SEO Wash-up Monday 21st November 2022

Google Updates

Google is testing “previously visited” sitelinks icons – Google has been testing a clock/timer type of icon on the sitelinks within Google SERPs. That icon is designed to communicate that you have previously visited the page from Google Search. You may have also seen that Google has been testing other icons in Sitelinks before and may include images in Sitelinks.

Google AdSense has added ‘First party cookie’ personalisation & new blocking controls – Google AdSense now supports personalisation for first-party cookies and also new improvements to the blocking controls navigation.

• First party cookies for personalisation – This helps to show personalized ads to your users when third-party cookies aren’t available, which may increase your revenue. Google also mentions that you can only use these cookies for personalisation if you’ve turned on the “Allow first-party cookies” option.”

Furthermore, they also mention that a new control to the “Ad serving” tab in your account to let you choose whether you want to allow first-party cookies for personalisation. To configure these, you can click Brand safety and then Content and then Blocking controls and then Manage Ad serving.

• New blocking controls – Google AdSense has also made some improvements to navigate the ad-blocking options in the Google AdSense console. Google renamed the Blocking controls page to “Brand safety” and added a new site search. Before, your AdSense sites were listed in the main navigation panel.Google said because many publishers have multiple sites, they have replaced the site list with an easy-to-use site search. The search giant mentions that this change simplifies the main navigation panel and makes it easier to block ads on different sites.

Google search adds arrow in knowledge panel – Google has added an arrow button, within a circle design, in the Google SERPs knowledge panel section. When you click on the arrow, it takes you deeper into the entity’s information within Google Search. Some users was hoping this arrow would be used to disambiguate the various names that might have a knowledge panel.

Bing Update

Bing rolls out knowledge panel test polls – A little while back it was mentioned that you may see Microsoft Bing test polls in the knowledge panels within Bing Search. Now, it has come true as Microsoft mentions on their social media that this is now live and a new feature. Microsoft then mentions that users will have a fun new interactive feature.