Google quietly signals that NotebookLM will not obey the robots.txt protocol. This how to block it. The post Google Quietly Signals NotebookLM Ignores Robots.txt appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web. Google Business Profiles…
With search traffic flat and AI accelerating zero-click, publishers face a survival test that demands SEO maturity and sharper strategies. The post AI Survival Strategies For Publishers appeared first on…
For the original iTunes version…
Google has published a new help document on the topic of Google Business Profile negative review extortion scams. The document explains what they are, how to report the scam, what…
Google is testing a new section within the Google Ads advertising console named “Missed Growth Opportunities.” This section shows you the “performance you could’ve achieved in the last year if…
There are a nice number of reports of GA4, Google Analytics, showing a huge surge in organic search traffic over the past couple of days, but Google Search Console is…
Google has updated its Voice Search models to be powered by Speech-to-Retrieval (S2R). Google said this allows it to “gets answers straight from your spoken query without having to convert…
The Microsoft Advertising blog posted about how to optimize for AI Search Answers. I thought it was weird to see this on the Microsoft Advertising blog and not on the…
This checklist combines proven SEO essentials with the new steps that matter for AI search. No fluff, no fuss. It will help you strengthen your SEO foundation, adapt to changing…
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…
Google took 9 years to scale. ChatGPT does it in 4. The adoption slope is the wake-up call. The post 2026: When AI Assistants Become The First Layer appeared first…
Thirty years of industry insight from Carolyn Shelby reveals how AI, LLMs, and Google’s strategy are redefining search models and long-term marketing outcomes. The post 30-Year SEO Expert: Why AI…
While I was offline, it seems the chatter within the SEO industry spiked around the topic of search ranking volatility. It is harder to confirm the volatility, now with the…
Google announced it will replace the “Ad networks” blocking control from Brand safety within in AdSense with a new “Authorized Buyers” blocking control. This will start on November 6, 2025,…
Google AI Mode is now available in over 200 countries and territories. Google said they are expanding AI Mode to “more than 35 new languages and over 40 new countries…
Google upgraded the Try On feature to now support shoes, in addition to other forms of clothing. Plus, Try on will soon also work in Australia, Canada and Japan, Google…
Google seems to be testing a new Insights feature for Google Business Profiles. The new insights section shows you profile suggestions, like tips on getting more reviews, what to update…
Google added Google NotebookLM to the list of Google crawlers, under the list of user-triggered fetchers. Google said they added this user-agent “based on feedback.”
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…
SEO underperforms when capable teams face hidden barriers like turf wars, outdated workflows, and weak accountability. The post The 5 Hidden Organizational Forces That Undermine Enterprise SEO appeared first on…
Google rewards intent, not volume. Build SEO strategies around customer actions that move the business forward. The post How To Build SEO Strategies Around Real Customer Behavior appeared first on…
Google has added a new promotion option to Google Merchant Center. The new option is Google Wallet. Google doesn’t detail what this promotion does but it likely lets you promote…
Microsoft is telling Bing Search users when it is using history for some of its search features. Bing will show section named “History” and then say what history is knows…
Google is testing a new, more publisher-friendly version of the AI Overviews for recipe results. The new design has the recipe cards at the top, citations at the bottom and…
Google is testing using the italic font type for the links in AI Mode. So the links have a bit of a slant to them, compared to the other text…
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So I did something different: I asked the speakers and panelists at Ahrefs Evolve, our conference in San Diego from October 13-15, which newsletters they actually read and recommend. The…
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…
Learn how to successfully do Reddit marketing for your business—without seeming spammy.
Microsoft is testing a new and updated layout for its Copilot product box/section within the Bing search results. It looks like they just swap the answer and product listing sections…
Google had a bug in Google Discover that showed the publisher’s name and logo twice on a story. The publisher’s name showed once at the top and once at the…
Google Search is testing a new carousel to promote AI Mode named “Ask AI Mode anything.” It gives you ideas on how to “Explore” new or related topics in AI…
Google updated the wording in the title documentation for Merchant Center, now suggesting you can use your own brand or company name in the short title of your products. That…
Search Atlas announced an ambitious slate of features that make it easier than ever to manage every aspect of SEO The post Search Atlas Announces New Features For Agencies appeared…
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…
This is a programming note that Tuesday and Wednesday are Sukkot and I will be offline the next two days. I will be offline on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 7th…
If you search for [events near me], Google may not show you any events near you. It seems like Google is not serving that events carousel right now. I suspect…
With 33% of organic searches now come from AI agents, CMOs must rethink SEO fundamentals to ensure content is accessible, authoritative, and AI-citable. The post The CMO & SEO: Staying…
Google is testing having the “Show More” button within AI Overviews jump you directly into AI Mode as opposed to loading more of the AI Overview beneath it. This appears…
As we reported earlier, Microsoft said a new Bing Places update is coming soon. Well, now it is rolling out to businesses in Bing Places for Business.
Google was previously testing placing AI-generated snippet summaries below each search result snippet. Now, Google is testing replacing the search result snippet’s description with its own AI-generated description.
Microsoft will be shutting down its Microsoft Advertising Ads for Social Impact ad grant program. It will officially be discontinued in December 2025.
A year ago, we learned that Google would transition from Google call ads, call-only ads, to using call assets within responsive search ads (RSAs) but we didn’t know the dates….
Google reports a data center issue is causing a partial Search disruption, affecting some pages in certain locales. The post Google Search Experiencing Ongoing Service Disruption appeared first on Search…
Google has confirmed a Google Search serving issue that is currently ongoing and impacting serving “some pages in some locales.” This is a large enough issue that Google posted about…
Microsoft launched a new Bing Places with a recommendation tool, faster Google Business Page import, and automatic migration for existing users. The post Microsoft Launches New Bing Places For Business…
AI has infinitely sped up the hype cycle in marketing. So when the term “vibe marketing” came onto the scene, you may have rolled your eyes for a moment before…
Discover the proven process to map real AI search journeys, uncover hidden decision points, and turn AI-driven discovery into revenue. The post In-House Marketers: How To Use Customer Insights To…
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…
Auditing your brand’s mentions is how you uncover: How the public sees your brand What misinformation might be feeding AI systems Which topics and entities are most strongly connected to…
But even if you’re our most loyal fan, there will still be plenty of insights that you’ve missed or have forgotten already. Many of these ideas are too good to…
This week we covered the Google AI Mode news that it is more visual for many queries, including shopping queries. Google AI Mode agentic capabilities can now be opted into….
Barry Pollard from Google did a long explanation on Bluesky on why Google Search Console says an LCP is bad but the individual URLs are fine. I don’t want to…
Did you know Google can label some of the reviews in the product reviews section as “incentivized”? I am not sure I’ve seen this before, have you?
Google is testing another variation to the title links in the Google Search results – a light gray effect. So when you hover your mouse cursor over the snippet, the…
Google has rolled out the new, more compact, menu bar for Google Merchant Center Next. This was part of a slew of user interface updates that Google has been slowly…
Microsoft is testing using really large images in the Bing Search Copilot ads. I don’t believe I’ve seen such large ads in this ad unit before, so it seems new…
The W3C unveiled a new polysemic logo, one that is purposely designed to be evocative of multiple concepts The post W3C Rolls Out A New Evocative Logo appeared first on…
Traditional SEO metrics no longer define success as AI intermediaries and multimodal search tools transform user journeys and reshape how brands achieve visibility. The post How AI Is Redefining Search…
ChatGPT recommends products — complete with photos, pricing, and purchase links — to its 700 million weekly users. And now customers can complete purchases without leaving the chat. BIG deal….
If I had a dollar for every time someone said “know your audience,” I could retire from marketing altogether. And yet, most teams are completely winging it. Too often, marketers…
In the retrieval era, your competitive edge comes from embedding discipline, not just traditional technical SEO. The post Vector Index Hygiene: A New Layer Of Technical SEO appeared first on…
Strengthen your international presence by aligning hreflang setup with market goals and user expectations. The post Ask An SEO: What Are The Most Common Hreflang Mistakes & How Do I…
Yoast announced a new AI visibility tool that can help SMBs improve AI SEO. The post Yoast Announces New AI Visibility Tool appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Perplexity optimization tips include choosing high-performance topics and writing for user engagement.
