Google has added a new promotion type to Google Merchant Center named "Sale events." Sale events are a type data that you can submit on Google and are shown on non-product-centric surfaces. This seems to be available in the US for free Merchant Center listings right now.

This was spotted by Dario Zannoni who posted about it on LinkedIn and wrote, "A new "Sale Event" promotion type has been released in Google Merchant Center."

The help document says:

Sale events highlight a general sale happening in your store on different Google surfaces. Events don't show up on product listings, both organic and ads.

Unlike promotions, events aren't mapped to offers. Since events aren't directly mapped to offers, you can use ranges for discounts, such as 'Up to 40% off,' which isn't allowed with promotions.

Dario Zannoni shared this screenshot:

He wrote, "Standard promotions in Merchant Center require linking to specific products, which can make them challenging to implement. Now, Google has introduced a new promotion type called "Sale Event," which is not tied to individual products. Instead, it can be used to advertise general sales, like "All items discounted up to 70% off" or "Special discount: 10% off on golf bags.""

For more details, check out this help page.

Forum discussion at LinkedIn.

A couple of months ago, we reported how Google Search will label if an image was AI-generated, edited by photo editing software or taken with a camera by working with Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) as a technical standard. Well, now Google officially supports C2PA metadata in the about this image feature.

Google wrote this morning, Google Search now supports this [C2PA] metadata in the "About this image" feature."

Google updated its image meta data documentation to add a new section for "How C2PA metadata can appear in Google Search results."

The new section reads:

If an image contains C2PA metadata, Google can extract those details and may show information in the "About this image" feature, such as how the image was created or if it was edited with AI tools. This metadata comes from a signer, which is usually an app, device, or service (for example, photo editing software, the camera itself, or other services that modify or create images) that meets the following conditions:

• The app, device, or service has adopted C2PA version 2.1 or later.
• The image's manifest must be signed by a certificate from a Certification Authority on the C2PA Trust List.

It does seem like Adobe products, like Photoshop, Illustrated, and others, do support this metadata.

I just wonder how it handles the image above, which I generate using Midjourney AI and then edit later in Photoshop.

Forum discussion at X.

Google will be changing how it handles the first-party cookie controls on AdSense sites. Google said, "We're making some changes to how first-party cookies are managed in your AdSense account to simplify controls and improve your access to third-party demand."

Google has combined the controls for enabling "first-party cookies" and "first-party cookies for personalization" into a single control.

Turning on the new control will enable first-party cookies for the publisher, share it with demand sources, and enable all usages including personalization, Google explained.

The new control will be set to your existing personalization setting to aid the transition, Google added.

Google added:

Currently, first-party cookies are shared with Google demand sources (Google Ads, Display & Video 360). Starting no earlier than December 4th, 2024, your first-party cookies will also be shared with Authorized Buyers. However, for the time being, this sharing will not include users in the EEA, Switzerland, UK, California, and some US states.

If you're already using first-party cookies for personalization, sharing with Authorized Buyers will be turned on by default. If you're only using first-party cookies without personalization, sharing will remain off.

Choose whether or not you want to allow first-party cookies from Google on your site, and allow sharing of first-party cookies for personalization with eligible advertising platforms (Google Ads, Display & Video 360, and Authorized Buyers). Allowing first-party cookies from Google may increase your revenue because it enables features like frequency capping on ads and allows ads with a frequency cap to serve on your site. First party cookies for personalization help to show personalized ads to your users when third-party cookies aren't available, which may also increase your revenue.

Cookies are small text files downloaded to a user's browser that can be used to store user information and preferences. Cookies are either first-party (associated with the domain the user is visiting) or third party (associated with a domain that's different from the domain the user is visiting). Google may use first-party cookies when third-party cookies are not available.

Forum discussion at X.

This week, Google sent an email to some Google Ads advertisers warning that they may lose access to use Customer Match with their ads cause harm to users or create a poor user experience. Google said they are updating their customer match policy effective January 13, 2025, to enforce this. Google also posted this over here.

