r/SEO • • 12d ago

Google News Google Shows How Long Crawling, Indexing & Recovery from Penalty Can Take

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searchenginejournal.com
28 Upvotes

Highlights from the Event

  • u/garyillyes showed Google's timing ranges for crawling, indexing, and search result changes.
  • Site moves and core update recovery have typical times measured in months, per the recap.
  • Illyes noted that linked processes let delays carry from one stage to the next.

Written by:

SEJ STAFF: Matt G. Southern - Visit Link for Article


r/SEO • • 15d ago

Google News Google's Scaled Content Spam Detection System: SAFE

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16 Upvotes

No SEO usage is stated: The paper does not discuss Google Search, indexing, ranking, or web spam systems. YouTube-style channels are the working example (it cites prior work on inorganic engagement on YouTube).

Indirect implications for SEO are limited but real:

  • Google is building scaled forensics for coordinated low-quality synthetic content, not just per-URL classifiers. Shared infrastructure, synchronized publishing, templated generation, and cross-property repetition are the patterns under scrutiny.
  • That matches existing Search spam policy on scaled content abuse: mass-produced pages made mainly to manipulate rankings, with little original value, whether written by humans or generated. Coordination across sites or accounts is already a risk factor there.
  • Ordinary AI-assisted drafting is not what this system is aimed at. The target is adversarial networks flooding platforms with borderline synthetic media that evades exact-match detection.
  • There are no ranking-factor weights, no “AI content penalty,” and no published Search deployment of SAFE in this paper.

r/SEO • • 2h ago

How do i get REAL Traffic on my Website?

7 Upvotes

Hey guys! I'm working on a Tools Website (YouTube Download, other cool tools for Video editors) and i am getting about 50 People on the site daily. I started 4 days ago so that is ok. But to make some money off it i would like to increase traffic significantly but not shady. Real traffic, real users.

What is your approach? I am working on Backlinks, Languages, Subpages and so on with AI but i want to make sure i dont miss anything...

Also i cant tell what traffic is helping my site to grow and what traffic is useless... Do you have experience?

Thanks for your help!


r/SEO • • 3h ago

Help Link Exploration Recommendations for Competitor Analysis?

4 Upvotes

In the past I've constantly watched my competitors ongoing using Moz free Link Explorer, watching the disovered and lost constantly, as I can't see the full picture.

Can anyone recommend a cheap ish software for getting a full back link profile for competition? Seems AI has gone to a lot of companies heads and causes their prices to increase.

In the past I've used SEMRush which used to let me pick competitors and run audits on them and find their back links, but what can people recommend that is inexpensive but does a good job of link research on competitors?

Looking to mimic back link profile of my competitors before establishing my own back links. I have rich content already I just need some external authority.


r/SEO • • 3h ago

My website has been up for years, tried several seo methods but nothing seems to work. Pages are indexed on Google, but may 1 or 2 impressions per month max.

4 Upvotes

r/SEO • • 4h ago

Discussion How do you build the prompt set for tracking AI search visibility? Here's mine, poke holes in it

1 Upvotes

I've been tracking whether brands get named in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, and the part that matters most turned out to be the prompt list, not the tool. Here's how I build it right now:

  1. Start from buyer questions, not keywords. 15–25 prompts written the way someone asks before they know any brand: "best X for Y", "X vs Y for [use case]", "alternatives to [competitor]", "is X worth it for [situation]".
  2. Split by intent: commercial, comparison, alternatives, plus a few informational ones. Comparison and alternatives prompts are where brand names actually show up; informational ones mostly return generic advice.
  3. Freeze the wording. Same prompts every run, otherwise you end up measuring your own phrasing changes.
  4. Run each prompt in every engine separately. The same prompt can name different brands in ChatGPT and Gemini, so one engine's answer isn't "what AI says".
  5. Log three things per answer: named or not, position in the list, and which sources were cited.
  6. Recheck every 2–4 weeks rather than daily. Answers vary from run to run, so a single day tells you little.

The cited sources column ends up being the most useful one. In a lot of categories the answer leans on listicles, comparison pages and Reddit threads more than on the brand's own site, which changes what you'd actually work on.

Things I'm still unsure about:

  • How many runs per prompt do you need before you trust a "named / not named" result?
  • Do you check logged-out answers, logged-in, or both?
  • Has anyone seen changes on their own site move AI mentions, or does it mostly come from third-party pages?

