More Google Updates, How to Thrive After the HCU, the Future of Search & AI, and 3 Weird Sites

<p><!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News podcast. This week Josh Blackburn fills in for Spencer, and he and Jared sit down to discuss the most relevant news in SEO, digital marketing, website creation, and beyond.</p> <p><!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>The first order of business is the <a href= "https://searchengineland.com/google-unleashes-october-2023-spam-update-432881#:~:text=This%20spam%20update%20improves%20Google's,Chinese%2C%20and%20other%20languages.%E2%80%9D" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2 additional updates</a> Google recently launched following the Helpful Content Update that essentially left the niche website community battered. Jared and Josh weigh in on what they think will happen. Is this Google’s way of “tweaking” the results of the HCU? What should website owners do with their sites during these updates? Tune in to hear what they think.</p> <p><!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>They talk about a series of <a href= "https://searchengineland.com/google-helpful-content-updates-survive-thrive-432843" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">things website owners can do</a> to improve their rankings in the wake of the HCU, touching on topics like ad density, usability, pop-ups, and article word count. They also share their observations about the update’s winners and losers and the importance of looking at your website as a business and emulating the features that Google looks for in a business.</p> <p><!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --></p> <p>Jared and Josh move on to talk about <a href= "https://www.wired.com/story/google-antitrust-lawsuit-search-results/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google’s antitrust lawsuit</a> and the revelation that it might be altering search results to get better ad results. They talk about some shady emails that were leaked that give an inside look at how Google operates, but the truth is that there are a lot of changes going on now in search and it r