Hello friends, In this article, We will discuss the "SEO update" of February month.
Google
Update 1. The first news of February is from Google BARD or Gemini. On 1st February, Google BARD launched the feature of making images in chat. Just like ChatGPT and Bing Chat, Google BARD now allows you to send images while chatting. So BARD neither came first in this field nor their photos are the best.
Update 2. On February 2nd, Google announced that the cache link button on the search results page, which was previously visible, Google is going to remove it. When Google's BARD crawls a website, it saves a version of it known as a cache. This cache option is visible here like this. By using this, you can see the old version of your website. Google has removed this button. However, you can still see the cache version by using the cache and colon before your URL.
But according to Google, this will also be removed soon. The cache option was given more importance in a lot of SEO courses and training. So I'm happy in a way that Google has removed it. Some people believed that the cache version was an accurate representation of how Google bot views your website. This is wrong because this cache version is your browser version.
Google bot is not your browser version. If you're curious about how Google sees your website, head over to Google Search Console. And second, in this cache version, JavaScript is not saved. So if your website is based on JavaScript, or if you use JavaScript heavily, or if you are using JavaScript to show a function, text, image, etc.
On your website, then it was always shown upside down in the cache version. So it's good in a way. But SEOs will miss the cache option because it has been useful for us for a long time. On February 2nd, Google released a new version of the SEO Starter Guide. In 2008, Google released the first-ever SEO Starter Guide, a 22-page PDF document.
As it was updated, Google brought it in this new version. Now, Google has removed some content, made some of it smaller, and added some new content. But they have added very little new content. It's worth mentioning that the removed content is still relevant and important. For instance, the guide no longer includes Structured Data or Schema Data.
But it does not mean that Structure Data or Schema Data is not important in SEO. In fact, it has been removed because according to Google, this guide is only for freshers in the SEO field. And Google doesn't want to overwhelm newcomers with advanced topics like Schema Data or Structure Data. They want to keep them away from this trouble.
According to them, this is not needed. I guess, no one from Google has seen the syllabus of our course. Otherwise, they would have known that Structure Data is one of the easy topics. And people want to know about it. I believe that Google is keeping its SEO courses and syllabus away from us. In addition to Structure Data, Google has taken down the Glossary, Mobile Friendliness, Breadcrumb and 404 Issue, and Site Performance Analysis sections.
Google has not only removed these sections but also compressed and made them smaller. They have simplified the language. Google has included additional details on Duplicate Content Issues and Video SEO in this guide. How much time does it take to do SEO work? Or which areas should a new SEO not focus on? Google has given more information about this in this guide.
Overall, this is a good starter point. But according to me, Google should not have removed the content. In fact, they should have given more information on those topics. Newcomers to SEO who are completely unfamiliar with the basics may not even be aware of this Google guide. Google is not publishing a poster everywhere that our SEO guide has been published here and there.
And you can go and make your career in SEO. We are doing all this work. And by the time they find out, this topic will be useful for them. Which they have removed. By the way, an experienced SEO can also use this guide. Next time, whenever you start a client project and start asking for results, then tell them to go and see this guide.
Here, Google itself has told us how much time it takes for SEO to work. Okay? Everything has a use. You can use it as per your needs.
Update 3. On February 5th, TechCrunch reported that the Yandex search engine is up for sale. Yandex is a search engine that is used the most in Russia. But this search engine is run by a Dutch company called Yandex Envy.
It is run in Russia, but the company is Dutch. Two years ago, when Russia attacked Ukraine, the Yandex Envy company was in a bad condition. Russia was sanctioned. And Nasdaq stopped Yandex's share trading. Because of this, the company was facing a lot of loss. Finally, Yandex Envy company was able to sell all its assets for 5.2 billion dollars to a group of buyers.
If you're thinking that selling a search engine for 5.2 billion dollars is a low price, then you're absolutely right if you have experience in buying and selling search engines. The Russian government has implemented a new regulation stating that if a company from an adversarial nation sells its assets to Russia, it must provide a mandatory discount of at least 50% on the company's valuation.
