Jan 27 2025
How YouTube’s Recommendation System Works In 2025 via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

In a recent video interview, YouTube Liaison René Ritchie spoke with Todd Beaupré, YouTube’s Senior Director of Growth & Discovery, to discuss the platform’s recommendation system functions and what creators can expect this year.

Their discussion revealed how time of day, device type, viewer satisfaction, and the advent of large language models (LLMs) are reshaping YouTube’s algorithms.

Here’s what you need to know about YouTube’s recommendation system and how it works.

Personalized Recommendations

One of the central themes of the interview is YouTube’s focus on matching content to individual viewer preferences.

According to Beaupré:

“Often times creators will say hey, uh the recommendation system is pushing out my video to people or why isn’t it pushing out my video yes they they may ask that and the way the work it works is it… isn’t so much about pushing it out as much as it’s pulling…”

He goes on to explain that YouTube’s home feed prioritizes content based on what each viewer is most likely to enjoy at any given moment:

“When you open the homepage, YouTube is going to say hey Rene is here, we need to give Rene the best content that is going to make Rene happy today.”

Metrics & Satisfaction

While click-through rate (CTR) and watch time remain important, YouTube’s system also accounts for user satisfaction gleaned through direct surveys and other feedback signals.

Beaupré notes:

“We introduced this concept of satisfaction… we’re trying to understand not just about the viewer’s behavior and what they do, but how do they feel about the time they’re spending.”

He explains YouTube’s goal is to cultivate long-term viewer satisfaction:

“…we look at things like likes, dislikes, these survey responses… we have a variety of different signals to get at this satisfaction… we want to build a relationship with our audience just as creators want to do with their fans.”

Evergreen & Trending Content

YouTube’s algorithms can identify older videos that become relevant again due to trending topics, viral moments, or nostalgic interests.

Beaupré cites the system’s ability to pivot:

“…maybe like right now there’s a video that that reaches a certain audience but then like in six months… that makes this video relevant again… if it’s relevant and maybe to a different audience than enjoyed it the first time.”

Context: Time, Device, & Viewer Habits

Beaupré revealed YouTube’s system may show different kinds of content depending on whether someone is watching in the morning or at night, on a mobile phone or a TV:

“The recommendation system uses time of day and device… as some of the signals that we learn from to understand if there’s different content that is appealing in those different contexts… if you tend to have a preference for watching news in the morning and comedy at night… we’ll try to learn from other viewers like you if they have that pattern.”

Fluctuations In Views

Creators often worry if their views dip, but Beaupré suggests this can be a natural ebb and flow:

“…the first thing is that that is natural… it’s not particularly reasonable to expect that you’re going to always be at your highest level of views from all time… I would encourage you not to worry about it too much…”

He also recommends comparing metrics over longer periods and leveraging tools like Google Trends:

“…we do see seasonality can play a role… encourage you to look beyond… 90 days or more to kind of see the full context.”

Multi-Language Audio

Many creators are exploring multilingual audio to broaden their audiences.

Beaupré highlights how YouTube has adapted to support dubbed tracks:

“…we needed to add some new capabilities… aware that this video actually is available in multiple languages… so if you’re a Creator who’s interested in extending your reach through dubs… make sure that your titles and descriptions… are also uploaded [in] translated titles and descriptions…”

He also emphasizes consistency:

“We’ve seen in particular creators who dub at least 80% of the… watch time… tend to have more success than those who dub less…”

LLM Integration

Looking to the future, large language models (LLMs) enable YouTube to better understand video content and viewer preferences.

Beaupré says:

“…we’ve applied the large language model technology to recommendations at YouTube to… make them more relevant to viewers… rather than just memorizing that this video tends to be good with this type of viewer… it might actually be able to understand the ingredients of the dish better and maybe some more elements of the video style…”

Beaupré likens it to an expert chef who can adapt recipes:

“…we want to be more like the expert chef and less like the… memorized recipe.”

