An upcoming Windows 11 update will block third-party apps from enabling users to select which browser and search engine Start menu searches open in, according to The Verge. Start menu searches open in the Edge browser, with results from Bing, regardless of the user’s designated default browser and search engine.

Why we care. Bypassing user-assigned defaults to open search results in Edge and Bing forces more users into Microsoft-owned channels. This presents more opportunities for Microsoft to show ads to those users, even if Edge and Bing aren’t their default choices. This may slightly, and somewhat artificially, add more value to some of Microsoft’s ad products, while strong-arming users into trying its browser and search engine (albeit in a limited sense), which might increase adoption over the long run.

EdgeDeflector was released in 2017, but only recently has Microsoft taken action against it and similar apps that enable users to designate which browser its Start menu search results open in. “The [500 thousand] EdgeDeflector users were probably never more than a nuisance to Microsoft,” Daniel Aleksandersen, the developer of EdgeDeflector, said in a blog post, “However, last month both the Brave and Firefox web browsers either copied EdgeDeflector’s functionality or signaled it was on the roadmap … That news probably did make Microsoft sit up and pay attention.” At the time of publishing, Firef had roughly 218 million monthly active desktop users.

Edge-only Start menu search results. Regardless of the user’s default browser choice, Microsoft launches Edge and Bing when showing results for searches conducted from the Windows 10 and Windows 11 Start menu. In Windows 11, searches from the Widgets panel also only open in Edge and Bing.

EdgeDeflector and similar third-party apps offered a way to overcome this limitation, enabling users to open Start menu search results in the browser of their choice. However, Microsoft has confirmed that an update, which is scheduled to roll out in the coming weeks, will put an end to these workarounds. “Windows also offers certain end-to-end customer experiences in both Windows 10 and Windows 11, the search experience from the taskbar is one such example of an end-to-end experience that is not designed to be redirected,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement to The Verge, “When we become aware of improper redirection, we issue a fix.”

Firefox was planning its own workaround. “We have worked on code that launches Firefox when the microsoft-edge protocol is used for those users that have already chosen Firefox as their default browser,” a Mozilla spokesperson said in a statement to The Verge, “Following the recent change to Windows 11, this planned implementation will no longer be possible.”

Switching default browsers is also more difficult than it used to be. Windows 11 introduced a new workflow for switching default browsers: Users can still select “Always use this app” in the prompt that appears when they first launch a browser, but if they don’t do that, they will have to take additional steps and assign a default browser for each file or link type (HTM, HTML, PDF, HTTP, HTTPs, etc). This process takes longer than it did on Windows 10, where users could switch default applications for web browsing, email, photos, videos and so on without digging into file formats or link types.

Additionally, Mozilla has added an option to set Firefox as the default browser with a single click. This option is only available in the version of Firefox downloadable from the web — it’s missing from the version of Firefox in the Microsoft Store, where Microsoft has restricted that feature to its own Edge browser.

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Google has updated its Merchant Center policy now allows you to list your medical test kits both at-home results or lab results and over-the-counter test kits in both free and paid Google Shopping.

What is new. Google’s new policy states “medical test kits with at-home results or lab results are now allowed on Shopping ads and free listings. This includes over-the-counter test kits. Every medical test kit must adhere to country-specific regulations.”

What is not new. Google said what is not changing with this policy is that merchants are still responsible for ensuring their products are in compliance with applicable laws and policies. Google said “for example, test kits sold in the U.S. must be FDA-approved or emergency use authorized. Medical test kits will also continue to be classified as Medical Devices.”

More details. You can learn more details about this policy change in the Google support area around healthcare and medicines in Google Merchant Center.

Why we care. If you sell these types of goods and services, you can now have them listed in Google Shopping through Google Merchant Center. You can also use Google Ads to promote them in Google Shopping.

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Google has confirmed a bug with its Google Shopping Ads product where the cost per click (CPC) prices spiked from 50% to over 200% over the weekend. The issue happened last night, Friday, November 12th between 9pm EST (6pm PST) through this morning, Saturday, November 13th at 12am EST (3am PST).

Confirmation. Google confirmed the issue after 1pm EST today, November 13th on Twitter saying “The Google Ads system encountered an unexpected issue between 6pm PST on Friday Nov 12 – 3am PST Saturday, Nov 13 that affected Shopping Ads. We identified and fixed the issue. Everything is working as expected now.”

What’s next. It appears that if you were impacted, a Google Ads representative will be in touch with more details. Ginny Marvin, the Google Ads Liaison from Google wrote on Twitter “impacted advertisers will be notified with more details.” Of course, it doesn’t hurt for you to check your Google Ads reporting and see if you were impacted and then to proactively reach out to Google for help and refunds.

How bad was it. Well, look at this chart from one Google Ads advertser:

Why we care. If you have any Google shopping campaigns in Google Ads, you will want to check to ensure your ads were not impacted. If they were, make sure to reach out to Google for some sort of remedy so that you are not over-billed and your ad campaigns do not suffer in other ways.

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“Their algorithms are garbage,” said Lesley Hensell Demand, partner in Riverbend Consulting, a firm that helps Amazon sellers overcome a host of challenges, including account de-activation and loss of ASINs (a kind of ISBN number Amazon assigns to products. Riverbend is heavily staffed by former Amazon employees.

There was a lot of discussion about Amazon’s algorithms at the AMZ Innovate event for Amazon sellers in New York City this week. The reason: Amazon sellers are deeply invested in a platform which is essentially too big to be held accountable. They’re at the mercy of policy-making and enforcement which can seem capricious or even be downright mystifying.

