The Featured Snippet Banner Image

The Featured Snippet: May 2022

The Featured Snippet is the official SEO newsletter of Performics and is dedicated to keeping you up to date with the latest SEO industry news, trends, and events—all in an easy-to-read, summed-up format. See below for the latest version of The Featured Snippet:

In the May 2022 issue of The Featured Snippet: 

  • May 2022 Core Update (May 25, 2022)
  • Google I/O Conference Announcements:
    • Helpful Context on Websites 
    • Streamline Process of Request Removals
    • Scene Exploration
    • Multisearch with Near Me 
    • Skin Tone Google Image Search 
  • Google Search Console Updates
    • Video Page Indexing Report 
    • Translated Results Search Appearance Filter
  • Google to Deprecate Some Sitemap Extension Tags
  • Google to Potentially Update Core Web Vitals Metric 
  • Microsoft Bing Deprecates Anonymous Sitemap Submission Tool

May 2022 Core Update (May 25, 2022)

Google rolled out a new core update on May 25, the first core update since the November 2021 Core Update. Core updates occur several times a year and involve significant, broad changes to Google’s search algorithm and systems. As of the end of May 2022, the May 2022 Core Update is still rolling out. The official announcement from Google is below:

Source:

Google I/O Conference Updates

Helpful Context on Websites

Google’s “About this Result” tool launched last year and has since been used more than 1,600,000,000 times, and it helps users view context about a website before clicking through. Now, Google is updating the “About This Result” tool so users can view a tab with information about the site, including a brief description of the site’s content and what other users mentioned about the site. The tool is currently available in English on individual search results, and the new functionality will be available soon. The announcement from Google is below: 

Source:

Streamline Process of Request Removals

Google announced a new tool to request removal of Google search results that contain identifying information, including location, phone number, and email address. The new tool releases alongside updated removal policies designed to reduce the risk of identity theft and give users the ability to remove contact information. The announcement from Google is below: 

Source:

Scene Exploration

Google announced the rollout of a new tool which will allow searchers to use multisearch to pan the camera and get immediate information about multiple objects in a wider scene. The new feature is known as “scene exploration”. The announcement from Google is below: 

Source:

Multisearch with Near Me

Google is adding functionality to multisearch that allows users to find local information more easily. Now, users can use an image or screenshot and add the tag “near me” to view local retailers and restaurants that sell a variety of goods and services.The announcement from Google is below: 

Source:

Skin Tone Google Image Search

Google announced on May 11 that it would be adding a new signal for ranking images, using MST (Monk Skin Tone Scale). The MST will be added to image searches and other related image products. Google will also be adding “inclusive schema” to label content with skin tone, hair color, and hair texture. The announcement from Google is below: 

Sources:

Google Search Console Updates

Video Page Indexing Report

On May 12, Google announced that a new video page indexing report will be available on Google Search Console. The report will display a summary of video pages Google crawls and indexes. The new report, when available, can be found under the Index tab and then under video pages. 

Sources:

Translated Results Search Appearance Filter

On May 13, Google Search Console updated its performance reports to include “translated results” to the search appearance filter. The filter allows users to get more information about how searchers who are served translated results interact with content.

Source:

Google to Deprecate Some Sitemap Extension Tags

Google announced that, starting August 6, 2022, it will no longer support many of its image and video sitemap extensions. According to Gary Illyes from Google, the purpose is to “reduce complexity of your codebases.” The following sitemaps will be deprecated:

Image sitemaps:

  • caption
  • geo-location
  • license
  • Title

Video sitemaps:

  • player_loc[@autoplay]
  • player_loc[@allow_embed]
  • gallery_loc, price[@all]
  • tvshow[@all]
  • Category

The announcement from Google is below: 

Source:

Google to Potentially Update Core Web Vitals Metric

Google recently introduced a new metric known as INP, or Interaction to Next Paint, that will measure the responsiveness to user interactions. Google has not implemented the new metric, but it could replace FID (First Input Delay) as a Core Web Vital. INP is intended to address some of the shortcomings of FID and, according to Google, will be “a full-page lifecycle metric”.

Sources:

Microsoft Bing Deprecates Anonymous Sitemap Submission Tool

On May 13, Microsoft announced that it is deprecating the Anonymous SItemap Submission Tool. According to Microsoft, “recent evaluations have shown that it was often subject to misuse by spammers”, which is cited as the primary reason for deprecating the tool. Users can still submit XML Sitemaps using robots.txt, either through Bing Webmaster Tools or through the domain name.

Sources: