Google For Developers | Swipe Insight

Google updates Merchant Center documentation on energy efficiency and certification

10 hours ago

Google updated its Merchant Center documentation by removing the EnergyConsumptionDetails properties and providing an alternative for the certificationIdentification property. The hasEnergyConsumptionDetails remains backwards compatible for existing implementations. The update aims to enhance energy efficiency documentation, as the EnergyConsumptionDetails type is replaced by the more robust Certification type, announced in October 2024.

Google to Drop Support for Special Announcement Structured Data by July 2025

1 days ago

SEO

Google will stop supporting the Special Announcements structured data type by July 31, 2025. This data type was introduced in April 2020 for COVID-related announcements and never evolved beyond that purpose. It allowed local businesses to communicate changes like store hours but remained a beta feature throughout its existence. Users can keep this data on their sites without negative effects, but it will not impact Google Search.

Google Expands Availability for Structured Data Carousels in EEA Countries

11 days ago

SEO

Google updated the structured data carousels (beta) documentation to include current interest forms and supported query types, reflecting the feature's current state. The feature is in beta and may change. Businesses in the EEA can fill out interest forms for ground transportation, hotels, vacation rentals, local businesses, flights, and shopping queries. This feature is available only in EEA countries on desktop and mobile devices.

Google Discontinues AI While Browsing Feature

28 days ago

SEO

Google has discontinued its AI while browsing feature, previously known as SGE while browsing, without providing specific reasons. The feature aimed to help users engage with long-form content by offering an AI-generated list of key points and links to relevant sections of articles. It also included an Explore on page function to show questions answered in the article. This removal marks a shift in Google's strategy regarding AI integration in its search ecosystem.

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Google Expands Education Q&A Carousel to Include Spanish and Vietnamese Languages

1 months ago

SEO

Google has updated its education Q&A documentation to support Spanish and Vietnamese, expanding this feature to more users. The education Q&A carousel is designed for education-related topics and is accessible on desktop and mobile when searching for academic content. Users can trigger it with math or science queries. This expansion reflects Google's efforts to enhance accessibility for non-English speaking students and educators.

Google Adds Required returnPolicyCountry Field to Return Policy Examples

1 months ago

Google Merchant Center SEO

Google has updated its return policy code examples in the Merchant Center documentation by adding the required `returnPolicyCountry` field for the `MerchantReturnPolicy` schema. Merchants must include this field to comply with Google's requirements. The change is noted on Google's documentation update page, emphasizing the necessity of this field for proper indexing of product information.

Google Shuts Down Controversial Page Annotations Feature

1 months ago

SEO

Google has shut down its page annotations feature due to controversy. This feature allowed Google to add links to content not created by website owners, directing users back to Google Search. It was used in the iOS Google app, extracting and highlighting entities from webpages to create links to Google search results. Website owners criticized it for hijacking their content and redirecting traffic to Google, leading to its removal.

Google Updates Robots Meta Tag Documentation to Include AI Mode Feature

1 months ago

SEO

Google has updated its robots meta tag documentation to include controls for the new AI Mode feature in Search Labs, allowing website owners to manage content visibility in Google's AI capabilities. Key updates include an expanded nosnippet directive and clarified max-snippet rules. AI Mode, available for Google One AI Premium subscribers, enhances search by handling complex questions and supporting multimodal interactions.

Google updates Merchant listings with member pricing beta and priceType clarifications

2 months ago

SEO

Google updated its Merchant listing structured data guidelines to include a beta for member pricing, validForMemberTier, and clarified the priceType property for active, sale, and strikethrough prices. It provided examples and instructions for encoding these prices in JSON-LD. Member prices apply to loyalty program members and have distinct encoding. Merchants should review these updates to effectively use the new pricing features.