentions and relevant conversations.

Rob cautioned, “Reddit every two weeks generates a Wikipedia worth of content. Just kind of think about the amount of content there is to go through. So it could definitely be challenging.”

He emphasized the importance of identifying subreddits where target customers are most active and understanding that opinions can vary significantly between different communities.

He used the example of Samsung’s Frame TV, which receives very different reactions in home theater versus home design subreddits, illustrating how different communities can have varying perspectives on the same product.

Creating Engaging Reddit Content

Addressing the question of best practices for creating engaging content on Reddit, Nishé emphasized the importance of using Reddit Pro to understand your audience and identify relevant conversations.

Rob then provided three specific strategies:

Creating engaging games or challenges (like the U.S. Navy’s submarine hunt).
Treating users as early adopters with exclusive access to products.
Providing unique access to expert information.

Rob elaborated, “Redditors love games, quests, and tasks. The second thing they love is being treated like early adopters. And third, they love access – give them access to an expert, to exclusive information, to things they can’t get elsewhere, and they’ll geek out with you.”

They emphasized that successful content needs to add genuine value to the community and align with how Redditors naturally engage with content.

Brand Presence Approach On Reddit

When asked about the best approach for brands to establish their presence on Reddit, Rob outlined different models:

Fully brand-moderated communities (like Fidelity).
Hybrid communities with both brand and independent moderators.
Participating in existing communities as a regular member.

As Rob pointed out, “It’s really critical here. The first model, which Susan mentioned with Fidelity, involves company-employed moderators who run and maintain the brand’s subreddit. Then there are hybrid models, and finally, the third model we’ve been discussing, where a brand simply joins an independently run community and participates just like any other member.”

Susan emphasized that there’s no single correct approach – it depends on the brand’s goals, target audience, and available resources.

They suggested that brands can start small and scale up their presence as they learn what works best for their specific situation.

Handling Negativity On Reddit

Responding to a question about how brands should handle negative comments, trolling, and criticism on Reddit, Rob shared research showing that Reddit is predominantly positive, with most negative comments actually being constructive product feedback rather than pure criticism.

He noted that true trolling makes up only 1-2% of negative interactions, and most users view brands more favorably when they respond to criticism constructively.

Rob revealed, “First thing we learned is that overwhelmingly Reddit is a positive place. So no matter what category we study, we find between four to one, seven to one positive to negative, even in insurance conversations on Reddit, it’s a two to one positive to negative.”

Nishé added tactical advice, suggesting that authentic community engagement improves brand sentiment over time.

She also provided specific guidance about managing comments on ads, recommending leaving comments on when seeking engagement but turning them off for pure conversion-focused campaigns.

The key message was that negativity on Reddit is both less common and less impactful than brands might fear, and can often be turned into positive interactions through proper engagement.

Drive Brand Growth With Reddit

Phew, that was a lot of incredible information!

We’re so lucky that Susan, Rob, and Nishé took time out of their busy schedules to share their expertise with us. It’s not every day you get to hear directly from the people driving one of the most influential platforms out there.

If you’re feeling inspired and want to start leveraging Reddit for your brand, you’ve got a couple of fantastic resources at your fingertips.

Head over to Reddit for Business to learn more about working directly with the Reddit team on your advertising and partnership opportunities.

And if you want to focus on building your organic presence and engaging with Reddit communities in a meaningful way, you can connect with me on LinkedIn to talk more.

No matter which path you choose, one thing’s for sure – with the insights from this AMA, you’re well on your way to unlocking the full potential of Reddit for your brand.

Looking forward to seeing you and your brand on Reddit!

Here are the links to each question on the AMA recording on our YouTube channel (make sure to subscribe while you are there!).

More resources:

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Nov 13 2024

How Often Should You Blog? Tips For Ideal Posting Frequency via @sejournal, @ronlieback

Anyone with an internet connection can start a blog.

But just having a blog isn’t enough to attract traffic, customers, or recognition. You need to feed the beast, regularly giving it fresh content to chew on and attract an audience.

