Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.
Google finished rolling out the August 2024 core update and while there was some positive movements, most SEOs are not happy. Google updated its canonicalization documentation around fragments in URLs. Google Business Profiles no longer showing Q&A option in India and other regions. Microsoft Advertising launched some new ad features. Google Image Search has a new feature named “from this image.”
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
Google August 2024 Core Update Finished Rolling Out
The Google August 2024 core update finished rolling out yesterday at around 3 pm ET. It took over 19 days to roll out, starting on August 15th at 11 am and finishing on September 3rd at 3 pm. The update was expected to take a month but ended up taking less than 3 weeks to roll out.
Google Business Profiles Drops Q&A Feature In India (& Other Some Regions)
Google Business Profiles seems to have dropped the Q&A feature from businesses in India and some other regions, or at least, a number of them. The issue started a few months ago, and the feature is still missing in that region.
Google Docs: Do Not Specify A Fragment URL As Canonical
Google has updated its search developer canonical documentation to specify that you should not set specify a fragment URL as canonical. Google added that bullet point to the best practices section of the document.
Microsoft Advertising Logos / Call To Actions & Other Search Ad Updates
Microsoft published its updates for September 2024 yesterday and a lot is around Performance Max updates for Microsoft Advertising. Plus, you can now add logos and call to actions to your ads, a new Search term insights report is rolling out, Search themes are available for pilot in Performance Max and more.
Google Image Search: From This Image
Google is testing a new feature, or search refinement, within the image search results that shows you “from this image.” I suspect this shows you matches of other image search results, from the image you are currently looking at.
