Search Engine Land’s daily brief features daily insights, news, tips, and essential bits of wisdom for today’s search marketer. If you would like to read this before the rest of the internet does, sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox daily.

Good morning, Marketers, “basic” does not mean things are easy or always obvious.

That nugget of wisdom comes from Google’s John Mueller. In a Twitter thread about freelance and agency SEOs asking “basic” questions, Mueller shared that he prefers people ask such questions “because many are afraid to ask and also need to know the answers. Better to ask (or at least listen) & learn than to assume a falsehood is true.”

Search professionals are quick to point out that the industry undergoes constant change. While most of the fundamentals stay the same, “basic” is a relative term and sometimes standard practices do change, like when Google confirmed that it hasn’t supported rel=prev/next for years.

There are also a lot of SEO myths out there — so many, in fact, that Google has produced an entire YouTube video series called SEO Mythbusting. Reiterating foundational knowledge can help dispel these urban legends. And, more basic questions may also mean that the industry is growing, which is always exciting.

George Nguyen,
Editor

Google takes stand against climate change deniers with new ads and monetization policy

Google will introduce a new policy for advertisers, AdSense publishers and YouTube creators that prohibits ads for, and monetization of, content that contradicts authoritative scientific consensus around the existence and causes of climate change. Google will use its automated systems as well as human reviewers to enforce the policy, which will take effect next month.

Why we care. Advertisers that deal with climate matters should be especially careful as this new policy takes effect. If your ads adhere to the policy but are still disapproved, you can appeal the policy decision directly from your Google Ads account. Publishers and YouTube creators that make climate change content should also be careful not to run afoul of this policy as it may make monetization impossible. For general publishers and YouTube creators that monetize their content, this change may increase brand safety as climate-change-denying ads will be less likely to show up alongside your content.

Read more here.

Google AdSense moves to a first-price auction model

Google will move AdSense from a second-price auction model to a first-price auction by the end of 2021, the company announced last week. In a second-price auction, the final price paid by the winner is determined by the second-highest bid. In a first-price auction, the final price is the same as the winning bid.

The transition to a first-price auction only affects AdSense for Content, AdSense for Video and AdSense for Games (not affect AdSense for Search or AdSense for Shopping). This change also aligns AdSense with Ad Manager and AdMob, botch of which already operate under a first-price auction model. There is no action for advertisers or publishers to take and these changes will occur automatically.

Why we care. As Google pointed out, making the winning bid the actual price advertisers pay may make it easier for some advertisers to plan their spending and enables them to use a single approach across AdSense, Ad Manager and AdMob.

However, a first-price auction means that the final price the winning advertiser pays will be higher than it was under a second-price model if advertisers bid the same amount. “When buyers lower their bids in the context of a first-price auction, the effective payments tend to be similar in both models, reflecting the value of the publisher’s ad space and audience,” a Google spokesperson said, “We announced our change to first-price auction in advance to give our advertising partners the opportunity to adjust their bidding strategy before the auction goes live.” Campaign managers should inform stakeholders of this change as it may affect their strategy and/or budget.

Read more here.

One feed, one world

Google Merchant Center allows one feed for all countries. Now, merchants can use a single feed to push all their products to Merchant Center, regardless of how many countries they support. This change may improve workflows as merchants can use just one feed per language for all countries.

Page-width featured snippets seen in the wild (again). Brodie Clark has (screen)captured another glimpse of a featured snippet test that some initially saw in August. He also maintains a chronology of SERP features he’s encountered, with a search box and links to images for many of them.

Online conferences are great, but… Yes, I also have a conference shirt that I sleep in. Perhaps vendors can just have them made in the button-up pajama style for the holidays.

What We’re Reading: Will making it easier to switch default search engines make a difference?

“We welcome the Commission’s goals with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) but the DMA fails to address the most acute barrier in search: Google’s hoarding of default positions,” DuckDuckGo, Qwant, Lilo and Ecosia wrote in an open letter to EU lawmakers, “Google would not have become the overall market gatekeeper they are today without years of locking up these defaults. If the DMA fails to address this fundamental issue, we believe the status quo will continue, leaving the root cause of this problem unchanged.”

Presented last year by the European Commission, the DMA is a set of regulations aimed at ensuring that big tech companies cannot abuse their position to stifle competition or take advantage of consumers.

Google’s niche competitors, like DuckDuckGo and Ecosia, have been calling the company out for years, but the tension really kicked up when Google introduced its search choice screen in August 2019 as part of its efforts to comply with a July 2018 antitrust ruling. Fourteen months later, I analyzed the impact of Google’s search choice screen on competition and there was virtually no effect on its market share, perhaps by design.

During my research, I spoke to numerous search engines and one told me that in Europe, Google had a lot of say in how it would comply with such regulations — a sentiment echoed by Natasha Lomas of TechCrunch, who wrote, “The European Commission has — for years — shied away from imposing specific remedies on Google, despite a string of antitrust enforcements. Instead EU lawmakers have typically said it is up to Google to figure out exactly how to comply with its various orders to cease infringements in areas like product search, search ad brokering and Android.”

