SEO News You Can Use: People Also Ask Feature Appearing Less in Google Search

Compared to prior weeks, data shows that the People Also Ask feature is far less likely to appear in the desktop Google Search results. According to three data providers who confirmed this to Search Engine Land, the People Also Ask box in Google Search experienced a significant decline last week. 

Data from RankRanger, Semrush and seoClarity indicated approximately 60 percent of all inquiries would get these query results, but now only about 30 percent of all queries get them; a significant 30-point decrease in the People Also Ask box feature. 

The People Also Ask function is used by SEOs, SEMs and marketers for search expansion to find ideas for creating fresh content and keyword generating that might rank for and appear in Google’s featured snippets area. 

It is unclear whether the decrease in People Also Ask results is a Google problem or feature. Stay tuned for more updates in the weeks to come.

More SEO News You Can Use

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) Recently Launched Three New Metrics: Search Engine Land recently released an article highlighting that there are now three additional metrics accessible on the platform via reports, segments, explorations, audiences and the Google Analytics data API. The newly added metrics include conversion, bounce rate and UTM parameters. GA4 now reports the conversion rate for any event in its reports. Both the user conversion rate and the session conversion rate are included. The Explorations and Reporting Customization section now contains the bounce rate metric. In comparison to Universal Analytics, GA4 calculates the bounce rate differently. Google has also added two dimensions to UTM parameters: user scope and session scope. You’ll be able to view the value assigned to the first user manual ad content and the session manual ad content for the UTM content parameter. Furthermore, you can also read the initial user manual term and session manual term for the UTM term parameter. You’ll find these metrics in the Explorations, Reporting and Audience Builder. Find out more about these metrics and how they are determined in the help doc.

New Google Search Console Report for Video Indexing Released: Google recently stated that a new video indexing report teased in Google Search Console a few months ago is finally being released. The video indexing report displays the number of indexed pages on your website that contain one or more videos and the likelihood that a video will be indexed on each page. Not only can this help determine if your videos have any indexing issues and how to debug them, but you can also easily validate and track the fix. According to Google, the analysis can show you how well your video content is performing on the search engine and show you where it might need to be improved. In addition, the URL inspection tool is getting an update, allowing users to check the video indexing status of particular pages. Google added that the video indexing report would be implemented “gradually over the next few months, so you might not observe any changes for now.”

Google Adds 4 New Performance Max Campaign Features: According to Search Engine Land, user profiles for Google Performance Max campaign will soon have four additional capabilities: Seasonality Adjustments, Data Exclusions, Explanations and Optimization Score. Seasonality Adjustments give advertisers the scope to modify their bid strategies depending on anticipated variations in conversion rates for occasion-based campaigns like Christmas or Thanksgiving sales. However, advertisers should only employ the adjustments for changes that are unusual otherwise, as Smart Bidding already exists for anticipated seasonal occurrences. For example, long weekend promotions or sales generally lasting one to seven days should adjust accordingly. Data exclusions will instruct Smart Bidding to disregard data from dates where conversion tracking issues may have compromised the accuracy of your data. This can include bugs, tagging issues, or website downtime. Advertisers will find that Explanations makes it simpler to spot performance variations, pinpoint problems and offers suggestions to enhance performance. Additionally, the feature assesses the product status and the most popular moving products, groups and types if you have a product feed. Lastly, advertisers can use the Optimization Score to identify areas for campaign optimization and to generate actionable advice to get better results. Google hopes this will create more transparency and better control for advertisers using Performance Max campaigns.

Google My Business Mobile App Not Accessible Anymore: As a Google My Business app user, you can no longer manage your business profile, interact with customers, or view insights using the Google My Business mobile app for iOS or Android. According to Search Engine Land, this was anticipated as Google informed users of the pending shift when it changed its name from Google My Business (GMB) to Google Business Profile (GBP). In November 2021, GMB users were told that the app would be retired in 2022. That time has finally arrived. The app now informs you that “the Google My Business app is no longer available” when you attempt to access it. You will now only be able to manage your Google Business Profile via Google Search or the Google Maps app. According to Google, you can manage your business profile, track your progress, communicate directly with clients and more on Google Maps and Search, receiving notifications directly from the app as well. 

Linking To HTTP Pages – Does it Affect SEO?: In response to the question of whether linking to unsecured HTTP web pages has any negative effects on SEO, Google’s Search Advocate John Mueller offered an intriguing response in an article by Search Engine Journal. It stands to reason that a page’s ability to link to HTTP pages may be perceived negatively by users as a bad user experience. Take into consideration that HTTPS is a ranking indication and a safer version of HTTP. And since Google values secure websites, it therefore, makes sense that sites should opt to link to HTTPS sites. But Mueller argues that’s not always the case. Although It is not advisable to link to an HTTP website for various reasons, with regards to having an adverse effect on SEO, Mueller had this to say. Mueller confirmed there is no such thing as an SEO score and that using the HTTP protocol to link to another website is acceptable (for SEO purposes). HTTP, however, does not provide a way for the browser to confirm that the server returning a response to a request is, in fact, the right server. Therefore, identifying outbound HTTP links and determining whether the associated site uses HTTPS may be a great practice (for reasons related to user experience). If not, it could be useful to look for a better website to link to if visitor security and usability are essential.

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