Usage patterns show LLMs reshaping how people consume information, raising the stakes for publishers to deliver real assets, not just content. The post How People Really Use LLMs And What…
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…
Backlinks still matter in AI search, but quality, diversity, and even nofollow links now shift visibility more than raw volume. The post How AI Really Weighs Your Links (Analysis Of…
This is just a programming note that I will be 100% offline starting Wednesday night (October 1st) through Thursday night (October 2nd) for Yom Kippur. I am not scheduling any…
Google’s spam update completed after almost a month rollout, it was pretty wild and got even more wild after the rollout completed. Google AI Mode rolled out to more languages,…
Google announced new message assets requirements for Google Ads. These new requirements aim “to ensure a good user experience” and go into effect on October 30, 2025.
Google is testing having the citations stick to the top (of the AI Overview section only) as you scroll down past the AI Overview. This keeps those citations more in…
Google announced that AI Mode had been updated to handle and respond more visually. So AI Mode responses both understand your queries in a more visual way and respond with…
Google Ads has announced several new features, including segmentation in asset reporting and enhancements to channel performance reporting. Google told me that this continues to provide advertisers with the visibility…
Here is a new interview published yesterday by The Economic Times Podcasts with Elizabeth Reid, VP of Google Search. She spoke about Google’s progression of AI in Search, content quality,…
In June, Google began testing showing a new answer box for emoji related queries. So when you search for a specific type of emoji, Google will give you the emoji…
Google AI Overviews increasingly overlaps with organic search results, especially for YMYL queries. The post Google AI Overviews Overlaps Organic Search By 54% appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Google’s John Mueller answers a question about expired domains and ranking issues. The post Google Explains Expired Domains And Ranking Issues appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web…
As a reminder, Google dropped its unofficial support of showing 100 search results per page, which caused issues for third party tracking tools and even Search Console itself. The theory…
OpenAI announced Instant Checkout in ChatGPT, allowing you to make purchases directly in ChatGPT. This is powered by the Agentic Commerce Protocol that is built with Stripe.
Google is testing not underlining the search result snippets when you hover your mouse cursor over the snippet. Generally, Google will add an underline to the title of the link…
Google is testing a blue progress bar under the Shopping Ads carousel in the search results. As you scroll the carousel to see more products, the blue progress bar will…
Google added a new report to the Google AdSense reporting named traffic source breakdown. This report helps you understand the origins of your page traffic. It also categorizes traffic based…
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…
Research across hundreds of thousands of queries shows AI Overviews shrinking click-through rates, destabilizing publishing models, and accelerating zero-click search growth. The post The Impact Of AI Overviews & How…
Matt Diggity Google’s AI Overviews now decide which businesses show up in the most valuable search real estate, pulling in data from multiple sources and reshaping how customers discover brands….
We covered the topic of taking over an old domain name from someone else and how that can sometimes be problematic in the Google SEO world. But here is a…
Google seems to be testing or rolling out a new AI chat feature labeled “Ask Stores” within Google Shopping. The AI chat feature lets you “Ask about hard-to-find items, shopping,…
On Friday, I reported on some folks gaining access to agentic features in AI Mode. Well, Robby Stein from Google announced later that day that anyone in the US can…
We ran a volatility test to see how consistent AI Mode is. Explore our findings on how geography and query phrasing impact AIM results in local search.
A number of local SEOs are noticing a lift in the number of suspensions they are dealing with in Google Business Profiles. Many local SEOs are reporting that they are…
Google said it will be strict in enforcing accurate pricing for lodging listings on Google, both for ads and free booking links. There is no policy change but they will…
Discover the key differences between SEO and AEO. Learn how each works, where they overlap, and practical strategies to win visibility in both.
We analyzed 26,000 Quora URLs cited in Google AI Mode and partnered with Quora’s team to uncover the patterns behind content that surfaces in AI answers.
They’ve always happened on social media, forums, news sites, and blogs. But now they’re happening in AI responses—and these mentions influence how millions of people discover and perceive your brand….
Google launched Search Live in the U.S., adding voice and camera AI search. Here’s what it means for SEO and how to adapt.
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web. The Google Ads…
Learn about GEO vs. SEO and how to optimize for AI tools like ChatGPT and Google‘s AI Overviews.