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Google updated its guidance for businesses interested in SEO to make it concise and easier to read. There is also a new mention of AEO/GEO services, caution about the use of third-party SEO tools, and, for the first time ever, Google is encouraging businesses to contact the United States government Federal Trade Commission if they have a complaint about fraudulent SEO services.
There are about seven changes to Google’s “Do you need an SEO?” web page. The purpose of the page is to provide guidance on deciding whether to hire an SEO, factors to consider during the hiring process, and advice on avoiding unethical or risky practices.
The web page also encourages businesses to question whether they need to hire an SEO and offers links to resources for learning about SEO in order to better understand whether or not it’s necessary.
The new web page goes further than it has ever gone before. It now cautions businesses about the use of third-party SEO tools and encourages them to report shady SEOs to the FTC.
AI Optimization Added To List Of Useful Is Mentioned In New Guidance
Google added AEO/GEO services to their list of useful and typical services offered by SEOs.
The current list:
Review of your site content or structure Technical advice on website development: for example, hosting, redirects, error pages, use of JavaScript Content development Management of online business development campaigns Keyword research SEO training Expertise in specific markets and geographies Optimizing for generative AI Generative AI optimization is new to the list this year. There is no further guidance about this kind of optimization or a description of what this kind of optimization includes.Content Rewritten For Clarity
Google’s encouragements to read their SEO guides were updated for clarity. . Some of the guide is extensively rewritten while some is only rewritten to be more concise. The rewritten guidance is essentially the same but clearer and easier to understand
Key Change: Google Discourages SEO Tools
One of the key changes to the guidance is an extensive section about third-party SEO tools. This isn’t something that Googlers have been talking about much but Google has actively been taking measures to discourage third-party tools from scraping Google search results.
Google doesn’t mention specific third-party tools but they do mention audits performed by the tools and advises businesses to compare tool recommendations against Google’s published guidance.
The new guidance and recommendations:
“If your SEO uses a third-party tool, keep in mind that Google doesn’t evaluate or endorse third-party SEO tools, and these tools don’t have access to Google’s internal ranking data. Be wary of tools that claim to be “acceptable” or “approved” by Google Search.
Evaluate your SEO’s recommendations and tools they use. Before making significant changes to your site based on a third-party tool’s audit, be sure to check their recommendations against official guidance from Google Search, think critically about any claims or recommendations you hear, and make your own informed decisions.
Do they cite official Google documentation as supporting evidence for their recommendations?”
Cautions On AEO/GEO Services
Google added AEO/GEO services to the list of the kinds of helpful services SEOs offer but they also published a warning about AI optimization services, advising businesses to make sure that SEO recommendations to step over the line between optimization and spam.
The new guidance:
“If they have advice on optimizing for AI experiences (also known as “AEO” “GEO” services), is their advice aligned with Google Search’s official guidance on optimizing for generative AI features?
Do they use tools that are aligned with Google’s guidance?”
Claims and Guarantees
Google rewrote the section about ranking guarantees. It’s substantially the same but more direct, concise and easier to understand.
“No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google. Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a “special relationship” with Google, or advertise a “priority submit” to Google.”
Warns About SEOs Who Violate Google’s Spam Policies
Google also rewrote the section about shady SEOs, cautioning that some SEOs are unethical, which Google defines as using “overly aggressive marketing” that violate the spam guidelines.
The updated guidance now says:
“Important: While SEOs can provide clients with valuable services, some unethical SEOs have given the industry a black eye by using overly aggressive marketing efforts or using techniques that violate our spam policies, which may result in a negative adjustment of your site’s presence in Google, or even the removal of your site from our index.”
Google Encourages Reporting SEOs To The FTC
Many SEOs see their practices in the light of whether or not they violate Google’s guidelines. But in fact it has always been the case that there are laws in the United States about advertising practices that may make some link building techniques (paid links) possibly illegal due to FTC guidelines that require “native advertising” content to be clearly labeled.
So, being cavalier about whether or not Google “likes” or “hates” how they promote a site has always been the least important thing for SEOs to worry about. Google’s new encouragement that businesses should report SEOs who use deceitful practices should give some SEOs a reason to reconsider their practices.
The new guidance says:
“Reporting issues
If you feel that you were deceived by an SEO in some way, you may want to report it.
In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) handles complaints about deceptive or unfair business practices. To file a complaint, visit the FTC website to file a complaint online or call 1-877-FTC-HELP.
If your complaint is against a company in a country other than the United States, file it at https://www.econsumer.gov/.”
Takeaways
Google and SEOs have always had an adversarial relationship. The so-called white hat SEOs, despite representing themselves as ethical, have consistently been the ones testing the boundaries of Google’s algorithms to identify loopholes. For example, when Google introduced the nofollow link, originally created for disavowing links posted in comments, the white hat crowd started using it for “Page Rank sculpting,” a way to stop Google from counting “useless” pages like About Us pages in the calculation of how PageRank is distributed within a site. Google updated how nofollow links are treated by including them in the calculations of how PageRank is distributed.
Google’s relationship with the SEO industry appears to be updated now. Google is acknowledging AI optimization as a legitimate service while simultaneously warning businesses about AI optimization claims, third-party tools, and unethical SEO practices. The FTC reference is especially notable because it moves the discussion beyond Google’s guidelines and into legal territory.
Circling back to the traditional adversarial relationship between Google and SEOs, this update to Google’s “Do you need an SEO?” dials up the heat on SEOs who offer shady services.
Featured Image by Shutterstock/Blueastro
