(Pocket-lint) – No one likes to be interrupted by an annoying advert, but on our phones, it has become an all too common experience.
Most people know that they can block ads on their desktop or laptop computer, but our phones tend to be plagued with the things. Long gone are the days when you could install Ad Block Plus from the Play Store, Google doesn’t allow system-wide ad blockers anymore.
So, how do you go about blocking ads? Thankfully, it’s very easy, and we’ve got everything covered in this guide.
But first, a few things to mention. It’s important to remember that ads help keep sites going (including this one) and they’re important for content creators, too. So even though they can be irritating, in some cases, it’s worth allowing ads to help support the content that you love.
Also, we’ll be focusing on browser-based ad blocking, so keep in mind that these solutions won’t block ads in other apps, like games, for instance.
With that said, let’s get into the guide.
How to block pop-ups and intrusive ads in Chrome
Chrome is the default browser on the majority of Android phones, and as such, it’s the one the vast majority of people stick to.
You don’t need to swap to another browser to block ads, though. Thankfully, Chrome has some handy tools built-in to help with this.
The only caveat is that Chrome doesn’t block all ads, just pop-ups and ads that it deems intrusive or misleading. Here’s how you activate the features:
Open Chrome on your Android phone
Tap the three dots in the top right corner
Tap on Settings
Scroll down to Site settings and select it
Tap Pop-ups and redirects
Make sure the slider is toggled to the left
Go back to the previous page
Tap Ads and do the same thing
Now, Chrome will prevent the majority of pop-up ads from loading, and block ads entirely on sites that have misleading and intrusive ads. In some ways, it’s the best of both worlds as it allows you to support the content that you care about without suffering through egregious pop-ups.
But what if you want to take things a step further and block everything? Read on.
How to block ads with different browsers
If you’re willing to ditch Chrome, there are plenty of browsers that offer more robust ad-blocking options. Just keep in mind that you won’t be able to sync your history and bookmarks with Chrome on desktop, if you use that.
Our favourite option is Firefox, it allows for add-ons to be installed, and they work like Chrome extensions on desktop. uBlock Origin is a powerful, free and open-source ad blocker that can easily be added to the Firefox Android browser, and it’ll block just about everything.
Another great and full-featured option is the Opera browser, which has a solid ad blocker built-in and even a free VPN. There’s even a straight-up Adblock Browser, if all you care about is blocking ads.
How to block ads with an app
So, that’s browsers sorted, but what if you want to block ads in other apps? As we mentioned up top, Google has long since removed ad-blocking apps from its Play Store, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t block ads elsewhere.
You’ll have to side-load these apps, which can be a little daunting if you’ve never done it before, but it doesn’t mean the apps are untrustworthy – just that Google’s not so keen on you using them. Which is understandable, given its business model.
Best iPhone apps 2022: The ultimate guide By Maggie Tillman ·
These are the absolute best iPhone apps available right now, from productivity apps to apps for traveling, reading, listening to music, and more.
Apps like AdGuard and AdLock come from notable cyber-security brands and so should be perfectly safe to use. The downside is that they’re subscription based, so you’ll have to pay a monthly fee once your trial ends.
Google employees mocked the company’s false advertisement of the private browsing ‘incognito mode’ option in a string of leaked emails from 2018
Engineers at the company suggested the tech giant halt the name ‘incognito mode’ after a study was released about the browsers lack of protection
A judge in Oakland, California, will review the emails along with other documentation and decide if a consumer lawsuit targeting the feature will proceed
Leaked emails reveal Google employees mocked the company’s ‘incognito mode’ browser feature, saying it was not ‘truly private’ as the tech giant suggests.
In a series of emails cited in a California-based lawsuit on behalf of a million users, employees in 2018 suggested the company halt deceptive advertising of the incognito feature on Google that supposedly allows users to ‘browse privately’ to avoid others using a shared device to view the search history.
The lawsuit alleges the private browsing option that features an outline of a mysterious man with glasses and a detective hat is misleading since Google can still view consumer data, according to Bloomberg.
We need to stop calling it Incognito and stop using the Spy Guy icon,’ an engineer said in an email chain in 2018 after providing a study about the lack of protections on the browser.
Another engineer responded with a meme of the Simpsons television show episode where a look-alike of Homer Simpson, dubbed ‘Guy Incognito,’ was shown identical to the show protagonist but with a mustache, suit, and top hat.
The engineer joked that Guy Incognito’s costume ‘accurately conveys the level of privacy [the browser] provides.’
A judge will rule on Tuesday on whether the lawsuit will proceed. If found liable, Google may be fined to pay billions to consumers.
Google is facing a lawsuit after consumers suggested the company’s Incognito browser isn’t actually private
The lawsuit sites employee’s emails from 2018 that suggested the company halt the false advertising of the private browsing feature
One employee joked the Incognito icon should be a look-alike of Homer Simpson, dubbed Guy Incognito, was shown identical to the show protagonist but with a mustache, suit and top hat
Google’s marketing chief Lorraine Twohill emailed CEO Sundar Pichai last year on International Data Privacy Day to request the tech giant become more private, according to Bloomberg.
