Interesting week at Google this week with a new way to create custom columns in Google Ads, YouTube’s new search insights tool, Google Ads’ Manager Account Dashboards, “From The Web” and “Other Sites Say” featured snippets and more.
ICYMI, here’s what happened at Google This Week.
- Roll Out of Google March 2022 Product Reviews Update
- Google Using AI to Automatically Update Business Information
- Higher Price Badge In Google Search Shopping Results
- YouTube Services Worldwide are Experiencing Issues
- Google Ads Launches Manager Account Dashboards
- New Way to Create Custom Columns in Google Ads
- YouTube’s New Search Insights Tool
- Custom Floodlight Variables (U Values) Available in Standard Reports
- New Display & Video 360 Updates
- YouTube Adds New Connected TV Capabilities
- Google Search Console Notices for Removing Intrusive Interstitials
- Google Site Kit Provides Ideas to Write About Section
- New Google Featured Snippet: “From The Web” & “Other Sites Say”
- Universal Analytics Latency Issues Won’t Be Fully Fixed
Roll Out of Google March 2022 Product Reviews Update
Almost three weeks after Google launched the 3rd version update, Google has confirmed that the March 2022 product reviews update is now finished rolling out. The Google product reviews update aims to promote review content that is above and beyond much of the template information you see on the web.
Google said it will promote these types of product reviews in its search results rankings. Google added the following criteria for what matters with the March 2022 product reviews update:
- Include helpful in-depth details, like the benefits or drawbacks of a certain item, specifics on how a product performs or how the product differs from previous versions
- Come from people who have actually used the products, and show what the product is physically like or how it’s used
- Include unique information beyond what the manufacturer provides — like visuals, audio or links to other content detailing the reviewer’s experience
- Cover comparable products, or explain what sets a product apart from its competitors
Google Using AI to Automatically Update Business Information
Google announced it will be using artificial intelligence (AI) and a machine learning (ML) model to automatically update business hours and real-world road information. The goal of these is to provide users with more up-to-date information about neighbourhood changes.
Google also announced it is experimenting with other ways it can use images for AI and ML. Starting in the U.S., it is launching a third-party imagery pilot that will provide the most up-to-date speed limit information. The goal of this technology is to improve driver safety and add details that can make driving more efficient. Google hopes to eventually add information about potholes, school zones and construction.
Higher Price Badge In Google Search Shopping Results
Google seems to be testing out a new “higher price” badge in the Google Shopping results.
The “higher price” badge is showing up on some product pages and doesn’t appear to be widespread at this moment.
YouTube Services Worldwide are Experiencing Issues
YouTube confirmed the site is experiencing a variety of issues that are impacting users worldwide. The company acknowledged the issues after numerous users reported error messages when trying to watch videos or noted various site elements weren’t available — like the sidebar navigation or the setting menus, for example — among other things.
Some users also found they couldn’t sign in to their YouTube account or switch between profiles. Others said they were unable to cast YouTube to their TV or use the app on their gaming console.
Google Ads Launches Manager Account Dashboards
Google Ads announced that advertisers can now use dashboards at the manager account level. Google also announced five improvements that should make your dashboards faster and easier to use.
You can now:
- Change date ranges and filters for the entire dashboard.
- Add interactive table cards, rich formatting features and conditional formatting
- Download higher-quality reports more quickly.
- Resize cards and layouts dynamically based on window size
- Create a dashboard card by copying over existing saved reports
New Way to Create Custom Columns in Google Ads
Google announced a new way to create custom columns in Google Ads by “adding new metrics and features that make it easier to view your data”. In addition, over the next few weeks, any columns you create will also be available in custom reporting tools like the Report Editor and dashboards in Google Ads.
To start, you can now do the following with custom columns:
- Include spreadsheet functions.
- Calculate and compare metrics across date ranges.
- Reference other custom columns in a formula.
- Add more non-metric columns in your formula, including columns like Campaign name, Budget, and more.
