Interesting week at Google this week with a new feature for Google Ads Editor V2.0, YouTube’s expanded health labels, removal of fake Google Business Profiles, new inventory packages for Ad campaigns, additional ranking criteria for March 2022 product reviews update and more.
ICYMI, here’s what happened at Google This Week.
- YouTube Adds New Live Stream Features, Including Live Guests
- New Features for Google Ads Editor Version 2.0
- Google Ads New Inventory Packages for Ad Campaigns
- Merchant Center Linked to Google Analytics 4
- Search Console Rich Results Errors for Missing Locations
- Additional Ranking Criteria for March 2022 Product Reviews Update
- Android SDK Changes for Advertising ID Permissions
- Healthcare Providers Booking and Appointment Availability on Google Search
- Removal of 7 Million Fake Google Business Profiles in 2021
- Expanded Health Labels on YouTube
YouTube Adds New Live Stream Features, Including Live Guests
YouTube announced new updates including live stream guests, new broadcasting channel notifiers, and updated viewing options. They will soon launch a pilot ‘Go Live Together’ that will enable creators to invite a guest to their live stream by simply sending a link.
YouTube is working on full-screen mode for Live, while also developing a new Q and A feature, which will enable viewers to submit questions during a live stream based on the creator’s question prompt.
New Features for Google Ads Editor Version 2.0
Google announced Google Ads Editor version 2.0 is now available which includes support for Performance Max campaigns, shared audiences, conversion goals, custom actions and action triggers.
Google listed out full support for Performance Max campaigns, asset groups and product groups at the top of its features list for this release. Custom actions have been added to help advertisers more easily repeat tasks, such as replacing text or adjusting bids. Action triggers, which are also new, can automatically execute one or more custom actions when a certain event occurs.
The “Add ad suggestions” recommendation has been deprecated and has been removed from Google Ads Editor 2.0.
Google Ads New Inventory Packages for Ad Campaigns
Google launched a new way to help support minority-owned publishers, with the capacity to select ad placements on Latino and Women-owned publisher websites for Display & Video 360 campaigns.
This feature provides another way for advertisers to support multicultural publishers, and ensure that they have more control over placement and bidding in this context.
Merchant Center Linked to Google Analytics 4
Google announced you can now link your Google Merchant Center account with your Google Analytics 4 property. Google added that you can now “see your conversions from free product listings by connecting your Merchant Center and Google Analytics property”.
If you have an existing Google Analytics (GA4) property, then you can connect it to your Merchant Center account by visiting the conversions settings page. Google said that you’ll need to turn auto-tagging on for this feature to work.
Search Console Rich Results Errors for Missing Locations
Google announced Search Console’s rich results report may now show more warnings for event structured data markup if the event is missing a location. The search company posted that “Google will start enforcing location requirements for events”.
If the event is virtual, you can define the event location as being online with the “eventAttendanceMode = OnlineEventAttendanceMode” reference.
Did you hear? GA-4 to Take Over, Universal Analytics to Sunset July 2023
Additional Ranking Criteria for March 2022 Product Reviews Update
Google has begun the rollout of the third version of the product reviews update, a search ranking algorithm update targeted at ranking product review related content on the web that is most helpful and useful to searchers. The update is named the March 2022 product reviews update.
Google listed 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
Android SDK Changes for Advertising ID Permissions
Google announced Apps that update their target API to 31 (Android 12) will need to declare a Google Play services normal permission in the Android manifest to use the advertising ID. For apps that do not declare this permission, the advertising ID will automatically be removed and replaced with a string of zeros.
The new version of the Google Analytics for Firebase Android SDK will include the com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID permission in the SDK’s manifest file that is automatically merged into the app manifest by the Android build tools.
Healthcare Providers Booking and Appointment Availability on Google Search
Google announced it will now show healthcare providers’ appointment availability with the ability to book an appointment directly through Google Search. Currently, this only works in the US limited to one pilot private, MinuteClinic at CVS, but Google hopes to expand this to additional providers in the future.
Hema Budaraju, the lead of Google Health and Social Impact, said Google Search is rolling out a feature “that shows the appointment availability for healthcare providers so you can easily book an appointment”. Google adds that “You might see available appointment dates and times for doctors in your area”.
Removal of 7 Million Fake Google Business Profiles in 2021
Google reveals it removed seven million fake business profiles, and prevented 12 million from being created, throughout 2021. The search company said that less than 1% of the content viewed on Google Maps was fraudulent or abusive.
Google said it blocked more than 100 million abusive edits on Google Business Profiles by “fraudsters” who try to edit those listings.
Here is a breakdown of those efforts as shared by Google:
- Removed over 7 million fake Business Profiles on Google Maps. Google said more than 630,000 of those Business Profiles were removed through user reports.
- Prevented 12 million attempts to create fake Business Profiles on Google Maps.
- Stopped 8 million fraudulent attempts to claim Business Profiles on Google Maps.
- Disabled over 1 million accounts due to policy-violating activity, such as online vandalism or fraud.
- Removed or blocked 95 million policy-violating reviews, over 60,000 of which were taken down due to COVID-related instances.
- 1 million reviews were taken down through user reports.
- Blocked or removed 190 million photos and 5 million videos that were blurry, low quality, or violated Google’s content policies.
Expanded Health Labels on YouTube
YouTube announced the expansion of its labels on videos from authoritative health sources to Brazil, India, and Japan, while also giving prioritised links to these clips in local searches related to health concerns.
YouTube will also add a new ‘health content shelf’ at the top of the results page in each region, which will link to content from these recognised sources.
Thank You for Reading
Have you noticed the March 2022 product reviews update or any other changes from Google this week?
Check back next Friday for the latest from Google This Week.