Navah Hopkins posted about this notice on LinkedIn after she received an email from Google about this update. The email says:

On January 13, 2025, Google will update its Customer Match policy to state that customers may lose Customer Match access if their ads have the potential to cause harm to users or create a poor user experience. We may take the following considerations, among others, into account when making this determination.

What are those considerations? Google wrote:

• User feedback
• Prevalence or severity of abuse
• Repeated violations of the Customer Match policy

Google added that "violations of this policy will not lead to immediate account suspension without prior warning. A warning will be issued, at least seven days, prior to any suspension of your account."

Here is the email:

Navah Hopkins added, "Google customer match allows advertisers to take customer lists and apply them for targeting and seed purposes in Google Ads. This is a great way to ensure folks get exactly the right messaging as well as giving us an option to exclude our existing customers from prospecting campaigns."

She explained what harm might be:

The first and most important consideration is using someone's email without their consent. I would take this signal from Google that gambling with privacy rules is getting harder.

Second, ad creative needs to pass the "not a creep" check. This means:
1. You're not targeting kids.
2. You're not making it seem like the ad is for any one specific user.
3. You're not including people in a target list who outright told you they didn't want to see your ads.

Third, and most importantly, violating customer match rules will get your account suspended. Don't mess around with it.

Forum discussion at LinkedIn.

Google's John Mueller said that some SEOs over focus on URL structure and that if your context from your pages aren't clear, then no URL structure can fix that.

John wrote on LinkedIn:

Often SEOs over-focus on URL structure (imo) -- if the context of your pages isn't clear from the ... text on the page, then the URL structure isn't really going to fix that.

What advice did he give for URL structure for SEO?

• Avoid making unnecessary URL structure changes (because changes will affect SEO at least temporarily, it takes time for search engines to recrawl & reprocess all affected pages), pick something that can last for a long time
• Primarily think about users & about how you want to track performance (URL structures are great for grouping URLs for analytics, conversion rates, etc. -- not directly SEO, but for monitoring how well SEO is working for you).

John added, "Anyway, Google generally (*) wouldn't care. Make a useful structure. Make it easy for you to monitor. Make it helpful for users, if you want (do people even look at URLs? I assume most users don't nowadays.)"

When does structure of your URLs matter? When you have adult content on portions of your site (we covered this before). John said on LinkedIn, "(*) the "generally" ... an exception that I can think of is if an affected part of the site is treated significantly different than the rest of the site. For example, if that folder is where all of the safe-search filtered content is located, then moving it around can make it harder for the safe-search system to understand your new site structure. I don't think that's something most sites need to consider, but it's helpful if you're looking for an "it depends"."

Google has often recommended not to change URLs for SEO purposes, here is our past coverage:

• Google Really Wants You To Avoid Changing URLs Just For SEO Reasons
• Google: Avoid Change URLs Unless You Really Have To
• Google: Don't Change Your URLs For SEO Purposes
• Google: Don't Change URLs When Replacing Old Content With New Content

Forum discussion at LinkedIn.

Google has just announced a new virtual shopping experience for search which lets you try on apparel virtually using some AI cleverness. Users in the US (only, at first) will be able to try out an item of clothing from a catalog if it has a ‘Try On’ badge on it in search. The service is starting with a limited number of brands including Anthropologie, Everlane, H&M and LOFT, and a limited repertoire of AI generated lady’s tops.  Virtual shopping...

The post Google Introduces AI Based Virtual Try-On Apparel appeared first on The Red Ferret Journal.

Welcome back to another episode of the Niche Pursuits News Podcast! This week Jared and guest host Morgan Overholt take on the latest SEO news and break it down for listeners. They also share the side hustles they've been working…

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Jared and guest host Thomas Smith are here this week to offer an overview of the main news affecting Google, small publishers, and SEOs. They also share some interesting side hustles and a few very weird niche sites. They kick…

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This week Jared Bauman sits down with Jake Cain, a long-time blogger with a portfolio of sites, a former Niche Pursuits employee, and an attendee at Google’s recent Creator Summit. In this interview, Jake shares his experience at the event,…

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Data-driven attribution is the default attribution model in Google Ads. Understand how and why to use it in your Google Ads campaign.

