A lot of interesting things happened at Google this week with an updated Merchant Center policy, Google’s “Helpful Content” algorithm update, the launch of Google Ads API Version 11.1, and more.
ICYMI, here’s what happened at Google This Week.
- Re-enabled “Validate Fix” Feature in Search Console
- Search Console New Item Classification System
- Google Analytics Improvements to Data-Driven Attribution
- August 15 Display & Video 360 Updates
- Updated Google Merchant Center Policy
- Indexing Issue in Search Console
- Google’s Helpful Content Update
- Another Product Review Algorithm Update for August
- Google Ads API Version 11.1 Now Available
- Tag Coverage Summary in Google Tag Manager
Re-enabled “Validate Fix” Feature in Search Console
Google has re-enabled the “Validate Fix” feature in Google Search Console while launching the new ‘more simplified’ classifications for the coverage reports. Google disabled it while upgrading the classification system.
When you go into Google Search Console and click on coverage reports, the “Validate Fix” feature button should be back.
Search Console New Item Classification System
Google has finished migrating all Search Console properties to an updated system that simplifies how pages, items, and issues are classified.
Now they are grouped or classified into two more broad statuses that reflect whether URLs or items are invalid or not. Google said invalid means that there is a report-specific critical issue in the page or item, and not invalid means that the item might still contain warnings, but has no critical issues.
Google Analytics Improvements to Data-Driven Attribution
Google Analytics has made changes to the Data-Driven Attribution model that improves model accuracy for conversion types with low conversion volume or short data history.
This affects properties for which data-driven attribution is selected in the property-level Attribution Settings and Advertising workspace.
August 15 Display & Video 360 Updates
Google Display & Video 360 has announced new updates with Audience suggestions in demographics targeting for connected TV and Digital Out of Home campaigns through a centralised programmatic workflow.
Advertisers will be able to discover, negotiate and buy digital out of home inventory through a new dedicated Marketplace tab, and new Digital Out of Home insertion order and line item types will be added.
Updated Google Merchant Center Policy
Google has updated its Merchant Center policy for free listings specific to “Insufficient contact information” and “Missing return and refund policy“. Free listings will no longer be disapproved, but instead, they may have limited visibility on Google.
Previously, Google would automatically disapprove feed listings that are missing a return policy and/or a refund policy. With the update, Google said these free listings with these issues will remain active.
Indexing Issue in Search Console
Google has announced that they fixed a bug with Search Console that labelled pages as being indexed when they were not indexed. The search company said this bug has “affected many properties”.
Google wrote, “We fixed a Search Console issue that affected many properties: we were reporting pages that are not indexed as being indexed. As a consequence, you might see a drop in your indexed pages in the Index Coverage report“.
Google’s Helpful Content Update
Google will launch a new algorithm update called the ‘helpful content update’ that will target websites that have a relatively high amount of unsatisfying or unhelpful content, where the content has been written for search engines rather than humans.
Unlike the recent product review update, which targets specific kinds of pages, the helpful content update is sitewide. That means it has the potential to impact all pages. The helpful content update will also introduce a new signal Google will use to rank web pages.
Another Product Review Algorithm Update for August
Google has announced that another product review algorithm update is scheduled to roll out in August 2022 to make it even easier to find high-quality, original reviews. This is another refinement to the product reviews ranking system that aims to “make sure you find the most useful information when you’re researching a purchase on the web”.
Google has told Search Engine Land that they are targeting to roll it out the week of August 29th, but the date may change.
Google Ads API Version 11.1 Now Available
Google has released the newest version of the Ads API, version v11_1 with 13 new updates across assets, audiences, bidding, campaigns, experiments, and planning. Version 11 of the Google Ads API was released in June 2022.
Tag Coverage Summary in Google Tag Manager
Google Tag Manager has launched “Tag coverage summary”, which helps users quickly see which pages of their website have the Google tag installed.
Users can access this summary from the Google tag sections of both Google Ads and Google Analytics, and through Google Tag Manager.
Thank You for Reading
Have you noticed the news on Helpful Content Update, or any other changes from Google this week?
Check back next Friday for the latest from Google This Week.
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