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Daily Search Forum Recap: February 20, 2024

Published

10 months ago

February 20, 2024

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Google adds support for product variant structured data. Google local pack is testing showing prices. Google Merchant Center now requires you to tag images as AI generated. Google Merchant Center updated its estimate delivery time calculations. Sites using the Google Indexing API incorrectly are often low quality and spammy says Google. Google Search can wait on hold for you for customer service to answer.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

New Google Search Support For Product Variant Structured Data

Google announced this morning support for Product variant structured data. This new structured data supports three new properties; hasVariant, variesBy and productGroupID in order to handle most of the way e-commerce sites list product variants.

Google Merchant Center Requires Meta Labels On AI Generated Images

Google has posted a new policy for Google Merchant Center around using AI-generated images. In short, you need to make sure those images have meta data that labels the image as generated by using AI.

Google Local Pack Tests Restaurant Price Ranges

Google has always shown how expensive restaurants are by placing either one, two, or three dollar signs by the restaurant’s name in the local pack listings. Now Google is testing showing actual price ranges.

Google Merchant Center Updates Estimated Delivery Times Calculation

Google will change how it estimates its delivery times through Google Merchant Center. Starting on April 9, Google will look at minimum [min_handling_time]and maximum [max_handling_time] attributes for processing time in your product data for Shopping ads and free listings.

Google: Sites Wrongfully Using The Google Indexing API Often Are Spammy & Low Quality

John Mueller from Google once again addressed the topic of sites using the Google Indexing API when Google does not officially support those use cases. He said it is not supported first, and he added that these sites are often spammy and low quality – but he stated, “it’s great to see passionate people try to do more with it.”

Google Search Can Wait On Customer Service Hold For You

Google Search is experimenting with a Pixel phone feature that will let you call a customer service line at a company and wait on hold until a real person answers the phone. This is currently a Search labs feature that will let you click a button in search to “request a call” from a “live representative.”

Google Search Central Team At Google Switzerland (Webmasterplatz)

Last week I shared a photo of Danny Sullivan in the Google Switzerland with some of the folks the Search Central team. Well, last week, Daniel Waisberg who was based in Israel with the Search Console team officially moved to Switzerland and is now based at the Webmasterplatz.