‘Make Incognito Mode truly private, Twohill wrote in an email. ‘We are limited in how strongly we can market Incognito because it’s not truly private, thus requiring really fuzzy, hedging language that is almost more damaging.’
Twohill’s email and other employee documentation are among the court documents that will be reviewed in an Oakland, California, courtroom on Tuesday.
Incognito mode on Google advertises that other users will not be able to view browsing history – but doesn’t say the tech giant cannot view data.
‘Privacy controls have long been built into our services and we encourage our teams to constantly discuss or consider ideas to improve them,’ a Google spokesperson said in a statement.
‘Incognito mode offers users a private browsing experience, and we’ve been clear about how it works and what it does whereas the plaintiffs in this case have purposely mischaracterized our statements.’
The lawsuit further cites an email sent to CEO Sundar Pichai last year urging to make the tech giant more private for consumers
US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will review the case. If found liable, Google could owe millions of consumers up to $1,000 per violation, according to Bloomberg.
The lawsuit also aims to hold the tech giant responsible for lacking transparency on the Incognito mode option that was believed to keep browsing private for users.
Consumers are suggesting Google change the language on the private browsing feature to make users aware that the tech giant can still gather their data.
TikTok has absolutely taken the world by storm since 2020. And it’s not just for the kids — with over 1 billion users, it’s popular across all demographics.
User behaviour on TikTok has been evolving as its popularity grows. We’ve seen the app go from dancing teenagers to influencing shopping behaviour across the world.
Now the next step for TikTok seems to be turning into the next big search engine.
Is TikTok the new Google?
Short answer: no.
TikTok is an internal search engine for TikTok content. It’s dedicated to a particular area of focus and a particular format: video.
There are a few different factors at play in how we choose the search engine to solve our need in the moment, but at the end of the day, TikTok and Google satisfy very different search intents.
Why do users search on TikTok?
We’re seeing TikTok take market share from Google in verticals such as food, gardening, and travel. These are low stakes searches where the outcome is unlikely to cause you harm. Since you don’t need a perfect or factual answer, you can use TikTok to find it.
TikTok’s video format makes a lot more sense if you’re looking for answers where the visual matters. Date spots in your city or a gardening tutorial are perfect searches for the platform.
Another reason users choose TikTok is that the answer will always be provided by a subject matter expert, not a niche blogger. Social proof abounds, as you can assess the expertise of your source by looking at the comments and number of views, likes, and followers.
A few concerns have been raised about the spread of misinformation on TikTok, as they have in most other content platforms. However, these are slightly more worrying on TikTok because it has an unprecedented potential for virality, and a large, young user base, who are more easily influenced during content discovery than during active search.
Users are even searching for TikTok content on Google, with queries such as “TikTok pasta”, amassing 1,778 searches per month in the US:
Branded queries on Google for TikTok content have a combined monthly search volume of 30.1 million in the US alone. But in the spirit of transparency, I’ll share that most of those are not PG (or even PG-13).
Active search vs. content discovery
There are two key behaviours on TikTok we must differentiate: active search and content discovery.
Content discovery
Content discovery is the main behaviour on TikTok and it’s the one we’re most familiar with. It’s when the user is scrolling through the app, passively hoping to find entertainment, financial advice, recipe ideas, or a new favourite beauty product.
Users have been enjoying a positive content discovery experience on TikTok for years. They have found new restaurants or a selfie angle that makes them look like Kylie Jenner.
This is the key to understanding TikTok’s rise as a search engine: This positive content discovery experience has earned the users’ trust. They know that the content they want to consume is on TikTok. So when the need arises, they turn to the video platform first.
Active search
This leads us into active search. Active search is when a user types a specific question into TikTok’s search box.
On TikTok, users can seamlessly scroll through all of the content that answers their query, without having to open multiple tabs on their browser. This improves user satisfaction, reduces friction and, most importantly, teaches TikTok the best answer. More on that later.
Let’s talk about psychology
Persuasion resistance is a natural psychological defense when we feel like someone is trying to manipulate us into buying, doing, or thinking something. We perceive persuasion as a threat and we try to move away from it or oppose it.
Over a decade ago, the online advertising industry started to worry about a decrease in the CTR of their display ads. Pop-ups got dismissed, banners went ignored. Users had caught onto advertisers: we were trying to sell them something.
This triggered a phenomenon known to psychologists as persuasion resistance. Advertisers called this response “banner blindness”. As an industry, we developed four different strategies to counter this resistance to persuasion.
First, we started making our ads look like they were part of the content. We called these “native ads”.
Then, we started placing the ads in unexpected places, where users were less likely to be bracing themselves to be sold to.
We started making ads a little bit more relevant to the context, so that they felt less intrusive.
Finally, we moved into social proof, and we started leveraging the power of trust. Thus influencer marketing was born.
TikTok leverages these four strategies to counter resistance to persuasion by design. How do they do it?
