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

New Search Technology from Google is Unveiled, Including In-Video Search

In India, one of the search giant’s major markets, Google is introducing cutting-edge search technology, such as bilingual search results and in-video search. This week, Google’s ninth Google For India event presented the following search tools: Lookup in the video, Results of bilingual investigations, Language-based voice search, Google Pay’s natural language search, and Google Lens’s handwriting-to-text translation. It’s important to watch for these characteristics since they might arrive in North America someday.

Google Stops Using Web Light to Transcode Webpages

The seven-year-old Web Light service, which optimized websites for use on sluggish mobile devices and mobile connections, has been retired by Google. The Web Light documentation on the Google developer page Google has retired, as has the related user agent (googleweblight).

John Mueller from Google: WordPress Isn’t Always Better For SEO

According to Google Search Advocate John Mueller, there is no inherent SEO benefit to using WordPress as opposed to writing the code for a website yourself. A topic that many practitioners encounter throughout their careers is posed in a thread in the r/SEO forum. Is WordPress more effective for SEO than custom website coding? This query can also be phrased as “is WordPress better for SEO than Wix” or “is WordPress better for SEO than [insert competing content management system]?” The response is the same, no matter how you phrase your question.

Beginning in early January, Bing will fully transition to the new BingBot user agent

A new BingBot user agent has been under testing by Bing since April, and throughout the year, it will be gradually added to a larger percentage of crawls. Microsoft’s Fabrice Canel stated that even though the new BingBot is only performing 50% of all crawls right now; it will increase to 100% of all crawls in early January. The new BingBot, according to Fabrice’s tweet, “still accounts for 50%” of all crawls. We wanted to be extra cautious over the holidays, and we’ll return to full strength in early January, he said. Be aware that Bing initially stated that it would launch by the fall of 2022.

Google’s Updates on Helpful Content and Link Spam are Still Causing Havoc With the SERPs

As you are aware, the link spam update and the December 2022 helpful content upgrade are currently being implemented. In fact, it appears that the beneficial content upgrade requires more time to work. Looking at the Google Search results over the last two weeks, it has been somewhat variable.

Social Media Updates and News

Tweets Now Have Public View Counts on Twitter

Twitter will now include view counts on tweets, Elon Musk revealed today, providing users additional knowledge about the audience for other users’ work. Previously, the account that published the tweet was the only one with access to the number of tweet views, also known as impressions, on Twitter. Videos are an exception, as Musk points out, as they typically show the number of views.

Twitter Improves Cashtags Search Results

By displaying pricing graphs when users click on the symbol of a significant stock, ETF, or cryptocurrency, Twitter is improving the user experience for cashtags. A clickable cashtag is produced by placing a dollar sign in front of a stock or currency symbol, such as $AAPL. In the past, selecting a cashtag would direct you to a typical list of search results that included trending tweets.

The TikTok For You Page Describes the Benefits of a Video

Users can learn why a video was included in their feed by visiting the “For You” page on TikTok, which is the first screen they view when launching the app. Users can get this information by using the new “Why this video” option in the sharing panel. By tapping the button, a pop-over window containing a list of the reasons TikTok recommends the video will appear.

Twitter Introduces Square Profile Photos and Blue For Business

A new version of Blue Verified called Blue For Business is being introduced by Twitter to help separate corporate accounts from personal accounts. Blue For Business offers a square profile photo, a gold checkmark, and the option to link any associated Twitter accounts. Employees’ personal Twitter accounts receive an additional badge next to their verified checkmark when business accounts designate them as related accounts.

Create Year-In-Review Highlight Reels With New Instagram Templates

Four new Reel templates are being made available by Instagram so people can make narrated videos of their 2022 highlights. With the release of this update, Instagram is still allowing users to edit the year-end recap they publish with their followers. Instagram users often end the year with a post showcasing their top nine images and videos. Instagram switched to video last year, inspiring users to share their best moments of the year.

Author

Navneet Kaushal is the Editor-in-Chief of PageTraffic Buzz. A leading search strategist, Navneet helps clients maintain an edge in search engines and the online media. Navneet is also the CEO of SEO Services company PageTraffic which is one of the leading search marketing company in Asia.