- Utilise new column formats like “Text”, “True/False”, and “Date”.
- Apply multiple filters to one formula.
- Filter by custom variables for conversions.
YouTube’s New Search Insights Tool
YouTube has announced that the YouTube Search Insights tool will be available to all creators and brands by the end of the month.
YouTube Search Insights was previewed as an experimental feature when it was introduced in November 2021 to help creators research what YouTube users and the viewers on their channel are searching for.
Custom Floodlight Variables (U Values) Available in Standard Reports
Google Campaign Manager 360 teases Custom Floodlight variables (u values) will be available in standard reports.
If a custom Floodlight variable value doesn’t appear to meet privacy requirements, the report row may be summed as a merge row in the report output.
New Display & Video 360 Updates
Google Display & Video 360 teases that all TrueView dimensions and metrics that are supported in offline reporting will now be available in instant reporting.
YouTube Adds New Connected TV Capabilities
Google has made improvements to its YouTube Connected TV capabilities that will allow advertisers to have more confidence in their CTV strategy.
YouTube has announced an expansion of its partnership with Nielsen which will provide more ways for advertisers to measure the total audience reached by YouTube CTV campaigns.
Google Search Console Notices for Removing Intrusive Interstitials
Google is sending out notices through Google Search Console for sites that have intrusive interstitials. The notice tells the site owner to remove those intrusive interstitials in order to “improve page experience” for your site.
The email subject lines read “Improve your page experience by removing intrusive interstitials”.
ICYMI: You have until the end of June 2023 to migrate from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4. Here’s everything you need to know about GA4 all in one place.
Google Site Kit Provides Ideas to Write About Section
Google Site Kit has a new experimental feature that pulls data from Google Question Hub. Google’s Mariya Moeva announced in a YouTube video about an “experimental” section that says “ideas to write about, from actual questions people ask on Search”.
Mariya Moeva confirmed on Twitter this is an experimental feature pulled from Google Question Hub.
New Google Featured Snippet: “From The Web” & “Other Sites Say”
Google is testing new types of featured snippets titled “From the web” and “Other sites say”. Both snippets will give searchers a more diverse set of sources in the featured snippet position. This featured snippet includes multiple sources from the web, not just a single source, like most featured snippets.
In the “From the web” test, Google shows brief excerpts from two or three different websites, linking to each source separately. Google also includes the site’s favicon.
A heading of “Other sites say” is another featured snippet test, where Google groups three sites beneath the typical paragraph-style featured snippet.
Universal Analytics Latency Issues Won’t Be Fully Fixed
Google has responded to the complaints about Google Analytics’ real-time reporting being off and inaccurate within Universal Analytics 3 saying that the engineering team has “not been able to fully eliminate the issue”. Google also adds that the company is “no longer seeking to resolve this issue”.
Google has posted a “resolution” but that resolution is not a fix, Here is what Google wrote:
“As you have indicated that you were experiencing an issue with realtime reporting in your Classic Analytics property. Our Product and Engineering team has extensively investigated this issue to find the root cause, but after making a few improvements to the report we have not been able to fully eliminate the issue.
Knowing that this issue is temporary and that ‘Google Analytics 4’ (GA4) properties have an improved Realtime report that does not suffer from this issue, we’re no longer seeking to resolve this issue. We recommend waiting a few minutes to see accurate numbers in UA Realtime reports, or we invite you to consider implementing an GA4 property alongside your existing Universal Analytics property to access our next generation of Real-time reporting (help center: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9744165?hl=en&ref_topic=9143232).
We understand that this may be frustrating to hear after so many months of waiting, but please know that we exhausted all options before coming to this conclusion. Unfortunately we will not be able to help troubleshoot the Realtime inflation/deflation further.”
Thank You for Reading
Have you noticed Google Ads’ manager account dashboards or any other changes from Google this week?
Check back next Friday for the latest from Google This Week.