Yandex Envy, the parent company of Yandex Search Engine, is a Dutch company. It is a part of the European Union. The whole European Union is an enemy of Russia. So, the buyers of Yandex Envy have got a 50% discount. If you want to purchase, then go and purchase it quickly. India does not come to the list of Russia's enemy countries. We are their customers.
The next news is from BARD on 8th February. Google has changed the name of BARD to Gemini. Gemini is Google's large language model that powers BARD chats. It works as an engine. It gives good results for it. Before Gemini, Google BARD was utilizing a language model known as Lambda for its functionality.
Which later became Palm 2. Google's chatbot used to be called BARD. And this chatbot has been upgraded. It used to be run by Lambda, then Palm 2. Now it is based on the Gemini model. Google is launching Gemini in its own app. You can now use Gemini's own app on Android. And you can use the Google app to toggle between chat and search.
Also, there are two versions of Gemini. The first one is free. And the second one is advanced, which uses Gemini Pro.
The next news is from Google on 8th February. Google has recently taken down Web Stories from both Google Images and Google Discover carousel. Now, Web Stories will only look like a carousel in Google Search.
It will not look like a grid. In short, Google is removing the plug for Web Stories. It is removing its plug. And maybe in 1-2 years, Web Stories will be removed completely. Or their impact will be reduced. Because many publishers are using Web Stories to bring low-quality content to the Discover feed. Some people have made Web Stories as a way to steal content.
Pick a good page of someone. Copy his content, paste it in images, and sell it in Web Stories. And make money. Such videos are popular on YouTube. So, Google will either completely stop this trend. Or will put a lot of pressure on it. So that it does not become a way to steal content and earn money. People blame SEO for spoiling the search engine.
But the reality is that SEOs and search engines are both struggling with the issue of content scraping by some SEOs.
Update 4. On 8th February, Google Analytics has added 8 new dimensions. You can use them to make a team change in your reports. You are the fourth. All these dimensions are manual. Google Analytics introduced 8 new dimensions on 8th February, which can be used to modify your reports.
These dimensions are all manual and can help you make changes to your team. If you don't know about these dimensions. Or if you don't even know the meaning of the word dimension. Where is it used in Google Analytics? Then when will our Google Analytics series come in handy? It is already there. People are watching it.
You should also watch it. Take advantage of it. You can see the link in the top right corner. You should watch it immediately. The entire announcement is available on this link. You can go and watch it.
Update 5. On February 13th, Google Analytics introduced a new card on the dashboard. Its name is Trend Change Detection. Google Analytics already has a card called Anomaly Detection. You can see it when there's a sudden change in your website's traffic or any other metric. Suddenly. Let's say that up until yesterday, your website was only receiving 100,000 visitors per day. And suddenly, on the next day, 2 lakh visitors come to your website. For any reason. Then you will see this card called Anomaly Detection. However, you will only see the Trend Change Detection card when a metric on your website is gradually changing. But over time, it detects important changes. Therefore, you have the opportunity to analyze the reasons and starting points of both types of changes. Google Analytics gives you this opportunity.
Youtube
On 13th February, YouTube also made 3 new announcements.
Number 1. Now, creators will be able to tag products in the live stream. This means that creators can suggest products to their audience during the livestream.
Number 2. On the YouTube app, you will see a tab called View All Posts. This tab will show you all the posts from the users you follow in the community section.
Number 3. Now, you can easily upload videos and photos directly from the YouTube Studio smartphone app. So, 2 updates are exclusive to YouTube creators. And 1 is for YouTube viewers and creators.
Google More Update
Update 6. On February 18th, Google Ads added an additional rule to their Misrepresentation Policy. That's all for now. If your ad or landing page claims to be a collaboration or promotion with a famous personality or brand, or if it shows that a celebrity has recommended a name, brand name, or product, then your account can be suspended and you can take action on it. This policy has already been in effect since March 2024.
