Daily Search Forum Recap: January 12, 2024 -

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Google Assistant dropped 17 features, some are now defaulting to Google Search. Google said you can ignore spammy links from AI-generaed content. Google updated its Google Ads sensitive events policy. Google updates its structured data docs to use hashtags for @id references. Microsoft Advertising is dropping Hotel Center accounts for lodging campaigns. And I posted the weekly SEO video recap.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Did Search Win With The Google Assistant Feature Loss

Google announced major changes to Google Assistant, removing close to 20 features and switching how the Google App works with the Google Assistant. This may be a win for Google Search, a loss for Google Assistant, or maybe AI will take over everything in the coming years?

Google Says Ignore Links Spammy From AI-Generated Blogs

A site owner posted on Reddit his concerns after noticing “hundreds of thousands” of backlinks from “AI-generated blog posts” directed to his or her site. John Mueller from Google said those links can be ignored and the posts might not be AI-generated anyway, not that it matters.

Google Updates Structured Data Examples To Use Hashtags For @id References

Google has updated its structured data documentation to now use hashtags for @id references. If you don’t use hashtags, it is fine, but Google said it is “schema best practice to use hashtags as resolvable in-page node identifiers in RDF.”

What’s Google Ads Sensitive Event Policy

Google has posted a clarification of what it calls its sensitive event policy under the Inappropriate content policy within Google Ads. This applies to Google Ads, Google Merchant Center, Google AdSense, Admob and more.

Microsoft Advertising Dropping Hotel Center Accounts For Lodging Campaigns On Feb 6

Microsoft announced it is going to do away with Hotel Center subaccounts on February 6, 2024 and you should migrate to Lodging campaigns instead. “As we strive to improve and innovate our products, we’re changing how you set up and manage Hotel Price ads and Property Promotion ads,” Microsoft wrote.

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Web & Local Ranking Updates, Quality Changes Coming, FAQ/How-To Rich Results, Perfect SEO, Author Bylines & More

We reported on three different Google algorithm updates this week, a bug one on January 9th and 10th, another one on January 5th and 6th, and also a local search ranking update on January 4th. Google reiterates that more changes are coming to deal with the search spam you see in Google’s search results. Google has dropped the…

Doogler Taking In Google Boulder Office Views

Here is a photo from the lobby area of the Google Boulder office, where you see this Doogler, Google dog, taking in the inside views. Only at Google, no?