December SEO News: Google Updates & JavaScript Best Practices

Google Updates

AIOs Speaker Function

With the introduction of AI Overviews, Google is continuing to expand and improve, in order to create the best possible experience for users. A speaker icon is being implemented at the top of the search results page which, when clicking, will have the AI Overview read aloud. This helps to improve accessibility for users that may be partially deaf or partially sighted/blind users.

At present, we don’t know if this is a feature that will be rolled out to other parts of the world, or if it is simply a feature that will provide Google with some needed data to give them a better idea of how users currently interact with SERPs.

The user who discovered this feature and later posted it on social media platform “X”, says that he found replicating the speaker icon was more likely to appear when using voice search.

Going forward, it would be a good idea to keep this in mind when creating content and include a thorough audit for accuracy and relevancy to ensure that your content is not being misrepresented by AI. Your content should sound natural.

Blending of AI Overviews and AI Mode

Off the back of a testing phase by Google back in October, they are also testing how the ‘show more’ button for AIOs will work. This button can jump the user into AI mode if they respond to the given prompt.

The current set up is that upon clicking ‘show more’, there will be more text with deeper insights relating to the user’s query from various stated sources on the SERPs. However, with this new display, after asking Google a question and clicking ‘show more’, there will

be a prompt to ask any further questions (it is not explicitly clear that this will send them into AI Mode). If the user reacts, they will be put into a conversation with AI Mode.

This means that when creating content, you should continue doing what we already know works – optimising for AI Overviews by:

• Using shorter and simpler sentences
• Bulleted lists to highlight key points from your content – and include these at the top of your content
• Improving rank, authority and trustworthiness as much as possible (E-E-A-T)

Is SEO for AI the Same?

According to Google’s Danny Sullivan and John Mueller – the answer is yes!

The two engaged in a discussion on the topic for the ‘Search Off The Record’ podcast, and came down to an interesting, aligned conclusion… “it is SEO, but the format is different”.

It was agreed that the goal of SEO for AI is to still create great content for users, whilst avoiding shortcuts.

The two emphasised that the focus should not be on the search engine, but rather the user. Content should be easily repurposed for various formats, such as video, audio, and visual. This is especially important for AI, because people consume content in different ways.

GSC Performance Report Tests AI-Powered Configurator

Google are testing a brand-new feature for Google Search Console, intended to speed up any building of reports you need, using an AI-powered configuration tool. Think of it like the Google Ads Analytics Advisor, where you tell AI what you’d like to build in natural language, and it will present exactly what it is you’d like to see.

Your inputs will be acknowledged, and AI instantaneously provides you with a fully configured report. No fiddling around with filters or settings required! Nevertheless, Google does warn that it is AI and there may be some information incorrect or missing, so take extra precautions when using the tool.

In this current testing phase, the AI configurator will only build the report but won’t take any actions to it, yet! You are also limited to 20 requests per day, and it’s worth noting that, for now, it only supports the Performance report for Search results and is not available for Discover or News reports.

JavaScript SEO Best Practices Updates

1. Canonical URLs

Google has updated its official guidance for websites that use JavaScript, advising on how to ensure that canonical URLs are able to be crawled efficiently by Google. If your canonical URL is currently different across both JavaScript and HTML, it’s useful to have this technical insight from Google. The best choice is to put the canonical tag directly into the HTML code of the page, it is the most reliable method and ensures Google understands the preferred URL.

As a second option, JavaScript may be used if you’re unable to use HTML, but it must be the same as what is already in the HTML code, as to avoid conflicting signals.

To easily break it down:

• You can have your canonical URL just in the HTML code if you want to
• You can have your canonical URL in JavaScript, but it must be the same as what is in the original HTML code to be crawled effectively
• Avoid putting two different answers in front of Google
• Always test your canonical instructions using the URL inspection tool within Google Search Console

2. NoIndex Tags

Another new piece of useful info shared by Google in the documentation warns against using noindex tags in the original page code. For context, the noindex tag tells Google to not include a certain page in its SERP.

To avoid this slip up ensure:

• Noindex tags are only in pages you are happy to not appear in search results
• Your crawl data is regularly reviewed

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