Creators are paid for their content through the Creator Fund, based on how many views or engagement their videos get. They are incentivized to make quality, engaging content that users will enjoy, not just by making deals with brands.
They regularly showcase their beauty routines, fashion, or home products, with or without a brand sponsorship. This makes affiliate or sponsored content look just like regular content.
Their ads are served in exactly the same format as their regular content, with a small tag letting you know that it’s promoted content.
All the videos have an identified creator, visible like and view counts, and open comments. Social proof abounds!
But SEO is not paid social or influencer marketing. So why should we care?
SEO is now omnichannel
Putting the right content in front of users at the right time is at the core of what we do. If we want to keep achieving this goal, we must provide content where the user is looking for it.
As technology integrates further into our lives, we’ve seen the rise of multisearch. Google created the term as a way to integrate their Google Lens functionality into the way we speak about search and SEO.
We now search by asking our home assistant devices questions or taking a picture of a tree we don’t recognize. We search on Google Maps, on Youtube, on Instagram and even on Amazon.
The days when SEO was about responding to a query in a search box are long gone.
By putting our content out on TikTok and optimizing it for search, we are helping users find our content when they need it, where they want it, and in the format they chose to consume it.
TikTok on the SERPs
An omnichannel SEO strategy will let you interact with your users beyond your own domain, and it can help your brand take up more real estate in the SERPs.
Google is trying to diversify the domains they show on search, so if you want to feature in the SERPs multiple times, you’ll have to distribute your brand’s content across different domains.
TikTok’s website has over 31 million pages built programmatically around topics, hashtags, and sounds:
Topic pages make up the most of their URLs and traffic, and seem to be built based on hashtags used, along with some form of machine learning consolidation of their variations. These include related videos, topics, users, hashtags, and sounds.
Based on the data available on different tools, we know that this section on TikTok’s website has about 157 million monthly organic clicks.
Based on the numbers alone, the benefit of having your content feature in these pages is obvious.
Industries that should be on TikTok
TikTok serves you content based on what the algorithm has determined you’ll enjoy, not based on who you follow. So users constantly discover new creators.
The TikTok algorithm does a genuinely good job at finding your interests or helping you discover stuff that you like. These topics of interest become small niches with their own name.
Much like a subreddit, TikTok has unofficial “toks”. You can find niches such as book-tok, finance-tok, food-tok, and many others.
Based on the data, case studies, and some expert opinions, there are industries that can truly benefit from being on the platform and surfacing content tagged for these various “toks”:
Sports teams
Streaming services and entertainers
Fashion and beauty brands
Restaurants and food bloggers
Travel brands and influencers
Home and DIY content creators and brands
If you think this list reminds you of the top industries on Pinterest, you are right.
TikTok and Pinterest have a lot in common. Both platforms prioritize content discovery based on your interests and serve mainly visual content.
When looking at suggested searches, the value becomes clear when I start typing keywords typically associated with an informational or commercial intent:
While these are personalized for each user, you can see that others are searching for content that brands or publishers have typically kept on their blogs and find valuable for their businesses.
Brands looking to increase their brand awareness can benefit from being on TikTok regardless of their industry. After all, nobody expected the success Duolingo has had on the platform.
Conclusion
Is TikTok threatening Google? No. Is it worth the attention of SEOs? Yes.
Over the next few months, keep an eye out for more pieces on how to make the most of this upstart and unlikely content discovery search engine. I will be writing about the TikTok algorithm, what the search experience looks like on TikTok, and how to make sure your videos rank.
Fewer people are starting their product searches on Amazon.
When you’re looking to find a product online, your first stop is most likely Amazon(AMZN -0.36%). The majority of online product searches start with the e-commerce giant, followed by a regular old search engine like Alphabet‘s (GOOG 0.59%)(GOOGL 0.39%) Google.
But Amazon’s dominance of product searches appears to be waning while search engines like Google remain resilient.
Is Google gaining ground?
Jungle Scout, a company that develops software for online marketplace merchants, recently asked consumers where they start their product searches online.
While 61% of respondents said they started on Amazon during the second quarter, that’s down from 74% in the first quarter of 2021. Meanwhile, search engines have remained steady at 49%. (Respondents could select more than one option.)
That might suggest Google is becoming a better discovery platform for online shopping. It’s been an area of focus for Google for years, even before former CEO and executive chairman Eric Schmidt called Amazon its biggest competitor.
Current CEO Sundar Pichai said investments in e-commerce are paying off. During Alphabet’s second-quarter earnings call, Pichai said: “People are shopping across Google more than 1 billion times each day. We see hundreds of millions of shopping searches on Google Images each month.”
Interestingly, Amazon wasn’t the only site or app that saw fewer respondents in 2022 versus 2021. In fact, practically every other potential response was selected less often, except for search engines. That includes Walmart and social media apps. That’s despite heavy investments from competitors, including Alphabet’s YouTube, in growing e-commerce on their platforms.