Key Takeaways For Creators

Here are the top takeaways from their 21-minute conversation on the YouTube recommendation system.

  1. The recommendation system is about “pulling” content for each viewer, not pushing videos universally.
  2. Metrics like CTR and watch time matter, but satisfaction (likes, dislikes, surveyed feedback) is also essential.
  3. YouTube can resurface older videos if renewed interest emerges.
  4. Time of day and device usage influence recommendations.
  5. View fluctuations are normal—seasonality, trending events, and external factors can all be at play.
  6. Dubbing and translated titles may help reach new markets, especially if a high percentage of your content is available in the same language.
  7. Large language models empower more nuanced understanding—creators should stay attuned to how this impacts discovery.

Watch the full interview below.

YouTube plans to share more updates at VidCon later this year.

Featured Image: Mamun_Sheikh/Shutterstock

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Jan 27 2025
DeepSeek-R1: The Open-Source AI Challenging ChatGPT via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

DeepSeek-R1 is a new AI reasoning model from the Chinese company DeepSeek.

Released on January 20, it offers a cost-effective alternative to ChatGPT.

Here’s why it’s DeepSeek-R1 is trending across the web right now.

Key Features

Human-Like Thinking

DeepSeek-R1 has advanced reasoning skills that help it solve complex problems in math, logic, and coding.

People praise its ability to mimic human-like thinking. It breaks problems down into smaller steps using a “Chain of Thought” (CoT) method.

As it processes its responses, DeepSeek-R1 can adjust answers in real time and experience “aha” moments while solving tricky problems.

Here’s a screenshot from DeepSeek’s research paper (PDF link) demonstrating where this moment occurred:

Screenshot from: DeepSeek-R1: Incentivizing Reasoning Capability in LLMs via
Reinforcement Learning, January 2025.

Here’s another screenshot more representative of what you’ll likely see when you use the web interface. This is DeepSeek’s thought process when presented with an SEO-related question:

Screenshot from: chat.deepseek.com, January 2025.

Its chain of thought continued for numerous paragraphs before finally generating a response.

Open Source

DeepSeek-R1 is an open-source model released under the MIT license, which means anyone can use and modify its code.

This openness makes DeepSeek-R1 appealing to businesses, startups, and developers seeking affordable AI solutions.

Lower Development Cost

While companies like OpenAI have spent hundreds of millions to develop their models, DeepSeek-R1 was reportedly built with a budget of just $6 million.

DeepSeek achieved this by using data more efficiently and applying reinforcement learning strategies.

This cost-efficiency was achieved by optimizing data usage and applying reinforcement learning strategies in a novel way that departed from conventional supervised fine-tuning processes typically used to train large language models.

This reduced the need for large amounts of computing power, making it more affordable for end-users.

Affordable Pricing

DeepSeek-R1’s competitive pricing is another factor contributing to its growing popularity.

It’s completely free to use through chat.deepseek.com. And if your machine has the necessary specs, you can also run the model locally on your computer at no cost.

For those without such resources, DeepSeek offers a cloud-based API service at prices far below industry standards.

Additionally, DeepSeek offers a cloud-based API service. Accessing the model through this API incurs costs, but the pricing is notably lower than many competitors.

Is It Any Good?

While DeepSeek-R1 is praised for being affordable and open-source, opinions on its performance vary.

Many benchmarks show it performs on par with OpenAI’s o1 model in areas like logical reasoning and problem-solving.

While DeepSeek-R1 may have unseen limitations, it’s a helpful option for tasks requiring systematic, step-by-step reasoning.

Its open-source nature allows for rapid iteration, making it a dynamic and evolving tool.

What People Are Saying

The release of DeepSeek-R1 has sparked widespread discussion about its potential to democratize access to AI.

The model’s launch also carries geopolitical significance.

Analysts view DeepSeek-R1 as a demonstration of China’s advancements in AI, particularly in light of U.S. technology export controls.

By achieving competitive results with a fraction of the resources, DeepSeek highlights the growing global competition in AI.

