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

Google’s exact match close variants expand again: Now include same meaning variations
Exclusive: The latest machine learning-powered update to close variants means exact match will match to the intent of the query. Read more

Google now shows dynamic search ad performance aggregated by landing page
The landing page report is one of three reports available for dynamic ad targets in the Google Ads interface. Read more

3 ways retailers can amplify revenue on Google
Some combinations are more than complementary; they’re transformative. In those instances, the two components don’t simply augment one another, they actually evolve into something new and superior to what they were before. Read more

Double down on speed optimization with these 9 advanced tips
Does your site have a need, a need for speed? Here’s a breakdown of Google’s PageSpeed Insight Rules and best practice advice on optimizing web pages for greater speed performance. Read more

After Google manual actions expire, algorithms may handle some of those site penalties
Google has confirmed again that manual actions, human-driven search penalties, can expire over time. Read more

Google responsive display ads roll out as new default display format
Advertisers upload their assets and leave the ad creation to Google’s algorithms. Read more

Google’s latest change has search marketers rethinking keyword match types
Here’s what some marketers are saying about the move to include same meaning queries in exact match close variants. Read more

Google looking for ways to handle sites blocking searchers over GDPR
Google admits it is a bad user experience for a European user to see content in web search, click on it and get a blocked page because of GDPR. Read more

From Marketing Land

Facebook renames Canvas ads ‘Instant Experience’ ads, gives them pixel capabilities
The full-screen mobile ad can now be used in retargeting campaigns. Read more

6 ways the August core algorithm update impacted local business
Was your site affected by the recent core algorithm update? Here’s a look at the changes made to local and small business sites after the update. Read more

Pinterest says it has 250 million active monthly users
The social media platform touts more than 750 billion pins, up 75 percent over last year. Read more

LinkedIn brings Dynamic Ads into Campaign Manager platform
Advertisers will be able to create and manage Dynamic Ad campaigns and track how they are performing using LinkedIn’s ad management tool. Read more

Facebook advertisers can now manage where Instant Article, in-stream video ads appear
Advertisers are getting a more complete view of where their ads may be placed before a campaign, as well as more thorough publisher delivery reports. Read more

Adobe: 47% of smart speaker owners using device in shopping process
Another survey finds significant numbers of consumers using smart speakers for product research and purchases. Read more

Ready your budgets, advertisers, Facebook Stories ads are coming
Facebook Marketing Partners are currently being offered the opportunity to let clients beta test the new ad units. Read more

How keyword match types work after the new close match variants change
Here’s a free Google Ads script that delivers a detailed report on the impact of Google’s inclusion of “same meaning” queries in exact match close variants. Read more

From Search Engine Roundtable

Google: White Space Pushing Content Down Is Not An SEO Issue
Google’s John Mueller said on a webmaster hangout this morning that white space pushing content down for design and layout purposes is not an issue for SEO or ranking in Google. Read more

Google: Manual Actions Still Expire & Sometimes Algorithms Take Over
Google’s John Mueller reminded us on Twitter that manual actions still do expire, we knew this from 2011. Read more

Google Ads Expands Exact Match To Include Same Meaning Of Words
Google Ads has quietly expanded how exact match works by also including keywords in exact match to include close variations that share the same meaning as your keyword. Read more

Google Shows Multiple Featured Snippets In Grid
Google can show a featured snippet from multiple sources, we covered this before, but here is a slightly new look at how Google may show it. Read more

Google Chrome 69 & SEO Annoyances
As you know, Google announced version 69 of Chrome last week. The Omnibox now shows answers as you type, HTTPS sites are no longer green and Google also hides a lot of the URL in the URL bar. Read more

Google Ads AdWords Editor Version 12.5 Now Out
Google has released version 12.5 of the Google AdWords editor on August 30, 2018. The interesting thing, outside of the new features, is that Google did not rename it to. Read more

Google: We Cannot Index Pages That Require Cookies
Google’s John Mueller said on Twitter that Google almost certainly cannot index a page that requires cookies. Read more

Google: Company Name In Title Tag Is Fine
Many web sites put a keyword rich one line short description of the content on the page in their title tag. Read more

Google: Does It Matter Where Your XML Sitemap File Is Located?
I saw an interesting question about the location, directory, the XML sitemap is placed in. Read more

Google Algorithm Update On September 11th
I was offline the past two days but when I came back, I saw a nice amount of chatter of a possible Google update starting around September 11th. Read more

Google Tests Related Images Hover Interface
Here is another test Google is trying in their search results. Read more

Google Tests New Video Search Results Box
Here is a screen shot of a new user interface for videos showing up in the mobile search results. Read more

Google: We Show Original Date Or Last Modified Date In Search Results Snippet
Google’s John Mueller said in a webmaster hangout video that Google can show either the original published date or the last modified date of URL in their search results snippets. Read more

Google My Business Adds Localized Business Names
I am told this isn’t exactly new, but I don’t think I’ve covered this before. Google My Business now lets you edit the localized version of the business name. Read more