


Google Removes Video Thumbnails In Search Results When Video Is N...
Google announced it will remove the video thumbnail image from the search results snippet when that video is not the main content of the page. Google said this change will…

Google: Most Links SEOs Make To Gain Rankings & Manipulate Se...
Google’s John Mueller said that when it comes to links SEO make to manipulate search rankings and gain ranking position in Google, those links are mostly ignored by Google Search….

Daily Search Forum Recap: April 13, 2023
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 says just…

Google April 2023 Reviews Update Rolls Out, Expands To Cover Revi...
On the heels of the March Broad Core Update rolling out, Google is now rolling out the April 2023 Reviews Update. And you’re reading that correctly. ‘Product’ has been removed…


Poll: 30% Use More Than Just Google For Search & Discovery
Greg Sterling ran a poll on Twitter asking, “Are you now branching out from Google as a search/discovery tool?” Almost 30% of those who answered, which are primarily SEOs/SEms, said…

Google Tests Local Finder Images Only For Ads?
Google may be testing only showing images in the local finder, the local search results in Google Maps, for listings that are ads. The rest, may only show a map…

Google Tests Automated Product Result Slider Thumbnail Images In ...
A couple of weeks ago, I reported how Google tested a thumbnail image slider in the product grid results in the Google Search results on the desktop interface. Now Google…

Google: Just Because A Site Is Good Now, Doesn’t Mean It Wo...
Google’s John Mueller said on Twitter that just because a site appears to be doing super well in terms of Google ranking and SEO today that it won’t one day…

Google Search Car Carousel
We saw Google label some car types as electric and hybrid a year ago. Now Google has this car carousel in the mobile search that lets you filter by many…

Daily Search Forum Recap: April 12, 2023
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…

Bing on Private Domain Registration & SEO
We know Google says there is no pro or con to using private domain registration for SEO or Google ranking purposes. But Fabrice Canel from Microsoft Bing has hinted that…


SEOs Using Google Indexing API Claim Pages Removed Days After Bei...
We know the Google Indexing API should be used for just job postings and live-streaming content. If you use it for other content, it just won’t do what you want….

Google Tests Expanded Your Google Ad Summary With Edit Ad & A...
Several months ago, Google launched a feature to show those logged into their Google Ads account a section in web search named “Your Google Ad Summary.” It seems Google is…

SpamBrain Flexes In Google’s 2022 Web Spam Report
Every year Google releases its web spam report showing how much better the search company got at fighting search spam. This year is no different but here, Google is showcasing…

Google Has Not Pushed Search Ranking Updates Where They Got Every...
Google’s John Mueller was asked about his feelings on the Google March 2023 broad core update and if he can honestly not say that the “update messed the SERP a…

Daily Search Forum Recap: April 11, 2023
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…

Google Bard Adds Google It Related Topics & Release Notes Pag...
Google has pushed out another feature for Google Bard. When you click on the “Google it” button, it now doesn’t take you directly to Google Search, but rather it gives…

Google Ads Tests Identify Verification For Business Name & Lo...
Google recently brought the business name and business logos to desktop search ads after bringing them to mobile search ads last October. Now, Google posted an update saying, “a subset…

Programming Note: Offline For Wednesday & Thursday
This is a programming note that I will be completely offline on Wednesday and Thursday for the last days of Passover, that is, April 12th and 13th. Any stories and…


Google: Don’t Judge Links Based On The Type Of Site They Co...
Google’s John Mueller does not want you to make generalizations about links. Links from news sites or sites from Germany, or sites from really good-looking SEOs (bad joke?) are not…

Google: No SEO Reason To Delay Release Of Thousands Of Pages
Google’s John Mueller was asked if it makes sense to publish 8,000 new pages at once or slowly publish them over time. Like, would publishing them all at once cause…

Google Ads Testing Another Verification Badge Style
A couple of weeks ago, we spotted Google testing a verified Google Ads badge in the Google search ads snippet. It was a round blue icon, this one is more…

Daily Search Forum Recap: April 10, 2023
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…

Bing Chat May Support Third-Party Plugins Soon
We know that OpenAI’s ChatGPT supports third-party plugins and soon, Bing Chat may also support third-party plugins. Mikhail Parakhin, the CEO of Bing, was asked about the topic and he…

Vlog #218: Igal Stolpner On Moving From Tel Aviv To New York &...
I’ve known Igal Stolpner for a long time now, he was doing SEO at Investing.com while based in Israel for over a decade…


Google Ads To Deprecate Non-Last-Click Rules-Based Attribution Mo...
Google announced that it would deprecate non-last-click rules-based attribution models in Google Ads and Google Analytics starting in July 2023 and then completely by September 2023.

Google March 2023 Broad Core Update Impact Local Rankings?
Did the Google March 2023 Broad Core Update impact local search rankings? That is the question many local SEOs are asking in the Local Search Forums.