Community Reactions

Here’s a roundup of discussions you may have missed over the weekend:

Looking Ahead

DeepSeek-R1 represents a milestone in the AI race, offering a high-performance, cost-effective alternative to established tools.

While it may not yet outperform its competitors in every aspect, its affordability and accessibility position it as a transformative tool for many applications.

Broader Market Impact

The release of DeepSeek-R1 is impacting global markets, particularly in AI and technology. After its launch, tech stocks experienced sharp declines as investors reevaluated the need for large hardware investments.

Nvidia, for example, lost over $300 billion in market value, the largest single-day loss for any company.

This is a developing story…

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Jan 26 2025
Google Updates Search Quality Rater Guidelines: What To Know via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Google has released its first major update to the Search Quality Rater Guidelines since March.

Human evaluators use the Search Quality Rater Guidelines (PDF link) to assess the quality of search results. Although these guidelines don’t directly affect rankings, they provide useful insights into what Google views as high-quality content.

This update reflects Google’s evolving approach to determining quality, particularly regarding AI-generated content and new types of spam.

Here’s what you need to know.

Key Highlights From The January Update

1. Added Generative AI Definition

Section 2.1, “Important Definitions,” now formally addresses AI-generated content, providing clear guidance on how raters should evaluate machine-learning generated materials.

The definition reads:

“Generative AI is a type of machine learning (ML) model that can take what it has learned from the examples it has been provided to create new content, such as text, images, music, and code.”

2. Lower vs. Lowest Quality Content

Sections 4.0 through 4.6 have been substantially revised, introducing detailed subsections on new forms of spam and low-quality content. The update identifies three key areas of concern:

Expired Domain Abuse

“Expired domain abuse is where an expired domain name is purchased and repurposed primarily to benefit the new website owner by hosting content that provides little to no value to users.”

Site Reputation Abuse

“Site reputation abuse is a tactic where third-party content is published on a host site mainly because of that host site’s already-established ranking signals, which it has earned primarily from its first-party content.”

Scaled Content Abuse

“Scaled content abuse is a spam practice described in the Google Search Web Spam Policies. Scaled content abuse occurs when many pages are generated for the purpose of primarily benefiting the website owner and not helping users.”

The guidelines specifically address AI-generated content under scaled content abuse:

“Using automated tools (generative AI or otherwise) as a low-effort way to produce many pages that add little-to-no value for website visitors as compared to other pages on the web on the same topic.”

3. Identifying AI Generated Content

Section 4.7 provides specific examples of how to identify and rate AI-generated content. Under “Lowest: Scaled content abuse cancers,” the text reads:

“The contents of the page show it is created with generative AI with likely no original content and provides no value to users. For example, the article starts with ‘As a language model, I don’t have real-time data and my knowledge cutoff date is September 2021.’ The end of the text of the article appears to be cut off with an incomplete sentence ‘Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (NETs): Pancreatic NETs are a rare type of pancreatic cancer that can have a poor’”

4. New Technical Requirements

The guidelines now specify that raters must turn off ad blockers to ensure accurate evaluation:

“Some browsers such as Chrome automatically block some ads. As a rater, you are required to turn off any ad blocker capabilities of the browser you use to view webpages for rating tasks. Check your browser settings before rating tasks to ensure your ratings accurately reflect how people experience the page without ad blocking settings and extensions.”

Key Takeaways

Here are the key takeaways for content creators and SEO professionals:

  1. AI Content Strategy: The guidelines clarify that while AI tools can be used in content creation, the focus must be on providing unique value rather than mass-producing generic content.
  2. Quality Over Quantity: The expanded sections on spam and low-quality content emphasize Google’s continued focus on rewarding high-value, original content.
  3. Technical Considerations: The new ad blocker requirements suggest increased attention to how users experience web pages, including advertising.

