In late April, John Mueller of Google introduced a change within the format of the Google SEO office hours section.
Historically, Mueller would reply Google search and SEO questions from web site house owners, site owners, SEOs and others reside to assist these individuals by way of some difficult SEO-related assist.
Now, Mueller is asking you to submit questions beforehand and he’ll report solutions to them and publish them later on.
What modified. Here is a listing of the bigger modifications to this SEO office hours format.
No reside viewers for the recorded part of when Mueller solutions SEO questions.Only some pre-submitted questions will probably be answered.Recordings will probably be posted after, it doesn’t seem like reside to observe in real-time anymore.30-minute segments as an alternative of one-hour segments.Only one office hours per thirty days, versus 4 per thirty days.
Why the change. Mueller defined these modifications on this video from April 29. He stated the modifications are as a result of it makes it simpler for us to digest shorter movies and it additionally helps him and Googlers “form of put together for these periods” to the solutions are extra on level. He later added on Twitter that going from 4 per thirty days to 1 per thirty days is as a result of “they’re all the time fairly time-intensive for me, so I must discover a workable steadiness.”
Why we care. Many SEOs referred to as the SEO office hours a lifeline for his or her SEO-related questions or considerations. Being capable of ask a Googler immediately about an SEO query, or get superior technical SEO recommendation on a choice they should make about their web site, has been a real blessing for a lot of SEOs. Being capable of reference recommendation from Google representatives can be helpful in making a case to 1’s boss about funding in SEO.
I do know many SEOs who timestamp each phrase stated in these hangouts, who use these speaking factors in making higher choices and who use these SEO office hours as backup for conferences with shoppers or their supervisors.
Time will inform how these SEO office hours change over time, how helpful they continue to be to be and if this format will adapt once more within the close to future. But the general SEO office hours format has not modified a lot over 10-plus years, outdoors of the platform used.
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About The Author
Barry Schwartz a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming staff for SMX occasions. He owns RustyBrick, a NY primarily based net consulting agency. He additionally runs Search Engine Roundtable, a well-liked search weblog on very superior SEM matters. Barry might be adopted on Twitter right here.
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