Webcology – January 28, 2021 – An It was the Worst of Times edition.
Hamlet
A sad story started spreading through the SEO community last night as word of Hamlet Batista’s passing emerged through Facebook and Twitter. A small number of people close to him knew he was sick for several weeks but Hamlet wanted to keep it quiet. He had somehow contracted COVID after doing everything he could to avoid it. He was hit hard but rallied a couple time and thought he’d make it through.
Hamlet came to the United States from the Dominican Republic on a US Genius Visa and he used his genius to build a beautiful life. He was a healthy and happy and kind sort of man. He had a wife, Odette, and two sons, Ethan and Josh. His SEO tool company, RankSense, was working towards its first stock offering. Hamlet was literally living the dream, making it happen for himself and others around him from hard work and because he was a truly good person.
That goodness was felt in the industry. Hamlet was a well known in the search marketing sector for sharing knowledge in industry journals and as a speaker and lecturer on the search marketing conference circuit. He was one of those people who took others under his wings to help them find their feet as they stepped forward in their careers. Most of his mentees are themselves notable and successful. Hamlet had a way of making people find the best in themselves.
The SEO community has gone into mourning a few times in our history and it’s always so hard. There is a love among our clique and when someone who so totally personified that spirit passes it is stunning and awful how deep the loss is felt. Goodbye Hamlet. You, my friend, were deeply loved. You changed people’s worlds and you will be sorely missed.

The Rebellion called GameStop
Robinhood has banned lil’John, FrierDuck, tittes2020, and a huge host of other day traders from trading in certain stocks being pumped on Reddit and through social media.
Google Ranks pages but strongly considers websites
https://www.seroundtable.com/google-site-score-ranking-individual-pages-30829.html
(in response to Jeff Fergeson’s piece in SEJ: Google ranks webpages not websites https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-ranks-webpages-not-websites/393425/?ver=393425X3)

Google Search Console sends out erroneous verification emails
https://www.seroundtable.com/google-search-console-email-mistake-30834.html