ICYMI, here’s what happened at Google This Week.
- Changes to the Search Queries threshold in Google Analytics
- New Google Ads Policies Starting in October 2022
- Roll Out of Google Helpful Content Update
- September 2022 Broad Core Update
- Google Removes datePublished Property From Fact Check Structured Data
- Updated Google Maps Engagement Guidelines
- Enhanced Product Experiences in Google Search
- New Manage Tab in Auto Applied Recommendations
- Performance Max Support in Google Ads Scripts
- New Recommendation Feature for Analytics
- New Tools to Create More Engaging Ads
Changes to the Search Queries threshold in Google Analytics
Google has updated the privacy threshold for the Search Query report in Universal Analytics, and the Google Ads query, First user Google Ads query, and Session Google Ads query dimensions for the explorations in Google Analytics 4.
Google said this is to be done “to meet a higher privacy threshold“. The update in Google Analytics 4 ensures that metrics will now be more consistent with what you’re seeing in your Google Ads reports.
New Google Ads Policies Starting in October 2022
Google Ads sent out emails to advertisers about a change to its policies starting in October 2022. The change says that if your destinations contain ad experiences that do not conform to the Better Ads Standards, the ad will be disapproved.
Roll Out of Google Helpful Content Update
ICYMI: Google has confirmed that the ‘helpful content update’ is now finished rolling out. The update took 15 days to roll out, starting on August 25, 2022, and ending on September 9, 2022.
Google’s helpful content update is a site-wide signal. The new helpful content update specifically targets “content that seems to have been primarily created for ranking well in search engines rather than to help or inform people” which aims at helping searchers find “high-quality content“.
September 2022 Broad Core Update
Google announced the September 2022 broad core update, the second board core update of 2022. This comes after the helpful content update finished rolling out last Friday.
Google said the rollout of the September 2022 Broad Core Update “could take 2 weeks to complete”.
Google Removes datePublished Property From Fact Check Structured Data
Google has removed the datePublished “recommended” property from the fact check structured data documentation.
Currently, date information isn’t used in the Fact Check rich result.
Updated Google Maps Engagement Guidelines
Google has updated its Google Maps deceptive and fake engagement guidelines, now disallowing requests for revisions or removals of a negative review through offered discounts, free goods or services, or other incentives.
The new guideline says “Content that has been incentivised by a business in exchange for discounts, free goods and/or services”.
Enhanced Product Experiences in Google Search
Google has announced expanded eligibility for enhanced product experiences in Google Search through the use of Product structured data. These enhanced product experiences were previously only open to Merchant Center users.
Google also has added new Search Console reports measuring the performance and identify issues with your structured data.
New Manage Tab in Auto Applied Recommendations
Google has added a ‘Manage’ tab to give advertisers more control and flexibility over how recommendations are applied. In the new ‘Manage’ tab, Google is giving advertisers two different bundle options with pre-checked recommendation types.
- Maintain your ads, which include foundational recommendations to improve your responsive search ads, remove redundant keywords, and upgrade your conversion tracking.
- Grow your business, which can help you with advanced optimisations like upgrading your keywords to broad match, maximising your conversions with automated bidding, and adding store visits as a conversion.
Performance Max Support in Google Ads Scripts
Google has launched support for Performance Max campaigns in Google Ads scripts. This is treated as a brand-new campaign type in scripts, similar to how video or shopping campaigns already work.
Users won’t be able to modify text assets or create new campaigns or asset groups. Performance Max retail campaigns are supported in only a limited fashion, as listing groups cannot be managed via scripts.
New Recommendation Feature for Analytics
Google Analytics now has tailored recommendations to help users get the most useful and accurate data and take advantage of new, relevant features as they become available.
Recommendations appear in the Insights & Recommendations section of the Home page and contextually throughout Google Analytics at the top and to the right of the relevant pages.
New Tools to Create More Engaging Ads
Google has announced that ad extensions will be rebranded to assets in the Google Ads UI. The change will be rolled out over the next couple of weeks.
The “Assets” page will have reports for all assets across the account. Headlines and descriptions are in the “Asset” view, while the “Association” table shows segments such as images and prices.
Thank You for Reading
Have you noticed the new announcement of the September 2022 broad core update, or any other changes from Google this week?
Check back next Friday for the latest from Google This Week.
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