Scale & Strategy
This is Scale & Strategy, we cut through the noise (like a hot knife through butter) to bring you the cleanest insights available!
Here’s what we got for you today:
- Shipping automation, unfilled ads, and antitrust complaints: Google’s week in a nutshell
- Meta Poaches Apple’s Top AI Brain — and Sparks a Talent Exodus
- How to Actually Use Google Search Console’s URL Inspection Tool
Shipping automation, unfilled ads, and antitrust complaints: Google’s week in a nutshell
Google’s tightening the automation screws—and catching heat in the process.
First up: smarter shipping estimates.
Google Merchant Center is rolling out a new feature that automatically updates shipping timelines based on your historical tracking data and site content crawled by its StoreBot. The goal?
More accurate delivery estimates → fewer cart abandons → higher conversions.
But here’s the tradeoff: you’ll need to give StoreBot access or link your third-party tracking data. For many sellers, it’s likely worth it.
Fixing empty ad space (sort of).
If you’ve ever lost money from unfilled AdSense slots, Google’s now testing a workaround. Instead of leaving those gaps empty, it’ll show contextual prompts based on page content—like links to related topics or products.
Click one, and Google serves a relevant ad in a pop-up. This is auto-enabled by default over the next 30 days, but you can opt out.
But not everything’s going smoothly…
In Europe, Google’s AI Overviews are now facing formal antitrust heat. A group of publishers claims the summaries pull traffic from their sites without consent, and they’ve filed a complaint under the EU’s Digital Markets Act.
Google’s response? The usual: “We drive billions of clicks.” Sound familiar?
Meta’s moves: rebrands, rules, and regulation theater
Meta’s renaming things again—nothing new, just branding cleanup.
- Campaign Budget Optimization → Advantage+ Campaign Budget
- Advantage lookalike → Advantage+ Lookalike
Don’t worry, the functionality hasn’t changed—just expect some new names when you log into Ads Manager.
On the “teen safety” front:
Meta says it supports an EU proposal requiring parental approval for anyone under 16 to access digital platforms. Meanwhile, it’s promoting Teen Accounts—its in-house controls to restrict content, contacts, and screen time.
Brazil’s not buying it. Regulators just raised Instagram’s minimum age to 16, citing “unsafe content.” They dismissed Meta’s efforts as surface-level.
And in the U.S., a Supreme Court ruling may open the door to tougher online age verification—though Meta’s lobby group, NetChoice, claims it doesn’t apply to social platforms.
Why it matters:
If you’re targeting younger audiences, the regulatory walls are tightening. Expect more hurdles—and fewer teens on Meta platforms—in the months ahead.
Meta Poaches Apple’s Top AI Brain — and Sparks a Talent Exodus
Meta just landed a major hire: Ruoming Pang, the head of Apple’s foundation AI models. The move reportedly came with a compensation package worth tens of millions—and it’s not just Pang. Meta’s new Superintelligence division also snagged top talent from OpenAI and Anthropic.
The details:
- Pang led Apple’s 100-person team responsible for building core AI models powering Apple Intelligence and the upcoming Siri revamp.
- He’s now joining Meta’s Superintelligence group, run by former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang.
- Sources say Apple execs explored replacing their in-house models with OpenAI or Anthropic—sparking internal tension and weakening morale.
- Bloomberg reports that more engineers from Apple’s AI group are planning exits, with several eyeing Meta or other major labs.
- Other new recruits to Meta’s team include Yuanzhi Li (OpenAI) and Anton Bakhtin (Anthropic).
Why it matters:
Apple's AI rollout has been shaky at best. Siri’s latest iteration still feels behind, and the company’s internal AI direction remains murky. Meanwhile, Meta’s playbook is clear: spend whatever it takes to build the smartest team in the room. Pang’s departure is a signal that Apple’s AI ambitions may be falling apart from the inside—and Meta is happy to collect the pieces.
How to Actually Use Google Search Console’s URL Inspection Tool
The URL Inspection tool in Search Console is one of the most underrated assets in SEO. Yes, it checks index status—but it also gives you direct visibility into how Google sees and processes your content.
Think of it as your front-row seat into Googlebot’s mind.
SEO expert Olga Zarr recently outlined how to use it to your advantage. Here’s a practical breakdown:
1) Confirm whether a URL is indexed
Simple, but critical. You’ll see one of two messages:
- “URL is on Google” → eligible to appear in search.
- “URL is not on Google” → not indexed.
If your page isn’t showing up, this tool helps you understand why. Common culprits include noindex tags, crawl blocks in robots.txt, redirect chains, or thin/duplicate content.
2) Request indexing when you fix or launch something
Click “Request Indexing” to get your page into Google’s crawl queue—especially useful after a major fix or content update.
Just remember: requesting indexing doesn’t guarantee it’ll happen. But for high-priority or time-sensitive pages, it’s a strong nudge.
Tip: Make sure the page is valuable, internally linked, and not blocked in any way before you request.
3) Compare Google’s version of your page with your own
Click “View Crawled Page” or run a Live Test. You’ll get:
- Final rendered HTML
- A screenshot of how Google sees the page
- A full resource list (images, JS files, CSS, etc.)
This is especially useful for JavaScript-heavy pages where rendering issues can prevent indexing. Console errors and missing resources are often to blame.
4) Use live tests to confirm real-time fixes
When you change something technical—like fixing a broken script or updating meta tags—run a Live Test. It shows whether the page is now crawlable and indexable.
You’ll see:
- Live rendered content
- Current structured data
- Console output (errors, warnings, etc.)
If it looks good live but hasn’t updated in Google’s index yet, that’s your green light to request indexing again.
Bottom line:
The URL Inspection tool is more than a checkbox—it’s your debugging command center.
Used properly, it’ll save you hours of second-guessing and help you troubleshoot exactly what’s going wrong when pages don’t rank or get indexed.
Get comfortable with it, and it becomes one of the most powerful tools in your SEO arsenal.
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