SEO Wash-up Monday 18th January

Google Updates

Google ads target spend setting will come to an end in January – Google have mentioned that businesses who have been using target spend with the maximize clicks bid strategy in Google ads will need to switch to daily campaign budgets starting in January 2021. The target spend setting for maximize clicks bid strategies will no longer be available for new campaigns and be converted for existing campaigns.

To help you minimize the impact of this change, the maximum cost per click bid limit may be lowered for strategies that are still using target spend. Strategies that do not have a target spend will not be impacted.

Google tests ‘short videos’ carousel in search results – The search giant now seems to be testing another form of the carousel feature in Google Search results. The new carousel in search is called ‘short videos’ and was there has been chatter on social media about there with screenshot showing the carousel with a search on recipes.

Google has been testing a bolder font for search results – They are always testing various things on SERPs! They have been testing a bolder font for the search result snippet URLs. There has been screenshots and chatter about  this on social media as people have been comparing the normal snippet URL font to the one others have shared on social media, the test is a bolder font type for the URL.

Bing Updates

Bing Search APIs Are Moving To Azure Marketplace – Bing have mention on their search blog that the Bing Search APIs are moving from Azure Cognitive Services Platform to Azure Marketplace. Bing says that this is going to be a three year process for those who are actively using the APIs on Azure Cognitive Services Platform, which means they have time.

The team at Bing Search API said that provisioning of any new instances of Bing Search APIs will need to be done via Azure Marketplace. All existing instances of Bing Search APIs, provisioned under Azure Cognitive Services, will be supported up to the next three years or till the end of the customer’s enterprise agreement, whichever happens first.

Microsoft Advertising New Promotion Extensions – They have rolled out a new promotion extensions that allows their advertisers on Microsoft Advertising to highlight a special offer or a special deal in your text ad. Advertisers can also tie their deal to a holiday or special occasion. Although this this is for all advertisers in the United States.

Below are some of the ways to customise your promotion extensions in Microsoft Advertising:

• Occasion: You can select the holiday or special occasion that you wish to tie your promotion to.
• Promotion type & promotion item: You can select the type of offer or discount and clarify which items are included in the promotion.
• Promotion details: You can clarify offer requirements.
• Displayed start/end dates: You can clarify offer deadline. Promotions will not deliver after the end date, but you can choose to run your promotion extensions prior to the start date.