That’s where the question of the frequency of blog posts comes in. How often should you publish to really see results?

Let’s be transparent: There’s no magic number, no one-size-fits-all answer.

It comes down to your niche, the size of your audience, and how much your content actually engages rather than being like everything else online, which is mostly fed into ChatGPT and puked out to sound exactly the same as everyone else.

Then, finding the right posting schedule that works for your individual blog is crucial.

The ideal pace depends on several factors. But one thing is clear: Neglecting your blog for weeks or months at a time will not do you any favors before search engines or your audience.

Factors To Consider

Let’s start with some simple factors.

First, consider your overall goals. What are you hoping to achieve with your blog? Are you trying to build brand awareness, become a thought leader, drive sales, or something else?

The Content Marketing Institute reports that many B2B marketers struggle to find partners with the right expertise, showing that clearly defining your goals can make a difference.

Next, think about your audience. Who are you writing for, and how often do they want to hear from you? What works for a daily news site won’t work for a blog that publishes in-depth technical guides, and vice versa.

Even a small business blog can experience significant growth through blogging. It’s a matter of finding the right rhythm for both you and your target audience.

Blog Maturity

A new blog is like a tiny sapling trying to get a foothold in the vast forest of the internet. It needs a lot more attention and care to establish itself.

Publishing several high-quality blog posts every week initially can help build momentum and visibility, bringing you more quickly to Google’s attention.

Once a blog has been around for a while and ranks well for certain topics and keywords, it can afford to publish a little less frequently.

Consider how my agency blogs for two different service-based clients, one in pest control and one in auto glass repair. The scope of topics is drastically different.

A pest control company can cover all kinds of seasonal pests, prevention tips, home remedies, and even the latest industry regulations. While still important, auto glass just doesn’t have the same breadth of potential blog topics. It’s important to understand this.

Based on my experience working with individual bloggers and small businesses over the past decade, scheduling depends on the goals. Individual bloggers often lack a set cadence, while those working to build their brand presence usually maintain a stricter schedule. They polish their content more to meet different objectives.

Does your editorial calendar need a refresh? Now might be the perfect time to analyze data and create a posting schedule that aligns with your goals.

Content Depth & Complexity

This matters more than many people realize. Are you writing short, snackable blog posts or in-depth guides that take a lot of research and effort to put together?

From my agency’s experience, word counts between 1,000 and 1,500 generally do well in keeping a reader engaged, but you shouldn’t set word count as your primary goal.

Aim to produce content that’s informative and helpful without becoming bloated or repetitive.

For complicated subjects that require a ton of digging, prioritize quality over quantity. It’s better to publish less frequently if that’s what it takes to deliver a truly valuable piece to your readers.

This is where topic clusters can really make a difference in streamlining your efforts and creating a library of content surrounding core areas of expertise.

Resource Availability

It’s tempting to aim high and tell yourself you or your team will churn out multiple amazing blog posts each week.

But this quickly becomes unsustainable without the right support system. How much time can you actually dedicate to researching, writing, and editing?

This often ties back to goals.

If you’re a small business or solo blogger and simply looking to expand your presence, sticking to a sustainable pace makes sense.

Those looking for greater SEO gains and actively marketing to specific buyers need a more consistent cadence with targeted topics and formats.

If you have the means to scale content creation by hiring more writers or outsourcing work, a strategic content agency can help you accelerate things.

My agency produces well over 100 blogs monthly for clients ranging from local service-based businesses to mid-eight-figure ecommerce clients, which allows them to focus more on what they do best.

Of course, using AI for strategy and outlines is a must to save time (but never the finalized writing itself!).

Frequency Of Blog Posts: Does Quantity Or Quality Win?

Both quantity and quality have their advantages in the blogging game. You can publish more to get higher visibility with search engines, giving them more to index and rank.

Alternatively, you can publish less often but really invest in creating detailed, evergreen content designed to stand the test of time.

HubSpot recommends building your brand with one to four blogs a week to maximize visibility, especially when resources are limited.

Ultimately, this brings us to a more balanced approach: publishing consistently with high-quality, SEO-optimized blog posts.