Curious how others handle this, especially when a client asks "are we showing up in ChatGPT?"


r/SEO • • 5h ago

Semrush Historical Data - Starter Plan

1 Upvotes

Hi,

I have a question regarding Semrush historical data on a starter plan. What's the duration for which it shows the data?

Let's say i enter semrush(dot)com, how many months of organic traffic will it show under the starter plan? is it 12 months or more

On a Pro+ Plan, it says, you can see data from 2012 but how about the starter plan?

Thank you,


r/SEO • • 16h ago

Connectivity/HARO --> SEO ---> Win the internet?!

7 Upvotes

Hi there, I'm a mental health professional. I've been writing about connectivity and recently published a byline @ Featured. While I'm not sure how authoritative these links are, they are backlinks to my website. I've snagged like 4 in two weeks. Is there a cumulative gain from having repeat articles with backlinks from the same website? These have all been about my niche, children's mental health/families. Should I move on, or keep getting some easy backlinks from mental health blogs?


r/SEO • • 8h ago

A self-storage aggregator in Belgium: worth a shot or not?

1 Upvotes

I own a few self-storage facilities in Belgium.

The storage market here is slowly maturing. It’s growing fast, but supply and demand are still nowhere near what you see in, say, the US. Most operators are small, with one or a handful of locations, and even the bigger players are still fairly small.

There’s no well-known or successful aggregator website in Belgium. With supply this fragmented, you’d think there’s room for one.

With AI, it’s fairly easy to scrape the data you need and set up a website. On the other hand, LLMs might make aggregator websites unnecessary.

I’m thinking about going for it and building a site from scratch. My strategy would be:

  • Collect all the data, focusing on what Google Maps can’t offer right now: unit availability, prices, price comparisons and facility features.
  • Build the site slowly. I don’t want to get carried away and pump out hundreds or thousands of pages. I’d rather keep it clean and easy to navigate. Belgium only has a few hundred storage facilities anyway, so the scale is manageable.
  • Grow organically and hope Google Search, and maybe LLMs, gradually pick it up.
  • Let storage operators claim their profile so they can update their own data. It would be completely free, with no hidden costs or paid features.
  • Look for a business model only after organic growth works. Startup and hosting costs are low, so I can afford to wait.

My question:
Am I being too hopeful or optimistic?
Should I try it, or forget about it?

This post was written by me, translated to English by AI.


r/SEO • • 9h ago

My site lost 97% of impressions overnight (Oct 11) with no code changes — anyone seen this?

1 Upvotes

Hey r/SEO,

My site — a multilingual Baltic ferry comparison site I’ve been building solo since December 2025 — just had a brutal overnight crash in GSC impressions and I can’t figure out the cause.

The numbers:

  • Oct 10: 1,377 impressions
  • Oct 11: 747 (−46%)
  • Oct 12: 36 (−97% from baseline)
  • Oct 13–14: ~100/day (partial recovery, no changes made)

What I’ve already ruled out:

  • No Google Core Update on Oct 11 (checked Search Status Dashboard)
  • robots.txt is clean
  • No noindex added sitewide
  • No manual action in GSC
  • No deployments around that date

The weirdest part: it started recovering on its own 48h later without me doing anything. That makes me think it might be a Google-side indexing glitch rather than something I broke.

Site is 10 months old so still possibly in sandbox territory, but this felt different — too sharp and too fast to be algorithmic.

Has anyone seen a drop like this and figured out what caused it? Curious if Oct 11-12 was rough for others too.


r/SEO • • 10h ago

How difficult it is to get backlink from Wikipedia?

1 Upvotes

Links from wikipedia carries a lot of weight. We all know that. Can anyone guide me how can I get one?


r/SEO • • 2h ago

Reddit Comments help Rank higher in SEO if we buy Reddit Commenting Services

0 Upvotes

I know its not legit :) but if we have any old account mention our brand in reddit comments. Will that help rank higher?


r/SEO • • 13h ago

Has anyone used their Git commit history as the source for E-E-A-T blog content?

1 Upvotes

We run a software shop. Our developers know the most interesting things about our work, but they're busy shipping, so they never get around to writing about it.

So we've been experimenting with mining our Git history for topics. We look at commit messages, merge requests and the files that changed, then pull out the problems we solved, why we chose an approach, and what broke along the way. Those become the seed for posts attributed to the commit authors.

So far it has solved the "nobody has time to write" problem. It's too early for us to say anything about rankings, and I'm unsure whether Google would agree this is EEAT content.