Next Steps

When producing content for your website, keep these tips in mind:

  • Focus on creating original, valuable content that serves user needs
  • Avoid using AI tools to mass-produce content
  • Ensure your content demonstrates genuine expertise and authenticity
  • Pay attention to how your content appears to users with and without ad blockers
  • Be particularly careful with YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics when using AI tools

Following these guidelines can help ensure you create content that aligns with Google’s quality standards.

Featured Image: Masha_art/Shutterstock

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Jan 25 2025
LinkedIn Report Reveals Most In-Demand Marketing Skills via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Marketing jobs are increasing, and many professionals are satisfied with their roles. However, rapid changes in technology and work environments pose new challenges.

The LinkedIn Marketing Jobs Outlook report offers insights into the changing job market and strategies for career growth.

Here’s all the data from the report that you need to know.

Marketing Jobs Are Rebounding

The report highlights a strong recovery in marketing job opportunities.

Marketing-related job postings on LinkedIn increased by 76% year-over-year.

Industries like technology and financial services, which experienced significant layoffs, are now showing steady growth in hiring.

Job Satisfaction Is High, Retention Remains a Challenge

Despite workplace challenges, job satisfaction among marketers is notably strong. According to the report, 67% of Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) are “completely satisfied” with their roles.

However, retaining top talent remains a hurdle, with 55% of marketers considering leaving their current position if a better opportunity arises.

Workplace Change Overwhelms Many Marketers

The fast-paced evolution of the marketing industry is a double-edged sword. While it drives innovation, it also leaves many professionals feeling overwhelmed.

The report notes that 72% of marketers struggle with the rapid evolution of their roles, and 53% worry about falling behind due to technological advancements.

Skill of the Year: Collaborative Problem-Solving

Collaborative problem-solving has been identified as the “Skill of the Year” in marketing.

This ability, which emphasizes teamwork and customer-centric decision-making, saw a 138% growth in demand.

Companies increasingly value marketers who can navigate complex challenges with agility and foster team innovation.

Top Hard Skills for Marketers

Technical expertise remains critical in the marketing field, with demand for specific hard skills surging:

  • Creative Execution: Demand for this skill has increased by 443% over the past two years.
  • Artificial Intelligence: Skills in AI grew by 392% during the same period.
  • Marketing Technology: As platforms and tools evolve, proficiency in marketing technology rose by 351%.

What Does This Mean?

To stay competitive, LinkedIn advises marketers to focus on three key strategies:

  1. Upskilling: With AI reshaping the industry, professionals should prioritize learning new tools and technologies. Courses like “Generative AI for Digital Marketers” are among LinkedIn Learning’s top recommendations.
  2. Agility: Marketers should embrace change and adopt a growth mindset to remain adaptable to evolving consumer behaviors and technological advancements.
  3. Collaboration: Breaking down silos and promoting cross-functional teamwork can drive creative problem-solving.

Conclusion: A Year of Growth and Innovation

LinkedIn’s latest Marketing Jobs Outlook report shows that the industry is changing rapidly.

While there are challenges like workplace stress and technology changes, there are also many growth opportunities.

Marketers can succeed by staying informed, embracing change, and improving their skills.

Featured Image: ShutterStockies/Shutterstock

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Jan 24 2025
Matt Mullenweg Hires New Lawyer In Fight Against WP Engine via @sejournal, @martinibuster

A legal document filed in federal court formally notifies that Automattic and Matt Mullenweg have added new representation, a lawyer who has previously represented Meta and Facebook. The new documentation is formally called NOTICE of Appearance. There may be an additional legal filing that may indicate that the previous legal team may no longer be representing Automattic and Matt Mullenweg.

New Attorney

A legal form was filed titled “NOTICE of Appearance filed by Rosemarie Theresa Ring on behalf of Automattic.” Rosemarie Theresa Ring is an attorney at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, one of the top law firms in the United States.

Gibson Dunn was founded in 1890 and has represented George W. Bush in the Bush v. Gore legal fight over votes in Florida, Apple, Inc. in an infringement lawsuit against Samsung and also has represented Meta and Facebook.