Hensell Demand offered a grim tour around the problems sellers can face. Amazon attempts to exert control over pricing decisions by third-party sellers. If, for example, it sees a product from a seller listed at a lower price on a competitor website, it will enforce a price reduction. Because the process is automated (those algorithms), it’s not uncommon for Amazon to confuse a “pack of one,” say, with a “pack of three.” If Amazon believes it detects systematic over-pricing, more penalties can follow.

And then there’s the reported practice of simply copying a successful product and putting Amazon branding on it. According to Hensell Demand it has even been known for Amazon to approach the manufacturer and offer to place a larger order than the successful seller.

Sellers and aggregators

The event, put together by Jared Orkin, VP of Product Strategy at Adbeat and an Amazon and Shopify expert, and Brandon Furhmann, a successful Amazon Seller with his own Kitchenware Brand, did not just attract sellers. Also there were the partners who offer services for sellers: PickFu, the consumer research vendor, and GETIDA, an Amazon auditing service, for example.

Also present were a number of aggregators like Thrasio and Boosted. These companies are in the business of acquiring and growing FBA (fulfilled by Amazon) sellers — developing symbiotic portfolios of businesses that allow cross-selling and cross-promoting. Keith Richman, co-founder of Boosted, painted almost as bleak a picture of the space as Hensell Demand, but not without a ray of sunshine.

Online advertising is getting more expensive and difficult, he said. There’s no end in sight to the supply chain crisis. It’s really hard to hire talent right now. Amazon’s policy making and rule enforcement is hopelessy inconsistent. Sellers are under constant threat of being de-listed. And yes, success means the risk of being copied by Amazon, or indeed by other sellers. “Why is everything so hard?” he asked.

Things might be hard at present, but Richman also painted a rosy picture of the future. Massive changes are underway, he said, in digital shopping habits, fueled in part by social media. Consumers are open to trying new brands as never before. Established companies often lack the agility to respond to these changes. “This is just the beginning,” he said.

PPC, coupons and keywords

This mixture of horror and hope set the backdrop for much more granular explorations of how sellers can simply push their products to the top of Amazon’s search results. Casey Gauss, VP of SEO at Thrasio (a college dropout and self-taught programmer) came armed with actionable advice.

To get the prized Amazon Best Seller badge, for example, consider switching your product from its existing category to a sub-category where you can beat the competition. Purse a “big coupon” strategy, offering significant percentage or price discounts for a limited time, then gradually phasing them out (25% off for two weeks, then 15% off, and so on). Refresh your keywords regularly. Invest in PPC campaigns.

Most importantly, said Gauss, do all these things together. You might only be making “micro-improvements,” but your listing in the search results will be headed in the right direction.

Living with a giant

The event felt like a tribe of Davids all trying to make peace with the giant Goliath. Slaying the giant is not an option. They’re angry at many things the giant does, but they’re also fascinated by his quirks, needs and moodswings. We commented to Furhmann that the relationship between Amazon sellers and Amazon looked not unlike the relationship between search marketers and Google. He agreed.

“All these big tech companies are the same,” he said. Rather than devoting adequate human resources to executing policy, “they trust the algorithms — and the algorithms make really bad decisions.” It’s not just Amazon, he said. The same complaint could be levied against Facebook and Google.

“That’s where the frustration springs from.”

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Microsoft Audience Network’s policies have been updated and no longer allow for advertising lawsuits, end-of-life products and services, health supplements and vitamins and gambling, the company announced Friday.

Here is the list of categories that are no longer allowed on the Microsoft Audience Network as well as on native advertising served on Microsoft-owned and operated properties, like MSN and Outlook:

• Lawsuit advertising and invitations to participate in a lawsuit.
• End-of-life products and services, including but not limited to cremation services, funeral flowers, urns, coffins and obituaries.
• Health supplements and vitamins (however enforcement for supplement and vitamin ads that are currently running on the network will not begin until January).
• Gambling (which is already prohibited on the Microsoft Audience Network but will now also be prohibited on native advertising served on Microsoft-owned and operated properties).

Why we care

Most of these categories are already prohibited on other platforms, so marketers working for brands in these verticals may not be surprised. Nevertheless, those brands are now missing out on another way to reach potential customers, which makes their organic strategy even more important.

Additionally, many platforms have regulated these ad categories in the interest of user safety, which might also improve the user experience on those platforms. It’s only natural that Microsoft would seek to match its ad safety standards and user experience with those of its competitors.

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The Google November spam update that began rolling out on November 3rd is now fully rolled out. Google has updated us 8 days after it first started to roll out that the rollout is complete.

The announcement. Here is the announcement about the update from Google on Twitter:

Impact. It is hard to say the full impact of this update, we feel this update “had legs” but you would have only noticed this update if you were doing some form of spam efforts that this algorithm targeted. Also, Google suggested this was about content spam and not specifically link spam.

Previous updates. Before this, the most recent confirmed Google update was back in July 2021 named the link spam update. Before that was the July 2021 core update, followed by the June 2021 core update, then part one and part two of the spam updates in June 2021. It’s been quite a year of updates.

Why we care. If you notice large ranking or traffic changes from your organic Google search results, you may have been hit by this spam update. Spam updates target specific guideline violations. This update may have been more focused on content spam efforts. Check your rankings and Google organic traffic over the past week to see if you noticed any big changes to your positions.

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