Google Begin Testing FLoC (Federated Learning of Cohorts) in Chrome

Google announced it has begun testing FLoC, Federated Learning of Cohorts, in Chrome. Specifically, the FLoC origin trial in Chrome 89 will work on websites that don’t opt-out of it. Google said that the initial testing of FLoC is taking place with a small percentage of users in Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, and the U.S. Google also said that it will expand to other regions as the trial expands globally.

What is FLoC?

FLoC is a method for browsers to enable interest-based advertising. It works by gathering data about a user’s browsing habits and then clustering groups of users with similar interests into cohorts. The algorithm used to develop those cohorts may look at the URLs of sites that the user visited and the content of those pages, among other factors, according to the FLoC proposal on GitHub. Information about the cohort is then shared for advertising purposes.

According to Google statement “a new piece of web technology – Federated Learning of Cohorts – will start to roll out as a developer origin trial in Chrome. Keeping in mind the importance of “and,” FLoC is a new approach to interest-based advertising that both improves privacy and gives publishers a tool they need for viable advertising business models. Federated Learning of Cohorts is still in development and we expect it to evolve based on input from the web community and learnings from this initial trial.”

Google has announced that it expects to start testing Federated Learning of Cohorts-based cohorts with advertisers beginning in Q2 of this year. There are more details on how this works over here.

Also Read: 
Google Ads New Summary Views User Interface

Associate Your Site With Google To Unlock More Functionality

Today, Google announced that Search Console has an enhanced Association Page which you see within the settings menu. This New Association Page is created to build a connection between a Search Console property, and some other entity or property in another Google service: for example, between a Search Console property and a Google Analytics account, a YouTube channel, or a Chrome Web Store account.

If you want to associate your Search Console property with another Google service then you need to connect with Google’s New Association Page to unlock more functionality for your site.

Google Association Page Supports Following Property Types:

• Google Analytics Property: You can view your Search Console data, such as organic search queries, in your Google Analytics property. Starting today, you can also link Search Console domain properties to Google Analytics and get better coverage of your organic search results. We recommend using this option as it can help you get a more complete picture in the Search Console reports in Google Analytics.
  Google Ads Account: View the paid and organic report in Google Ads.
• YouTube Channel: Link your videos to your associated website.
• Play Console App: Use App Indexing.
• Actions Console Project: Verify your brand and enable cross-platform functionality.
• Chrome Web Store Account: Publish apps and extensions to the Chrome Web Store on behalf of your site.

For questions or comments on the new Associations page, you can visit Search Central help forums and share your experiences.

Also Read:

Responsive Search Ads Now The Default in Google Ads

As we all know that the search giant Google always makes changes in the algorithm and search ranking fluctuate. Today, early in the morning I saw some early signs of another Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update . The SEO community is chattering about ranking update and fluctuations and also some tracking tools are showing big signals on the changes to the Google Search rankings.

Last night I got noticed at WebmasterWorld and read some posts talking that Google Bot has been extremely active on yesterday and today. Some said that seeing a big spike in Google bot activities. Some SEOs are saying that this unconfirmed algorithm update is related to page coverage, and some site owners are claiming a massive drop in conversions and traffic dropping yesterday.

Here are some screen shots from the search engine monitoring tools that tracks these fluctations. Keep in mind that most are not confirmed becuase Google is still quite, so I may update this blog post with latest data later on throughout the day.

SEMRush is showing very high fluctuations:

Cognitive SEO:

SERPMetrics is swinging upwards:

RankRanger has been unsettled for a while:

SERPwoo is showing changes:

I am not 100 percent sure about this Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update. But if you noticed any changes to your ranking or organic traffic drop down so, please share them with me here in this post. Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Also Read:

Google Core Update: What SEOs Need To Know

Find Out How To Get Faster Website with the New Speed Report in Search Console

At Google I/O 2019, you have seen a sneak preview of the ‘Speed Report Beta’ in the Search Console. After received valuable feedback from the beta testers Google has decided to roll out this report. Today, Google announced that they are publicly rolling Speed Report in the Search Console to make the web faster. The Speed report shows how fast your pages perform according to real world usage data.

The report is based on FCP and FID metrics that shows performance grouped by speed status, metric type, and similar URL type. The report automatically assigns groups of similar URLs into “Fast”, “Moderate”, and “Slow” buckets. The data is based on the Chrome User Experience Report, which provides user experience metrics for how real-world Chrome users experience popular destinations on the web.

What is Speed Report?

According to Google, the report will show you those URLs that are slow due to any issue. Webmasters or site owners can dig down to view the examples of slow URLs and identify the reason. For better understanding that what type of optimization need to done for that specific URL, the report is directly link with the Page Speed Insight Tool, which will provide all the information.

The new speed report is directly linked with the Page Speed Insight Tool, which will help  you to find that what type of optimization need to be done for a specific URL. You can use this report to monitor and track fixes that you made to your website. After resolve the issues, use the report to track users experienced when browsing the new version of your site.

If you want to know how your site is performing, you can also view those URLs which are doing better by checking the moderate and fast buckets. Google said that this new speed report is in experimental mode, but they are planning to continue to iterate and improve the metrics and recommendations for site owners. Google want you to give your feedback and submit directly through the forum to ensure that it is useful and helpful.

