Here are the search-related news and developments we think mattered most for enterprise SEO this past week, with our point-of-view on why they matter and what action to take (if any). Look for the POV tag after a news item.
Apparently in response to a lot of public outcry from SEOs, Google has quietly restored Bounce Rate as a metric in its new GA4 version of Google Analytics.
They are keeping the new Engagement Rate metric which was supposed to replace Bounce Rate. Now both metrics will be shown
Engagement rate measures users who stay on a page for more than 10 seconds; Bounce Rate is its inverse.
POV: If you are an seoClarity client integrating GA4 into our Site Analytics, this will make it easier to retain a continuity with your historic bounce rate metrics.
Google announced that they are "simplifying video presentation on Google search results" so that users will better know what to expect when they see and click on a video result. The new qualification to have a video show in universal search is that it must be the "main content on the page."
Google did not provide any definition of what "main content on the page" means, but we presume it means an embedded video with only minimal explanatory text, as opposed to a video embedded in the midst of longer form content.
POV: If traffic driven from video results has been important to you, you might want to consider giving your videos their own dedicated pages optimized for their main topic.
Google has added new structured data documentation to include schema that can qualify a site to display product return information in Google's Merchant Listing Experience feature.
The MLE is already used to generate shopping knowledge panels and popular product results.
POV: Knowing that you have a good return policy can be influential when consumers are choosing who to buy from, so including this schema might be worth considering.
A number of SEOs noticed a recent drop in the occurrence of FAQ SERP feature results on Google Mobile. The example below is typical. The blue line is desktop FAQ results for this domain, while the orange line is mobile.
POV: Check your listings where you formerly were showing FAQ results to see if the change has affected you. If you are an seoClarity client, go to Rank Intelligence > SERP Features and filter for FAQ and Google Mobile.
Google added a new tab in Google Search Console called "Search Console Insights" that quickly shows some useful insights about a site's content performance, including:
Watch next Friday for another edition of Search This Week and stay up to date on the search news that matters for enterprise SEO!