Latest SEO News & Tips From SE Roundtable Blog

Microsoft has added favicons to the links within Bing Chat / Copilot. Favicons should make the links beneath the AI-generated answer more clickable and noticeable to users.

Did you know that Google Search checks about four billion host names each and every day for robots.txt purposes? Gary Illyes said in the December Search Off The Record podcast…

Google added a new search feature to its Search Labs named Notes a few weeks ago and Google is already pushing its use by emailing those who created notes some…

Google is testing local ads in its search results titled “Choose a place in the area.” This comes in a format with image carousels and list views.

Google is testing a navigation slider feature in the recipe images within the recipe search results. This illustrates to searchers that they can swipe over the image to see additional…

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…

In part one with Dave DiGregorio we spoke about his journey from working in sports memorabilia to getting into SEO. Then, in part two we talked about some local pack…

Google released only nine confirmed search ranking algorithm updates this year. Don’t worry, there were a lot more unconfirmed updates this year that we covered and it was a very…

Generally, above the Google Explore is a “more results” button, but Google is now testing adding “Follow This Search” next to the More Results button. The follow feature probably is…

Google is now showing author name icons via profile page and a site’s favicon and sitename on articles in the article carousel. So it is showing two favicon-like icons in…

Google seems to be testing a new box underneath the local pack that is titled “websites for places.” It shows websites that represent the place listings showing in the local…

Google may be showing fewer image boxes in its search results. SimilarWeb’s RankRanger tool and Semrush tool shows a large drop in the number of image boxes Google is showing…

Every year, John Mueller, Senior Search Analyst / Search Relations team lead at Google makes a significant effort to help respond to SEO-related questions on Christmas. He has done this…

No one should be surprised to hear that I am reporting on some intense Google search ranking volatility starting this Friday, December 22nd, through the weekend, with things seeming to…

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…

As we approach the end of the year, it just seems Google is getting more and more volatile with its search results. Google also confirmed that ‘openness’ as a local…

When Google first launched its Search Generative Experience, it labeled the “end” date of the program as December 2023 for US users and February 2024 for India and other countries….

Gary Illyes said some search engines can be confused by seeing double slashes in a URL. Previously, Google suggested not to use double slashes in your URLs but here Gary…

Kwanzaa is coming up next week and Google has launched its Kwanzaa decorations for its search results. Just like Google did with Christmas decorations and Chanukah decorations. Search for Kwanzaa…

Gary Illyes from Google explained how Google Search may or may not handle special characters within Google Search. He explained this in the latest Google SEO office hours at the…

Microsoft is currently on a holiday lockdown for Bing, Copilot, formerly known as Bing Chat. Mikhail Parakhin, the CEO, Advertising and Web Services at Microsoft, wrote on X, “Holiday lockdown…

Bing is showing a box in its search results for “Local businesses for Christmas.” This box shows Christmas-related stores, such as groceries, bakeries, etc, that are open now.

Google Ads has this advertiser verification program and now advertisers can use their DBAs (“doing business as”) or trade names for that verification. Google said these names are accepted if…

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 had…

Google may be testing a new search result snippet interface that overlays more details about that search snippet. It is like a preview feature when you hover over the search…

Google sends some businesses personalized emails about suspensions to their Google Business Profile. The emails explain why the suspension happened and the necessary steps to reverse the suspension, with an…

Google often shows images taken from websites and publishers like your sites in its search results. Would you prefer Google to show your image in search with attribution, or would…

Google has updated its policy where an identifier exists issue will no longer lead to disapproval of your product listings. Instead, Google will first issue you a warning for identifier…

Google has added three verticle dots to its search results snippets for years now. It seems like Bing is testing three dots but in a horizontal format. How is that…

Google Search may be having issues with indexing or serving this morning. I am seeing tons of reports from SEOs on X that Google is having indexing issues, tons. So…

Christmas is in five days and today Google has launched its Christmas decorations for Google Search. As an FYI, Google launched the Chanukah decorations on December 3, 2023 but now…

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…

Google has documented how it Google handles sites with a high proportion of non-consensual explicit imagery. Google updated its spam policies and the Google ranking systems guide with links to…

Gary Illyes from Google explained when he thinks it makes sense to use a hierarchical versus flat structure for your website. In short, he said larger sites might benefit from…

Here is a wild bug in Google where the Google Ads description is just about 90 words. The limit Google Ads has for description is 90 characters, not 90 words…

Over the past few months or so there has been a lot of complaints both from the SEO community and the general internet community about the quality of the Google…

Google’s Ginny Marvin confirmed that Google Ads is testing placing ad headlines in your ad descriptions. This was spotted by advertisers, Anthony Higman who posted on X a screenshot showing…

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…

Google’s John Mueller said in the last Google SEO office-hours from December 2023 that there is no such thing as perfect SEO. He said, “in fact no SEO is perfect.”

