It’s all about Google Ads this week, with the introduction of a bunch of cool new features including real-time alerts, drafts and a makeover for Report Editor. Google Data Studio has also added new support for Surveys and Google Analytics 4. There’s also news around the request indexing tool in Google Search Console and more.
ICYMI, here’s what happened at Google This Week.
- Removal of Request Indexing Unrelated to Indexing Bugs
- New Features and Alerts in Google Ads
- Data Studio Adds Support for Google Surveys and Analytics 4
- Google Political Ads Policy to Restrict Ads Around Election
- Request Indexing Tool Coming Back Before Black Friday?
- Progress of Reinstatement in Google My Business
- Google Ads Report Editor Gets a Makeover
- Target Spend with Maximize Clicks to Move to Daily Campaign Budgets
Removal of Request Indexing Unrelated to Indexing Bugs
Over the past few weeks we’ve been reporting on Google’s indexing issues and we did assume that Google’s temporary suspension of its request indexing feature in Google Search Console was in response. However, John Mueller has said the two are unrelated. He also stated that “We don’t have a timeline to share for the Search Console changes at the moment.”
If the issue is fixed, when can we expect page actions to be re-enabled in the SC? @JohnMu
— Brian Shumway (@b_shumway) October 26, 2020
New Features and Alerts in Google Ads
Google is introducing new features and alerts in Google Ads to help you create campaigns more effectively. You will now receive real-time alerts during the setup of your campaign. If your campaign has any critical issues you’ll receive an alert, for example, from an invalid URL or location overlap.
Now, your campaigns will automatically be saved as drafts, so you can more easily pick up where you left off. You’ll also be able to create a new campaign from the Overview page. These updates are currently available for Search campaigns and will roll out to other campaign types in the coming months.
Data Studio Adds Support for Google Surveys and Analytics 4
Data Studio is adding support for more data sets. You can now access your market research data with the new Google Surveys connector and Data Studio now also lets you connect to more data sources with support for Google Analytics 4 properties. Google has also made it easier to get started with new marketing templates added to the Data Studio gallery for common data sets like Google Ads and Search Ads 360.
Google Political Ads Policy to Restrict Ads Around Election
Google is changing its political ads policy throughout after election day and ads that claim outcomes of the elections. This is due to the number of mail-in ballots expected with the final results potentially unknown for a week or more after. Google said,
“Given that an unprecedented amount of votes will likely be counted after the election day on November 3, 2020, we will implement the “Sensitive events” policy under our “Inappropriate content” policy as polls close on Election Day. Based on this policy, we will restrict content which references the candidates, the US elections, or their outcomes.”
In addition to Google Ads, this update will also apply to Shopping Ads and more.
“Shopping ads that are marketed around the US elections, the candidates, or its outcome will be disapproved. Shopping ads policies prohibit the promotion and monetization of products that capitalize on sensitive events. Non-compliant Shopping ads may be enforced for Sensitive Events Policy violation.”
Request Indexing Tool Coming Back Before Black Friday?
Google listed some SEO tips for e-commerce sites to get ready for Black Friday. One of the tips was to use the request indexing tool, which we reported was temporarily removed. The tip was:
“Get your page recrawled. After you’ve tested your structured data for validity, ask Google to recrawl your page to get your content updated more quickly.”
Google recently added to the section.
“Note: as of publication this tool is undergoing maintenance, but we hope to have it up-and-running again soon.”
As many e-commerce sites would have already begun prepping for Black Friday we hope this tool is available again soon. Google’s John Mueller said there was time and no need to worry. However, for instances outside of sales, we still hope the tool is back up soon, especially in light of all the indexing issues Google has been having lately.
@JohnMu @rustybrick Fetch and Render tool coming back before Black Friday? The recent Google Webmaster blog recommends using it when setting up a Black Friday Sales page… pic.twitter.com/GRVLvtdIiU
— Matt Bassos (@MattBassos) October 28, 2020
Progress of Reinstatement in Google My Business
Google My Business is testing a status indicator for your reinstatement request. If you contact Google My Business and then go back to the form, you may see the status of that request. Ben Fisher first spotted this and said:
“The implications of this could be amazing for those who are waiting on Google My Business reinstatements, general contact of GMB for support, and those who wonder what has happened to a GMB spam redressal that was submitted.”
This should help Google reduce duplicate submissions and help local businesses know that their request was received.
Google Ads Report Editor Gets a Makeover
Google Ads has unveiled a new look for Report Editor. The Custom report builder feels a bit more like Data Studio with the dimension and metrics panel on the right.
“Quickly find data fields for your report with a search function, and add or remove them with a drag and drop experience.”
Chart icons have also been added. Google has also added new features for you to better format, filter and sort your report data. Now with conditional formatting, you can create rules to help visualise your data and you can filter and sort with a new dropdown menu for every field. You can also add new data fields while the report is still loading.
Target Spend with Maximize Clicks to Move to Daily Campaign Budgets
Last year, Google announced that target spend setting for Maximize Clicks bid strategies would no longer be available for new campaigns. Starting January, all campaigns still using this method will be switched to daily campaign budgets.
To minimise the impact of the change, Google may lower the maximum cost per click bid limit. If you’re still using Maximize Clicks, we suggest removing target spend and using budgets instead and ensure your campaign budgets are correct.
Thank You for Reading
Have you noticed any changes from Google this week?
Check back next Friday for the latest from Google This Week.