I tried to check my website SEOBizWorld.com in the search console, I did not find any data, but like I mention that it’s in the experimental mode, so it is possible that after few days I will get the data. In the page speed insight tool I found my site’s mobile speed is 72% and Desktop speed is 74%. In my next post I will share my experience that how to optimized website speed with the help of this report.

Also Read: 

Google Launched Site Kit Plugin for WordPress

Set Up New Google Services To Get More Insights With Site Kit Plugin

Good news for WordPress Site Owners and Developers. Google has launched the Site Kit version 1.0 for every one that can be install from WordPress plugin directory. Mariya Moeva, Product Manager at Google Inc, wrote in the blog post that “Google makes it easy for WordPress site owners to understand how their site is doing and what to do next.” 

The Site Kit is Google’s official WordPress plugin, is the one-stop solution to deploy, manage, and get insights from critical Google tools to make the site successful on the web. Site Kit provides authoritative, up-to-date insights from multiple Google service directly on the WordPress dashboard for easy access, all for free.

Site Kit Plugin installation don’t need code editing – means that you can easily setup and manage Google Analytics without any developer experience. The plugin compile website data from Google Search Console, Google Analytics, PageSpeed Insights, and AdSense.

Google Bringing The Best Tool For WordPress:

Google is making simple and easier for WordPress Site Owner. Site Kit includes powerful features that make using these Google products seamless and flexible:

• Easy-to-understand stats directly on your WordPress dashboard
• Official stats from multiple Google tools, all in one dashboard
• Quick setup for multiple Google tools without having to edit the source code of your site
• Metrics for your entire site and for individual posts
• Easy-to-manage, granular permissions across WordPress and different Google products

Supported Google Services:

Site Kit shows key metrics and insights from different Google products:

Search Console: Understand how Google Search discovers and displays your pages in Google Search. Track how many people saw your site in Search results, and what query they used to search for your site.

Google Analytics: Explore how users navigate your site and track goals you’ve set up for your users to complete.

Google AdSense: Keep track of how much your site is earning you.

PageSpeed Insights: See how your pages perform compared to other real-world sites. Improve performance with actionable tips from PageSpeed Insights.

Tag Manager: Use Site Kit to easily set up Tag Manager- no code editing required. Then, manage your tags in Tag Manager.

Optimize: Use Site Kit to easily set up Optimize- no code editing required. Then, set up A/B tests in Optimize.

How To Install Site Kit 1.o WordPress Plugin:

To install Site Kit you need to follow the steps.

1. Log in to your WordPress website.
2. In the left navigation menu, click Plugins.
3. Click Add new.
4. Enter “Site Kit” in the search bar. You should see the Site Kit plugin in a search results page.
5. Click Install.
6. Click Activate.

After you install Site Kit, you can activate other Google tools:

• Go to the main Site Kit dashboard, which already displays key metrics from Search Console.
• Under Site Kit > Settings, connect additional Google tools.

Site Kit Key Features:

Main Dashboard:

The main dashboard enable you to see the most important information about how your site is doing at a glance: how people are finding your site (traffic sources), your most popular pages, and what people search for to find your site.

Individual Page Stats:

You check how a specific page is performing, search for the title or URL from the main dashboard, and you’ll be able to narrow down to stats for just that one page.

Admin Bar Stats:

If you’re browsing your site while logged in, you can see key stats about the page you’re currently viewing directly from the admin bar.

Personally, I have not installed this Plugin but after see and review all the features, I am thinking to go for it. If you have installed so please share your experience with me and comments. You can get started with Site Kit, simply install it from your WordPress dashboard.

Also Read: 

Google Rolling Out New BERT Model To Search Rankings

What are you ordering tonight? Let’s order food with Google

Google is adding a new feature that allow users to order food directly from Search Results, Map and Assistant to a local restaurants. On May 23, 2019, Anantica Singh, Senior Product Manager, Food Ordering, wrote in a blog post, that “Google is making easier for millions of people who regularly order food for home delivery.”

Order Food with Google Search, Map

With the help of Google Search Results, Map, and the Assistant, you can order food from DoorDash, Postmates, Delivery.com, Slice, ChowNow, and more services are coming soon. If you search for a particular restaurant or find your favorite dish, you will see “Order Online” button in the search results. You can make your selections, view delivery or pickup times, and pay with Google Pay. These service providers have associated with Google so your orders will complete without leaving the search results.

Order Food with Google Assistant

If you’re using Assistant on your phone to get your food, just say, “Hey Google, order food from [restaurant].” You can also place reorder the same meal next time, from some recommended delivery services by using the command “Hey Google, reorder food from [restaurant].”

The Google Assistant will bring up your past orders in few seconds, so you can select your everyday cuisine. Previously, Google’s search results would display links to food services provider when users searched for a restaurant or type particular meal. After click one of those links, users can open or download another app. Now, users can search their favorite foodstuff and finish all orders from the same delivery service.

This new Google update is coming out to Search, Maps, and Assistant starting today. So what are you waiting for? Let’s Google help to serve your cravings through Search, Map and Assistant.

Also Read:

Google Adding Favicons to Mobile Search Results