Update 7. The next news is from the Google Merchant Center. Google Merchant Center made an announcement on February 19th stating that if you use AI images in your account, you should not delete the AI-generated tags and metadata associated with the image. Don't pretend that this is not an AI-generated image. Correct? Don't delete the small difference in the middle.
This will assist Google in confirming if the image was generated by AI or not. In the future, if you want to use an image of your company, shop, or products for an ad campaign, make sure not to present AI-generated images as the original. Don't try to deceive Google by removing any slight differences that indicate it's AI-generated.
It shouldn't happen that on your landing page or in your promotional material, there is an AI-generated person's photo and you are trying to pass on it as your own photo. In such cases, the account can be suspended.
Update 8. On 20th February, Google upgraded the product type schema data. In the last year, Google has been increasingly utilizing product-type schema data.
In the past year, Google has been automatically displaying products in the Merchant Center by utilizing product type schema data more frequently. Merchant listing type report was shown in the Google Search Console. Shipping and refund type information was added to the schema data. In this series, three new features have been added to the schema data for product types.
Number 1. Has Parent. This attribute informs Googlebot that there are various versions of this product available.
Number 2. Varies By.
Number 3. Product Group ID. With this property, Googlebot gets the SKU ID of the main product.
Update 9. On 22nd February, the writers published a report and said that Reddit and Google have a data-sharing partnership. Using the term "partnership" is a polite way of saying that Google will be paying Reddit $60 million annually in exchange for access to all of Reddit's data for AI training purposes.
Google gets the data anyway because all the pages are indexable. Well, now Google can train its AI models using this data. So, Google is giving Reddit $60 million to use its content. But what is it giving you? Thanga. Okay.
Now, people have already started complaining that Google is giving Reddit a high rank because of this deal. It is giving more rank to its pages. But this is the majority of SEOs' problem. When Google says, Write small or big. But write useful content for the users. So, SEOs ask, how much content should I write? 500 words, 2,500 words, 10,000 words. Write the whole text. So, Google is now ranking Reddit because people are writing for the users without worrying about word count.
Whether it's a helpful comment, a tip, a tease, or even sarcasm, Reddit users are creating content that resonates with Google's user-focused approach to ranking. comments. Even then, you don't think about the word limit. You're saying I shouldn't worry about the length of my Reddit comments, right? You talk to the point.
If you start publishing this content on your website, Google might not have to prioritize ranking Reddit. In February, there was a controversy surrounding an article published on a website that claimed Google was favoring Reddit over small websites, causing harm to the latter. When people began discussing this article, it was discovered that the article posted on Reddit was ranking higher than the one in question.
Now, obviously, this is bad. But again, Google doesn't rank any article manually. These are systems. If the systems keep receiving signals that content is being published on Reddit that are more concise, helpful, and without any fluff compared to our website, then they will learn to rank Reddit higher and not rank our website.
So, in this situation, it's clear that this article deserved a higher ranking. It should not have been an article on Reddit. But again, we are sowing the seeds. If we sow the seeds of the seeds, then we will not get to eat mangoes. So, at some point, SEOs and website owners will need to cut back on writing lengthy articles of 2000, 5000, or 6000 words.
Update 10. On February 22nd, Google included AI features in the Performance Max advertisement. There are a lot of announcements, so let's see them one by one.
Number 1. Worldwide AI Asset Generation Now, with the Performance Max ad campaign, AI can generate text and image assets from all around the world.
Number 2. The AI-generated assets will provide information on how much they are impacting the performance of your ad. This feature is called Ad Strength. It will do real-time analysis and tell you.
Number 3. Canva is set to release an integration app that will link to your Google Ads account. With Canva's new integration app, you can easily connect your designs to your Google Ads account.
4. Adding videos to your Performance Max campaign will boost its effectiveness. Google is rigging the strength of the Performance Max campaign and giving more weight to the videos.
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SEO