The law firm that has previously represented Automattic and Matt Mullenweg in their defense in the WP Engine federal lawsuit are Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, a prestigious international law firm specializing in litigation. According to a citation in Wikipedia, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan have been recognized as a top tier legal firm for intellectual property, patent, trademark, and copyright law, as well as other categories.

The Court Listener website has two entries:

“77 Jan 24, 2025
NOTICE of Appearance filed by Rosemarie Theresa Ring on behalf of Automattic Inc., Matthew Charles Mullenweg (Ring, Rosemarie) (Filed on 1/24/2025) (Entered: 01/24/2025)

Jan 24, 2025
Notice of Appearance/Substitution/Change/Withdrawal of Attorney”

The legal documents aren’t yet available to view but this article will be updated when they are.

What Does It Mean?

It’s unclear if the previous legal representation is still representing Automattic and Matt Mullenweg as part of their legal team as defendants in the WP Engine lawsuit. But it does appear that the defendants are preparing to fight back with some seriously experienced legal representation.

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Jan 24 2025
Meta Threads Takes the Next Step By Launching Ads via @sejournal, @brookeosmundson

Big news from Meta: Threads, the platform everyone rushed to last summer, is officially testing ads.

In its announcement today, Threads is launching an image ads test with select brands in the United States and Japan.

For now, this is just a trial run with a handful of brands, but it’s a clear sign that Meta is ready to monetize its newest social media experiment.

In case you missed it, Threads launched in July 2023 as Meta’s answer to X (formerly Twitter). It quickly gained traction, passing 300 million monthly active users, largely thanks to its integration with Instagram.

While its user base might not be as sticky as Meta hoped, this move shows that they’re betting on Threads as more than just a fleeting trend.

What Does the Ad Test Look Like?

The ads being tested are image-based and will pop up in users’ home feeds. In early testing, ads on Threads will show for only a small percentage of people.

Image credit: Facebook.com, January 2025

Meta is gauging how users respond and will decide whether to expand the program based on the data.

Meta’s Approach to Brand Safety

Meta is providing Threads users with control over the ads they see to help them understand how their information is used for ads, and ways to change their experience.

Users will be able to skip an ad they don’t like, or hide or report an ad that they deem inappropriate.

Additionally, Meta is testing an AI-powered inventory filter. This tools lets advertisers control the types of content their ads appear next to, giving brands more confidence to experiment with new platforms like Threads.

Why Advertisers Should Care

For advertisers wanting to jump on this initial test, businesses can simply extend their existing Meta campaigns to Threads without additional creative.

In Meta Ads Manager, advertisers can simply check a box indicating that they’d like to add Threads as a placement.

It’s important to note that by checking the Threads placement box, it does not automatically mean your ads will appear right away because this is a limited test.

Meta did not confirm what brands or verticals would be eligible for this initial test, but we’ll keep an eye out for early advertisements.

Threads’ emphasis on visual content and casual conversations creates a unique opportunity for advertisers to experiment with creative approaches. If your audience is already active on Instagram or Facebook, this could be the perfect extension to your campaigns.

Being an early adopter on a platform could give you a competitive edge when it comes to understanding what resonates.

Next Steps for Marketers

While Threads may still be finding its identity, it’s already proven it can attract a massive audience. And with Meta’s established advertising infrastructure, it’s only a matter of time before Threads becomes a key player in the ad space.

If you’re already running campaigns with Meta, this is your chance to get a head start on a brand new ad platform.

When testing, start small, monitor your performance, and pay attention to how users interact with ads on the platform.

Don’t sleep on the opportunity to test creative formats. Keep an eye on updates from Meta as they expand this test. We will continue to update as more information comes to light.

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Jan 24 2025
Google Shares Insight On SEO For AI Overviews via @sejournal, @martinibuster

Google’s John Mueller shared his insights on how to approach SEO for AI Search in an interview published on YouTube. The discussion also touched on what SEOs should do in 2025 given the realities of what users want.