The survey shows Amazon is still dominating other retailers in the product-search space and fending off the growth of social media. Overall, consumers might be using fewer sources to search for products online, but Amazon remains the top option for more people than anything else.
Amazon has built a business as a search engine
The reason investors need to pay attention to Amazon’s position as a product search engine is that it now runs a very big business based on product searches. The bulk of its ad revenue comes from sponsored products and brands in its search results.
Last quarter, ad revenue grew 18% to $8.76 billion. That’s a $35 billion run rate. And that revenue is very high-margin relative to its marketplace, third-party seller services, and even its cloud computing business. Notably, that ad revenue growth has slowed significantly after monster increases in 2020 and 2021.
Amazon dominates e-commerce channel advertising even more than it dominates e-commerce. While its robust user base and meaningful data on its users help attract more-valuable ads, it’s the search traffic that has led to that dominance.
As e-commerce growth continues to outpace in-store sales growth, Amazon is poised to see the benefit of shifting ad budgets from things like end caps in store aisles to banner ads on Amazon and other online retail websites.
But Google sees that opportunity as well, and it could present a bigger threat to the growth of Amazon’s ad business than any of its retail competitors. While the most recent Jungle Scout survey indicates Google is making progress in e-commerce, Amazon remains at the top of the chart. For now, there appears to be plenty of growth left in Amazon’s ad business, but Amazon investors should keep an eye on Google’s progress in e-commerce advertising.
Should you invest $1,000 in Amazon.com, Inc. right now?
Before you consider Amazon.com, Inc., you’ll want to hear this.
Our award-winning analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now… and Amazon.com, Inc. wasn’t one of them.
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Google will soon clamp down on VPN apps that block ads on the Android platform.
The tech giant, which still earns most of its vast revenue from advertising, will prohibit VPN apps on the Google Play Store from actively interfering with ads from November 1.
Google updated its Google Play policy last month, setting down strict stipulations for VPN apps. This includes a rule that such apps can’t “manipulate ads that can impact apps monetization.”
Another stipulation is that “Only apps that use the VPNService and have VPN as their core functionality can create a secure device-level tunnel to a remote server”.
These measures appear designed to secure user data with such VPN services, as well as to prevent ad fraud. As part of the new terms and conditions, VPN developers must encrypt data across the whole process.
However, as The Register reports, some developers aren’t too happy with Google’s new stipulations, feeling that it’s too sweeping with its requirements. Older versions of Blokada and Jumbo could be ruled out based on the new rules.
Blokada’s developers also speculate that the likes of privacy-focused web search app DuckDuckGo could be a casualty of Google’s new rules, though DuckDuckGo’s developer itself believes that it will be alright.
Apple applies a similar set of VPN-focused rules for iOS, though interestingly it doesn’t specifically rule out interfering with ads.
Around this time last year, Google announced that it was offering its own VPN service to subscribers of its 2 TB and higher Google One plans in the UK and other countries after an initial 2020 rollout in the US.
Jon is a seasoned freelance writer who started covering games and apps in 2007 before expanding into smartphones and consumer tech, dabbling in lifestyle and media coverage along the way.
Google’s updated Gmail interface comes with Material You and a big side bar
Google is rolling out a new Gmail experience that makes it easier for users to switch between other apps including Google Meet and Chat in the same window or tab, and it comes with Android 12‘s Material You and a noticeable second sidebar.
Introduced back in February, Gmail’s new integrated view started rolling out to users on June 28, and is expected to come to everyone over the next couple of weeks. Once available, users will automatically see the new Gmail interface, but will have the ability to opt out and revert back to the old Gmail view we’re used to. However, there’s more than one way to set it to the way you want.
The big changes include a new navigation sidebar that lets you switch between other Google apps, including Gmail, Google Chat, Google Spaces, and Google Meet. Instead of going to the apps menu and opening a new app in another tab or window, you can now switch between apps in the same window. It’s handy if you’re not happy with a cluster of open tabs.
Google notes that apps available on the sidebar will vary depending on your Google Workspace edition, meaning if you only have Gmail, then you’ll have a Gmail-only navigation menu (similar to how the usual Gmail looks).
Apparently, the new navigation interface also features Material You, the colour-themed feature that was introduced with Android 12. So far, it only seems to turn Gmail’s colour scheme grey or blue, but this can be customized by heading into settings (the gear icon on the top left), clicking “View all,” and picking a theme.
Not a fan of the new layout? You can easily revert back to the classic Gmail layout.
How to revert back to the classic Gmail
In Gmail, click on Settings (the gear icon) on the top left.
under “See all settings,” there will be a block that says “Go back to the original Gmail view.” Click on it and you’ll have classic Gmail back.
You can also click on “See all settings” to revert back. Click on “See all settings.”
Under the “General” tab, navigate to “Main menu” and click on “Original view.”
(Image credit: Future)
For those who want to stick with the new Gmail but find the second sidebar annoying, there’s a way to get rid of it, too.
How to customize the sidebar
In Gmail, click on Settings (the gear icon) on the top left.
