We hope you are in good health. Here are some of the major SEO news updates of the week you need to know:
Search Related Updates and News from Major Search Engines
Are Core Updates Ranking Losses Subject to Soft Penalty?
A concern about algorithm modifications and whether a “soft penalty” is used to lower the ranks of a badly affected site was asked during Google’s Office Hours Hangout. The questioner mentioned a “soft penalty,” a term that has been used for a while but isn’t actually a thing. They also mention having a “flag” issued to their website, a reference to Google marking the website in some way, as in flagging.
Google Discusses Five Ways That Will Help You Prepare For Site Closure
Do you intend to shut down your website for a day or more? Here are five methods to get ready, as John Mueller, Google’s Search Advocate, suggested. Mueller tweets this advice along with links to pertinent Google support articles. You also must know that there is currently no effective technique to shut down a website briefly. If at all feasible, you ought to refrain from doing it. There are things you can take to minimize the harmful effects, though.
Google Answers to whether Stop Words Should be Used in URLs
John Mueller of Google answered a query regarding the appropriateness of using stop words in links. Along with an answer to this, Mueller also addressed the implications of the terms used in URLs and offered advice on how to approach their selection.
What Does the 5th Google Update Bring to You?
As you may be aware, on September 20th, Google started rolling out the September 2022 core update, the fifth Google product review update. Now that the update has been live for a few days, tracking tools and SEO community talk are picking up the pace! Let’s have a look at what those updates are.
The International Targeting Tool for Google Search Console is no Longer Available
As we mentioned last month, Google has formally discontinued the International Targeting report in Google Search Console. Google will display a warning that reads, “This report is no longer available here,” if you attempt to access the report.
Things Users Consider Problematic Are Here Are What Google Considers Quality Issues
Google’s John Mueller described the precise ranking problems that resulted from the site being deemed “low quality,” which he would regard as a search quality concern. “To me, quality issues are things that users would regard to be problematic,” John wrote on Twitter.
John stated: “Would users notice if a faulty rel-canonical resulted in another URL being indexed? Most likely not.” He continued by saying that technological problems that are hidden from users are probably not viewed as quality problems by Google.
Google: Avoid Annoying Cookie Consent Banners
When it comes to your cookie consent banners, Google advised you to take care not to make them intrusive. The question “does cookie consent banner affect user experience?” was posed to Google’s John Mueller. John suggested that it only happens when the banner is obnoxious. Therefore, as long as you execute a cookie consent banner professionally and without being overbearing, you should be fine.
PPC Related Updates and News
Google Streamlines the Process of Creating Ads
The creation of advertising with numerous extensions is being made easier by several enhancements that Google is currently implementing. Sitelinks and lead forms, two types of ad extensions, can greatly increase clickthrough rate. The fact that handling advertisements and ad extensions required separate processes was a challenge for time-pressed marketers. Campaigns with ad extensions may now be created in a single procedure. The remainder of this post will also refer to “ad extensions” as “assets” because Google is using a new moniker for them.
Social Media Updates and News
Shorts on YouTube are being monetized with a 45% revenue split
Shorts will soon be monetizable, according to YouTube, and creators will keep 45% of viewership-related income. This is an important development for YouTube creators who make money from their work. In contrast to long-form videos, which also enable creator monetization, YouTube is broadening the requirements for membership in the YouTube Partner Program. This will make it possible for more content producers to be paid for both lengthy and short forms of content. Shorts don’t have a direct way to monetize outside of ad income.
