Hello friends, In this article, We will discuss the "SEO update" of April month.
Google
YouTube
Update 1. The first news of April is coming from YouTube. YouTube has launched 3 new features on 2nd April.
Number 1. You will get the analytics of the reactions that come while live streaming on YouTube. So that you can know what your audience thinks about your livestream.
Number 2. You can live stream on YouTube in HDR. If you don't understand HDR, just know that if you live stream in sunlight, the video quality will be great.
Number 3. You will get the breakdown of the impressions of the new and old audience on your videos. There are so many updates about live streaming.
Microsoft Ads
Update 2. On 3rd April, Microsoft Ads announced that they were going to remove manual CPC and default to enhanced CPC. And the campaigns that are using manual CPC will be upgraded to enhanced CPC.
YouTube
Update 3. The next news is again from YouTube. Shopping-related news. A lot of shopping-related features were added to YouTube in 2023. But on 9th April, YouTube has added some more serious features.
Let's see one by one.
Shopping Collections:- Creators can create a hub by combining their own or other brands' products. Which can be seen in their video description, product list, and store tab.
Affiliate Hub:- Now YouTube creators can collaborate with brands and sellers and use the affiliate feature directly on YouTube.
Multiple Tagging:- Now products can be tagged together in multiple videos. So that creators don't have to spend time tagging products in multiple videos.
Fourth Wall:- YouTube is now supporting a shopping platform called Fourth Wall. So if your e-commerce store is on Fourth Wall, you can connect it to YouTube. Apart from Fourth Wall, Cafe24, Marble Shop, Shopify, Spreadshop, Spring, and Suzuri are being supported by YouTube.
Update 4. The next news is from the Google Merchant Center on 9th April. A lot of changes have been announced in the Google Merchant Center. The list of changes is quite long. So let's divide them into categories.
First, let's see the changes that have already happened. That is, they were announced and came into effect immediately.
Number 1. If you are using AI-generated content in the title and description of your Google Merchant Center product, then you will have to use the structure title and structure description. This will help Google know that you have used the title and description generated by AI.
Number 2. The loyalty underscore program is being launched in the US and Japan. By using this, you can give information about your loyalty program, points, etc. to the Merchant Center. Now this feature has been launched only in the US and Japan. It will come later in other countries.
Number 3. By using a new attribute, you can tell the Merchant Center about the minimum price of the product.
Number 4. By using the installment attribute, you can tell the Merchant Center about the products that can be purchased on EMI from your store.
Number 5. You can also use the price, down payment, lease, and finance attributes to give information about all these. So these were the changes that have already happened. Now what is the new change coming from 31st July? The shipping costs in India and New Zealand will have to be disclosed in the Google Merchant Center.
If you want to stay in the Merchant Center, you have to keep telling the shipping costs from 31st July.
Now let's look at the changes that will come into effect from 1st September.
Number 1. Using the pickup method attribute is no longer compulsory. You can use it or not. The pickup option will automatically remain live in the Merchant Center listing.
Number 2. By using the certification attribute, you can add different certificates to your product. You can inform Google Merchant Center.
Number 3. The price attribute can be avoided if you are using the installment or minimum price attribute.
Update 5. On 16th April, Google Ads launched the Generative AI feature in Demand Gen type ads. By using Generative AI, you can use this new feature in your Demand Gen campaigns. The amazing thing about this feature is that you can create more images like the images that are performing well in your Demand Gen campaign. So you will give 3 images to Google in landscape, square, and portrait mode. Google will automatically create more images like that so that you can use them in your ads. Now there are two things that Google is providing you as control.
Number 1. You will decide whether you want to use the images that Google has created with the help of Generative AI. Google will automatically start using them. You will have to approve them.
Number 2. Google will not create a copy of the original image. It will take inspiration from it and use new images so that the conversion is good. Google is giving us a hint that we will use the image only if you approve it in the ad. But I think the reason is that Generative AI images are not dependable at all. If you see an ad for a ring or a piece of jewelry and you see 7 fingers instead of 5 in the model, Google does not want to assume such a responsibility. Why are you being given a hint of approval? On 16th April, Google has announced another change. From now on, you will get better options for left-over token management in Google Search Console. That means if you want to remove the old ownership tokens of Google Search Console, you will see the remove button instead of the how to fix. It provides a detailed explanation of how to remove this token. However, I wish that Google would have removed the tokens by itself.
