This week was pretty busy, we had the third Google product reviews update and I go deep into this algorithm update. We saw what I called a Spring 2022 Google search update, Google did not confirm it and it was unrelated to the product reviews update. Google released some data on how search improved, how much it tests, how much they experimented and how searchers change how they search. Google Maps released a lot of data on their spam and fraud protection and fighting. Google did look into giving sites an eco-friendly ranking boost but didn’t do it yet. Google spoke about if you can redirect old 404ed pages to gain its old link value. Google said machine learning and AI generated content still is not high quality enough for search. Google said leaving redirects in place for only 3 months is not enough. Google said pricing is not a ranking factor, again. Google explained again why it does not crawl and index everything. Google’s Gary Illyes, Martin Split and Lizzi Sassman spoke about de-SEOing. Google Ads Editor version 2.0 is out with performance max support. Google launched the new Google Partners directory. Google has paused ads that exploits, dismisses or condones the Russia – Ukraine war. Google Business Profiles added emergency help attributes for Ukrainian refugees. Google Search is testing appointments and booking at healthcare providers. Microsoft Advertising updated its reporting capabilities in a big way. Google Search is testing a gray search box which in dark mode looks horrible. Google Search has discount codes in the shopping pack. Google Ads is testing new icon ad extensions. Google is testing a lower price label in the shopping results. Microsoft Bing is testing “on this page” jump to links for its search results page. With Google Analytics 4, make sure to run both the GA4 and Universal Analytics UA tracking codes in parallel. Google Merchant Center is now a linking product in Google Analytics 4. And if you want to help sponsor those vlogs, go to patreon.com/barryschwartz. That was the search news this week at the Search Engine Roundtable.
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