Now, Google’s rivals want the company to make it easier to switch search providers: In addition to prompting users to designate a default search engine when they set up their Android device, they want a one-click switch that can be accessed at any time. They also want a similar option for Chrome on desktop devices as well. To Google’s credit, the company has dropped the search choice auction and displays options in a random order, so Google itself isn’t always at the top.

The question now is whether rethinking how defaults are implemented will make a substantive impact on search market share. Perhaps it’s justified from a “fairness” standpoint, but users have had decades to get used to the Google experience — maybe due to “locking up these defaults,” as the competitors said — so simply making it easier to switch search engines is unlikely to have the impact DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, Qwant and Lilo are hoping for.

The post Google’s new policy means it literally won’t pay to deny climate change; Monday’s daily brief appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Google will introduce a new policy for advertisers, AdSense publishers and YouTube creators that prohibit ads for, and monetization of, content that contradicts authoritative scientific consensus around the existence and causes of climate change, the company announced Thursday. Google will use its automated systems as well as human reviewers to enforce the policy, which will take effect next month.

Why Google is making this change. “In recent years, we’ve heard directly from a growing number of our advertising and publisher partners who have expressed concerns about ads that run alongside or promote inaccurate claims about climate change,” the company said, “Advertisers simply don’t want their ads to appear next to this content. And publishers and creators don’t want ads promoting these claims to appear on their pages or videos.”

What kind of content and ads are prohibited? The new policy prohibits ads for, and monetization of, the following: content that refers to climate change as a scam or a hoax, claims denying that long-term trends show the global climate is warming and claims denying that greenhouse gas emissions or human activity contribute to climate change.

Sorting out offending content and ads. “We’ll look carefully at the context in which claims are made, differentiating between content that states a false claim as fact, versus content that reports on or discusses that claim,” Google said in its announcement, “We will also continue to allow ads and monetization on other climate-related topics, including public debates on climate policy, the varying impacts of climate change, new research and more.”

Why we care. Advertisers that deal with climate matters should be especially careful as this new policy takes effect. If your ads adhere to the policy but are still disapproved, you can appeal the policy decision directly from your Google Ads account.

Publishers and YouTube content creators that make climate change content should also be careful not to run afoul of this policy as it may make monetization impossible.

For general publishers and YouTube creators that monetize their content, this change may increase brand safety as climate-change-denying ads will be less likely to show up alongside your content.

The post Google takes stand against climate change deniers with new ads and monetization policy appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Google will move AdSense from a second-price auction model to a first-price auction by the end of 2021, the company announced Thursday. There is no action for advertisers or publishers to take and these changes will occur automatically.

First-price vs. second-price auctions. In a second-price auction, the final price paid by the winner is determined by the second-highest bid. In a first-price auction, the final price is the same as the winning bid.

This will simplify things for advertisers, Google says. “On display ad selling platforms, a first-price auction simplifies the buying experience for advertisers because the final price reflects the winner’s bid,” Google said on its FAQ page about AdSense moving to a first-price auction.

Which AdSense products are affected. The transition to a first-price auction only affects AdSense for Content, AdSense for Video and AdSense for Games. It does not affect AdSense for Search or AdSense for Shopping.

Why we care. Transitioning to a first-price auction aligns AdSense with Ad Manager and AdMob, both of which are already operating under that model. Making the winning bid the actual price advertisers pay may make it easier for some advertisers to plan their spending.

However, a first-price auction means that the final price the winning advertiser pays will typically be higher than it was under a second-price model. Campaign managers should inform stakeholders of this change as it may affect their budget.

Google also said that publishers will likely not see a change in their earnings as a result of this transition: “Due to the dynamic auction environment, we cannot predict how specific AdSense publishers will be impacted. But, on average we expect the impact to AdSense publishers’ earnings overall from the move to a first-price auction to be neutral. When Ad Manager moved to a first-price auction, there was a neutral to slightly positive impact to publisher earnings on average,” the company said.

The post Google AdSense moves to a first-price auction model appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Search Engine Land’s daily brief features daily insights, news, tips, and essential bits of wisdom for today’s search marketer. If you would like to read this before the rest of the internet does, sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox daily.

Good morning, Marketers, where does diversity start in marketing?

My friend Chima Mmeje, an SEO content writer and strategist for SaaS and tech, tweeted this week asking why there were no Black in-house marketers. “What’s the barrier to entry?” she asked.

We’ve written about the issue on Search Engine Land and MarTech. Here’s what we’ve found: When we talk about the career pipeline that leads to more diverse and inclusive leadership, it starts at the very beginning. The National Association of Colleges and Employers found that Black students are more likely to be in unpaid internships than their white peers – and that has a direct effect on diversity in the workforce. 

“Many organizations use their internship programs to feed full-time hiring; consequently, looking at how they source and select interns is critical for those that are committed to diversifying their workforces,” said Shawn VanDerziel, NACE executive director. If you can’t afford to take an unpaid internship, then you’re already at a disadvantage in your career.