Like with any form of marketing, truly understanding your audience makes a big difference. Our agency blog visitors are primarily digital marketing professionals or business owners looking for information and in-depth solutions.

This means we can get away with publishing one to two times weekly.

For clients with higher churn content, publishing several times each week is crucial for maintaining their position in the rankings. We have one client that publishes five to seven new long-form blogs weekly!

Competing Against Other Experts: Building Authority

Search engines notice several factors. Google doesn’t only look for content quality and consistent publishing – it’s always changing things up.

The search engine giant rolled out a hefty number of updates in 2023, as you can see in this snapshot on its website. SEO isn’t about setting things up and then leaving them to stagnate.

Here’s the thing: In a highly competitive niche like investing services, insurance, or law, publishing once a month just isn’t going to cut it.

You’re battling with brands that have a ton of content, solid SEO practices in place, and deep authority within the industry. You’ve got to make yourself known. Pushing your brand’s frequency of blog posts can really help you compete against giants.

Look at those who are already considered leaders in the niche you want to occupy. How often are they publishing content? How comprehensive is it, and how much traffic does it get?

What type of format are they prioritizing (informational articles, listicles, reviews, how-to’s, or case studies), and what kind of engagement are they getting from comments and social shares? Are they using any curated resources to provide even greater value for their readers?

Check these stats but never, and I repeat never, simply copy what they’re doing from a content perspective. That’s boring, and you’ll never create your own voice or content that resonates. Be you above all!

Sometimes, you just have to accept reality and move at a more manageable pace. When resources and bandwidth are tight, consider publishing fewer pieces but pouring your heart into them.

Back each claim and point with statistics, examples, and internal or external links to bolster your content’s weight and helpfulness. I really strive for thought leadership here to build that much-needed authority even with less frequency.

Refreshing older content can also play a big role in authority building and regaining traffic for articles that were once doing well but have fallen by the wayside.

I recently wrote about this in my article Content Decay and Refresh Strategies to Maintain Relevancy. Google values recently updated content. This could mean polishing up existing pieces or completely overhauling information or style to better suit search intent.

Even sprucing up content on pages ranking right outside of the first page can bring results, giving you a greater advantage in your corner.

Lauren Funaro, the head of content at AI-powered documentation tool Scribe, made great strides in revamping older content. Combining fresh writing with an update brought more traffic, greater search engine presence, and, ultimately, higher conversions.

Additional Factors

Factor	How It Influences Frequency	What You Should Do
Your ability to write fast and efficiently	Impacts your ability to produce a lot of content in a short period.	Consider outsourcing if you need to ramp up content production.
Your budget	Limits your ability to hire writers or use paid tools.	Start small with a few quality pieces and slowly grow as your budget allows.
How much social engagement you want	Regular content gives you more to share on social media and potentially attract visitors.	Consider the blog posts most appealing for your chosen channels. Promote consistently with enticing excerpts or quotes from each article to encourage clicks.
Your content strategy	Should outline the topics, types of posts, and promotional plan to follow for best results.	Re-evaluate if the current strategy works and if there’s room to streamline or pivot to maximize potential.

Consistency In Publishing Is Crucial

Let’s say you start with a very aggressive content schedule, publishing daily for a few weeks, but then completely forget about your blog for several months.

That inconsistent approach does you more harm than good. In this digital age, it’s easier than ever to build a personal blog and crank out daily content.

Companies usually maintain a firmer schedule to support marketing efforts and generate more qualified leads.

This can turn off your readers and make your content less appealing in the eyes of search engines, too.

Google appreciates sites that update consistently, establishing a rhythm of high-quality new information to share. It signals a level of dedication, building trust both for humans and search algorithms.

Optimizing For SEO: Factors To Keep In Mind

Keywords matter for SEO – no doubt about it. But cramming in every single relevant keyword you can think of is more likely to backfire than get you top ranking.

Use your primary keywords naturally throughout your posts, avoiding the overuse of technical terms unless you’re sure your readers understand them.

