Hi there, how are you doing? 

We were working on something important recently, and I hope it is not too late to update you about last week’s news. 

Here’s a quick peek at last week’s SEO news. 

1. Google Search Console: “Results Not Found” Response May Lead To Soft 404s
2. Google Reveals Redirects Signals Stick With Destination URL Even After A Year
3. Google Provides SEO Best Practices For Deal Pages
4. Google Reveals Factors Lead To Page Ranking

21/7/2021 – Google Search Console: “Results Not Found” Response May Lead To Soft 404s

There are recent updates on how Google determines soft 404 pages. However, the “results not found” type of page is not new to these changes.

There are threads in both Twitter and Google Webmaster Help are showing examples of how Google spiking in on that soft 404s for pages that include ‘no results found’ or similar terms.  

The tweet below shows a soft 404 spike:

In any case, please keep this in mind, and everything will make sense.

22/7/2021 – Google Reveals Redirects Signals Stick With Destination URL Even After A Year

One of the good practices that Google suggested to their users is to keep their redirects up for a year for Google Search purposes.

If a redirect is live for a year, all signals from original page A to destination page B will be transferred and will remain with page B even after the redirect is removed.

Here are the solid proofs:

Technically it can be less than a year. However, one year is a safe choice:

22/7/2021 – Google Provides SEO Best Practices For Deal Pages

A list of best practices to create a well-performed deal page in Google Search was shared by Alan Kent from the Google Search Relations team on the Google blog. Google shares that these practices are the ones they suggest, even though these might not necessarily be new.  

Best practices for deal pages are:

1. Create a dedicated page for each promotional event.                                                   (Not just on Black Friday and Cyber Monday only.)
2. Include the event description in the page title.
   (Text shown in deals carousel is often incorporated with the page title.)
3. Include an image that is relevant to the sale.
   (Show products on sale & special offers with highlighted text in images; 4:3 to 3:4 aspect ratio is recommended.)
4. Include text describing the event in page contents.
   (To help Google identify your page correctly.)
5. Reveal sales details of the event in advance.                         
   (Increase likelihood of updated content gets indexed in time.)
6. Register promotions in Google Merchant Center.
   (To help surface deals across more surfaces on Google.)

23/7/2021 – Google Reveals Ranking Factors Lead To Page Ranking

Google adds a new feature for the “about this result” overlay, which will tell searchers (and SEOs) the given query of why Google is ranking that page.

Google released this new feature to improve Google’s ability to decide the relevance of a result and help people search for the useful information they are looking for. 

Here are the 4 factors of why the page is ranking:

1. Marching keywords                                                                                                            (Web page information has to be relevant to search keywords.)
2. Related terms
   (For instance: how to cook fish in the oven = bake, recipe)
3. Looking at links
   (Other pages that use similar words as a query.)
4. Local relevance
   (Used languages, country, and locations for relevant content.)

That’s all for today, see you next week!

Updated: 24 April 2024

About JiaJia

Once you've got wanderlust in your blood, you've got it for life. JiaJia is a life enthusiast who also finds interest in digital marketing. She usually can be found eating, baking, traveling, or wandering in the world of marketing.