Google is Changing Services Left and Right For 2018-2019
April 2, 2018
Google is constantly evolving as a search engine and as a business, and 2018-2019 are going to see some big changes; some good some bad. From the elimination of cryptocurrency advertising to the closure of their old finance pages, Google is making waves and setting an example.
With the recent flack Facebook is receiving about privacy and data leakage, internet giants like Google are working harder than ever to be more transparent with their users. Some of this transparency brings changes which will encourage genuine, helpful material, and eliminate content that is unnecessary or untrue.
In the quest for the best, Google has begun to kill services they no longer need, to modernize and continue to evolve. Here are some of the changes you can expect to see over the next two years.
Changes to Finance
In 2017, Google began rolling out the new design for their finance page and made an announcement regarding the new page and what it would include. The majority of web users weren’t thrilled with the news of changes to come, even going so far as to start a petition on change.org to get Google to back down and retain the traditional layout.
The new look doesn’t have the portfolio feature, loved by many users, and talked about by current users who oppose this layout. Unfortunately, Google hasn’t made any motion to change back, and may not in the future.
Goo.gl Console on the Way Out
In 2009, M. Hermanto introduced the world wide web to a Google URL shortener, with Goo.gl. The shortener allowed website owners to condense long URLS to make for easier browsing. Having an overly long link can make it difficult to remember when needed, or difficult to recreate manually. Over time, web users have fallen in love with the URL shortening service, which is now on its way out. New users won’t be able to access the feature at all after April, while those who have already been using the service, has until this time next year to find another URL shortener.
No More Crypto
As can be seen in news stories across the internet, Google, among other internet giants, such as Facebook, has banned the advertising of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency related products and services. Whether you sell bitcoin, want to teach others how to mine for bitcoin, or are offering your point of view on bitcoin, Google will no longer be promoting the material.
Websites banning cryptocurrency related advertising are doing so to reduce the amount of fraudulent and misleading websites. While some crypto currency businesses are legitimate, too many dishonest advertisements have made their way onto the internet, leading consumers into traps where the content doesn’t match the link, or worse.
The change will occur by June of this year, giving companies a chance to find other methods of advertising. Google announced the upcoming change online, explaining that they’ve already removed a huge amount of advertisements this year which didn’t work with their current policies and guidelines. These policies are constantly changing and must be watched carefully by website owners to avoid penalties or low search engine rankings.
Ad Grants Through Google
Changes to Google aren’t all bad, as can be witnessed by the company’s latest changes to their ad grant program. Ad grants offers free advertising for nonprofit organizations who can’t pay for their advertising quite the same as other businesses. The program changed last December, including a lift on the $2 bid cap. Other changes include multiple keywords only, and only when they have a minimum quality score of 3 or more.
In the announcement, Google reported that they currently serve more than 35-thousand nonprofit organizations and want to continue offering support to these companies. It is suggested that nonprofit members also make an ad words campaign so that they can increase traffic and revenue.
No More Mobile Clutter
Google has made it clear that going mobile friendly with your website is important in 2018-2019, even going so far as to change the algorithm to include mobile pages as ranking higher in the mobile index. Now, Google is allegedly considering doing away with pagination and creating a “load more” option instead. Rather than having to click forward to page 2, 3, 4, etc., Google users who are viewing the search engine from a mobile phone or other mobile device may be able to continue loading results without the muss and fuss of loading a whole new page every time you run out of query result options.
Currently, this new layout concept is only in the testing phase and Google has yet to announce anything officially. This means nobody knows when exactly this change will take place, if it does in fact go through. There have been times when tech companies have decided not to roll out an update or a new service based on testing, so there’s always a chance Google will change their mind or change the way that the feature works.
The rate of change of modern search engines is both alarming and exhilarating for those who follow these tech giants and their evolutions. You can continue to watch the progress of Google, for example, directly through the Google updates page. Here, the platform posts changes to the algorithm, new plans moving forward with current projects and endeavors, and more. Whether good news or bad, if you’re a website owner, it’s good to know what’s new in the tech world.