Daily Search Forum Recap: September 18, 2025
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 called the…
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 called the…
A week ago, Google posted a new job named Senior Engineering Analyst, Search, Anti-scraper and within the week it has already been closed out. The LinkedIn page says 49 people…
John Mueller from Google somewhat/kinda made a comment, finally on the impression decreasing with the average position increasing within the Search Console reports. This came after Google dropped the 100…
Previously, we noted a Google AI Mode feature to be able to compare items by checking them off, both for products and local results. Well, Google now has this dialog…
Google “announced” the store widget on its Search Central blog but the weird thing to me is that this store widget is not new, it has been around at least…
Google has made it official and announced updates to Google Discover. That follow feature we covered a few weeks ago is now rolling out officially to all and Google confirmed…
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…
Google Discover may be showing X posts (formerly Twitter tweets) from accounts you follow and not from other accounts that you do not follow. Discover has shown X/Twitter posts for…
OpenAI announced it made improvements to search in ChatGPT. The company said the results are more accurate, reliable, and useful. The update touches on factuality, shopping and formatting.
Markham Erickson, Vice President, Government Affairs and Public Policy at Google told The Verge that searchers want AI Overviews, “contextual answers and summaries,” over links to publishers. But to help…
Earlier this year, we saw some signs that the Google local Questions and Answers feature seemed to be slowly going away, not just in India but other places. Well, now,…
Google is testing a new way to lift a suspension within Google Merchant Center. Some can now do video verification, the same way they can with verifying their Google Business…
A Google Search bug from this morning led to the search results being overwhelmed with just ads. This is obviously a Google Search serving bug where Google had a glitch…
Google is testing placing AI-generated search result snippet summaries. Under each Google search result, there is a thing bar, followed by the Gemini logo and then a short AI-generated summary…
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…
Google announced that the old Search Console achievements you would get in those emails for the past few years, well, now there is a dedicated report you can access in…
Did you know Google Search uses some sort of question fringe score? It is part of the Google search data leak from a year ago, but it seems no one…
It looks like the Microsoft Advertising team is at it again. This time Microsoft is now mixing ads within the organic search results in Bing Image Search. So you will…
Microsoft is testing a new search bar/box header for the Bing Search results. The Bing search bar sticks to the top as you scroll through the search results. Google just…
Penske Media, which operates and owns Rolling Stone, The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Variety and others has sued Google over its AI Overviews. The lawsuit says Google used its content while…
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 Search Console…
On Friday we reported that Google Search was removing the ability to show 100 search results per page. And now, we are seeing a lot of people notice that their…
Microsoft sent out an email on Friday informing businesses that changes are coming to Bing Places, the portal businesses can go to in order to update their business details on…
Most of the third-party Google Search tracking tools are broken and not tracking properly. This seemed to start when Google turned off the ability to show 100 search results per…
There are a lot of folks in the community saying that implementing structured data / schema on your pages will help you with AI Search visibility. But few have really…
Bloomberg reports that the Federal Trade Commission is investigating Google (and Amazon) on whether the companies misled advertisers by not properly disclosing the terms and pricing for ads on their…
No, Google Search Console did not add an AI Overviews filter to the Search Performance report. There was a ton of buzz this morning that Google added the ability to…
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…
This week, I covered the ongoing Google August 2025 spam update and how it heated up this week. Google got into hot water over saying the web is rapidly declining….
On Thursday, September 11, 2025, Google updated its search quality raters guidelines PDF document. The last time Google updated this document was on January 23, 2025, over seven months ago….
Google Search seems to be testing dropping the ability to see 100 search results on a single page. When you add the results parameter to the end of your search…
Microsoft Advertising is testing using three dots, instead of the arrow down, for the sponsored ads URL in the Bing search results. We’ve seen Bing test three dots before but…
Google may be starting to show AI Overviews when you ask for a currency exchange. I can’t seem to fully replicate this but others are starting to see this.
