Our weekly digest of what’s happening/trending in the digital world provided by Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and Search Engine Roundtable.

From Search Engine Land

Bing votes ‘no’ on political candidate and ballot measure ads
The policy will not likely impact Bing’s ad revenue as the search engine reports political ads make up a small portion of its advertising volume. Read more

Google Search Console is currently down
Can’t access your Google Search Console properties? Do not worry, you are not alone. Read more

Google to close Google+ after 7 years: A look back at the impact it once had on Google search
This should come as no surprise, Google is closing down Google+ over lack of use and security issues. Read more

Bing Ads Editor now supports in-market audiences
Manage in-market audience associations in bulk. Read more

3 reasons why Google My Business search queries don’t match Search Console
If you work in local search, are you regularly checking the Search Query report in Google My Business Insights? Here’s why you should be. Read more

Tips for optimizing content for voice search, virtual assistants
Voice search is coming. Here’s what you can do today to get ahead of the curve. Read more

Google to record small percentage of calls from ads for quality assurance
The program is aimed at bringing spam and fraud detection to call ads. Read more

New format for Google Sitelinks shows more site content in search results
Check out this new Google search result user interface that looks like featured snippets within Google Sitelinks. Read more

Google tests showing clipboard icons next to search suggestions for recipes queries
Google is experimenting with a new recipe clipboard feature, what it does and how it works is unknown right now. Read more

From Marketing Land

Facebook is giving more Instagram developers access to AR camera features
Spark AR, the newly rebranded Facebook Camera Effects Platform, is now accepting applications from developers to be part of the closed beta program. Read more

Facebook to release first-party cookie option for ads, pull web analytics from Safari
Facebook follows Google and Microsoft in offering a first-party solution to browsers that block third-party cookies. Read more

Google to shutter Google+ following undisclosed data exposure
Closure will happen in August 2019, but few marketers will suffer however. Read more

What marketers are saying about Facebook’s new Portal video chat devices
Some marketers see opportunity — even if they don’t quite know what that is yet. Read more

Facebook unveils new ad effectiveness tool for Marketing Partners
Along with Creative Compass, Facebook announced partner program expansions for consultants, smaller agencies. Read more

YouTube cracks down on duplicate content videos
Did your YouTube channel get removed over duplicative content, here is why. Read more

From Search Engine Roundtable

Google Search Algorithm Ranking Shuffling On October 4th
The Google search results don’t seem to be settling down at all, at least not over the past five weeks or so. Read more

Google Assistant Gets Redesign & Enables Money Transactions
This week, Google announced that the Google Assistant has received a redesign or makeover. Read more

Google Tests Minimalist Local Pack Again
We’ve seen it before, a more subtle and more minimalistic layout and design for the Google local pack in the mobile search results. Read more

Old Google Ads Interface Shutting Down October 4th or October 18, 2018
After over two years of testing, Google is going to be shutting down the old Google Ads interface and the new Google Ads interface will be the exclusive way to manage your Google Ads (formerly AdWords) campaigns. Read more

Google My Business Agency Account Migration Tool
Google’s Allyson Wright, a Community Manager for Google My Business, shared in the Google Business Help forums that they are currently doing a limited rollout of a new agency account migration tool. Allyson said the tool will help “improve the process of transferring listings to organization accounts.” Read more

Bing Not Listening To Submit URL Webmaster Tools Feature
I am hearing some reports that even the submit URL tool within Bing Webmaster Tools is not working. Read more

Google: Other Sites Outranking You For Your Content While Sourcing You
Google’s John Mueller talked about the frustration some may feel when you write a breaking story about a topic no one has covered yet other web sites are outranking you for that story, even though these other web sites link to you as the source. Read more

Google Cache 404 Hack & Workaround
For months and months I get complaints that the Google Cache is serving up a 404 error for their web sites. Read more

Google Search Algorithm Ranking Update Again On October 8th & 9th?
I know, Google updates every day, but I promise, I try to limit my coverage of these Google search ranking updates to those that drive a lot of chatter within the community and show additional signs of evidence around a ranking update. Read more

Google My Business Has A Manual Review Bug
If you have any locations in Google My Business that requires manual reviews, it may result in a bug that leads you to a 404 page not found page. Read more

Google: Word Count, Link Count, Anchor Text Ratios Are Not Indicative Of Quality
Google’s John Mueller responded on Twitter saying that word counts, anchor texts to word rations, number of backlinks, number of external links, the percentage of anchor text and so on is not “indicative of quality.” Read more

Google: Mobile-First Indexing Unrelated To Search Ranking Algorithm Changes
Google’s John Mueller said on Twitter that all the search ranking algorithm changes we have been following, some confirmed, are “not related to mobile indexing.” Read more

Google: Crawl Rate Increases Can Be Related To Mobile-First Indexing Switch
Google has said this before, but it is worth repeating, that an increase in crawl rates may be a sign that you are switching over to mobile-first indexing. Read more

Google Warns They Will Test Google Assistant’s Duplex Next Month
Google announced yesterday that they will start publicly testing the Google Assistant Duplex feature that allows Google AI to call a venue and make an appointment or reservation for you automatically. Read more

Google Does Not Use Real Life User Signals For Search Ranking
Let’s put the controversy around Google using user signals and user behavior within a site on the side. Read more

Google: We Treat Quotes The Same As Standard Text
Google’s John Mueller said on Twitter that they treat the content within quotes and blockquotes the same as other standard content on the page. Read more

Google Local Pack With Trending Icons On Business Listings
Have you ever seen a “trending this week” icon and messaging in the local pack in the Google search results? Read more