Google is now testing a new label, in text format, that reads advertised identify verified or identify verified on individual Google Ads in the search results. Previously we saw blue…

Google is testing a new design and layout for its medical and health-related results in the mobile search results. The new design looks like some other user interface tests we’ve…

A common question I hear from new SEOs is why Google is not taking action against the spam I reported to them. A competitor or site is ranking well because…

With all the Google Shopping try on features, it looks like Google is rolling out a sparkle animation feature for the Google Image shopping search results. It shows you the…

Google announced additional integration support between Google Analytics 4 and AdSense. Google originally added integration in June 2023 between GA4 and AdSense but now “if you’re using GA4 subproperties or…

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…

In part one with Dave DiGregorio we spoke about his journey from working in sports memorabilia to getting into SEO. Then, in part two we talked about some local pack…

Earlier this month we covered a report from Sterling Sky that said the Google Local search ranking algorithm now uses if a location is open as part of its local…

You’d expect that the Google search ranking volatility would calm as we get closer to the holiday break, Christmas timeframe. But no. Google’s search ranking volatility is ever so heated,…

Google announced late on Friday that starting on February 1, 2024, it will start to enforce the consent management requirements for Google Search Ads publisher products, such as AdSense for…

Google Merchant Center is beta testing a new score card to help merchants understand how their browsing experience score is doing. This card is called “Browsing Experience” and it shows…

Google can now show video labels or indicators to some news stories in the top stories section of Google Search. The video label is added under the snippet on the…

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…

The Google search results have been very volatile the whole past week, and most SEOs think Google will confirm another algorithm update before 2023 comes to a close. Google Groups…

Google has added to some listings in the local panel in its search results a “Share” button within the three dots in that listing. Previously, the three dots had the…

There is a bug with the Google Business Profile agency dashboard where owners and managers cannot accept new invites. The issue started a few days ago, Google is aware of…

Google is testing an image box that you can click on and expand to reveal images. Google’s mobile search results can show an image link, that if you click on…

Google is testing placing the search bar at the bottom of the Google Search App. This might be an Android only test right now, but some users are noticing that…

A couple of years ago, Google added a filter to its shopping search results for “get it by” a specific date. Now with the Google Search results getting more e-commerce-like,…

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…

For the past few days or so it seems that the Google Search Console API has been delayed. There has been complaints about this on social media and in the…

A couple of weeks ago, Google introduced a new Google Ads policy saying it won’t allow personalization of ads for consumer finance in the United States or Canada. Well, it…

Google has added to the new Google Business Profile suspension emails the ability to make an appeal request, right from the email. The latest update was that the emails showed…

Microsoft is working to bring its new Deep Search feature to Copilot, formerly known as Bing Chat. The issue is, (1) Deep Search is only available to a limited number…

At the beginning of this year we covered the updated posting restrictions guidelines for Google Maps where Google said they can turn off posting for a particular place. Well, we…

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…

Most SEOs believe Google will push out another confirmed algorithm update before the end of the 2023 year – so within the next few weeks. I ran a poll on…

Google’s John Mueller said it is fine to publish some content in both PDF and HTML formats. He said both “can be shown independently in the search results.” If Google…

Google Ads will make it easier to complete the business operations verification. Google will add “a step-by-step guide to complete business operations verification, clarify reasons for failing business operations verifications,…

A couple of weeks ago, I reported about that Google Groups was seeing a very big ranking and visibility boost. Well, it seems to have caught Google’s attention, the rankings…

Google Search and its shopping results have been pretty wild over the past year or so and Google keeps on testing new features in this area. Now we are seeing…

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…

There has been a bit of controversy over the name parasite SEO in the industry and Google itself doesn’t like the term either. So they said they will be renaming…

There was a complaint on X from a publisher who said Google is not showing details in the “About this site,” “About the source” section in the Google Search results…

There has been a surge in complaints from site owners and publishers who are seeing the “Video is not the main content of the page” error in the video indexing…

Microsoft Copilot, formerly known as Bing Chat, is currently testing a notebook feature and hopes to fully roll out that feature in a “few weeks.” This began testing when Microsoft…

A month ago we reported that Google Shopping results had a space for joining membership programs from stores. Now Google is showing these in some shopping listings (not ads) as…

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…

In part one with Dave DiGregorio we spoke about his journey from working in sports memorabilia to getting into SEO. Then, in part two we talked about some local pack…

On Friday, Google’s Search Liaison, Danny Sullivan, said that the search company has taken steps to deal with the parasite SEO problem. He also added that the specific change with…

OpenAI responded to the complaints that ChatGPT’s GPT-4 is getting “lazier.” The AI company responded to X saying, “we’ve heard all your feedback about GPT4 getting lazier! we haven’t updated…

Danny Sullivan, Google’s Search Liaison, said something that is probably somewhat obvious to many of the readers here, that SGE is not able to tell you how Google’s search ranking…

Google has confirmed it is looking into reports of Google Search showing the wrong image for the story it displays in the search results. Recently Google has been showing the…

Google sent an email to AdSense, AdMob and Ad Manager users saying they are “launching support for programmatic bidding on inventory eligible for Limited ads.” Limited ads (LTD) give publishers…

The last likely Google confirmed update of the year, the November 2023 reviews update, completed last Thursday afternoon on the 7th. But days after it completed the Google search results…

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’s November 2023…

The Google November 2023 reviews update, the last one Google will confirm, finished rolling out yesterday afternoon on December 7, 2023. It took 29 days to roll out, which initially…