The SEO Podcast with Fexingo: Search Engine Optimization, Google Rankings, and Organic Traffic

In this episode of The SEO Podcast, Lucas and Luna dive into Google's latest mobile ranking update that makes page speed a direct ranking signal for mobile search results. With data showing that a one-second delay in load time can reduce conversions by 7%, they explore how real-world sites—like a mid-size e-commerce store selling artisanal coffee equipment—saw their organic traffic drop 22% overni...

In this episode of The SEO Podcast, Lucas and Luna dive into Google's recent shift in treating internal links as a direct ranking signal. They break down how the 'Pagerank 2.0' algorithm update now evaluates link quality, context, and placement more heavily. Using a case study of a mid-sized e-commerce site that saw a 30% traffic drop after ignoring link structure, they explain practical steps to...

In this episode of the SEO Podcast, Lucas and Luna dive into Google's entity salience algorithm, which evaluates how prominent an entity (person, place, brand, or thing) is within a page's content relative to the overall topic. They explore why a single article about 'best coffee shops in Tokyo' might rank for 'Shibuya Coffee' even without the exact phrase, thanks to entity-based signals. Lucas br...

In this episode of The SEO Podcast with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna dive into a major 2026 Google update: the search engine now prioritizes the JavaScript-rendered version of web pages over raw HTML for crawling and indexing. They explore the implications for SEOs, developers, and content marketers, using the example of a real estate site that lost 80% of its organic traffic overnight after failing to...

In this episode of The SEO Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore Google's new shadow index for server-side rendered (SSR) content — a separate crawl and ranking layer that treats SSR pages differently from client-side rendered JavaScript frameworks. They examine why Google introduced this change, how it affects sites using Next.js, Nuxt, or Angular Universal, and what the 'hydration mismatch' metric mea...

In this episode of The SEO Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore why Google has started ranking social media profiles — especially from LinkedIn, X, and YouTube — directly in organic search results alongside traditional web pages. They discuss the June 2026 update that quietly expanded social profile indexing, what it means for SEO strategies focused on domain authority alone, and how a single LinkedIn...

In this episode of The SEO Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore how Google's latest algorithm update is shifting search rankings toward FAQ-style content. They analyze the case of a mid-sized SaaS company that saw a 40 percent increase in organic traffic after restructuring its help articles into structured question-and-answer pages. The hosts break down the technical signals Google uses to reward FAQ...

In February 2020, a Google search for 'coronavirus' returned a page from a site called Zero Hedge that had previously published conspiracy theories. The incident forced Google to overhaul how its ranking systems handle breaking news and authoritative sources. In this episode of The SEO Podcast with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna examine what went wrong, how Google responded (including the creation of the...

In this episode of The SEO Podcast, Lucas and Luna dive into the mechanics of dwell time and pogo sticking—two user engagement signals that Google increasingly uses to gauge content quality. They break down what each metric measures, how they differ from click-through rate, and why a high bounce rate isn't necessarily bad if dwell time is strong. Using a real-world example of a travel blog that sa...

Episode 23 of The SEO Podcast digs into Google's real-time click-through rate reranking system — how the search engine watches what users actually click on a results page and adjusts rankings on the fly. Lucas and Luna break down a concrete case: how a home-brewing blog lost 70% of its traffic after a Google update in early 2025, then clawed back 40% by analyzing CTR patterns. They explain the dif...

Episode 22 of The SEO Podcast with Fexingo dives into a frequently overlooked SEO channel: image search. Lucas and Luna break down how Google's reverse image search, image captions, and alt text signals influence text rankings. They walk through a specific case of a mid-size recipe site that saw a 40% traffic lift after restructuring its image metadata. The episode also covers how Google Lens and...

In this episode of The SEO Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore how Google analyzes user query refinement behavior — when someone searches, clicks a result, then refines their search — as a ranking signal. They dive into a 2025 Google patent that quantifies refinement strength and discuss how SEOs can optimize for searcher satisfaction rather than just clicks. Using examples like recipe sites and local...

In this episode of The SEO Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore how Google analyzes search behavior to predict when users are about to search for a specific brand. They dive into the mechanics behind Google's brand prediction algorithm, discussing how search patterns, session context, and user intent signal brand interest before a user even types the brand name. Using real-world examples like Nike and...

In this episode of The SEO Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore how Google now analyzes pre-search behavior to predict when users are about to search for specific brands. They discuss the concept of 'predictive brand intent' — how Google uses browsing history, click patterns, and even time of day to surface brand results even before the user types a brand name. The hosts break down a case study from a...

In this episode of The SEO Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore Google Passage Indexing—a shift that allows Google to rank specific passages within a page, not just the page as a whole. They break down how this changes SEO strategy for long-form content, using the example of a 5,000-word guide on 'how to start a podcast' that now ranks for separate queries like 'best microphone under $100' and 'how to...

Lucas and Luna dive into how Google is systematically incorporating user-generated reviews into its search ranking algorithm in 2026. Using the case study of a mid-sized outdoor gear retailer that saw a 30 percent traffic boost after restructuring its customer review schema, they explain the shift from treating reviews as passive social proof to active ranking inputs. They cover the structured dat...

Google is increasingly treating individual author pages as standalone landing pages in search results — a shift that changes how content marketers think about authority signals. Lucas and Luna unpack a case study from a B2B software company that saw a 40 percent traffic jump after optimizing its writers' bio pages with structured data, topical clusters, and inline expertise signals. They walk thro...

Lucas and Luna dig into a fascinating shift in search rankings: Google increasingly surfaces individual experts—LinkedIn profiles, personal sites, Substack newsletters—ahead of established publishers. They break down the 2025-2026 'authorship algorithm' update, using the case of a finance blogger whose personal site outranks Bloomberg on a mid-tail term. They discuss why Google now values author E...

Lucas and Luna unpack a major shift in Google's ranking algorithm: the move from keyword-based to brand-based authority. Using the example of a niche outdoor gear retailer that lost 70% of its organic traffic after a core update, they explain how Google now evaluates brand signals like entity recognition, brand search volume, and off-site reputation. Lucas breaks down the difference between keywor...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig into a real case from early 2026: a mid-sized e-commerce site that was pulling 50 million monthly organic visits got hit with a manual action penalty that wiped out 90 percent of its traffic in under 48 hours. They walk through exactly what the site was doing wrong — expired guest posts, outdated AI content, and link schemes — and explain how Google's spam team...

In this episode of The SEO Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore the evolving rules around duplicate content and canonicalization in 2026. With Google's indexing system now treating canonical tags as strong suggestions rather than directives, they break down what changed in the latest update. Using a real case study of a mid-sized e-commerce site that saw a 30 percent drop in organic traffic after misap...

Lucas and Luna dive into the ongoing debate over whether Google actually uses click-through rate as a direct ranking signal. They break down a 2023 Google patent that details how the search engine measures user engagement, including a specific metric called 'long clicks' versus 'short clicks.' Lucas explains why Google's official position — that CTR isn't a ranking factor — doesn't tell the whole...

Lucas and Luna unpack why Google now rewards topic authority over individual keyword rankings—and how content clusters changed the game. They walk through a real example from a B2B SaaS company that reorganized its blog around a central hub page and supporting cluster posts, then saw organic traffic from non-branded keywords jump 63 percent over six months. Lucas explains the structural logic behi...

Lucas and Luna break down the shift from search-result-page SEO to map-based discovery. In 2026, Google Maps is increasingly the default front door for local queries — and the ranking factors are different. They walk through the rise of map pack prominence, the role of reviews and photos, and how a small coffee shop in Portland tripled its foot traffic by focusing on local citations and Google Bus...

In this episode of The SEO Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore how Google Discover has evolved into a major traffic source independent of traditional search queries. They break down the mechanics of the algorithmic feed, the types of content that trigger impressions (hint: timeliness and visual quality matter more than keywords), and why publishers who treat Discover as a search channel are getting it...