Click on “See all settings.”
Navigate to the “Chat and Meet” tab.
Switch “Chat” to “Off” and “Meet” to “Hide the Meet section in the main menu.”
Once done, the sidebar will only feature the Gmail menu bar.
(Image credit: Future)
Whether Google will keep the original Gmail view or completely overhaul Gmail to the new design? Only time will tell. However, if you prefer to have your apps in different windows or tabs, there’s a way to keep Gmail the way users are used to. As for other handy Gmail tips, check out how to delete spam mail in Gmail once and for all.
Darragh Murphy is fascinated by all things bizarre, which usually leads to assorted coverage varying from washing machines designed for AirPods to the mischievous world of cyberattacks. Whether it’s connecting Scar from The Lion King to two-factor authentication or turning his love for gadgets into a fabricated rap battle from 8 Mile, he believes there’s always a quirky spin to be made. With a Master’s degree in Magazine Journalism from The University of Sheffield, along with short stints at Kerrang! and Exposed Magazine, Darragh started his career writing about the tech industry at Time Out Dubai and ShortList Dubai, covering everything from the latest iPhone models and Huawei laptops to massive Esports events in the Middle East. Now, he can be found proudly diving into gaming, gadgets, and letting readers know the joys of docking stations for Laptop Mag.
They say the only constant in life is change itself, but that sounds an awful lot like a paradox, and my brain doesn’t like those. To me, the only constant in life is adapting to change. And that’s exactly what we need to do right now.
No, I’m not talking about the post-pandemic world’s “new normal” (anyone else getting sick of hearing that?). I’m actually talking about Google’s decision to say goodbye to expanded text ads (ETAs). Whether you’re just hearing about this for the first time or have been worrying about it for months, you’ve come to the right place.
Let’s take a look at what this change is, what it means for you and how you can adapt to it.
What’s Changing?
In 2016, Google introduced expanded text ads — a bigger, better way to communicate with your target audience. Now, 6 years later, Google is sunsetting this option. As of June 30, 2022, you will no longer be able to create or edit ETAs in your standard Search campaigns.
Hey, all good things must come to an end, right?
Don’t worry, though: Your existing ETAs won’t go to waste. Google says you’ll still be able to track their progress and even pause, resume or remove them at your leisure. You just can’t make new ones or edit the structure of those you already have.
Why Is This Happening?
According to Google, the sunset of ETAs is all part of “making it easier to show the right message on Search.” The goal is to keep up with changing consumer needs and expectations.
For example, did you know that 15% of daily search queries are totally new to Google? The company uses this stat to point out that search habits are changing — which means your ad strategy needs to change, too.
The key, Google tells us, is automation. Unfortunately, we’re not talking about robot butlers here; for now, automation is mostly focused on ad bidding and placement, so you can’t put your feet up just yet. You can, however, use automation to simplify your ad strategy.
That’s because Google is replacing ETAs with their younger, sharper siblings, responsive search ads (RSAs). These little guys use automation to “show the right message for the right query.” You provide your ad assets, Google uses its algorithms to choose the best combinations of headlines and graphics for a specific audience and voilà — an advanced ad strategy.
Even the biggest fans of ETAs will probably have to admit that this new approach has its advantages. Plus, RSAs can be bigger (300 characters vs. 150 for ETAs), so you don’t have to worry about cutting out your great content. Perhaps most importantly, Google says the return on investment (ROI) is promising: “Advertisers that switch from expanded text ads to responsive search ads, using the same assets, see an average of 7% more conversions at a similar cost per conversion.”
What Now?
Don’t panic: Your ad strategy can and will live on without ETAs. But say your goodbyes now, because RSAs are poised to become the next big thing in advertising.
To turn this change into an opportunity instead of a source of stress, brush up on these best practices:
Learn About Ad Automation
There’s a whole world of ad automation out there — one you might never have embraced if you were busy juggling your ETAs. Now you have a perfect excuse to do some research on Google’s algorithms, automated solutions and more. This will help you get more out of RSAs as you add them to your strategy.
Repurpose Your ETAs
Don’t trash all your hard work. Instead, Google recommends choosing high-performing ETA content and repurposing it in RSA format. You can also use the built-in ad strength analyser to make sure you’re on the right track. After all, as Google explains, “Advertisers who improve Ad strength for their responsive search ads from ‘Poor’ to ‘Excellent’ see 9% more clicks and conversions on average.”
Use RSAs to Tell New Stories
Advertising is all about telling stories, right? Well, RSAs make it easier for you to tell those stories without having to plot out every detail. All you have to do is fill in your characters and settings (that is, your headlines and images) and let Google’s automated system combine them in different ways depending on your audience, ad placement, campaign goals and more.
Remember, the only constant in life is adapting to changes like this one. But that doesn’t mean you have to idly wait for whatever the marketing and advertising worlds throw at you. Instead, you should stay informed — and with a resource like our newsletter in your inbox, you’ll be the first to know what’s coming around the corner.
