This Week in Search: Google Introduces Video Ads on Mobile, And More!

Pure SEO’s This Week In Search series takes a look at the top SEO and SEM news stories from the week.

This week Google introduced the new video format on AdWords, Google Assistant is completely taking over Google’s voice search, Search Console releases a new report filter called ‘Search Appearance’, and Google finally puts the breaks on sound-enabled videos that auto-play.

Google AdWords Introduces New Video Format

Google has finally introduced video ads to Google SERPs – but only on mobile. The new format is called outstream video ads and is built exclusively to be displayed in mobile browsers and apps.

Outstream ads drive incremental, cost-efficient and viewable reach beyond YouTube. Ads show on Google video partners, which are high-quality publisher websites and mobile apps where you can show video ads, including TrueView in-stream and Bumper ads.

Advertisers can pay for outstream ads per viewable CPM (viewable cost-per-thousand impressions), which means these ads will only be paid for when the ad has been on a viewer’s screen and is measured as ‘viewable’. This means that there will be no need to pay for a video ad that hasn’t been viewed by a user.

Google Assistant Takes Over

This one doesn’t take us by surprise – Google Assistant will soon be taking over the voice search button on Android. From the microphone button on the Google app, to the microphone button on the home screen widget, Google Assistant will be helping searchers with their voice needs where it’s activated.

Google has been pushing the Assistant as of late, and this full transition will reduce any divergence and inconsistencies when it comes to voice search.

New ‘Search Appearance’ Filter  for Performance Reports on Search Console

The new Search Console now features a new performance report filter called ‘Search Appearance’.

Search Appearance refers to the various ways a search result can be displayed according to how the content is marked up, including:

• rich results,
• AMP non-rich results,
• AMP article,
• job listing, and
• job details.

This new filter allows site owners to isolate site performance of specific content types, allowing you to display and compare results according to the options listed above.

New Google Chrome Disabling Most Videos With Sound From Auto-Playing

Google Chrome version 66 will now disable most videos with sound from playing automatically. These types of videos are believed to be disruptive to user experience when browsing with Chrome.

There are exceptions to the rule determined by the following factors:

• user has played the video before
• the screen was clicked on at some point during the browser session
• the video appears on a side that the user has added to their home screen on mobile

To clarify: Google will not entirely block videos in Chrome that are designed to autoplay; users will just have to trigger them to play manually. Videos designed to auto-play without sound will continue to play without having to be triggered or clicked on.

New Zealand Search Trends