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
Google Extends Support for Third-Party Cookies by a Year
With plans to gradually phase them out starting in 2024, Google is delaying the deprecation of third-party cookies in Chrome by another year. The second extension of Chrome’s continued acceptance of third-party cookies, which Google had intended to stop doing this year. Once again, plans were altered when Google pushed the deadline to 2023 in 2017. The extension is now receiving another extension. In order to deliver targeted advertising in a less intrusive manner, Google’s Privacy Sandbox program needs more testing time.
Google’s updated July 2022 product review algorithm is now live
The July 2022 product review update, the fourth in a series of improvements aimed at low-quality reviews, is already rolling out, according to Google. The upgrade was implemented on 27th July and will be finished in two to three weeks. Google posted a link to the official page for search ranking updates along with the announcement on Twitter.
Performance Max and Smart Shopping Reports Are Now Available In Google Analytics 4
Google Analytics is updating reports for GA4 properties with a piece of data that counts visitors from Performance Max and Smart Shopping campaigns. Now, information from both campaign types is compiled under the new channel category “cross-network.” Any report showing traffic acquisition from Google Ads sources will have a grouping for cross-network channels you can check for to obtain the data.
PageSpeed Insights vs. the CVW Report in Search Console
In an SEO office hour video, Google’s John Mueller explains why the PageSpeed Insights score and the Search Console Core Web Vitals score differ regularly. He shows why it is logical that two-page speed measures never agree and why it never happens.
Infinite Scroll For Search Results Is A Test For Google Maps
For years, Google Search has intermittently experimented with infinite scrolling of search results. It even formally introduced continuous scroll on mobile. However, Google Maps is now experimenting with endless scrolling in its search results screen. Punit noticed this and shared a video of it in action on Twitter.
5 percent of BingBot crawls are new, according to Microsoft
Microsoft’s Fabrice Canel said on Twitter that 5% of all URL downloads use the new BingBot user agent. Back in April, Bing unveiled their crawler’s new user agent for BingBot. The new BingBot will likely go live sometime in the fall of 2022.
Microsoft has been gradually implementing this new BingBot user agent, and it is currently crawling around 5% of all URLs. It should be close to 100% of all URLs downloaded or indexed within the following several months.
Google favors video above business profile verification
It looks like Google Business Profiles is pressuring firms to verify them using video verification more and more. Despite not making video the only option, Google made this the default choice.
On Twitter, Jason Brown claimed that throughout his most recent verification efforts, he had only been given the option of a video. He stated, “Looks like Google is demanding video verification as there is no choice to verify via postcard,” claiming that he was offered no other options.
Selfies, blurry, or low-quality images may be removed from Google Maps.
The requirements for photographs and videos submitted under the Google Maps user-contributed content policy have been changed. Google Maps may be updated to exclude selfie shots, images that are very dark or fuzzy, compositions that have been drastically rotated, and the use of filters that significantly modify how the location is represented.
In search results snippets, Google Search displays the return period.
Google has been showing a new snippet line for some e-commerce sites over the past several weeks that displays the return policy for that goods. Google will therefore display “x-days returns” beneath the first search result snippet. This was discovered by Brodie Clark a few weeks ago, and on 26th July, Brian Freiesleben tweeted about it.
Google Currently Displays Three Listings for Local Services
Google is now displaying three listings for local service ads in both the desktop and mobile interfaces.
Previously, Google only displayed two entries for local service advertisements, but as Len noted on Twitter, Google is now displaying three. The desktop interface had three for a while, but mobile devices often only displayed two items.
Microsoft Bing search performs various tests and launches new features
Currently, a lot is going on at Microsoft Bing Search. You might have seen new features while surfing around, and that’s not enough, more is yet to come as Bing Search is testing a few more features that you never knew might roll out anytime soon! So, hold back and get ready for the ride.
Social Media Updates and News
The First Ever Ad Revenue Drop According To Meta
The company’s first-ever year-over-year loss in advertising revenue is revealed in Meta’s most recent earnings report, indicating a declining trend that it expects to continue. The ten-year run of ad revenue growth for Meta comes to an end in the Q2 2022 financial report.
PPC Updates and News
Google Merchant Center Now Allows Free Listings With Login Requirements & Purchase Restrictions
The login-required and limited purchase free listings are now permitted under Google’s new Google Merchant Center policy. In its place, Google said it would designate them as active, though it would also note that the products “have limited visibility on Google.”