Link these to supporting internal content on your own site whenever you can, weaving it in without sounding repetitive.

This can really improve the blog posts that aren’t doing well in the search results and give older pages a little push upward. Don’t be afraid to link to external content from high-authority websites, either.

Here’s a little insight: Did you know only 3% of bloggers maintain a daily posting frequency? That’s something to consider if you’re debating taking on a crazy workload to try and conquer a niche.

Think about quality over quantity here, not only for your sanity but also for your brand’s authority.

Over half of all brands that post content on a daily basis see strong, consistent results.

If you can swing this type of publishing schedule with in-depth content on a brand new blog, there’s nothing stopping you from reaching top rankings and getting the desired results faster than those in a more relaxed schedule.

The amount of effort required might mean pivoting content marketing resources toward blog creation and utilizing writers.

According to Content Marketing Institute, successful content marketing frequently depends on collaboration. A sizable majority actually utilize a mix of freelance and marketing agency work to support content generation.

What do you have more control over – your schedule or your competition’s content strategy? Don’t waste time comparing yourself.

Instead, analyze their success and work to outshine them within your own content schedule, offering fresh perspectives on already established information or new content covering an area no one has touched yet.

Promoting Content Across Social Platforms

It’s easy to get caught up in the mechanics of SEO and think that posting optimized blog posts is enough to drive traffic. Social media can be your best friend here.

Promoting your latest content across platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook expands reach and keeps you in front of a broader audience.

In addition, when you consistently post fresh new content on the blog, you’ll share more valuable and helpful content for your audience. This ultimately drives people back to your site, drives organic traffic, boosts visibility, and gets your name out there.

Make those links in your posts visible and clickable in the description to grab interest, especially for the types of blogs with a broader appeal – lists, recipes, how-to guides, and thought-provoking opinion pieces that spark discussion.

It might surprise you what resonates most with your followers, giving you the information you need to create content they love in the future.

Repurposing those blogs into short social media videos is also a great way to grab interest and keep you consistently active with more than basic written posts.

Don’t discount the power of email marketing in gaining traction for blog content, either. A well-timed email blast to your subscribers highlighting that week’s latest posts could give you the edge you need

Finding the perfect frequency of blog posts isn’t just about numbers – it’s about achieving the perfect balance. Aim for consistency first, and produce high-quality content to support those posting goals.

Then, you’ll have the content foundation needed to gain search engine visibility, drive traffic to your website, and meet those big marketing or audience growth goals.

FAQs

What is the ideal number of blog posts per month?

It truly depends on your niche, audience, and what you’re aiming to achieve with your blog. Start with one to two posts per week, then see how they do and scale as needed.

How often should I post on my blog in 2024 and beyond?

Focus on quality over quantity – aim to publish a minimum of one quality blog post per week that really helps your audience solve a problem. Increase as needed once you start analyzing performance and have the resources in place to produce that much content.

How many blogs should I post in a week?

Again, it depends. Start with two high-quality blog posts and work from there. But if you’re able to post five blog posts, great. As you can tell, there is no single frequency of blog posts that’s best for everyone. Experiment a bit, see what happens, and adjust as needed to build that rhythm of consistency that works.

How regularly should you blog?

Consistency in blog publishing is crucial, even if that means publishing just once every month or twice a month. Whatever cadence you choose, be consistent. And don’t stop paying attention to your blog. Even evergreen content needs periodic updating and a bit of sprucing up every now and then to keep readers interested.

More resources:

Featured Image: DimaBerlin/Shutterstock

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Nov 13 2024

WordPress 6.7 Released – This Is Why It’s A Winner via @sejournal, @martinibuster

WordPress has released version 6.7, codenamed Rollins. This update introduces better font controls, a new default theme, enhanced design tools for easier page creation, 65 accessibility improvements, and performance optimizations. Version 6.7 focuses on making it easy to build attractive, high-performance websites.

Twenty Twenty-Five Theme

Twenty Twenty-Five is the new default theme that ships with WordPress. Twenty Twenty-Five was purpose intentionally built to offer users an easier and more intuitive experience for creating websites.

