The Publisher Lab: Google’s E-E-A-T, New Capabilities in YouTube Shorts, & AI Meeting at the White House

This week’s Publisher Lab episode features Tyler Bishop and Anthony Moore as they discuss Google’s latest comments on their E-E-A-T policy, new capabilities in YouTube Shorts, and this week’s meeting between AI pioneers and White House policymakers on the growing impact AI can have on society.

If you would prefer to watch the podcast, check it out on YouTube. You can also listen to it wherever you can get podcasts.

Google’s E-E-A-T Policy

Google has famously denied that they have any official web search tools that directly measure a site’s experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T), yet recent comments made by Danny Sullivan, Google’s Search Liaison have shed more light on this issue. “Our existing documentation does explain E-E-A-T and YMYL in the context of how they should be considered by content creators seeking to produce helpful, people-first content. It’s all on this page,” he commented.

Sullivan went on: “Google’s automated systems are designed to use many different factors to rank great content. After identifying relevant content, our systems aim to prioritize those that seem most helpful. To do this, they identify a mix of factors that can help determine which content demonstrates aspects of experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, or what we call E-E-A-T.“

This would seem to reveal that Google does indeed factor these traits into their ranking of websites, even if it’s not directly tied to a concrete “score” or measuring system. Tyler and Anthony discuss their thoughts on what publishers should do about this.

Google Bolsters Advertising on YouTube Shorts

Google announced new advertising capabilities for YouTube Shorts, making it easier for brands to interact with short-form videos; Google is extending shorts into video reach campaigns, which utilize Google’s AI technology to deliver an optimal mix of ads.

Google is also incorporating in-feed video ads into video reach campaigns, meaning these ads will appear on YouTube’s home feed and search results.

Furthermore, Google is also introducing “First Position on Shorts,” which allows an advertiser’s content to be the first video a viewer sees when they start a session of scrolling on Shorts; will only be available against YouTube Select videos, but plans to expand more broadly

Youtube Shorts is rapidly growing, with daily views reaching 50 billion; despite the positive growth trajectory of Shorts, Google has reported a second consecutive drop in YouTube advertising revenue.

Google, Microsoft CEOs called to AI meeting at White House

On Thursday, May 4, 2023, the CEOs of Google and Microsoft were called to a meeting at the White House. The meeting was reportedly focused on a range of issues related to technology and innovation, including concerns about data privacy, cybersecurity, and the role of technology in society.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella were among a group of technology leaders invited to the meeting, which was organized by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Other attendees included the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, and Facebook, as well as top officials from the National Security Council and other government agencies.

According to reports, the meeting covered a range of topics related to technology and innovation, including the need for greater cooperation between government and industry to address issues related to data privacy and cybersecurity. The attendees also reportedly discussed the potential impact of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing, and the need for government investment in research and development to ensure that the United States remains at the forefront of technological innovation. Tyler and Anthony discuss their thoughts on the future of AI and what publishers need to know about it.

Enjoy this week’s episode of the Publisher Lab!