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If you follow me on Twitter, then you know I sometimes complain about the current state of the industry – most notably centered around what passes for research and discussion these days. It feels like people want to be handed the fish – with little interest in learning how the person with the fish caught…

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Google Search Console (GSC) can be a helpful tool – providing you use it. This guide isn't meant for advanced users nor is it a comprehensive dive into every feature GSC has. I'm not looking to overwhelm you. Instead, we're going to go over eight simple GSC features that can provide you with actionable tasks…

The post Google Search Console – a Beginner’s Guide to Finding Actionable SEO Tasks appeared first on Sugarrae.

In the Academy Award-nominated film Food Inc, filmmaker Robert Kenner reveals how the varied choice of items we see on the shelves of supermarkets is actually a false presumption. Instead, that seemingly endless variety is actually controlled by just a handful of companies. Today I’m going to reveal how the huge diversity we perceive in […]

The post How 16 Companies are Dominating the World’s Google Search Results appeared first on ViperChill.

grateful to Mia Sato for staying on this beat, which affects so many smaller sites I care about #

In my "Spam Suspects" email folder today, I noticed some spam which used Google as a redirection service, by linking to http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.somespamsite.com. When trying this technique with some other site, I found that google responds to this query with a 302 redirect to the site in question. Clearly, the spammer was using this system to lure people who trust Google... (176 words)

Google joins the already crowded RSS aggregator space with their new ajax RSS reader, done in the style of Gmail. Blogger project manager Jason Shellen led the project.

Tagging has been all over the place recently and apparently Google couldn't resist. Now you can tag sites in your search history for later retrieval.

See exactly where the available hotels are on a Google Map.

Now when you search for restaurants on Google Local (formerly Google Maps), you get details about the restaurant (location, food, reviews) along with its location. (example)

Search for something like [lax nyc] and Google will help you buy plane tickets for that trip.

There sure are a lot -- everything from ZipCars to urinals.

The product that drove webmasters crazy was back...for a moment, at least.

(screenshots) An official statement from Google says the site was designed to "provide content owners an easy way to give us access to their content". (more screenshots)

(Google blog post)

Appoints "President of Sales and Business Development".

(sample map) It uses your zip code to figure out where to place you on the map.

Details about how it works in the link.

(official blog entry)

In a long New York Times piece, top Googlers speculate about the future of advertising, including Google selling TV ads, using more personalized information, and links to store inventory information.

Satellites, drag and drop, and more.

The Google advanced search page now lets you limit your search to CC-licensed results.

You could also buy equipment to extend it into your house. (proposal)

A free version of Urchin, a company Google bought. (official blog post)

The Search Engine Experiment gives you the results from Yahoo, MSN, and Google without saying which is which. Currently, 41% of those who have taken the test picked Google (33% Yahoo, 26% MSN).

(screenshot)

Some great stories about Google's early days, with more to come.

Google is buying the leftover ad space in the _Chicago Sun-Times_ and filling it with AdWords ads related to the rest of the content. I wonder how they're going to charge advertisers. The domains posted are the real domains, so it can't exactly be pay-per-click.

Google has released a new program that gives users 100MB of web space to make simple HTML pages in.

James Yu has a screenshot of a new design Google has been testing lately.

Google now lets you do searches -- including regular expression searches -- across public source code.

Sergey Brin is telling employees to stop making old products and start improving new ones. "For example, said Chief Executive Eric Schmidt, Google plans to combine its spreadsheet, calendar and word-processing programs into one suite of Web-based applications."

Uses Ajax and some other web2.0-ish features.

This post announces Search Console recommendations, a new feature that provides websites with optimization opportunities and suggests actions they can take to improve their presence on Google Search.