The video discussion was hosted by Mike Grehan on his new marketing podcast titled, Inside Marketing With Mike Grehan. Mike is a search marketer who was a co-founder of a search marketing organization and was famous for publishing interviews with Google search engineers.

John Mueller Affirms The Necessity Of SEO

Mike got straight to the point in the discussion by asking what the search community should be focusing on in 2025, jokingly asking if SEO is finally dead. While Mueller obviously didn’t say that search was dead, he and a couple of the other participants in the discussion did acknowledge that SEO is undergoing profound changes.

John Mueller said that he thinks that many in the general public may wish that SEO was dead but that they don’t realize that search optimization has a positive effect, implying that it helps Google surface the websites the public wants to see.

He answered:

“SEO is Dead… I don’t think SEO is dead. I think one of the challenges is lots of people online wish SEO were dead, but they don’t realize that it’s… it’s almost like driving so many of the things that they’re doing online. Where they they notice when something is weird in search or when something is weird on the Internet and they’re like, oh, this is pesky SEO. And they don’t realize all of the things that actually work well because of some of the work that SEO’s do.”

Technical SEO Is Still Important

Mueller suggested that technical SEO will continue to be important for search engines and for AI search. He also mentioned that SEO will be helpful for giving access to large language models that depend on Internet content.

He continued:

“So I think from my side, what people should be doing this year, is kind of hard to say exactly. But I think a lot of the technical SEO stuff definitely continues to make sense. I think a lot of that continues to make sense also with regards to all of the AI things that are happening, all of the different kind of large language models that are trying to train off of the Internet like they need that foundation of technical SEO.”

How SEO Needs To Evolve

Mueller next explained what search marketers need to do in order to evolve with the reality of where we’re at today because of artificial intelligence.

He offered the following insights:

“I think what is also important is to try to figure out like what is the value that you want to get out of the Internet. And …the easy aspect that SEOs have been focusing on in the past is like I want clicks, I just want like lots of clicks. And clicks alone is not really what is driving value for a lot of websites.

So that’s almost like a subtle mindset change of going from clicks to trying to figure out what is the value that I want to get out of it.”

What Mueller was talking about is the narrow perspective that SEO has traditionally ignored anything that didn’t measurably drive traffic or involve a link. Part of the reason for that is client expectations from SEO but it’s also reinforced on the SEO side where they talk about KPIs, Key Performance Indicators. KPIs for SEO are organic traffic, rankings, clicks from the search results.

So what happens is that, at best, SEOs are in their silo doing half the work that needs to be done to drive traffic to a site and at worst they’re doing nothing to promote a site and make it successful. Getting SEO to embrace the promotional part and thinking about what the site actually brings to users.

Mike Grehan remarked:

“Wouldn’t it be nice if people stopped thinking about SEO as just a traffic driver, just throwing numbers and actually thought about it more with a marketing and a more scientific mind?”

Time To Become Real Marketers

Something that Mueller has advised in the past for those who wanted to grow traffic to new websites is to get out there and promote it. Promotion is more than just SEO.

Ryan Jones of Razorfish and founder of the SERPRecon SEO tool (LinkedIn profile) agreed with Mueller that SEOs need to get out of the traffic and clicks bubble, encouraging listeners to add more marketing to their mix.

Ryan  said:

“I think it’s time we become real marketers. We’ve been spoiled for so long where we focus on lower funnel and attribution. And you know, no one ever asked TV how many clicks or visits they got when they run a Super Bowl ad, you know? And even paid search too, in effect, gets away with it.

In SEO if we say, hey, if we’re not there, our competitor might be there. Like OK. Great. How many clicks is it gonna get? But on on paid media, we can say, well, if we’re not there, our competitor will get there and they’ll say here’s $1,000,000. Go, go be there, right?

And so I think it’s time we evolve SEO to be full funnel. We gotta start thinking about user intent, what users want, do real marketing. It’s not enough to focus on clicks, and we’ve been spoiled. We’ve we focused so much on tactics, right?