By Eric Bush
Eric Bush is the Manager of Paid Search at Brafton. He has helped grow the Brafton consulting services department to focus on multiple PPC platforms/channels and expanded its partner program to include both Google and Microsoft. His expertise ranges from multichannel marketing and planning to data performance analysis, with a focus on paid search strategies.
Time-based Energy Attribute Certificates provide a more granular approach to energy tracking
Google has been working to develop better tools to track energy consumption and production in order to achieve its 24/7 carbon-free energy goal by 2030.
As part of these efforts, the search giant announced a new tool called Time-based Energy Attribute Certificates (T-EACs) last year to advance a more granular approach to energy tracking.
Once T-EACs are fully developed and widely deployed, they will not only help Google achieve its 24/7 carbon-free energy goal but will also provide society with valuable new insights concerning the availability of carbon-free energy on electricity grids during every hour of every day. At the same time, this information will help energy consumers better understand their energy use while also creating price signals that stimulate new investments into green technologies and projects that deliver carbon-free energy when it’s most needed.
Google has spent the past year engaging partners around the world to advance the development and adoption of T-EACs. The company has also expanded the use of hourly certificates, accelerated the development of tools and systems to unlock energy data and hourly matching and created technical standards to drive the widespread adoption of T-EACs.
Tracking and reporting carbon-free energy
The registries that create, track and manage the energy attribute certifications (EACs) associated with clean energy generation are some of the most important stakeholders in advancing T-EACs according to a new blog post from Google Cloud.
In the past, these registries have not issued or tracked certificates on an hour-by-hour basis but this has changed as demand grows for 24/7 carbon-free energy. For its part, Google has been working with global registries to accelerate this shift while creating new products and services for tracking energy attributes on a more granular basis.
In the US, the company partnered with the non-profit M-RETS which tracks and validates energy attribute certificates in order to expand the hourly transaction capabilities of its platform and enable the tracking and retirement of hourly certificates by all of its users. Google has also worked with APX to support the retirement of hourly Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) within the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) and as a result of this work, electricity generators across the Central and Midwest US will soon be able to retire certificates on an hourly basis whenever hourly data is available.
In Europe, Google has collaborated with the Danish Grid operator Energinet as it builds the technical foundation to support granular certification and develop innovative applications such as the Project Energy Origin Platform. Meanwhile, in Latin America, the search giant has launched a pilot led by The International REC Standard Foundation in close collaboration with Evident Services and its suppliers ACCIONA Energia and AES Andes.
Going forward, Google plans to continue to advance the adoption of hourly certificates as it works to ensure it is able to meet its goal of running its global operations on 24/7 carbon-free energy by 2030.
After getting his start at ITProPortal while living in South Korea, Anthony now writes about cybersecurity, web hosting, cloud services, VPNs and software for TechRadar Pro. In addition to writing the news, he also edits and uploads reviews and features and tests numerous VPNs from his home in Houston, Texas. Recently, Anthony has taken a closer look at standing desks, office chairs and all sorts of other work from home essentials. When not working, you can find him tinkering with PCs and game consoles, managing cables and upgrading his smart home.
Search engines cannot discover and index every page on the web – they need to make choices in that regard. And, though all search engines serve the same purpose, they use different criteria for which pages to index.
That being said, it’s generally good if a search engine can crawl and index as much valuable content as possible – it increases the odds that it will show users what they’re looking for.
I was curious about which search engine – Bing or Google – indexes more content in general.
This article describes the different aspects of my research, and though I’d need more data to draw definite conclusions, I still managed to gather many unique and valuable insights.
Here is what I discovered about how Bing and Google index web pages.
Analysing indexing data: methodology and results
Index coverage of a random sample of WordPress sites
The first step of my research was to collect a sample of pages to check their indexing statistics.
I decided that a good starting point would be to use a sample of websites using the Yoast SEO WordPress plugin. There was a practical reason behind choosing this plugin: it divides sitemaps by sections, which would let me analyse which sections are indexed the most.
I found a list of websites that use the Yoast SEO plugin on builtwith.com, a site reporting on websites using given technologies or tools. I chose a random sample of 200 websites from a list of sites using Yoast SEO.
Then, I checked the indexing statistics of those websites using ZipTie.dev, and the data that came out is very interesting.
Bing indexed more web pages than Google.
Take a look at the charts below that show the indexing statistics for given sitemap categories:
The index coverage is the same for Bing and Google for the story and press categories. Moreover, Google did index more content in guides and locations. However, in all the remaining sitemap categories, Bing’s indexing exceeds Google’s – including important categories, like posts, products, and images.
But does this mean Bing is also able to crawl more pages than Google? Or do they crawl similar amounts of content but have different preferences when it comes to indexing?
These tools show the pages that the respective search engine knows about for a given domain.
In Google Search Console, I looked at the All known pages appearing in the Index Coverage report and checked the number of URLs for all four statuses (Errors, Valid, Valid with Warnings, and Excluded).
In Bing Webmaster Tools, in the Site Explorer section, which contains indexing data for the pages on a given domain, I filtered the view to display All URLs.
