SEO Wash-up Monday 10th May

Google Updates

Google search tests bubble header links sticking to top – They are testing the sub-navigation links in search, in bubble format, that stick to the top of the search results as you scroll down. Though some users had seen it back in December, now it seems that more users are seeing the change.

Google local, browse restaurants by filters – The search giant now shows a browse by filter that lets you filter down your restaurant selections by type. It is similar to the browse by photos that users have seen before but this shows browse by takeout, delivery, Chinese, pizza and other categories.

Google image search tests “explore more” compass icon – Google seem to be testing a new compass icon on their image search results that trigger a search refinement feature. So when you click on it, it takes you to a section to “explore more” images by showing you related searches.

Google Ads Responsive Search Ads, The New Default Ad Type – The responsive search ads will now be the default ad type for Google Search ad campaigns within Google Ads. They mention that the expanded text ads can still be created if needed. Although Google does not think users will need them because they are smart when it comes to machine learning.

Furthermore, they also mention that the way people search continues to change and COVID-19 has only accelerated the pace of change. For example, the search for “takeout restaurants” has seen a massive increase in a short amount of time, whereas searches for “online learning” have steadied in the last year.

Responsive search ads help you reach more of your customers and grow your business in real time, even as consumer behaviour changes. They say that using machine learning, responsive search ads automatically identify the best combination of headlines and descriptions to deliver the right ad to the right person. In fact, we’ve seen advertisers that added responsive search ads in their ad groups achieve up to 10% more clicks and conversions.

With responsive search ads, it will automatically test different combinations and learn which combinations perform best of your ad headlines and descriptions and put the best together for you, automatically. They began beta testing responsive search ads back in 2018 and then opened it up to all advertisers the following year.

Google has been testing displaying auto suggestions on scroll up – They have been testing displaying and popping up the auto-suggestions auto complete search terms in the search bar when you scroll back up towards the top of the search results.