Not only is it harder for Black marketers to break into their careers of choice, but they are less likely to be promoted. Mercer, a human resources consulting firm, released data that showed only 12% of support and operations staff are Black (versus 64% white), and that number continually decreases as Black employees are not promoted to higher levels within companies. The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) in a 2020 report found that only 6% of its total members and 3% of the members who are CMOs are Black. 

So what can we do? SearchPilot recently posted the results of their diversity and inclusion transparency report, which they commit to publishing each year. Dr. Lauren Tucker, founder of Do What Matters, told MarTech that inclusion comes first, “I call it ‘inclusion, equity and diversity.’ Diversity is the outcome of inclusion and equity.” Dr. Tucker says that while Chief Diversity Officers are great, they have to be funded and supported, and employee resources groups are often a great way to get started if your company isn’t big enough for a CDO.

Carolyn Lyden,
Director of Search Content

ETA deprecation, auto-generated remarketing lists and Audience Network updates in Microsoft Advertising

Beginning June 30, 2022, responsive search ads (RSAs) will be the only search ad type that can be created or edited in standard search campaigns, Microsoft Advertising announced in its October product updates on Tuesday.

The announcements also included reporting improvements for Microsoft Audience Ads with view-through conversions, In-market Audiences expansions, an open beta for auto-generated remarketing lists, several Microsoft Audience Network updates and expansions and more.

Why we care. The deprecation of ETAs aligns Microsoft Advertising with Google Ads, making it easier for advertisers to work across both platforms without having to account for any differences in available search ad types. As we stated when Google first made this announcement, this move means that advertisers will have less direct control over their accounts and will have to get accustomed to working with Google and Microsoft’s machine learning, if they haven’t already. We recommend testing your ETAs and RSAs to figure out what works best well before the June 30, 2022 deadline.

Read more details on the updates here.

We asked, you answered: Should Google add noindex support to robots.txt? Poll results

In September, Eric Enge ran a poll on Search Engine Land to see if readers would like to have an instruction in robots.txt to mark pages for No Indexation. The results are in:

In total 84% of the 87 respondents said “yes,” they would like this feature. Some of the reasons offered for wanting this feature were:

• There are no situations where I want to block crawling but have pages indexed.
• Noindexing a large number of pages takes a lot of time because Google has to crawl the page to see the noindex. When we had the noindex directive we could achieve quicker results for clients with over-indexation problems.
• Adding new instructions to an .txt file is much quicker than getting Dev resources
• Quicker, less problematic site indexing blocking 🙂

Reasons for saying no included:

• Noindex tag is good enough
• New directives in robots.txt file are not necessary
• I don’t need it and don’t see it working
• Don’t bother
• Do not change

Read more here.

October 8 is the deadline to nominate for the Search Engine Land Award for Advancing Diversity and Inclusion in Search Marketing

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are ongoing efforts and something we need to commit to every day. This is why we’re excited to announce the second annual Search Engine Land Award for Advancing Diversity and Inclusion in Search Marketing to celebrate those individuals or organizations who are affecting real change.

The deadline for nominations is October 8, 2021.

You may nominate as many organizations or individuals as you feel deserve the recognition. We ask that you highlight specific initiatives conducted by the nominee and that in the nomination form you include the contact of someone who can “second” that nomination.

Nominate a person or organization now.

Search Shorts: All the SMX expert goodness you might have missed this year

With SMX Next coming up (check out the agenda and register here!), we wanted to recap some of the awesome coverage from our other events this year. Check out the how-tos, myths, and mistakes to avoid:

• How to write ad copy that actually converts (and 3 major mistakes to avoid)
• How to plan SEO content that actually ranks
• Three PPC targeting tactics that power every stage of the funnel
• PPC personas: Learning from the sales process to limit waste and accelerate ROI
• Ask the expert – Your top FLoC questions answered 

What We’re Reading: Search Engine Land’s Guide to Bing SEO

Bing accounts for 26.5% of all desktop searches in the U.S., according to Comscore (April 2021). With the recent prevalence of working from home, people are spending more time on their desktop computers, which might also mean that more people are now using Bing.

Bing’s ranking algorithm is dynamic. “The ranking algorithm is a gigantic machine learning model and it’s evolving constantly,” said Frédéric Dubut, principal project PM manager, core search & AI at Microsoft. Before you integrate the following advice into your SEO strategy, keep in mind that better rankings aren’t guaranteed just because you optimize for the specific factors highlighted in the Bing Webmaster Guidelines.

This potentially means that, if everyone starts prioritizing one ranking criteria, then that signal may become less indicative of relevance and Bing’s algorithm may assign less weight to it. Instead of cherry-picking ranking factors to optimize for, we recommend that you cover all the bases to the best of your ability while keeping in mind how Bing treats the following elements of search.

Quality and credibility. To determine the quality and credibility of a site, Bing looks at factors like the site’s reputation, the author’s reputation, transparency of authorship, completeness of content and the level of discourse.

In terms of site reputation, “It is really about mapping and understanding that this website is an authority for this specific domain,” Fabrice Canel, principal program manager at Bing, said during an edition of Live with Search Engine Land.

Want to keep reading? Check out the full guide here.

The post Microsoft Advertising will deprecate ETAs too; Wednesday’s daily brief appeared first on Search Engine Land.