After a very quiet week last week, Google This Week is now jam-packed with news. The Google July 2021 core update has finished rolling out and Google have launched Travel Insights in the US with new features. There are also new privacy and messaging features for advertisers, you can more easily create Manager Accounts in Google Ads, plus new Optimized Targeting is rolling out.
ICYMI, here’s what happened at Google This Week.
- YouTube Adds ‘New to You’ Feed
- Google Classifies Soft 404 Detection by Device Type
- Google July 2021 Core Update is Now Rolled Out
- New Privacy & Messaging Features for Advertisers
- New Solutions for Growing Your Games Business with AdMob
- New Structured Data for Job Listings
- More Easily Create Manager Accounts in Google Ads
- TV in Reach Planner Now Available Across 18 Countries
- GoDaddy Customers Can Easily Integrate Product Inventory Across Google
- YouTube Shorts Is Now Global
- Google Fined €500 Million for Failing to Negotiate with French Publishers
- Google Posts for Verified Knowledge Panels to be Discontinued
- Travel Insights with Google to Launch in the US
- YouTube Adds Automatic Segmentation for Clips
- Google Ads Rolling Out Optimized Targeting
YouTube Adds ‘New to You’ Feed
Google is improving content discoverability with a ‘New to You’ feed on mobile. As the name suggests this is a new feed that curates content that’s new to the user. The new feed will appear at the front of the topic carousel on the top of the screen, users will also see the feed after scrolling down their feed far enough without finding something to watch.
Google Classifies Soft 404 Detection by Device Type
Google changed how it handles soft 404 detection and classification last month which has been confirmed by Google’s John Mueller. Google now does soft 404 detection by device type. Because soft 404 errors in Google Search Console are determined via mobile device type, you now may not see errors in your reports even if you do have soft 404 errors (across desktop).
Google July 2021 Core Update is Now Rolled Out
The Google July 2021 core algorithm update has officially finished rolling out. Google confirmed that the update is now “effectively complete”. The update began rolling out on July 1 and finished within 2 weeks. This is very typical of a Google algorithm update.
The July 2021 core update rollout is now effectively complete.
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) July 12, 2021
New Privacy & Messaging Features for Advertisers
Google is introducing new features to the privacy & messaging tab in Google Ad Manager and AdMob to help advertisers streamline how they manage global privacy regulations and their user messaging journey. The privacy & messaging tab will act as a single place to stay informed about relevant regulations and how they may affect you.
All of the Funding Choices features will also be moved across to this tab alongside ad serving controls. You will have the ability to create consent and opt-out messages in the tab so you can now gather, manage and communicate user choices for advertising purposes. This will soon include the setup of IDFA messages to give iOS 14.5+ users additional context before they receive the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) prompt.
New Solutions for Growing Your Games Business with AdMob
At the Google for Games Developer Summit, Google announced new solutions to help you unlock more growth for your games business. Last year, Google introduced App campaigns for engagement (ACe) in Google Ads. Soon, you’ll be able to use target return on ad spend (tROAS) bidding for ACe campaigns on Android and adjust bids dynamically based on the value each returning player is likely to create when taking in-game actions.
This feature is currently available as a closed beta. Google also announced new changes to Open Bidding. You will soon be able to customise the policy setup for each bidder to adjust how they spend on your inventory. Google is also continuing to add more buyers, including Snap and InMobi to increase competition.
New Structured Data for Job Listings
Google has added support for a new structured data markup property for job listings that allow users to apply directly on the employer’s site. The directApply property is suitable for job listings that meet a certain set of user actions required to apply for the job. The prospect must be offered a short and easy application process on your website.
More Easily Create Manager Accounts in Google Ads
Google is making it easier to create manager accounts in Google Ads. You can now create new sub-manager accounts within your existing manager accounts. You can do this directly on the Performance page and Sub-account settings page.