Google has updated the Google Merchant Center pricing policies for September. The changes include updates in the merchant fees, government charges, import and export costs, regional and installment pricing, price…
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 Ads announced…
Google announced a number of updates to Google Ads at Think Retail yesterday, including the global rollout of AI Max for Search campaigns, new Google Merchant Center features, AI updates…
Microsoft is testing putting link icons in the sitelinks carousel buttons within the Bing search ads from Microsoft Advertising. Normally, you’d just see the carousel of sitelinks below the search…
Google is testing adding search refinement options in the sponsored ads in a carousel format. The test shows refinements named “fine-tune your search,” “search specific products” and “specify your search.”…
Google is testing replacing the review stars at the top of the hotel knowledge panel with listing the hotel’s website URL and the hotel’s phone number.
Google seems to be testing a new format for local ads in the search results. These look more like that older card format test we saw a year or so…
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. We are seeing…
The Google August 2025 spam update seems to be heating up again. I am seeing both chatter within the SEO spike, while also seeing many of the third-party Google tracking…
Google Ads is testing new ways to maximize budget utilization and hit volume goals during planned or last-minute promotions. There are a few new options Google is testing, including promotion…
Google is testing placing the arrows next to the sitelinks on the left side of the sitelinks. Normally those arrows are on the right side of the sitelinks.
Google is now showing AI Mode shortcuts in the autocomplete search suggestions. As you type the main Google Search box, Google may try to jump you to AI Mode with…
Microsoft is testing expanding the text of the Microsoft Advertising search ads on Bing Search. So when you hover your mouse over an ad in Bing Search, the text expands.
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 AI Mode…
New data from Similarweb shows that almost all ChatGPT users also use Google, but only 15% of Google users also use ChatGPT. This shows that Google, for now, is still…
Google is dropping support for six of the seven deprecated structured data types it announced back in June. Google Search Console’s Search Console rich result reporting, the Rich Result Test,…
Google supposedly added two new metrics within the Google Ads AI Max campaigns for improved tracking and reporting. One is named expanded matches and the other is named expanded landing…
Google Ads announced new features “aimed at bridging this gap” between your advertising across both your website and app. There are new unified workflows and reporting with in-product nudges, unified…
Since Google launched AI Mode back in March, it has only supported the English language. Google has been releasing it in more countries and expanding it quickly, and now, finally,…
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 initially said…
Google’s John Mueller said in a Reddit thread that he would personally go with a traditional TLD (i.e., .com) even if it means having to put a hyphen in the…
Google is testing alternatives to the title “People also search for” at the bottom of the Google Search results. I am seeing “Related your search,” “Search for next,” and “Also…
Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, said in May that web publishing is not dying. Nick Fox, VP of Search at Google, said in May that the web is thriving. But in…
Google AI Mode within Search Labs personalizes your results for dining-related topics. Well, now Google is showing a disclaimer when it does that. The disclaimer reads, “Personalized for you: Now…
Google seems to be using the reviews on your Google Business Profile listings to give responses in its AI Overviews. If you search for your favorite doctor reviews, you may…
Logan Kilpatrick, lead product manager for Google DeepMind, Gemini, and all AI products at Google, said Google AI Mode will be the default for Google Search “soon.” He said this…
The European Union has fined Google $3.5 billion, 2.95 billion euro, for breaking its competition rules by favoring its own digital advertising services. Part of this ruling also says Google…
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. Apple will be…
This week, we covered the big Google Monopoly remedy ruling that will not end up breaking up the company and was more like a slap on the wrist. Google also…
Apple is reportedly working on a revamp of Siri, Apple Intelligence and its Apple Search features for 2026. Yep, another revamp. Bloomberg reported Apple planning to launch its own artificial…
Google Ads will soon allow advertisers to place ads for “Mature Cosmetic Procedures.” This change goes into effect on September 22, 2025, and then advertisers will be allowed to advertise…
Google will switch to a monthly release cycle for the Google Ads API in 2026. These are all estimated release dates but Google wants to release more frequent updates and…
Microsoft has been beta testing a new Bing Maps interface for the past couple of months. I just recently became aware of it and wanted to share some screenshots of…
We know Google can show AI-generated summary cards in the local panels on mobile and desktop. But I am not sure what this thing is, it was spotted by Stephen…
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. Court documents reveal…
With the Google monopoly remedies ruling from the other day, we have more documents from the court mentioning more about Google’s usage of user interactions, user data, Chrome data and…
In June we reported that Microsoft was testing a floating Copilot search box in the Bing Search results interface. Now, Microsoft added keyword suggestions next to the floating Copilot search…
With the Google monopoly remedies ruling from the other day, we have even more documents from the court mentioning more about Google’s search index, spam score, PageRank, page quality, Glue…
Microsoft is testing expandable related searches in the Bing Search results. When you hover your mouse cursor over the related searches, Bing will load more below them.