The official WordPress Twenty Twenty-Five documentation explains:

“While ideating Twenty Twenty-Five, one recurring idea was that simple things should be intuitive while complex things should be possible. This concept of simplicity and complexity leads to a reliable foundation for extending a default WordPress experience to make it yours.

Twenty Twenty-Five embodies ultimate flexibility and adaptability, showcasing the many ways WordPress enables people to tell their stories with many patterns and styles to choose from.”

The key improvements are:

Better Patterns
WordPress patterns are pre-designed ready to use blocks for different parts of a page. This allows users to choose from pre-made sections of a web page like the header, call-to-actions, pricing tables and on. Twenty Twenty-Five ships with a wide range of patterns that are appropriate for different kinds of sites.
Improved Styles
Better support for fonts in multiple languages plus bundled color variations.

New Templates
There are three base templates that can serve as a starting point for creating a website.

The new template versions are:

Personal Blog (Default)
The Personal Blog template is focused on simplicity and ease of use.
Photo Blog (Alternative)
This template has multiple layouts that are suitable for image heavy sites.
Complex Blog (Alternative)
This template is intended for complex websites, offering more design flexibility.

Typography

As part of the emphasis on a better design experience, WordPress 6.7 features better font management that allows users to more control over fonts.

The WordPress announcement explains:

“Create, edit, remove, and apply font size presets with the next addition to the Styles interface. Override theme defaults or create your own custom font size, complete with fluid typography for responsive font scaling.”

New Zoom Out Feature

WordPress 6.7 has a new design feature that lets users zoom out from the details and see what the site looks like as a whole so that users can swap out block patterns and see what it looks like in macro view. This is in keeping with the focus on making it easy to design attractive websites.

Accessibility Improvements

The documentation for WordPress 6.7 was not as organized as it usually is, making it difficult to navigate to the documentation for the 65 improvements to accessibility are. WordPress documentation is usually better but it seems less organized this time.

This is what the announcement said about the accessibility improvements:

“65+ accessibility fixes and enhancements focus on foundational aspects of the WordPress experience, from improving user interface components and keyboard navigation in the Editor, to an accessible heading on WordPress login screens and clearer labeling throughout.”

Performance Updates

The latest version of the WordPress core ships with faster pattern loading and better PHP 8+ support. Old code (deprecated) is removed to create a more lightweight theme, plus a new auto size component that improves lazy-loading images.

That last improvement to lazy loading should help improve core web vitals scores because the Auto Sizes feature helps the browser select the right image size from the CSS and use that to build the web page, rather than using the image size itself. CSS is usually downloaded before images, so having to depend on image size is redundant and slower. Chrome shipped with this ability last year, December 2023.

Engineering lead at Google Chrome Addy Osmani tweeted about it last year:

“Chrome is shipping support for lazy-loaded images with srcset, this allows the browser to use the layout width of the image in order to select the source url from the srcset.

For lazy-loaded images, CSS is often available before the image load begins. The browser can take the actual width of the image from CSS and use that as if it was the image’s sizes.”

The official WordPress announcement for the auto sizes for lazy loading explains:

WordPress documentation for the auto sizes feature explains:

“WordPress 6.7 adds sizes=”auto” for lazy-loaded images. This feature, which was recently added to the HTML specification, allows the browser to use the rendered layout width of the image when selecting a source from the srcset list, since lazy loaded images don’t load until after the layout is known.”

Is It Safe To Download WordPress 6.7?

Most developers discussing the latest version of WordPress in the private Dynamic WordPress Facebook group report that updating to the latest version is easy and trouble-free.

But some developers reported maintenance mode errors that were easily resolved by deleting the .maintenance file (maintenance mode file. The .maintenance mode error doesn’t happen because there’s something wrong with the update, it’s usually because there’s something going on with the upstream server that’s providing the update. The WordPress.org 6.7 documentation page was temporarily down so maybe the WordPress servers were experiencing too much traffic.

Featured Image by Shutterstock/Asier Romero

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