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Daily Search Forum Recap: June 17, 2024

Published

6 months ago

June 18, 2024

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 had another possible Google search ranking update this weekend. Google Ads is forcing some advertisers off credit card payments. Apple updated its Applebot documentation in a big way. Google Maps updated its fake engagement policy. Google updated its hreflang documentation. Google Ads now allows for some opioid painkiller ads. And a special piece from Glenn Gabe on tracking AI Overviews in Google Search Console – well, kinda.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Google Father’s Day Weekend Search Ranking Volatility

Happy Father’s Day – it looks like we are seeing some pretty significant ranking fluctuations and volatility within the Google Search results over the past day or so. Yep, yet another big Google weekend update of sorts – of course – not confirmed by Google.

The Maddening Adventure Of Tracking AI Overviews In Google Search Console

Google launched AI overviews in the SERPs in the United States officially on May 14th at I/O. This follows the launch of Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) in May of 2023…

Google Ads Forcing Some Advertisers Off Credit Card Payments

Google Ads is forcing many of its advertisers off the credit card option for paying for their ad accounts and onto bank-based payment methods, such as ACH, wire, or paper check. If you do not comply by July 31, 2024, your account can be suspended.

Apple Updates Applebot Docs With Applebot-Extended, Reverse DNS & More

Apple has made some really big changes to the Applebot documentation after the Apple WWDC event, where Apple announced Apple Intelligence. Apple added more about Applebot, reverse DNS details, Applebot-Extended and much more.

Google Maps Updates Fake Engagement Policy With More Detail

Google has updated its Google Maps contributor fake engagement policy to flesh out in more detail how the policy works. The new text is like 40% longer and seems to have received a nice refresh.

Google Updates hreflang Documentation While I Was Offline

Google has tweaked its hreflang search developer documentation to clarify that link tags for denoting alternate versions of a page must not be combined in a single link tag. Google said it wanted to document this “quirk” in its documentation.

Google Now Allow Some Opioid Painkillers Ads

Google Ads will update its Healthcare and medicines policy this month to allow advertisers to discuss opioid painkillers without promoting or selling them. The example given is that you can have ads to discuss public policy solutions for opioid painkiller abuse.

Googler In Training Jacket

Here is Mike Ryan’s kid wearing a Googler in Training red rain / wind jacket. He posted about the Google merch a year ago and I guess now his kid is old enough to wear it and shared this photo of his kid wearing it.