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 explains how dates within search results snippets work
Don’t try to trick Google with fake dates in your content, it can back fire. Read more

Google showing image thumbnails in mobile search results snippets more often
Make sure you richen up your pages so they benefit from showing images in the Google search results snippets. Read more

What’s going on with In-depth Articles on Google?
hat is going on with Google’s In-depth Articles? Read more

Google released a broad core search algorithm on March 12
A rare Google confirmation came related to a Google search algorithm update this week. Google restated previous advice that there is no fix if your site was negatively impacted. Read more

Let’s clear things up: Google’s ‘Florida 2’ algorithm update is not related to original Florida update
Here is why some folks are calling this the Florida 2 update but don’t let the name confuse you. Read more

No more confusion: Google gives core update a name, and a structure
Google’s Danny Sullivan says this week’s algorithm change will be called the “March 2019 Core Update,” hopes structure will cut back on confusion. Read more

A WordPress safety plan for SEOs and developers
How to protect your WordPress site from attack and keep it safe and secure. Read more

How retailers can survive Amazon’s stronghold in Google search
Keep Amazon’s impression share in perspective because it shouldn’t directly drive strategy, but rather provide context around the advertiser competition in your market. Read more

Google launches marketer-friendly Google Ads API query builder
The interface makes it easy to build queries for reporting. Read more

Google Ads rolling out Budget Planner forecasting tool
Get some insights into how changes in spend could impact campaign performance. Read more

Bing Ads brings 3D ads to Search with Samsung
Users can interact with the desktop ad format to inspect product features and details. Read more

Are you wasting money on Google Ads?
Eliminate wasted spend and maximize ROAS on Google Ads in 5 simple steps. Read more

Goodbye green? Google testing black “Ad” label in Search
Google appears to be looking to switch up the way it labels text ads again. Read more

Google launching Policy manager in Google Ads
Coming in April, Policy manager will be the central spot to manage policy violations. Read more

Where Google got more inventory to show Responsive Search Ads ads may surprise you
RSAs use machine learning to match the best ad variation with each search using data from ad performance segmented by query. To get this data, you need to delve into the scripts and Ads API reports. Read more

From Marketing Land

3 ways consumer shopping is changing in 2019s
Consumers shopping on Amazon, and other online retailers, want more information on product pages, including multiple photos and videos. Read more

Google unveils pre-registration app ads, Engagement App campaigns, more
The company announced five new features aimed at customer acquisition, retention and app monetization efforts. Read more

Google took down 2.3 billion bad ads, 1 million ad accounts in 2018
The number of removed ads was down, but banned advertiser accounts nearly doubled from 2017. Read more

WordPress plugin to win back cart abandoners leaves sites open to attack
Plugin maker has issued a patch. Site owners cautioned to update their sites and carefully review their databases for possible script injections. Read more

Brands lose consumer trust over ad trickery
When a consumer receives the right offer from the right brand at the right moment, the effect can be magical. It’s when marketers pull a clickbait and switch that trouble for a brand begins. Read more

From Search Engine Roundtable

Google In-Depth Articles Go Missing
Google has these in-depth articles for their snippets, they launched it in 2013 but now they are gone. Read more

Google Says All Separate Mobile URL Sites Should Move To Responsive
Google’s John Mueller said on Reddit this morning that he believes that all sites running a separate mobile URL for their mobile site solution should work on moving those implementations to a responsive site design instead. Read more

Google Property Sets Officially Shutting March 28th
We knew it was coming by the end of this month but now we have a specific date. March 28, 2019 Google will close Property sets, which has now been officially replaced by Google’s Domain properties. Read more

Google Automatically Creating Domain Properties In Search Console
As you know, Google launched domain properties since the old property sets are going away soon. Read more

Google: How We Select Dates For Search Results Snippets
Since Google began showing dates in the search results snippets many have noticed Google pull the wrong date from time to time. Read more

Google My Business Dashboard Unlock Your Plan & Complete Your Tasks To Reach Your Goals
A few weeks ago I spotted a thread at the Local Search Forums where someone shared a new user interface for the Google My Business Dashboard or a newsih business being verified in GMB. Read more

Google Increases Number Of Image Thumbnails In Mobile Search Results
It appears that Google has increased the number of times they are showing image thumbnails in the mobile search results snippets. Read more

Google Tests Portrait Mode Tall Top Stories Layout
Google seems to be testing a portrait mode, i.e. taller mode, for the top stories in the mobile search results. Read more

Confirmed: Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update On March 12 & 13th
I am seeing plenty of signs from the SEO community, the tracking tools and so on that there was and is a Google algorithm update going on right now. Read more

Google: No Exceptions Broken & Unclean Headers With Hreflang
Google’s John Mueller said on Twitter that if you cannot have a clean header in your source code where Google can fully interpret the hreflang, then you are out of luck. Read more

Google Search Quality Raters Don’t Directly Impact Rankings
I must have covered this topic a few times but here we go again, Google has said numerous times that the search quality raters they hire as consultants do not directly influence their search rankings. Read more

Bing Quality Raters Don’t Directly Impact Rankings
Yesterday we wrote that Google search quality raters don’t directly impact the search rankings and today we have confirmation from Frédéric Dubut of Bing that Bing search quality raters do not directly impact the Bing search rankings. Read more

Google JavaScript SEO Video On Making Content More Discoverable
Here is another video from Google’s Martin Splitt from their JavaScript SEO series. Read more

Speculation Around The Google March 2019 Core Update
The March 2019 Google Core update that touched down on March 12th – we covered it before it was confirmed – is still very raw and fresh. Read more