Pure SEO’s This Week In Search series takes a look at the top SEO and SEM news stories from the week.
This week Twitter goes beyond its limits, Bing introduces new features, Google proves its popularity and Facebook makes it possible to mute people, pages and groups.
Twitter Tries Out A New Limit of 280 Characters
Soon you may be able to express yourself more on Twitter, as they expand their 140 character limit to 280. While it’s currently only being tested on a small group of tweeters, Twitter will make it the new norm if the test proves to be successful.
It turns out that the original character limit was only put in place because of the 160 character SMS limit that existed back in the days. Now that this restriction is gone, Twitter is hoping to appeal to new users who may tweet more if they are able to complete their thoughts.
Bing Ads Introduces New Editor Features For Ad Extensions
Earlier this week, Bing Ads announced two new features in Editor, for better ad extension management. Now, editors can control when their ad extensions are shown in Editor, and they can arrange them by date, day of the week, or time of day. This gives them the flexibility to run ad extensions only during appropriate times, to enhance relevance and efficiency.
Bing has also improved the management capabilities of their Shared Library to include location and call extensions. This allows advertisers to create a library for each ad extension and connect them to multiple campaigns with ease, saving time and making it easier to mass edit.
Google is Now Apple’s Search Provider on iOS and Mac
Bing has been replaced by Google on Apple’s Siri, and it has almost completely been replaced on iOS and Spotlight search on macOS. Apple has made this switch in order to create a consistent web search experience. However, Bing will continue to provide Siri’s image search results.
Facebook Introduces New Mute Feature for Friends and Pages
A much needed ‘Snooze’ button is being tested by Facebook users in the US, and if proven successful, it may become available globally. The button is found on the drop-down menu, next to the name of a person, page or group.
Facebook users who want to temporarily disconnect from a person, page or group can now do so anonymously, without unfollowing. There is an option to mute for 24 hours, 7 days, or 30 days. This feature will make it easier to reconnect with a person, page or group in the future.
Bing Includes ‘Fact Check’ Label to Fight Fake News
Both news and regular web pages can be labelled with Bing’s ‘fact check’ sticker if they can provide evidence that their information has been fact-checked. This new feature aims to fight fake news and help search engine users to access accurate information.
Websites also need to reviewed by ClaimReview. Bing advises meeting the following criteria, and web pages that use the ClaimReview markup without meeting the criteria may be penalized.
- Analysis must cite sources and be transparent about methods used.
- Claims and claim checks must be easy for readers to see within the body content. It must be made clear to readers what was checked and the conclusions reached.
- The page hosting the ClaimReview markup must have a brief summary of the fact check and evaluation.