Matt Southern

Lead News Writer at Search Engine Journal

STAFF

Matt Southern

Lead News Writer at Search Engine Journal

About
I am awesome at
Favorite Tools

About

Matt Southern has been the lead news writer at Search Engine Journal since 2013. With a degree in communications, Matt has an uncanny ability to make the most complex subject matter easy to understand. When he’s not ferociously following and covering the search industry, he’s busy writing SEO-friendly copy that converts.

I am awesome at

SEO, International SEO, Mobile SEO, Technical SEO, Local Search, Content Marketing, Blogging, Matt Southern

Favorite Tools

SEMRush, Ahrefs, Yoast, Google Analytics, UberSuggest, Google Keywords Planner, Canva, Google docs, Trello

News·SEO

DuckDuckGo Questioned By Authorities Over Google Antitrust Investigation

DuckDuckGo has reportedly been in talks with the U.S. Justice Department regarding an investigation into Google’s alleged anti-competitive practices.

Matt Southern
6/5/2020
5.4K Reads
345 shares

Local Search·News

Google My Business Update: Add More Hours for Specific Services

Google is letting businesses add more hours in their GMB listing for services that aren’t offered at all times of the day.

Matt Southern
6/4/2020
3.4K Reads
539 shares

News·YouTube

YouTube Rolls Out New Features to Help Creators Boost Merch Sales

YouTube is assisting creators with a new feature to boost merchandise sales, and a new report for measuring revenue.

Matt Southern
6/4/2020
2.0K Reads
272 shares

News·SEO

Google Is Currently Experiencing Indexing Problems [Update: Fixed]

Google published a PSA advising site owners that it is currently experiencing indexing issues which may cause stale search results.

Matt Southern
6/2/2020
13K Reads
372 shares

News·Facebook

Facebook Lets Users Delete Old Posts in Bulk

Facebook users can now manage their previous activity more efficiently by deleting or archiving old posts in bulk.

Matt Southern
6/2/2020
812 Reads
216 shares

News·YouTube

Google Tests Showing Web Pages in YouTube Search Results

Google has been spotted showing links to web pages when people search for topics on YouTube.

Matt Southern
5/31/2020
14K Reads
651 shares

News·Tools

Google Adds An Anxiety Disorder Self-Assessment to Search Results

When people use Google Search to look for information about anxiety, they will now see a clinically-validated questionnaire for self-assessment.

Matt Southern
5/30/2020
2.3K Reads
345 shares

News·Twitter

Twitter Lets Users Schedule Tweets in Advance

Twitter now offers its own method of scheduling tweets in advance, a feature that was once only available with third-party tools.

Matt Southern
5/29/2020
3.5K Reads
386 shares

News·SEO

Google Now Has 6 Ways to Measure Core Web Vitals

Google is quickly expanding the number of ways site owners can measure Core Web Vitals, now offering 6 ways in total.

Matt Southern
5/29/2020
14K Reads
310 shares

Mobile Search·News

Google’s ‘Top Stories’ to Show More Than Just AMP Pages

Google is making a change to its ‘top stories’ section in search results by removing AMP as one of the requirements for getting featured.

Matt Southern
5/28/2020
2.6K Reads
334 shares

News·SEO

Google’s Core Web Vitals to Become Ranking Signals

Google is introducing a new ranking signal that combines Core Web Vitals with existing signals to better evaluate the quality of a user’s experience.

Matt Southern
5/28/2020
34K Reads
1.2K shares

News·Tools

Google Search Console Updated With Core Web Vitals Report

Google’s Core Web Vitals, a set of metrics deemed essential to delivering a good user experience, now have their own report in Search Console.

Matt Southern
5/27/2020
13K Reads
423 shares

Local Search·News

Google Rolls Out 3 New Attributes For GMB Listings

Google is letting businesses highlight more types of service offerings by adding three new attributes to Google My Business profiles.

Matt Southern
5/27/2020
21K Reads
1.1K shares

News·Web Development

Google Announces 3-Day Digital Conference Starting June 30

Google is planning for a live digital event taking place over three days, which is geared toward developers and has some search-specific sessions as well.

Matt Southern
5/26/2020
4.4K Reads
321 shares

News·Facebook

Facebook Messenger Rooms Can Now Be Created From Instagram

Facebook Messenger Rooms, a new video chat option for up to 50 people, can now be launched from the Instagram Direct inbox.

Matt Southern
5/26/2020
5.5K Reads
298 shares

News·SEO

Google’s John Mueller: Don’t Create a Sitemap Manually

Google’s John Mueller recently advised an SEO not to manually create a sitemap for a large website, and offered more appropriate solutions.

Matt Southern
5/24/2020
8.1K Reads
506 shares

News·Tools

Google Translate Widget is Free Again for Some Websites to Use

Google is again supporting the Google Translate website translator tool in an effort help people get the information they need amid the COVID-19 pandemic.