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 Maps Introduces Three New Ways for Users to Add Helpful Content
The all-new Google Maps features announces today that aim to make sharing and find local recommendations easier, and a new community challenge may add some fun to the process. Google Maps photo updates will allow users to share experiences and highlights with recent photos without the need to leave a review. Google Maps users will soon report on road changes by drawing new or missing roads with a desktop editing tool.
Google Opens Enrollment for Its Three Career Certification Program
Google opens enrollment for its latest career certificate programs and announces new tools and resources for job seekers. In a blog post, Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said the certificate courses are part of the company’s efforts to help workers upskill to high-demand careers in digital technology.
Google Announces Hotel Booking Links Will Be Free
Google came up with its new announcement of a Hotel Booking Links program that was once offered using the Hotels Ads system. It encourages Hotels and travel companies to join to offer free hotel booking. The Current Google Hotel Ads advertisers don’t need to change anything in their listing, which will be shown automatically. According to the announcement, the partners who are already participating in Hotel Prices API and Hotel Ads do not need any further action.
Google Updates Search Results with the Full Coverage Feature
Google announces that it’s adding the “Full Coverage” feature to Google Search. By bringing Full Coverage to Google Search, it will be easier for people to explore all story aspects from various perspectives. All the details are published in a Google blog post by Itamar Snir, Product Manager, Google News. When users start searching for information on a breaking news story, they will see a View Full Coverage button after scrolling to the end of the top stories carousel.
Google Make Changes to the Rich Results Report in Google Search Console
Google explains that starting on March 11, 2021, and going forward, it changes its requirements for the Experience, Education and Experience in place of education properties of job posting structured markup. Google says, Because of these changes, you may notice an “increase in warnings for Job Posting instances”. One of the changes is related to the job posting report, and another one is related to the FAQ and Q&A rich results report.
Google Upgrades the Search Console Reports for Q&A and FAQ
Google upgrades the Search Console reports specifically for the Q&A and FAQ structured data. Google will check the validity of Q&A and FAQ structured data that is below the root entity level. Google says that previously the report only flagged entities at the root level, not below the root entity level. So if you see an increase valid, or warning, or invalid with your FAQ and Q&A items, that would not be such a huge surprise.
Google Announcement for Unindexing Pages from Search Use Noindex, Not Robots.txt
Google’s John Mueller says that when you want to “unindex,” remove indexed pages from Google Search; you should not block Google with robots.txt rather use noindex. He also says only unindex pages when you don’t care if the page doesn’t rank but if you want it to rank, and then improve the page.
Microsoft Bing Announces Updates on “Visually Immersive”
Microsoft Bing announces “visually immersive” upgrades to the search results interface. This update includes how it displays recipe results, expandable search result carousels, image search similar looking items, infographic knowledge panels, and the local answer’s details.