Update 6. On 16th April, another piece of news came from Google AdSense. AdSense has launched a new ad format called Ad Intent. It analyzes the content of the page. The user who is visiting that page, any text based on its intent is inserted as an anchor text.
You might not have understood. I am 100% sure because it is a little confusing. Imagine that you are reading an article on a phone review. But based on your search history and profile, Google knows that you don't want to buy a new phone. But you want to get your phone serviced. Maybe you searched for a 4K service center a few days ago. On this page, any text related to the service will be converted into an anchor text. And a service center-related ad will be inserted.
Whenever you click on it, you will see the service center-related ads. But if your friend is reading the same article on the same page, and wants to purchase the phone, the link will be inserted wherever the model of the phone is. The link will be inserted and the user can purchase the phone. The content is the same. The display ad will not be personalized. The content of the article will be converted into an anchor text. And the link to the ad will be added. Now, this type of ad can be done. Ads are fascinating for publishers. Their revenue is high. You can use it.
Brave Browser
Update 7. On 17th April, Brave Browser launched its AI answer engine. It is named Answers with AI. Like Google's SGE, it also gives search queries in answer text format. But they are coding the sources very well, which is a good thing. For publishers, You can use the Brave browser to create content. Brave is using Mistral AI for this purpose. And also, it is using some of its in-house technologies. By the way, you have to use the Brave browser to use this Answer Engine. This is not compulsory and not a bing. You can go to search.brave.com or any other browser and use this answer engine. I think it is a very smart move. Maybe, the user should try this answer engine and download a new browser.
The next news is that on 23rd April, Google has increased the deadline to remove third-party cookies from Chrome to 2025. Despite a lot of documents, flogs, topics related to privacy sandbox, tests, and trials, and Google's efforts not going well in this direction again, Google has been forced to increase the deadline to remove third-party cookies. It is not clear when exactly in 2025.
Update 8. The date is still not final yet. On 23rd April, Google's new boyfriend, Reddit, launched a new type of ads called Dynamic Product Ads.
These Dynamic Product Ads can show products' information directly from your inventory, in real-time, with the information of their thumbnail, pricing, etc. You can use these Dynamic Product Ads for retargeting and also to pitch new clients and audiences. Right now, this ad campaign is in beta. If you want, you can try it by accessing the program Or you can wait until everyone else tries it. Once it is confirmed and its quality is established, you can start adding your product on Reddit.
Update 9. On 25th April, Google announced a big change that didn't get much coverage. Google Publisher Center, which is a way to add websites to Google News, has imposed a restriction. From now on, no one can sign up to their website in Google Publisher Center, which was normally allowed till now. No one can add their website to the Google Publisher Center. Google has closed this access. Now, Google's system will automatically pick news publishers, blogs, or websites, and add them to Google's Publisher Center.
If history proves itself right and repeats itself, no new, small, or medium-sized website can be added to Google's Publisher Center. Only medium-sized or large publishers, those with a large ad budget, or those with a good reach, can see their website being added to Google's Publisher Center. Again, this is a negative thing.
This has a negative impact on new content creators, new blogs, and small news websites. This news didn't get as much coverage as it should have. I didn't get much coverage in forums, Twitter, or anywhere else. That's why I wanted to make sure that we cover this in our news. So, if you haven't added your news website or blog to Google's Publisher Center yet, I'm sorry, this is already out of the question.
Update 10. On 26th April, Google announced that the March Core Update rollout was completed on 19th April.
Update 11. The last update is on 30th April. On 30th April, Google Ads announced that if there's a keyword in your active campaign that hasn't gotten any impression in the last 13 months, Google will automatically pause it, or deactivate it. It's good, but again, if a keyword hasn't gotten any impression in the last 13 months, it's already dead, it doesn't matter if you stop it or not. I think the timeline should be a little quicker. Google has added another small caveat, that if you reactivate any keyword like this, then Google will again, within 3 months, this time it won't wait for 13 months, it will pause it again within 3 months.
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SEO