To go back to ‘is SEO dead,’ if all you thought about is tactics to get clicks and links and rankings, then yeah, it’s dead. But if you thought about giving users what they want, then no, it’s not dead. It’s evolving.

So …that stuff is important, but I think, to bring it home…  We have to do real marketing. It’s not enough to just do last click attribution like we have been in the past, we got to be real marketers and that excites me because I think you know at a large agency or with all of our backgrounds, I think we’re all well positioned to be real marketers because we’ve been doing that.”

Face The SEO Reality

Ryan Jones went on to say that it’s time to get real about the fact that people increasingly don’t want to visit a website, that they want information. He suggested that the role of websites no longer fits with what people want, so SEOs need to be realistic about that. The irony of what he’s suggesting is that SEOs love to talk about user intent but they have failed to keep up with the reality of what users want.

He said:

“When I search “when is the Super Bowl” I want to know it’s February 9th. That’s it. End of task. I’m done. …What I don’t want, and go click the first, second, third or 4th result for this, I promise you’ll get it, what I do not want is a website with an overlay ad, a cookie consent notice, and opt in to click in your alerts, an e-mail signup form, and seven paragraphs of unrelated text before it tells me it’s February 9.

…Nowadays… people just want the …answer, they don’t actually want the website. And a lot of SEOs haven’t kept up with that shift or paradigm. …we lost track of what the user actually wants.”

John Mueller Discusses SEO For AI Overviews

Mike Grehan next asked the question that everyone wants answered, which is how to optimize for AI Overviews.

John Mueller recommended thinking about it the same way that SEOs optimize for featured snippets.

Mueller said:

“I just want to say that all of these discussions we had, I don’t know what was it like 5 or 10 years ago? Featured snippets. It’s basically the same thing, right?

It’s like this is very visible on top and it’s like, ‘I hate it.’ And then a year later, everyone’s like, oh, how do I get in and how do I optimize for it? How do I appear more visibly?

And my feeling is… without kind of any big crystal ball, is that this is something that is going to evolve in a similar direction and I think user expectations definitely change. I think AI type answers make sense for a lot of queries and that’s going to be frustrating for some sites that focus on those queries, kind of like with featured snippets as well. And that also provides a lot of opportunities.

And I also think that’s something where kind of like the different levels of SEO that you’re working at they continue to make sense. Like at a low level you work on a lot of technical issues which remain the same and then you move up to more strategic approaches where you try to figure out like what direction you should go.”

Watch also: Mastering AI Overviews For Greater Search Visibility

Inside Marketing With Mike Grehan

There are many more ideas discussed on Mike’s video podcast, it may be useful to find the time to go watch the video.

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Jan 24 2025
Does Google Favor UGC? Reddit Leads In Search Growth [STUDY] via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

This past year was a big one for SEO, with major changes in how Google ranks content.

According to SISTRIX’s latest IndexWatch report, the year’s biggest winners were platforms focused on user-generated content (UGC), AI-powered tools, and large ecommerce brands.

Reddit emerged as the leader among standout performers, but its dominance raises questions about Google’s practices.

Here’s a breakdown of the top-performing sites and what drove their success.

Top Performers in Search Growth

The report highlights Reddit as the year’s top performer, nearly tripling its visibility in Google’s US search results.

Reddit climbed higher in rankings for a variety of keywords, from product reviews to niche discussions, making it a major competitor to traditional content and e-commerce sites.

Other big winners in search visibility included:

  1. Reddit.com: +190.9% growth
  2. Instagram.com: Significant increases driven by its visual and video content
  3. YouTube.com: Continued dominance through video SEO
  4. Spotify.com: Strong gains in music-related searches
  5. Wikipedia.org: Consistent growth as an authoritative content source

Reddit’s Dominance Raises Questions

While Reddit’s success is significant, it raises ethical and strategic questions for the SEO community.

