Google has made two changes in Google Search Console over the past 24 hours. Most significantly, the index coverage report now uses mobile-first indexing data when available. Meanwhile, Google has issued notices about sunsetting old Google Search Console reports when similar reports exist in the new Google Search Console. [Source: Search Engine Land]
Facebook is testing a new element in its slowly evolving eCommerce tools with a dedicated Facebook Live mode that enables Pages to showcase products in their stream, which viewers can then easily purchase via screenshots. [Source: Social Media Today]
This week, YouTube has announced the launch of ‘YouTube Stories’, its take on the next-gen social sharing format. You’ll soon see a new Stories bar at the top of the app, showcasing the latest Stories from creators you follow. [Source: Social Media Today]
Google has brought down the incentives substantially for retailers who benefited from deploying untrue and fake websites on price comparison for eCommerce products. This means that Google will incentivise advertisers to create price comparison sites that would be displayed on the search engine’s Shopping Box. [Source: Logicserve Digital]
Google appears to be rolling out a new design for the previews within image search results. When you click on an image, instead of loading the preview in a black background frame as it did previously, Google is now showing the image preview on the right-hand side. [Source: Search Engine Land]
Facebook has been developing its image recognition capacity for some time, and is already utilizing its advanced object identification tools to help categorize and sort photos on its main app. Now, those same tools are being extended to Instagram, with the visual-focused app this week announcing the addition of automatic alternative text to provide descriptions of objects in photos via screen readers, and custom alternative text, so users can add descriptions of their photos when they upload. [Source: Social Media Today]
Calls from Google Ads location extensions can now be counted as conversions as long as account-level call reporting is enabled. Google announced that this change is available to advertisers as of this week. [Source: Search Engine Journal]
Google has formed a new global strategic partnership with The Walt Disney Company, which will allow Google to serve ads across Disney properties. Disney will bring its entire global video and display business onto the Google Ad Manager. [Source: Search Engine Journal]
Adding to a myriad of new features, WhatsApp is now reportedly working on two new features — consecutive voice messages, and a group call shortcut. The features are currently only available for beta testers of the app for now. [Source: Firstpost]
Google’s John Mueller has revealed that the search engine may support additional structured data types depending on how many websites are using it. When Google thinks about what type of structured data to support next, it looks to see how many sites are actually using it. [Source: Search Engine Journal]