Google Will Use Generative AI In Search
The Wall Street Journal has an interview with Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, on AI, the future of search and all this Bard and AI stuff. In short how AI might…

Google: We Learn How To Crawl Your Site’s URL Patterns
Google’s John Mueller said when it comes to sites with pagination and large site’s faceted navigation, Google will learn how to crawl it. He said on Twitter, “we do try…

Daily Search Forum Recap: April 7, 2023
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…

Google Local Search Tests New Placement For Request Quote Buttons
Google is testing new placements for the request a quote feature in the local search results. I am not sure how new this is, but Joy Hawkins, a local SEO…

Google Local Pack Displays Booked Reservations
Google has let you book reservations within the local pack and via Google Assistant for a while now. But what may be new is that Google may show you if…

Google: People Searching For Your Brand With Keywords Don’t...
Google’s John Mueller said people searching for your brand name and a keyword phrase does not help you rank better in Google Search or perform better SEO-wise. So having people…

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Unconfirmed Google Update, Bard &am...
Note I recorded and wrote this recap on Wednesday but scheduled it to go live on Friday morning, and I am offline for Passover. I posted the monthly Google Webmaster…

Google Tests Slider Buttons For Product Result Thumbnail Images
When you see product results in the Google Search results, sometimes on mouse over, the images will rotate when there are more than one product image available. Google is testing…

Google Local Finder With Blended Query Results
I don’t know if this is new (sorry Mordy) but Google is showing this blended local finder result set that seems to bridge two or more different but similar queries…


Daily Search Forum Recap: April 6, 2023
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…


Google Ads Tests AI To Help You Create Ads
Google Ads is running a small test to help you create ads using AI. Google Bard does not power this, but it is a form of artificial intelligence designed to…

Microsoft Advertising Professional Service Ads Global & More ...
Microsoft Advertising announced a bunch of changes to its search ad platform, including the global rollout of professional service ads, bulk operations in the asset library, changes to broad match…

Google Search Discovers New Registered Domains For Indexing
Google’s Gary Illyes confirmed that Google does look at domain name records for discovery of new domains to include in the Google Search Index.

Google: International SEO, CDN Location Does Not Matter
Google’s John Mueller said when it comes to international SEO and multilingual sites, the CDN’s location does not really matter for SEO.

Google Search “Cheaper Options” In Product Detail Ove...
Google Search is testing a new section for “cheaper options” in the product detail overlay window. So instead of just showing related products and product specs and buying options, Google…

Daily Search Forum Recap: April 5, 2023
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…

Programming Note: Offline For Thursday & Friday
This is a programming note that I will be completely offline on Thursday and Friday (also Saturday) of Passover, from Wednesday night April 5th through Saturday night April 8th. Any…

April 2023 Google Webmaster Report
Last month was jammed packed with Google search news including the Google March 2023 broad core update starting on March 15th and completing on March 28th. We had the end…


Bing AI-Generated Stories In Search Results
A couple of weeks ago, Microsoft Bing started to roll out “stories” in the search results side panel. Those stories are AI-generated stories, created by generative AI and not by…

Bing Chat Upgrade v98 Rolling Out Reducing Refusals & Disenga...
Microsoft is rolling out version 98 of Bing Chat which some of you should start seeing later today or tomorrow. This upgrade reduces the number of times Bing Chat will…

Google’s John Mueller On Using AI To Write Content…
So far, Google’s official stance on using AI to write content is just fine, assuming that content was not written to manipulate the search results. If the content is useful,…

Google Tests Map Auto-Expansion Feature In Web Search
Google is testing having the map box automatically expand within the web search results, above or on the right side of the local pack results, when you begin to place…

Daily Search Forum Recap: April 4, 2023
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 New Appeal Warning – Make Sure To Fix Your Viola...
Google Ads added a new notice or warning to the Google Ads appeal form, that says if you don’t fix your policy violation prior to submitting the appeal, Google may…

Google Tests Local Pack Click Overlay Of Business Profile Listing...
Google is testing displaying a business profile listing in an overlay interface within the web search results instead of taking you into the Google Maps interface. So when you click…

Evergreen Content Doesn’t Rank As Well In Google When Topic...
Google’s Danny Sullivan responded to a complaint around why a well-researched and detailed piece of content around Gwyneth Paltrow was not ranking above the “the obvious spammy robo chat churners,”…


Google Remove Outdated Content Tool Remove Competitor Pages?
Brandon Mercer, who works at Hearst Newspapers, posted in the Google Search Console help forums that people are using the “remove outdated content tool” from Google to remove competitor pages,…

Google Search Adds Hotel Room Story Format, Flight Price Guarante...
Google announced three new features for Google travel including a new story format for hotel bookings, price guarantees for some flights and new discover tools for locations.

