SEO Wash-up Monday 6th December 21

Google Update

Google ads keyword planner tool with trending data – Google has been testing showing trending keyword data on the keyword planner tool. Users have seen that Google added two columns; three month percent change and three month trend type to the chart. The data shows if the keyword is stable, declining or increasing and by what percentage change. Although it has been said that this is a small experiment, Google is always testing new ways to improve the experience for their advertisers and users, but don’t have anything specific to announce right now.

Chrome has been testing side by side search & journeys; Browser History With Search – The search giant’s beta version of Chrome was testing two new search features; one is side by side search and the other is Journeys. Journeys is being tested in Chrome Canary on desktop and the side panel on the Chrome OS Dev channel.

• Side by side search – The new side panel in the Chrome OS Dev channel lets you view a page and the search results at the same time. This lets you view a page right in your main browser window without needing to navigate back and forth or losing your search results. Google’s goal of this experiment is to explore how Chrome can better help users easily compare results,” Google wrote.

  In order to open the side panel and view the results, click on the G icon next to the search bar. And if you’ve found what you’re looking for or don’t want to see the results any more, you can close the panel at any time.

• Journeys – This will cluster all the pages you’ve visited related to your previous browsing history so you can easily view them without having to sift through your browsing history. You’ll also see related search suggestions so you can continue your browsing right there. It is like a beefed up browser history.

  Google mentions that you’re in control of your Journeys experience. So for example you can turn off Journeys at any time, and as always, you can easily clear your browsing history right from your Chrome settings, or by typing ‘clear browsing data’ into the address bar. If you’d like, you can also clear history that’s related to a particular journey vs. your history overall.

  Furthermore, the current Journeys experiment only groups history on your device, so nothing is saved to your Google account. Based on user feedback and interest, future versions may offer the ability to access Journeys in Chrome across multiple devices (just like bookmarks or passwords).

Google ads has banned high fat sugar salt food & beverage targeting minors in the UK & EU – Google Merchant Center has posted a new policy that forbids advertising and the promotion of High Fat Sugar Salt (HFSS) Food and Beverage (F&B) ads for minors in the United Kingdom and European Union. Although this is only in the UK and EU and only when targeting minors.

The policy update mentions that Fat Sugar Salt (HFSS) Food & Beverage (F&B) Shopping ads are allowed if they comply with Google’s policies. Google will consider ads to be promoting the sale of HFSS products when one or more HFSS food item, beverage, or meal is promoted in the ad (text, imagery, audio and/or video) or destination site. Specifically, Shopping ads that contain HFSS foods and beverages are now prohibited from targeting minors.

This policy change only applies to Shopping ads and not free product listings. So free Google organic results both in web search and merchant center are fine – this is just for ads.