Questions for anyone who has tried something similar:

  1. Has anyone used commits, PRs, tickets or changelogs as a content source? How did you turn them into posts?

  2. Did you see any measurable effect on rankings, links or leads, and how long did it take?

  3. Any tips, tricks or risks you'd pass along, or problems you ran into, if you've tried this approach?


r/SEO • • 1d ago

Discussion B2B manufacturing SEO: Rankings are improving, but organic traffic has plateaued. What would you prioritize next?

4 Upvotes

I'm working on SEO for a B2B manufacturing website targeting international buyers, mainly in the US, UK and other English-speaking markets.

Over the past few months, we've worked on:

  • Technical SEO, indexing, redirects and Core Web Vitals
  • Commercial product and category page optimization
  • Internal linking and supporting informational content
  • Search intent, keyword cannibalization and structured data
  • Google Search Console, GA4 and Semrush monitoring
  • Relevant backlink opportunities and manufacturer credibility signals

The website is technically healthier, and several commercial keywords are moving closer to Google's first page.

However, we've hit a plateau.

Here's what our recent data shows:

  • 28-day organic clicks: 72 vs. 71 previously
  • Impressions: approximately 8,970 vs. 10,200
  • Average position: improved from 17.7 to 11.7
  • Domain authority remains relatively low
  • Some commercial keywords rank around positions 4–15 but generate very few clicks

The challenge is that ranking improvements aren't translating into meaningful traffic growth or enough qualified B2B inquiries.

I'm trying to avoid making unnecessary changes to pages that are already improving.

My questions for experienced SEOs:

  1. When rankings improve but impressions and clicks stagnate, what do you investigate first?
  2. For a B2B manufacturing website, would you prioritize stronger commercial content, topical authority, backlinks or CTR improvements?
  3. How do you determine whether low domain authority is actually holding back competitive commercial keywords?
  4. What has worked for you when trying to move B2B keywords from positions 4–15 into the top results?
  5. How would you prioritize SEO activities for a smaller manufacturer competing internationally against established suppliers?

I'm especially interested in practical experiences and evidence-based approaches rather than generic SEO checklists.

Would appreciate hearing what's actually worked for others in similar B2B niches.


r/SEO • • 1d ago

Did Google change the algorithm? very weird trend on my impressions and clicks

11 Upvotes

Does anyone know whether Google changed algorithm or something like that? This looks completely random.

Since I cannot send an image, here is a table of my past week:

Date Clicks Impressions Estimated CTR
7 Oct ~44 ~2,900 1.52%
8 Oct ~40 ~4,600 0.87%
9 Oct ~55 ~7,500 0.73%
10 Oct ~85 ~14,400 0.59%
11 Oct ~87 ~12,600 0.69%
12 Oct ~69 ~8,800 0.78%
13 Oct 0 150 —

r/SEO • • 22h ago

Tips I developed a 100% Free SEO Analyzer that fully audits your website in seconds.🚀

3 Upvotes

Here is what you get instantly:

✅ Core Web Vitals (LCP, CLS, TBT) & 4 main scores (SEO, Performance, Accessibility, Best Practices).
✅ Live HTML analysis for meta tags, headings, and security.
✅ Advanced on-page checks (Sitemap, Robots.txt, Schema markup & Broken links).
✅ Visual device mockups & Social Media (Open Graph) previews.
✅ Website carbon footprint & domain history.

No account or credit card required 🆓, you can run a scan immediately. What makes this especially useful for beginner developers and vibecoders: every issue found comes with a clear explanation of what it is and exactly how to fix it. Super educational while you are building!

Test your own website here:

https://yourseoanalyzer.com/


r/SEO • • 1d ago

Help Why is Google not indexing all of my pages?

4 Upvotes

I launched a curated font library website a few days ago, but Google hasn't indexed most of my pages. Does this process take time or is there another reason it's not happening? I've got approximately 77 pages of downloadable fonts. Only about 22 pages are indexed. I add about 10 fonts to the website daily.

My site isn't the only one hosting these fonts, so I don't know if it's because Google treats the pages like duplicates or not. The website isn't SEO-optimised yet either.


r/SEO • • 1d ago

How do embedded iframes affect SEO?

3 Upvotes

I currently run a web tool utility website called Practical Web Tools and I just embedded the full open source versions of all the apps in Adobe Creative Suite.

I’m currently recovering from being de-indexed by Google because many of the tool pages were set up with templates, so Google saw them as duplicate pages.