This showed me all the discovered URLs for each domain I analysed.
After comparing the data I got in both of these tools, I noticed that Google discovered more pages than Bing.
On the other hand (assuming these findings are consistent across both tested website samples), we already know that the pages discovered by Google and Bing are more likely to get indexed by Bing.
Keep in mind that these results are only for a small sample of sites and may not represent the whole web.
Index coverage of a sample of popular sites
The third aspect of my research was to check the indexing status of a few popular websites using ZipTie to see how it varies between Bing and Google.
I learned that Bing is much more eager to index these sites than Google. This confirmed my earlier findings for the sample of WordPress websites using YoastSEO.
Take a look at the data I got:
Bing vs. Google indexing – initial observations
Can we tell that Bing is a better search engine based on the data?
Although Bing indexes more content, we cannot point out a single winner just by looking at the indexing statistics. We don’t know why Bing is indexing more than Google.
My hypothesis is that Google might be “pickier” than Bing. It’s no mystery that index selection is a thing.
We’ve been saying it for years – getting indexed by Google is becoming increasingly more difficult.
We also know that search engines crawl pages at different rates.
Here is what John Mueller said about how often Googlebot crawls pages:
I think the hard part here is that we don’t crawl URLs with the same frequency all the time. So some URLs we will crawl daily. Some URLs maybe weekly. Other URLs every couple of months, maybe even every once half year or so. So this is something that we try to find the right balance for, so that we don’t overload your server. […] So, in particular, if you do things like site queries, then there’s a chance that you’ll see those URLs that get crawled like once every half year. They’ll still be there after a couple of months. […] if you think that these URLs should really not be indexed at all, then maybe you can kind of back that up and say, well, here’s a sitemap file with the last modification date so that Google goes off and tries to double-check these a little bit faster than otherwise.
I also found some interesting ideas in Bing’s documentation:
To measure how smart our crawler is, we measure bingbot crawl efficiency. The crawl efficiency is how often we crawl and discover new and fresh content per page crawled. Our crawl efficiency north star is to crawl an URL only when the content has been added (URL not crawled before), updated (fresh on-page context or useful outbound links). The more we crawl duplicated, unchanged content, the lower our Crawl Efficiency metric is.
Bing may not want to go deep when crawling websites as doing so could provide little value and cause their KPIs to drop.
We know that Bing has been working on making crawling more efficient. For instance, Bing attempted to optimize the crawling of static content and identify patterns that would reduce the crawling frequency across many websites.
Also, consider the differences in how Google and Bing indexed the random WordPress websites – they were much smaller. In the case of very popular websites, they are much more significant.
This leads me to think that, in line with the fact that Bing openly admits they use user behaviour data in their algorithms, Bing heavily prioritizes indexing websites that are popular, while for Google, popularity is less of a factor.
Introducing IndexNow
Recently, Bing took it a step further by adopting the IndexNow protocol. You can use IndexNow to inform Bing and Yandex about new or updated content.
Through our tests, we found out that Bing will typically start crawling a page between 5 seconds and 5 minutes from when it’s submitted using IndexNow.
IndexNow is an initiative for a more efficient Internet: By telling search engines whether an URL has been changed, website owners provide a clear signal helping search engines to prioritize crawl for these URLs, thereby limiting the need for exploratory crawl to test if the content has changed […].We will continue to learn and improve at [a] larger scale and adjust crawl rates for sites implementing IndexNow. Our goal is to give each adopter the maximum benefit in terms of indexation, crawl load management and freshness of the content to searchers.
IndexNow allows websites to get their content indexed faster and use fewer resources for crawling. As a result, businesses can create a better experience for their customers by giving them access to the most relevant information.
Crucially, IndexNow is an opportunity for smaller search engines like Bing and Yandex to add to their indexes from an extensive database of content. IndexNow addresses the issue that search engines, including Google, struggle with today – having to crawl and render growing amounts of content.
Time will tell if Google adopts the IndexNow protocol or creates an alternative solution that will allow site owners to submit pages for indexing.
Optimizing how pages are crawled and indexed
Another takeaway from my indexing analysis is how important it is to simplify crawling and indexing for search engines.
First, you need to create and maintain sitemaps that include your valuable URLs. Sitemaps are helpful for Bing and Google for discovering the content they should index.
Search engines will struggle to pick up which pages are relevant and should be indexed if you fail to submit an optimized sitemap. For more details on setting up a sitemap and what pages to include, read our Ultimate Guide to XML Sitemaps.
To define a clear pattern in Bing’s and Google’s indexing, I would have to inspect many more websites, but there are certain ideas we can get from my samples of data:
Bing indexes more content than Google.
Google discovers more content than Bing, suggesting that Google is pickier with indexing. The guiding principle for Bing is to crawl less and focus on the content that has been added or updated.
Bing prioritizes indexing of popular websites, while popularity is less of a factor for Google.