Google’s policies, such as its stance on “site reputation” and “scaled content” abuse, discourage websites from publishing content outside their established topical authority. This policy aims to prevent sites from piggybacking on their existing authority to rank for unrelated keywords.

Yet Reddit appears to be exempt from this rule. The platform ranks for an incredibly wide range of keywords, from precise technical terms to general lifestyle topics, without being tied to a single area of expertise.

This begs the question: why does Reddit get to rank for everything while other sites are penalized for straying too far from their core focus?

Adding to the intrigue, it’s worth noting that Reddit has a deal in place with Google for broader search distribution. While this partnership isn’t entirely transparent, it raises further concerns about fairness in Google’s ranking system and whether specific platforms receive preferential treatment.

Fastest-Growing Sites by Percentage

While the largest platforms gained the most ground overall, several smaller ones stood out:

  1. ck12.org: +601.59% growth in rankings
  2. VirginAtlantic.com: +509.74% growth following site migrations
  3. Quillbot.com: +490.70% growth via AI-driven SEO strategies
  4. Hardrock.com: +436.63% growth after consolidating site sections
  5. TheKitchn.com: +300.40% growth driven by recipe content

The report notes that many sites relied on “programmatic” SEO strategies.

For example, ck12.org used AI-powered resources to rank for thousands of educational queries.

Lily Ray states in the report:

“For some of the winners, visibility growth stemmed from a “programmatic SEO” strategy, which use automation to scale pages that target many different search queries relevant to the site’s core offerings. For example, the site ck12.org, which claims to be the “world’s most powerful AI tutor,” has seen substantial visibility growth, predominantly stemming from its ‘flexbooks’ subdomain and ‘flexi’ subfolders.”

User-Generated Content

UGC platforms had a breakthrough year. Alongside Reddit, sites like Quora, Stack Exchange, and GitHub gained significant search visibility.

HubPages, particularly its Discover subdomain, also emerged as a major winner, growing in rankings by targeting topics like jokes, pet advice, and music.

Google’s algorithm seems to favor UGC platforms even when individual articles vary in quality.

The report notes:

“Interestingly, many of these articles resemble low-quality content that often causes demotion by Google’s algorithm updates targeting spammy content. This suggests Google’s algorithms may put more weight on prioritizing UGC websites like HubPages, which contain authentic human experiences and contributions, over penalizing or demoting individual articles included on those sites.”

E-Commerce Sites Make a Comeback

E-commerce platforms rebounded after a challenging few years.

Carters.com, for example, saw a boost by ranking for popular keywords like “baby clothes” and “kids clothing store.”

Other brands, such as Nike, Lenovo, and eBay, also experienced steady growth thanks to site updates, platform migrations, and better keyword targeting.

Key Takeaways

This year’s biggest SEO winners reflect three major trends:

  1. Google loves UGC: Platforms like Reddit and Quora thrived as Google prioritized community-driven content over traditional formats.
  2. Programmatic SEO strategies can work: Sites like ck12.org and Quillbot.com used scalable, AI-driven approaches to rank for various search queries.
  3. E-commerce rebounds: Retailers focused on SEO-friendly updates and keyword targeting saw strong gains in organic search.

Final Thoughts

Reddit’s rise highlights a larger debate: Is Google playing fair?

While most sites are held to strict standards for authority and expertise, Reddit appears to operate under different rules, ranking across nearly every vertical. Combined with its search distribution deal with Google, this raises questions about transparency and equity in search rankings.

As we move into 2025, it’s clear that websites must adapt to an evolving rulebook—one in which authenticity, AI strategies, and ethical considerations all play a role in success.

Featured Image: eamesBot/Shutterstock

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Jan 23 2025
Google Ads Introduces Advanced Targeting For Performance Max via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Google Ads updates Performance Max with advanced controls, improved reporting, and smarter targeting to optimize campaign performance.

  • Advertisers get more control over AI with new targeting and exclusion tools.
  • Improved reporting provides clearer insights into search and asset performance.
  • Updates focus on transparency, actionable data, and high-value customer targeting.
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