I’ve since fixed this issue and have added some new tools to the site. Wanted to get some wisdom about embedding content on websites to optimize for SEO/AEO.


r/SEO • • 1d ago

How do embedded i-frames affect SEO?

3 Upvotes

I currently run a web tool utility website called Practical Web Tools and I just embedded the full open source versions of all the apps in Adobe Creative Suite.

I’m currently recovering from being de-indexed by Google because many of the tool pages were set up with templates, so Google saw them as duplicate pages.

I’ve since fixed this issue and have added some new tools to the site. Wanted to get some wisdom about embedding content on websites to optimize for SEO/AEO.


r/SEO • • 20h ago

Discussion Running a small business is just 47 jobs wearing a trench coat

0 Upvotes

You start a business because you’re good at something.
Next thing you know, you’re the CEO, accountant, customer service department, IT support, social media manager, and the person trying to figure out why the printer is making that noise.
Then someone tells you that you should also be optimizing your Google Business Profile, collecting reviews, replying to customers, and posting updates.
SIR. I JUST WANTED TO SELL MY PRODUCT. 😭😂
What is the most ridiculous thing you’ve had to learn how to do just to keep your business running?
I swear small business ownership is just Googling things until the problem goes away.
Thank God for Google I guess, Scale Quest wouldn’t get very far without it.


r/SEO • • 1d ago

I’m confused

2 Upvotes

I was under the impression that optimizing your site for visibility in the SERPs doesn’t make sense anymore. I saw a GSC screenshot of basically 3x growth in organic vis in 3 months with over 2M impressions and 2.2% CTR.

Is there a world where, if that screenshot is real, that website is not a growing brand and the increase in vis and clicks came from non brand queries?

If so, what am I missing and can anyone list websites that have seen growth in organic traffic that isn’t linked to just an increase in brand awareness.

I really thought non brand organic traffic growth in niches for non GMB listing dependent websites was not possible but i may be jumping and not doing my research. I will ask chat gpt too…


r/SEO • • 1d ago

Help LinkedIn company page not indexing on Google

3 Upvotes

The page is 2+ months old. Already have over 600 followers. Content is posted everyday. Linked from the company website.

Still nothing seems to help with getting this page indexed. What could I be missing?


r/SEO • • 1d ago

High CPC spike in Google Ads $46 for a single click

2 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

I've been running a Google Ads Search campaign with Maximize Conversions, no target CPA, and Broad Match keywords.

For the past week, my average CPC was consistently around $2–4, and the campaign was generating conversions.

Today, out of nowhere, Google charged me $46.12 for a single click, while my daily budget is only $50. The other 9 clicks today averaged just $2.28 each.

I haven't changed my campaign settings. I also checked Search Terms and Auction Insights but couldn't find anything that explains this spike.

Has anyone experienced something similar? Could this be caused by Smart Bidding, Broad Match, or sudden auction competition?

I'm trying to understand why this happened and how to prevent it without hurting a campaign that was performing well.


r/SEO • • 1d ago

Old wordpress site still outranks our new one, should I move its content and 301 it or keep both?

3 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I am in dire need of advice and looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this.

About a year ago, my company launched a new lead-gen site on a new subdomain, built quickly with Lovable, mainly for design reasons. Nobody really focused on SEO and the old page (Wordpress) was never fully redirected, and its content was never 100% moved over to the new landing page. The new site has its own traffic, but I just realized the old one still gets a lot of impressions and clicks. But honestly the Wordpress looks terrible, like a 90s website, but its content clearly still ranks.

So, to me, there are two options:
1. Migrate all the Wordpress content to Lovable, by re-creating the exact same pages and then 301 redirect the old URLs to the new URLs.
2. Leaving everything as is to not mess with the traffic and impressions, but that means two separate websites and two different subdomains.
3. Migrating only top performing pages.

What do you think?
Thanks for your help!!


r/SEO • • 1d ago

Cannibalisation issue with the content

1 Upvotes

So in the starting We got very good traction we created lot of content but after a while I am seeing that for one keyword we are getting impressions on 5 6 pages and one page is getting impression for different type of keywords

also maybe I feel like that my keyword analysis was not good actually we just identified common or topics on which we should write content and we start it writing them but now I feel like the content is jumbled up every blog is getting impressions for multiple keyword.

I want to reach a stage where one primary keyword is mapped to one url and only that page get the impression for that keyword.