Posted September 21, 2021 | by Afjal Ahmed | in Wash Up Monday

SEO Wash-up Monday 20th September 21

Google Updates

Google maps launches a new detailed restaurant review – Google have said that there will be a bunch of new map features for Google Maps, including one to allow users/searchers to leave more detailed reviews for the restaurants they have visited. Although they have been testing more detailed reviews for some time, now it seems they have officially rolled it out for restaurants. They mention that when you leave a review for a restaurant, you’ll see prompts to share useful information, such as price ranges or if you got takeout or delivery. The best thing is that you can answer with just a few quick taps.

The feature has been fully rolled out for all restaurants in the U.S. on Android and is rolling out to iOS, with more categories and countries on the way. Other features they have announced is around Covid safety with where Google Maps expanded its crowdedness predictions to 10,000 transit agencies in 100 countries, and will show how crowded individual carriages are in NYC and Sydney.

Transit crowdedness predictions are expanding
In New York and Sydney, they are piloting the ability to see live crowdedness information right down to the transit car level.
You can see helpful insights and trends about places you visit
Use Trips in Timeline to reminisce about past trips and plan new ones

Google is testing the local pack with a map placed on the right side of the page – They are at it again and seem to be testing displaying the map on the right side of the local pack. Usually the map is on the top, above the local pack listings, but in the test, Google is placing it on the right side of the local listings.

Google shopping now provides new promotion & deals features – They have rolled out a number of new Google shopping features across both Google Ads and free Merchant Center to help merchants enhance and showcase their promotions, deals and sales within Google search. They then mention that they are making it easier for you to showcase your promotions across more surfaces on Google, customize your seasonal promotions and make better merchandising decisions.

Showcase: Deals related to your search – They have added a new ‘deals related to your search’ highlight prompt that displays the most competitive deals and competitively priced items. Google said you can upload your promotions in Google Merchant Center, and Google will show the relevant products automatically with this new deals experience.
Key shopping & deal moments – Starting in October 2021 for US searchers will show deals related to seasonal moments such a black Friday deals and the searcher can then swipe through and discover the most popular web-ranked deals for major retail sales moments.
New way to customize promotions – They now allow you to indicate if a promotion is only available to customers who have not previously bought from you. Title of the promotion could now say a percentage off for new users. They then go on to explain that while these promotions will still be shown to all, shoppers will only be able to access the promotional price if they are new customers. Furthermore, they also allow you to highlight your promotions on free listings on the Shopping tab.
More merchandising insights reporting – They are now adding two new features to the best sellers report to give you more relevant and timely shopping insights: