Google Confirms SEO Rumours, New Business Grants & Other News

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Business & Tech News Highlights from Monday, 19 July to Friday, 23 July 2021

Monday, 19 July 2021 News Highlights

• Applications for the NSW Government’s COVID-19 Business Boost Grants open today. Visit the Service NSW website for more information.

See: NSW Government Business Grants & Support July 2021

• Google Ads will slowly be rolling out optimised targeting, which will use audience and demographic inputs to help ads connect with people more likely to convert. If you’ve received the feature, you will see ‘Signal’ in your dashboard, but it could be costly if you aren’t setting up your ads correctly.

• YouTube users in Australia will soon have access to Shorts, the video platform’s own version of TikToks. It will be a quick, easy way for businesses to create more forms of engaging content.

Tuesday, 20 July 2021 News Highlights

• Google has confirmed ALL websites are eligible to appear in Google News without application. They simply must have a history of good Expertise, Authority and Trust (EAT), publishing unique news stories and follow their news best practices.

See: Google, E-A-T & YMYL | How to Boost Your SEO in 2021 the Easy Way

• The NSW Service website crashed last night due to high applicants for new grants. However, the government confirmed businesses should still start receiving payments this week.
• Google is rolling out SeekToAction Markup, to allow website owners with videos on their site to dictate more accurate information to display in ‘key moments’ on Google search results.

Wednesday, 21 July 2021 

• The South Australian Government has announced eligible businesses can apply for a $3,000 cash grant, while eligible sole traders can apply for a $1,000 cash grant.
• Starting in September 2021, Google Ads will be rolling out a ‘three-strikes and you’re out’ policy, where those who repeatedly violate ad policies, starting with a warning, followed by two penalties, and then an account suspension.
• Google yesterday removed the AMP label from AMP pages in search results, however, are rumoured to be replacing it in the future with a Page Experience label to help users identify high-quality, reputable websites for information.

See: Top SEO Terms Explained for Beginners

Thursday, 22 July 2021 

• Google is rolling out a new ‘deals’ section in shopping search results, which advertisers can control via their Google Merchant Center.
• Australians will soon be able to leave more detailed reviews on Google for restaurants, including being able to select if they had breakfast, lunch or dinner, price range and if they dined in, had takeaway or ordered delivered.
• Twitter is testing up and down votes on Tweets to a small group of iOS users.
• Instagram is releasing a ‘text to voice’ feature on Stories, a popular feature already being used on TikTok.

Friday, 23 July 2021 

• The Olympic Games Opening Ceremony will be airing in Australia on Channel 7 from around 9:00pm AEST. Get comfy as it’s expected to run for approx. 4 hours.
• While the future didn’t look so bright for Snapchat only a couple of years ago, the multimedia messaging app has seen huge growth this year. In the first quarter of this year alone, Snapchat reported 13 million more daily users.
• Google has said website owners should leave redirects in place for at least one year. After this, they will still send signals to the new page, even once the redirect is removed.