Google sent out emails to hotels and lodging partners to inform them that they will begin enforcing pricing accuracy on their listings and feeds. The email says that starting on…
I am deeply sad to report that Alan Bleiweiss has passed away on August 22nd. Alan was a true friend to the search marketing industry; he always had a witty…
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 won’t be…
Google is testing a new top bar interface design for the search results page both in light and dark mode. The new design shades the top bar more, so it…
Did you know Google has a technology called FastSearch? No, not the one from the early 2000s, but its own Google FastSearch. Google said FastSearch is faster than Google Search,…
Google Ads has added new customization options for some of the graphing, charting and reporting. This change gives you “Conversion Delay,” “Performance Anomaly Insights,” and “Notes,” and is enabled with…
Google has updated its Google Business Profiles links policies & guidelines. Google added new sections for dedicated landing pages, direct action completion, social media sites and a new business links…
Google is testing new direction buttons in the local pack within the Google Search results. Normally, we see a “Directions” button, but now Google is testing “Map it,” “Map,” “Route,”…
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled on the remedies for Google being declared a monopoly. In short, Google won’t be broken up (will keep Chrome, Android and Ads), it will…
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…
We finally had a confirmed Google Search update this past month, the August 2025 spam update, which seems pretty intense and it is not done rolling out yet.
Google Ads has reportedly added new checkboxes to the selector view within the Google Ads overviews of your campaigns. This lets you use the checkboxes, select the campaigns you want,…
Ginny Marvin, Google’s Ads Liaison, responded to some data that suggests that AI Max is expansionary on SPN, the Search Partner Network. That using AI Max will more heavily target…
Google Ads now lets you search Google Maps for setting up your location assets for your ad campaigns. You can select up to 10 locations from Google Maps to link…
Google Search is testing a new game in its search results to encourage searchers to search more. It is likely called the Google Search mini-game and it rewards searchers with…
Navah Hopkins, the Microsoft Ads Liaison, posted on LinkedIn a bit of a refresher on how CPCs work with search ads and Microsoft Advertising. Specifically, why your bid may be…
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…
Google may be testing a new format for AI Overviews in the search results. This one does not have the AI Overview label on the AI Overview, plus it seems…
Google’s John Mueller was asked again if a change in crawling patterns is related to Google algorithm updates. In which he said again, No, it is not.
Danny Sullivan, the former Google Search Liaison, spoke at WordCamp on Friday on the topic of How and why Google Search keeps evolving. The video is up for anyone to…
Google has supposedly updated the models that run AI Mode. Robby Stein from Google wrote on X, “We’re seeing big improvements for complex STEM questions.”
Google now has the ability within AI Mode to compare listed products or local businesses by selecting the listing and having AI Mode compare the ones you selected. Then AI…
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…
This week we had our first Google spam update in 8 months, the August 2025 spam update. This update touched down very quickly, likely within 24 hours. I also posted…
Often, but not always, when Google releases an algorithm update, we don’t see the impact for the first few days. However, with the August 2025 spam update, we are likely…
Some SEOs are noticing that when you look at your sitemaps report in Bing Webmaster Tools, for some sitemaps, some are missing the Index Coverage button. I personally can see…
Google is testing a rounded corner search result snippet card design again. We’ve seen this numerous times over the past decade or so and it seems to be back. The…
Google may show a new “Profiles” button in the Google Business Profiles NMX dashboard. It may show if you manage multiple Google Business Profiles and you are in this test.