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
Launch of Google News’ Desktop Redesign
Google is releasing a revamped desktop version of Google News that customers may personalize to suit their informational requirements. Filtering options, topic customization, and an enlarged Fact Check section are part of this version. According to Google, reader comments inspired the refreshed design of Google News on desktop.
A Step Toward The Goal Of A Single AI: Google LIMoE
As a step toward achieving its objective of an AI architecture dubbed Pathways, Google has unveiled a new technology called LIMoE. A single model that can learn to perform various tasks currently carried out using various algorithms is called a “Pathways” in artificial intelligence. Learning Multiple Modalities with One Sparse Mixture-of-Experts Model is referred to as LIMoE.
It is a model that combines the processing of text with vision. Although there are other architectures that can do the same tasks, the new model’s use of the neural network technique known as a Sparse Model represents a significant advancement.
Unverified June 23rd Google Search Ranking Update Spike
Since the weekend, we have been keeping an eye on what we called the Google Juneteenth Search Ranking Algorithm Tremors, and it is now increasing this morning. Some sites that were impacted by the May 2022 core upgrade appear to be making significant recoveries, while many others do not, and websites are generally experiencing significant swings in Google search results. Google has not confirmed any of these, but aside from the major pre-announced upgrades, the majority of these updates have not been confirmed by a Google employee.
In addition to the tracking tools showing significantly greater volatility over the previous 24 hours, we have noticed a spike in talk among the SEO community that began in a more noticeable fashion yesterday.
Google is experimenting with rounded favicons for mobile search results.
For the favicons shown in the mobile search results on snippets, Google is trying a rounded corner design. Brodie Clark tweeted some instances, writing, “A rounded version with a grey background has surfaced as a result of recent testing of favicon scaling on mobile. The brand name or domain is repeated at the top, just like in earlier experiments.”
On search result snippets, Bing tests the secure and HTTPS labels.
The security labels on the search result snippets are once again being tested by Microsoft Bing. Based on my tests using various browser types, here is Bing testing the addition of a “secure” and “HTTPS” label on some search results.
To be sure, in November 2020, we observed Microsoft Bing testing secure labeling in its search results. Microsoft Bing is currently testing that label once more with more modifications.
Google has added a new attribute for business profiles that says “LGBTQ+-owned.”
LGBTQ+-owned businesses have been added as yet another business attribute for Google Business Profiles. According to Google, adding this new label to your company will “make it easier for customers to locate and support them” in Google Maps and Google Search. The fact is that Google already had the LGBTQ+ Friendly and Transgender Safespace attribute in September 2020. According to Google, this attribute is more objective and is intended to simply spotlight LGBTQ+ company owners, much like Black-owned, and Latino-owned attributes do.
Not Visible On-Page Content Is No Longer Less Important, According to Google
Gary Illyes of Google stated recently in the Search Off The Record podcast that Google no longer gives less weight to information or objects that are hidden on the page. Google only cares if it is in the HTML or in “immediate JavaScript.”
Truthfully, we’ve talked about this a lot over the years, so it’s not very new. However, Gary’s claim that Google no longer cared about it astonished Martin Splitt of Google on the episode.
When we discovered a big design for the Google News home page, we saw something was imminent, and now it has arrived. This morning, Google unveiled a new design, claiming that it has “made it easier for you to catch up on the essential news by bringing Top headlines, Local news, and personalized recommendations for you to the top of the page.”
PPC Related Updates and News
Advertiser identity verification is now necessary for Microsoft Advertising.
According to the firm, Microsoft Advertising now demands advertiser identity verification to guarantee that users only view ads from reliable sources, improving customer experiences. Microsoft noted, “Advertisers will be required to go through a verification process as part of this program to confirm their legal identity. It should not be surprising that Microsoft Advertising is following Google Ads in requiring this for specific sectors and verticals.
Social Media Updates and News
After publishing a YouTube video, you can now make corrections.
It will be possible to edit videos after they go live, thanks to a new feature for YouTube creators. Previously, the only option to fix an issue in a video that had already been published was to delete, modify, and re-upload the video. Due to the fact that all watch time and engagement metrics were lost, the previous approach caused more issues than it resolved. Instead, if YouTube creators choose to correct their mistakes at all, they typically do so by leaving a comment or adding a note to the description. However, if the user doesn’t scroll down the page or if the video is embedded on another website, that doesn’t help at all. Existing videos can now be fixed in a way that is immediately apparent while the video is being viewed.
Meta: Instagram’s Main Feed Will Become Full Screen
Instagram will soon start testing a full-screen overhaul of its main feed, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg delivered his statement via an Instagram story, so if you blink, you might have missed it. All other elements are placed on top of the content, with the exception of a small navigational section at the bottom. Zuckerberg continues by emphasizing that photos will continue to be a crucial component of Instagram in order to allay any misunderstandings regarding the new design. Instagram won’t become a video-only platform after the redesign.
