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This day in search marketing history: March 23

March 2022 product reviews update launches, plus: PPC salaries, Google Panda 3.4, Yahoo Search Direct and more.

Danny Goodwin on March 23, 2023 at 12:01 am | Reading time: 11 minutes

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March 2022 product reviews update launches

In 2022, Google began rolling out the March 2022 product reviews update. This update would finish rolling out on April 11.

This was the third version of Google’s search algorithm update that aims to reward the most helpful and useful review-related content for searchers. This update seemed less impactful than the December 2021 product reviews update.

Google shared what mattered with the product reviews update:

Include helpful in-depth details, like the benefits or drawbacks of a certain item, specifics on how a product performs or how the product differs from previous versions
Come from people who have actually used the products, and show what the product is physically like or how it’s used
Include unique information beyond what the manufacturer provides — like visuals, audio or links to other content detailing the reviewer’s experience
Cover comparable products, or explain what sets a product apart from its competitors

Read all about it in Google releases March 2022 product reviews update with additional ranking criteria.

Also on this day

Google claims it reduced irrelevant search results by over 50% in seven years

2022: Also, Google said they saw a 60% increase in natural language queries by searchers.

Google releases Partner Program directory in latest effort to rebuild program

2022: After trying to relaunch it with strict requirements, Google seemed intent on building goodwill among the PPC marketers who participated.

Meta rebrands automated ad products, shopping campaigns coming soon

2022: Meta consolidated its products into the Meta Advantage suite, which allowed advertisers to automate part of a – or an entire – campaign.

PPC salaries: How much in-house and agency search marketers make in 2022

2022: Data could help search marketers determine whether they were paid what they were worth – and, if not, ask for a raise or start looking for a new gig.

YouTube experiments with automated lists of products detected in videos

2021: Plus, enabling YouTube video playback directly within Twitter could help content creators get more views.

Google’s current FLoC tests aren’t GDPR compliant

2021: The question seemed to be around whether a web browser placing a user in a cohort counted as a use of personal data under the privacy laws.

Google My Business not functioning as expected under the strain of coronavirus

2020: Many updates were taking considerably longer than normal.

Google intros open testing ads, new asset reporting and more for App campaigns

2020: The slate of ads and analytics features specifically aimed at mobile gaming marketers would roll out over the coming months.

Corona to COVID: How Google’s ‘corona’ results page has evolved

2020: In less than a month, the SERP shifted from brand results to one focused on the coronavirus outbreak.

Bing adopts SpecialAnnouncement structured data for COVID-19

2020: The SpecialAnnouncement markup could be applied to coronavirus-related business, travel, health agency and testing center updates.

E-commerce ad spend doubled as social distancing behavior took hold

2020: E-commerce ad spending jumped from $4.8 million the week of February 17 to $9.6 million the week of March 9.

Video: Max Prin on technical SEO tools and PWAs

2020: Did you know that sometimes when you build SEO tools it helps you learn more about how search works?

[Watch] Live With Search Engine Land: Top SEOs talk COVID-19 upheaval, traffic movements and more

2020: Lily Ray, Daniel Waisberg, Pedro Dias and Alexis Sanders discussed how some are helping clients navigate these changes to daily life and business.

Proposed EU consumer rules to force ‘marketplaces’ to reveal ‘default ranking criteria’

2018: Penalties would be stronger, and there would be an individual right of action.

To comply with GDPR, Google asks publishers to manage user-data consent for ad targeting in EU

2018: Publishers were asked to manage the consent process on behalf of Google.

Search in Pics: Google Home donut truck, alligators at the GooglePlex & celebrating St. Patrick’s Day

2018: The latest images showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have and more.

Google’s mobile-first index is (still) months away

2017: Google’s Gary Illyes said the company was still experimenting with its mobile-first index and didn’t have an exact timeline for launch.

Google: Our search leads won’t let us talk about the Fred update

2017: Gary Illyes from Google said the techniques Fred specifically went after were mentioned in its webmaster guidelines.

AdWords Search Exam gets an update: What you’ll need to know

2016: The Google Partners exam included questions on the latest product features and search trends.

Google developing keyboard for iPhone in hopes of boosting search volumes [report]

2016: Keyboard part of a larger strategy to boost engagement with search on mobile devices.

Majestic to print the internet in 3-D in outer space

2016: Majestic helped SEOs reach for the stars, literally, by aiming to 3-D print the internet in space.

Google’s Mobile Knowledge Graph Cards Get Some Color

2015: Google added a more colorful experience to their mobile knowledge graph cards. In some cases the results were gray but others have bright green or red.

Bing Ads Unified Device Targeting Is Here: Explicit Smartphone Campaigns End This Week

2015: Bing Ads continued with its consolidation of device targeting, spurred by Google’s Enhanced Campaigns.

Yahoo Search Adds A Mortgage Calculator

2015: Now both Yahoo and Google had search-based mortgage calculators.