We can also see that content quality and optimizing your site’s crawling and indexing are vital aspects of SEO, and they can’t be underestimated or neglected. Moreover, these factors will likely continue to be crucial as the web grows and search engine algorithms become more sophisticated.
An internal email shows that despite its anti-war stance, the company bowed to Kremlin decrees.
In early March, contractors working for Google to translate company text for the Russian market received an update from their client: Effective immediately, the ongoing Russian war against Ukraine could no longer be referred to as a war but rather only vaguely as “extraordinary circumstances.”
The internal email, obtained by The Intercept, was sent by management at a firm that translates corporate texts and app interfaces for Google and other clients.
The email passed along instructions from Google with the new wording. The instructions also noted that the word “war” should continue to be used in other markets and that the policy change was intended to keep Google in compliance with a Russian censorship law enacted just after the invasion of Ukraine.
Asked about the guidance, Google spokesperson Alex Krasov told The Intercept, “While we’ve paused Google ads and the vast majority of our commercial activities in Russia, we remain focused on the safety of our local employees. As has been widely reported, current laws restrict communications within Russia. This does not apply to our information services like Search and YouTube.”
According to a translator who spoke to The Intercept, the orders apply to all Google products translated into Russian, including Google Maps, Gmail, AdWords, and Google’s policies and communications with users. (The translator asked for anonymity to avoid reprisal by their employer.)
The internal memo helps explain why some Google webpages, including an advertising policy and video help document found by The Intercept, use euphemistic terms like “emergency in Ukraine” in their Russian version but “war in Ukraine” in the English version.
The censorship law, signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 4, created harsh criminal penalties of up to 15 years in prison for disseminating so-called false information about the Russian military. This is widely believed to include referring to Russia’s assault on Ukraine as a war or invasion, given that the Kremlin had previously drawn a hard line against such terms. The Kremlin calls the war a “special military operation,” and its internet censorship board has reportedly threatened to block websites that use terms like “invasion.”
Like many other American companies, Google swiftly declared its support of Ukraine and opposition to the Russian invasion after the attack began. And like several other Silicon Valley titans, it also implemented new policies to stifle the Kremlin’s ability to propagandize. A March 1 company blog post by Google global affairs chief Kent Walker stated, “Our teams are working around the clock to support people in Ukraine through our products, defend against cybersecurity threats, [and] surface high-quality, reliable information.” Walker added that Google had “paused the vast majority of our commercial activities in Russia,” including sales to Russian advertisers, sales of advertising directed at Russian YouTube viewers, sign-ups for Google Cloud in Russia, and “payments functionality for most of our services.”
Western commentators have generally lauded Google’s efforts related to the invasion. But the email and translations in Google’s Help Centre suggest that its principled stand against Russian state propagandizing is to some extent outweighed by the company’s interest in continuing to do business in Russia.
In an English-language version of a Google advertising policy update note titled “Updates to Sensitive Events Policy,” dated February 27, 2022, the company explained it was freezing online ads from Russian state media outlets because of the “current war in Ukraine,” considered a “sensitive event.” But the Russian version of the post refers only to the “emergency in Ukraine” rather than a “war.”
A Google advertising policy page in Russian describes the war in Ukraine as “current events that require special attention (emergency in Ukraine).”
Screenshot: The Intercept
In the Video Help Centre, the post “Restricted Products and Services” repeats the warning: “Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, we will temporarily pause the delivery of Google ads to users located in Russia.” In the Russian version, the warning is again changed: “Due to the emergency situation in Ukraine, we are temporarily suspending ad serving to users located in Russia.”
A Google support document explains why the company is freezing certain online ad sales. The English version says it’s because of the “war in Ukraine,” while the Russian version refers to the “emergency situation in Ukraine.”
Screenshot: The Intercept
Another help post found by The Intercept shows a Russian-language version written in compliance with the new censorship law:
A Google policy page, restricting advertising on certain content, references the “war in Ukraine” in the English version. The Russian version on March 10 referenced the “emergency” in Ukraine, and on March 23 was updated to state, “Due to the extraordinary circumstances in Ukraine, we are suspending the monetization of content that uses, denies or justifies the current situation.”
Screenshot: The Intercept
In some cases, Russian help pages include both a reference to “war” and a state-sanctioned euphemism; it’s unclear why.
It’s possible an automated translation system is at fault. According to the translator, most translations are done automatically via software. In more sensitive cases — community rules and support pages — there is usually human oversight to ensure accuracy. This source added that any potential usage of the term “war” in the context of Ukraine would be censored across all Google products still available in the Russian market. They also said the euphemism policy would hypothetically apply beyond support page text to other Google products like Maps.
The move is only the most recent instance of acquiescence to Russian censorship demands by Google and its major Silicon Valley peers. In 2019, Apple agreed to recognize the Russian annexation of Crimea in its iOS Maps app in response to Kremlin pressure. In 2021, Google disclosed that it had complied with 75 percent of content deletion requests it had received from the Russian government that year; that same year, both Google and Apple agreed to remove apps affiliated with prominent Putin critic Alexey Navalny.
