By Maverick 
Since the industry of SEO is so dynamic it is important to be aware of events and updates within the industry today. This blog provides a recap of the major events that occurred in February 2023, especially with respect to Google, Bing, and other stakeholders of the industry. Let us remember the significant events that took place during the month and why they matter in the performance of your SEO campaigns.
Important Announcements from Bing 🔍
Bing has had a wonderful month making great improvements in its search capabilities. On the 1st of February, the company Microsoft announced that they would now give more consideration to the value defined in the last mod attribute in XML sitemaps. This shows the time at which a URL was modified to tell search engines when it is necessary to recrawl the web page.
Nearly 18 percent of the analyzed websites did not set the lastmod value, despite Bing giving it some significance. Thus, in this regard, webmasters need to pay more attention to this piece of information to improve their websites on search engines.
Google On The Attack: Introducing Video Indexing Update 📹
On the same date, Google Search Console informed about the enhancement of its video indexing report. Webmasters can now monitor the frequency of their videos displayed on search results pages, as the report now provides impressions on those videos. If a page appears more than once in the search results, the statistics for the videos included on that page will be calculated separately.
This update is particularly valuable for those content creators who frequently use video to bolster their SEO since it allows for a more well-focused analysis of how videos perform and how visible they are.
Google and its AIs 🤖
On February 6th, Google presented its new chatbot, BARD, based on new language models. Users interact more effectively with search results through this new device, which delivers more contextually relevant and accurate answers.
According to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, BARD utilizes the vast amount of information present on the web hence it is effective for people looking for particular facts. This development places Google as a direct competitor to other AI-capable searching systems.
Bing dials up its assessments with advanced AI capabilities. 💻
On February 7, Microsoft launched an AI-enhanced Bing. The specific enhancement allows the user to converse with the search results as if obtaining information in a dialogue.
The primary goal of this new functionality is to improve interaction between the system and its users by facilitating the formulation of questions and quickly supplying relevant answers to them.
Google’s Multi-Search Feature 🌍
On February 8th Google introduced the functionality called Multi-search Near Me, which allows people to search for products located in their vicinity by using other images. People can shoot a picture of an object in question and search by typing ‘Where in the vicinity is it available’.
Such functionality is indicative of the way Google seeks to develop local search activity and facilitate users instantly by combining images and text-based queries.
The Updates to Google’s Monitoring Tool ⚙️
As for the updates, on February 10th, Google announced Lighthouse 10, but this is a future update. Developers have made many improvements in scoring factors, grouped into a change. For example, they completely removed the Time to Interactive (TTI) score and shifted its capacity to the Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) metric.
This alteration is in line with what Google has continuously sought to improve upon with regard to the performance indicators that matter the most: the usability metrics and the speed of when a page can be used.
Privacy Sandbox Launch 🎉
On the 14th of February, Google declared the launching of the beta version of Privacy Sandbox for Android developers. This purpose is to develop the means of tracking the users without accessing their personal information and provide the advertisements accordingly.
This only reinforces the strategy of Google to eliminate the usage of third-party cookies while still achieving the targets set by the advertisements.
Best Practices for Backlinking 📊
On February 15th, Google issues a best practice for building backlinks from the official site. The manual should not list what should not be done concerning backlinks. Instead, it emphasizes the importance of doing it the right way.
The guide emphasizes that the anchor text should be meaningful and relevant, avoiding appraisal links like ‘click here.’ This guideline helps prevent the use of such links in high-quality, SEO-intensive backlink building.
Leadership Changes at YouTube 🎥
February 16th saw the resignation of YouTube SEO Susan Wojcicki after nine years at the helm. Such a change may mean a change of the strategic plan of the site and therefore, affect both the participants and the advertisers.
As the platform continues to develop, it will be intriguing to observe how the change of leadership affects the policies or the features of the platform.
Facebook’s Paid Feature 💵
On February 18, Meta announced something that many have been wanting for a while now. It was a paid option meant for verified accounts akin to what Twitter has with its Blue Ticker. This is a paid subscription and will be available only in Australia and New Zealand at first.
This action draws attention to the strategies that social media networks have lately been embracing with a view of making more money from users by giving them additional ways to engage and support.
System Update of Product Review Road Map 🛍️
As for product reviews, Google started rolling out improvements to this service on February 20th. It was relatively a silent update. Nevertheless, it clearly shows the interest of Google in producing useful product reviews for users.
Ignoring such shifts may not be the best approach for companies that wish to make the most out of product reviews in SEO and as a tool to reach customers.
Google Search Console Enhancements 🔧
It was on the 22nd of February that the Google Search Console came up with new features for managing verified properties.
These changes also improve the management of the process as now users will be able to eliminate or basic and change the access levels on their properties, improving user satisfaction.
Conclusion 🎉
Within this month, the activity of the reverberation in the SEO landscape has been relentless. Each of them, from artificial intelligence improvement to a new tool in Google Search Console, invites businesses to make changes in their approaches and strengthen their online positioning. Embrace the knowledge and the trends as they come especially in line with SEO strategies.