We hope you are in good health. Here are some of the major SEO news updates of the week you need to know:
Search Related Updates and News from Major Search Engines
Bing’s New PubHub Site Attracts Millions of New Visitors
PubHub, a new feature of Bing Webmaster Tools, allows news publishers to expand their reach and attract more viewers. PubHub is a revolutionary tool that helps all news producers, regardless of size, to improve their readership significantly. The sole requirement is that the publisher is should already be a member of Bing Webmaster Tools. PubHub’s mission is to help high-quality news sites reach millions of new readers by exposing their material at various points where an audience would be interested in reading news.
Google Discusses the SEO Impact of Dates in the Title Tags
John Muller from Google, in his latest discussion on Google Search Central SEO office-hours hangout, discusses whether publishing dates on the web page title tags has got anything to do with SEO. This topic came into the discussion when an SEO professional working on a website raises a query of whether he should include dates in titles when drafting articles on changes in currency value.
Google Says, Use Original Pictures For Writing Product Reviews
John Muller, Google’s Search Advocate, suggests that all users use original photos when publishing product reviews. Using original photos can benefit you from the algorithm update that appreciates in-depth research. This discussion took place when a website owner joined the Google Search Central SEO office hours hangout asks the best practices for inserting images in any product reviews.
John Muller From Google Talks About the Kind of Content That’s More Important!
Google’s John Mueller talked about how vital it is to assist Google to recognize what content is significant so that it may be indexed. While he mentioned the importance of external links, his entire response seemed to emphasis the importance of content and provided five techniques to help for the same.
Google Talks About Updating Your Page Title and How Does it Affect Your SEO
John Muller from Google, in his recent Google Search Central SEO office-hours hangout, talks about the impact on the SEO of your website if you update your page titles every day. This discussion took place on 4th February when an SEO professional joined the Livestream and asked Muller a few questions, out of which one had to do with the impact of changing page titles.
Google URL Inspection API is Now Available in Screaming Frog
Google’s new URL inspection API, which gives access to current indexing data, was quickly integrated by Screaming Frog. Screaming Frog can now incorporate seven fresh new filters that detect website issues that need to be addressed thanks to the new API. In addition to expanding Screaming Frog’s utility, the new update, code-named Romeo, fixes a log4j vulnerability, adds new keyboard shortcuts, and fixes a few issues to make it more stable.
Google Gives Confusing Signals For the New Search Update
Some Google search algorithm tracking programmes have reported substantial swings in volatility in search results over the last few days, indicating a likely Google search upgrade. During that time, however, the SEO sector has been extremely quiet, with no evidence of an update. So it’s difficult for us to say there’s been an update; in reality, things have been very quiet over the last several weeks.
Google to Add a Few More Messages to the Search Consoles Message Panel
Even though the process began in 2017, Google is still moving portions of the old Google Search Console to the new Google Search Console. The types of messages you’d see in the message panel are the next thing to be fully migrated. Google said on Twitter that “all messages” are now displayed in that message window.
You’ll now see spam reports, YouTube channel associations, and any other type of message you can get in Google Search Console, in addition to site concerns like improvement report issues and other issues, mentioned there.
Microsoft Introduces us to a New Format For Bing Search!
Cruise Ads is a new Microsoft Advertising type for Bing Search that was introduced by Microsoft recently. It’s almost as if Microsoft is producing all of these vertical ad formats in anticipation of a huge consolidation narrative in a few years, in which Microsoft announces that the vertical ad formats have been combined for simplicity’s sake.
Google Chromes Journeys is All Set to Roll Out!
We revealed in October 2021 that Google was testing something called Journeys in Chrome. All the pages you’ve visited relating to your past surfing history will be grouped together in Journeys so you can conveniently browse them without having to trawl through your browsing history. Chrome Journeys is now available on desktop browsers. Journeys are available in multiple languages like English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, and Turkish on Chrome desktop on any OS.
Google Says Just Because a Link Has UTM Parameters Does Not Mean That They are Paid Links
Google’s John Muller recently posted on Twitter that if a link has UTM parameters doesn’t mean it is a paid link! He also added,” Links with UTM parameters are just like any other links”. “They are not supposed to be always considered as paid links.” In fact, doing this always creates mixed signals!
Google Says That Code to Text Ratio Has Never Been an SEO Factor
John Muller from Google, along with Gary Illyes, recently posted on Reddit saying that code to text ratios never mattered when talking about SEO. John Muller added that it is not even an SEO factor, while Gary said it doesn’t matter! All you have to do is have decent content.
Microsoft Bing Expands Car and Automobile Search!
In this wild car market, Microsoft Bing has increased its search features that will help you purchase a car. Bing also allows you to filter the results in a variety of ways, much of which is based on the MSN Autos Marketplace. You can look for a particular brand and model, as well as a specific type of vehicle, and much more.
Google Busts the New Myth About CTAs
CTAs, or call to action buttons, placed above the fold, according to a new SEO myth, are harmful to Google search ranking and SEO. This was a new SEO myth around call to action that is simply not true, as Google’s John Mueller stated on Reddit, “Google search says nothing about CTA buttons”.
PPC Related Updates and News
The API Version 10 of Google Ads is Now Available For All!
The Google Ads API has been updated to version 10.0. Keep in mind that the AdWords API will be decommissioned on 27th April 2022, which is approaching quickly. So, what’s new in Google Ads API version 10? There’s a lot, including smart campaigns, modifications to local service advertisements, performance max campaign upgrades and more.
Google has also introduced a new diff page that displays the photos that have been added, removed, or updated in the most recent Google Ads API release. After the prototypes are released, you can view them in our GitHub repository by clicking the links. In the Changed tab, you may see fast and full-context diffs.
Bulleted Descriptions in Search Ads Being Tested by Google
Google Search is experimenting with bulleted descriptions in the Google Ads slot, according to Yusuf Ozbay. So now, Google is experimenting with bullet points instead of working out with just a few sentences in the description. Google’s Ginny Marvin verified that this is a real test that the company is running.
Social Media Updates and News
Linkedin to Release Out Sales Navigator Search and CRM Card Updates
Linkedin sales solutions announced a few updates which aimed at boosting efficiency for advertisers and sellers to the navigator platform today. These updates include improvements to the search experience, new homepage optimizations and CRM integrations.
After disclosing substantial losses in a quarterly earnings report, the stock price of Facebook’s parent company, Meta Platforms Inc, plunged by nearly 200 billion dollars this week. Following the largest single-day price plunge in history, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, plans to refocus the company’s efforts on short-form video growth. During a company-wide virtual meeting, Zuckerberg informed Facebook employees of his plans.