Daily Search Forum Recap: April 3, 2023
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. I am seeing…


Google Maps Blocked 20% More Fake Reviews In 2022
Google released spam and fraud prevention stats for Google Maps and local search. In short, Google blocked 21% more reviews, 5% more photos, 40% more videos, and 5% more fake…

Bing Chat Gets Hit By Robot Scrapers Too
Since there have been webpages on the internet, scrapers have been out there scraping content off those sites for one reason or another. Well, even Microsoft’s Bing Chat has to…

Bing Chat Adds Images & Videos, Improves Local Results & ...
Microsoft has been busy making improvements to Bing Chat. It not only increased chat limits, is exploring ad revenue sharing, and nicer math formats, but also added image and video…

Vlog #217: Sam Michelson On Client Emotions With Online Reputatio...
In part one, we spoke about who Sam Michelson is and his business development techniques. In part two, we dove into CRM software and how they use it, including looking…

Microsoft Working On Content Controls For Bing Search vs Bing Cha...
The other day I reported on how some are upset that Bing Chat is surfacing content that is behind paywalls, raising suspicions that Bing Chat is not respecting the robots.txt…

Seeing Early Signs Of A Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update
I am starting to see early signs of a possible Google search ranking algorithm update touching down this morning, April 3rd. The automated tracking tools are not picking it up…

Google Bard Now Better At Math & Logic By Using PaLM, Google ...
Jack Krawczyk from Google, who is the lead on Bard, said on Friday that Bard just rolled out improvements around math and logic. It did this by incorporating PaLM, Google’s…

Daily Search Forum Recap: March 31, 2023
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 is testing…

Google Business Profiles Let’s You Copy A Menu
Google Business Profiles seems to allow some restaurants to copy a menu that it thinks it pulled for that restaurant from another source and use that copied menu to start…

Google Ads Pushes Government Documents and Official Services Poli...
Google has extended the Google Ads Government documents and official services policy for several weeks, from March 31, 2023, to May 24, 2023. This was previously announced in late January,…

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Core Update Done, Bing Chat ...
Google finished rolling out the March 2023 broad core update on Tuesday, and it took about 13 days to roll out. Microsoft said they are exploring sharing ad revenue from…

Bing Tests Official Site Label
Microsoft Bing is testing adding an “official site” label in the search results. If you search for a specific site, you may find that Bing adds to the title of…

Here Is Why John Mueller No Longer Recommends Verifying All Googl...
Google’s John Mueller is no longer recommending you verify all the variations of your domain with Google Search Console. Instead, he said, keep it simple and verify using domain verification.


Google Search Tests Products Gaining Attention Carousel
Google Search seems to be testing a new product carousel titles “products gaining attention.” I assume this carousel shows products that are being viewed or clicked on more often than…

Daily Search Forum Recap: March 30, 2023
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…


Bing Chat To Ultimately Remove Chat Limits
Right now you cannot sit all day and ask Bing Chat questions, no matter how lonely you are, at some point, Bing will say to give it a break. But…

ChatGPT Generated Google Business Review Spam
It looks like review spammers are using ChatGPT and other AI tools to generate fake reviews. These reviews are being posted in Google Business Profile local listings and causing a…

Microsoft Bing Chat May Share Ad Revenue With Publishers
Microsoft may share the ad revenue it generates through the Bing Chat responses with some publishers it obtains that content from. Yusuf Mehdi from Microsoft wrote, “exploring placing ads in…

Microsoft Advertising Pilots Third-Party Government Services Ads
Microsoft announced it would be testing the ability of third parties who are delegated or authorized providers to advertise for certain government services with review and pre-approval.

Google Ads Removed 53% More Ads This Year – 5.2 Billion Ads...
Google has released its annual ads safety report and the report showed that Google removed 67% more ads this year and in the previous year. Google removed over 5.2 billion…

Daily Search Forum Recap: March 29, 2023
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 has finished…


Google Perspectives, About This Author & More Goes Live
Google has launched the new perspectives feature, added an “about this author” section, globally rolled out “about this result” and made it easier to access “about this page” in the…

Bing Chat Math Results Rolling Out Nicer Formatting
Microsoft Bing will soon be rolling out cleaner and nicer math result formatting. Mikhail Parakhin from Microsoft Bing said this is already out to 10% of users for all chat…

ChatGPT Bot – You Can Block OpenAI Plugins If You Want
With all the talk about ChatGPT and other AI bots, did you know that there is an OpenAI ChatGPT bot and it respects the robots.txt protocol? So if you want,…

Google Search Console Bulk Data Export Now Supports Multiple Prop...
Several weeks ago, Google enabled the ability to export your Google Search Console data in bulk, automatically, to Google’s BigQuery. Now, Google announced that you can do this across multiple…

Google March 2023 Broad Core Update Done Rolled Out
The Google March 2023 Broad Core update finished rolling out yesterday morning at about 10:30 am ET. It took 13 days to roll out, kicking off on March 15th at…

Google Showing Fewer Brand Names In Search Result Titles
Google may be showing less site names and brand names in the title of the search results snippet. Yes, Google has a sitename and favicon change for the search results,…

Daily Search Forum Recap: March 28, 2023
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…


Google Search Console Breaks Out Merchant Listings and Product Sn...
Google has updated some of the reporting within Google Search Console to break out the Merchant listings and Product snippets differences. You can see the difference in performance between how…

Google Ads Editor Version 2.3 Gains Business Information Assets, ...
Google has released version 2.3 of the Google Ads Editor, this comes four and a half months since version 2.2 was released in November 2022. The new version gains image…