Google Says Panda 3.4 Is ‘Rolling Out Now’

2012: Google estimated that about 1.6 percent of queries were affected by this refresh.

AdSense Ad Review Center Gets Overhaul

2012: Revamp aimed to make it easier for publishers to control the ads that appear on their sites.

Move Over, Wikipedia: Amazon May Be The King Of Google Rankings

2012: Amazon landed on Page 1 about 40% of the time, compared to just over 30% for Wikipedia.

Survey: Google Pays Less, Harder Interviews But Better Place To Work Than At Facebook

2012: Google scored a 3.9 overall by their employees while Facebook scored a 3.7 in a survey of best places to work.

Search In Pics: Google Drinks, Yahoo Soup & +1 That Plate

2012: The latest images showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have, and more.

Location Controls on AdWords Get More Granular

2011: Google modified the way its location targeting controls functioned on AdWords to give advertisers more control over who saw their ads.

Google’s Think Quarterly: An Online Magazine Done The Google Way

2011: The first issue was dedicated to “data” as a topic and featured a series of articles written by guest authors and Google employees.

Sprint Integration Of Google Voice Start Of Something Bigger?

2011: It remained to be seen how many “ordinary users” would take advantage of the first “mainstream” implementation of Google Voice.

Google Hires Georgia Tech To Build Internet Monitoring Tools

2011: The goal was to build web-based tools any user could use to detect Internet throttling, government censorship, and other transparency problems.

Bing News Adds Tweets To News Results

2011: The tweets were public updates from the Twitter stream related to the news query.

Bing Mobile Updated: Improved HTML5 Features, App Search & More

2011: Microsoft’s Bing team announced some significant changes and updates to Bing For Mobile.

Yahoo Search Direct Takes On Google Instant By Providing Answers In The Search Box

2011: Related:

Mobile Search Use Stats: Big At Home, When Watching TV, While Running Errands

2011: Mobile search wasn’t just done by users “on the go” according to a series of research reports and findings.

SMBs Need Most Help With Keyword Selection, Tracking

2011: American Express released small business survey data about search and social media marketing.

Google Wins Legal Battle Over AdWords Trademark Issue In Europe

2010: Court: “Google has not infringed trade mark law by allowing advertisers to purchase keywords corresponding to their competitors’ trade marks.”

Google AdWords Search Funnels Launched: See All The Keywords That Led To Conversions

2010: It showed all the keywords that assisted in conversion made through Google AdWords, rather than just the last one before a buy or conversion action.

Google Testing Hotel Prices In Google Maps

2010: A “limited number of advertisers” had agreed to give Google their pricing information.

New Ruling May Mean More Googling In Court

2010: Ruling authorized a judge’s use of Google to “confirm an intuition about a matter of common knowledge.”

Yahoo! Launches Search-Based iPhone Apps, Including Sketch-A-Search

2010: You simply used your finger to draw a shape on a map to search within those location boundaries.

SES New York 2010 Day 1 Coverage

Big Brand Media Wants A Google Bailout

2009: Several big brand media companies told Google they deserved higher rankings in Google’s search results.

Yahoo Brings Back Chief Marketing Officer Position

2009: Yahoo named Elisa Steele as the company’s new Chief Marketing Officer. Yahoo hadn’t had a CMO since 2007.

Microsoft: We Can Be ‘Riskier’ With Search

2009: Microsoft talked up its third-place position in search engine market share as something that gave the company more freedom than Google to take risks.

Google Tests Top Of Page Navigation Links

2007: Google moved the links that used to be directly above the search box to the very top of the page.

Court: Google Suggest Feature Not Responsible For Encouraging Software Piracy

2007: A company claimed that Google Suggest was helping people find pirated versions of its software.

Google Board Of Directors Member Michael Moritz Stepping Down

2007: Moritz was stepping down to spend more time focused on work as a general partner in Sequoia Capital.

Google Maps API Adds KML And GeoRSS Support

2007: Google has added support for its KML (Earth) format and the open GeoRSS format to the Google Maps API.

NetRatings: Google Spike, Live.com Rise In February 2007

2007: The figures also showed the “search pie” itself grew massively.

comScore: Slight Google Rise, Status Quo With Rest In February 2007

2007: Mostly the same old news — Google up a bit, everyone else holding steady.

Viacom Sued For Allegedly Forcing Removal Of YouTube Video

2007: Viacom was sued by several activist groups for allegedly forcing YouTube to remove a video of “The Colbert Report.”

NBC & News Corp’s “OverTube” Not A YouTube-Killer — It Might Just Power Those

2007: There would be no centralized site for the service. Instead, content would be available through distribution partners, who would also receive a small share of advertising revenue.

From Search Marketing Expo (SMX)

3 ways marketers can connect with Gen Z consumers (SMX Next 2021)

Past contributions from Search Engine Land’s Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

These columns are a snapshot in time and have not been updated since publishing, unless noted. Opinions expressed in these articles are those of the author and not necessarily Search Engine Land.

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