You will no longer need to have a user assigned to a sub-manager account and you can now remove users from your existing sub-manager accounts, making it easier to stay under the limit of 20 Google Ads account per Google account.
TV in Reach Planner Now Available Across 18 Countries
Google has announced that TV in Reach Planner is now available across 18 countries (it is available in the United States, Japan, France, Vietnam, Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Germany, India, Spain and Russia).
The tool is made to help media planners understand the optimal mix of television and YouTube to maximise reach. It incorporates historical TV data with YouTube data to forecast the total unduplicated reach, average frequency, and TRPs of a holistic media plan.
GoDaddy Customers Can Easily Integrate Product Inventory Across Google
Google has teamed up with GoDaddy to make it easier for customers to more easily integrate their product inventory across Google at no additional cost. GoDaddy merchants can get discovered via Search, Shopping, Image Search and YouTube in less clicks. Without leaving your GoDaddy Online Store, you can now upload your products to Google, create free listings and ad campaigns and review performance metrics.
YouTube Shorts Is Now Global
Google has announced that YouTube Shorts are now rolling out globally in beta. YouTube Shorts is a short-form video experience for users to create short, catchy videos on their phones.
“We plan to introduce more features as we continue to build Shorts alongside creators and artists.” Google has already added text, the ability to sample audio from other Shorts, automatic captions, 60-second recording with the Shorts camera, you can add clips from your phone’s gallery and add basic filters.
Google Fined €500 Million for Failing to Negotiate with French Publishers
Google has been fined half a million Euros by France’s competition authority for failing to negotiate with publishers in good faith. The company could see additional daily fines of €900,000 until a resolution is met.
Last year, the French Competition Authority won a case against Google, making the company have to compensate French news publishers to use their content. Google has been accused of ignoring the ‘good faith’ negotiations with publishers and press agencies. Google has been granted two months to create proposals to compensate French news publishers.
Google Posts for Verified Knowledge Panels to be Discontinued
Google will be discontinuing the ability for users with verified knowledge panels to use Google Posts. This update will only impact verified knowledge panels, not Google Posts managed within Google My Business.
The posts will be discontinued on July 20, 2021. Google has emailed those who have used the feature to say “you will no longer be able to create new posts via Posts on Google or use the authoring tool to make updates to the knowledge panel.”
Travel Insights with Google to Launch in the US
In December Google started testing Travel Insights with Google in the APAC region. Now, they’re bringing the set of tools to the US to provide insights into real-time travel demand based on global Google Search data.
Google is also updating the tool with new features. Within the Destination Insights tool, Focusing Facts will show users a set of quick insights including ‘Fastest growing destination globally’, ‘Top city in demand’, etc. The Demand Sizing Tool provides distinct filters to compare inbound and outbound interest between a primary country and up to ten comparison countries.
YouTube Adds Automatic Segmentation for Clips
YouTube is making automatic video chapters available for all uploaded clips. Creators will be able to opt out if needed but soon, for any new videos uploaded, YouTube will seek to automatically segment your clips into defined chapters.
Adding manual segments will override automatic segmentation. While segmentation is good for user navigation, it’s also good for SEO, giving Google more scope to direct search queries to key, relevant sections in video clips.
Google Ads Rolling Out Optimized Targeting
Have you noticed the new ‘Signal’ indicator in your Google Ads account? The label under the Demographics tab is for optimized targeting, a new feature gradually rolling out to Google Ads managers. Confirmed by Google Ads Liaison, Ginny Marvin,
“[Optimized targeting] uses audience & demo inputs as signals to find more conversions w/in campaign goal, so you’ll see impressions outside of your set targeting signals. To help distinguish, set signals are labeled as ‘Signal’.”
Optimized targeting is enabled for all campaigns automatically and looks for additional conversions by targeting people most likely to convert (based on real-time campaign conversion data). Optimized targeting is available for display, discovery and certain types of video campaigns.
Thank You for Reading
Have you noticed any changes from Google this week?
Check back next Friday for the latest from Google This Week.
