SEARCHENGINES
Daily Search Forum Recap: September 19, 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.
The Google Search ranking volatility continues, with another big swing yesterday, September 18th. Google is mass suspending Google Business Profiles in some industries and segments. Google again said stop worrying too much about Core Web Vitals. Google is showing videos in the top insights products section. A new Google AI Overview study shows links mostly go to informational intent pages.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
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Google Search Ranking Volatility Continue With Big Movement Again 9/18
To be honest, the Google Search ranking volatility has not cooled at all since the pre-launch of the Google August 2024 core update. But something happened yesterday which caused a bit more of a swing of things in the rankings at Google Search. -
Google Suspending Many Google Business Profiles
I am seeing a flood of complaints in the Google Business Profiles forums where businesses are complaining that their Google Business Profiles were suspended. Supposedly, Google is mass disabling Business Profiles in specific sets of industries or niches. -
Google: Core Web Vitals Aren’t As Important As Some People Might Think
Google again has downplayed the importance of Core Web Vitals as a Google Search ranking signal. Google’s Martin Splitt said in a video yesterday, “also core web vitals aren’t as important as some people might think.” He added, “they are they are not irrelevant though but do not over focus on these things.” -
Google Product Results Top Insights With YouTube Videos
Google is now showing videos, I guess from YouTube but I suspect it can support other video sites, within the top insights section of the product detail results. Previously, Google would just show review content but now Google added video content to this section. -
Study: 96% Of Google AI Overviews Links Go To Informational Intent Pages
Did you know that 96% of the links Google displays and shows in the AI Overviews link to content that has informational intent? A new study from seoClarity says this is the case, after analyzing over 1 million keywords in its data set. -
Google’s Doogler Day
Did you know Google has a special day for the Google Dogs, Dooglers. It is called Doogler Day and here is a photo of Doogler Day 2024.
Other Great Search Threads:
Search Engine Land Stories:
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Industry & Business
- Exclusive: Google offered to sell part of ad tech business, not enough for EU publishers, sources say, Reuters
- ‘Lazy’ staff going home early has caused Google to ‘suffer’, says ex-boss, GB News
- Google was too scared to launch its LLMs before OpenAI, Android Headlines
- Google’s ad monopoly is harming journalism with sky-high fees for news publishers, antitrust trial hears, Daily Mail Online
- Microsoft Aggressively Pushes Edge and Rewards on Chrome users in Incognito Mode, Windows Report
- U.S. v. Google: Ad tech antitrust trial by numbers — so far, Digiday
Links & Content Marketing
Local & Maps
Mobile & Voice
SEO
PPC
Search Features
Other Search
Feedback:
Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Ranking Volatility Spikes, Search Console Bug, Search App Stalled, Google Ads News & Business Profile Suspensions
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Another week and more Google Search ranking volatility, in fact, it has not calmed but we saw even more spikes in the middle of this week. Google Search Console may have a bug with product snippets reporting. Google Search App stopped working Saturday night for a few hours. Google said again, Core Web Vitals are not as important as many think. Google Indexing API may be causing some spammers some trouble, or maybe it is just normal indexing selection. Google updated its crawler documentation with the effects and snippets. Google suspended many Google Business Profiles this week. Google updated its documentation around review restrictions. A new study on Google AI Overviews shows links go to information intent pages. Google Search will label images as AI-generated, edited with software or taken with a camera. Google Ads added negative keywords for PMax, new insights and reports, and so much more. Google is testing sticky headers for the new layout. Google is testing expanded discussions and forums layouts. Bing is testing snippets that scroll. Google asked on social if you use Gemini to do SEO and then removed it. Google posted a bunch of the DOJ trail exhibits, files, documents and responses. That was the search news this week at the Search Engine Roundtable.
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Search Topics of Discussion:
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SEARCHENGINES
Daily Search Forum Recap: September 20, 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.
Google is putting review and menu descriptions under photos in local listings. Google is placing blue map pins with location names in the search result snippets. Google Ads had enhanced conversion coverage data. Bing is testing a searches you may like widget. Bing Places has a new support form. And I posted the weekly SEO video recap.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
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Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Ranking Volatility Spikes, Search Console Bug, Search App Stalled, Google Ads News & Business Profile Suspensions
Another week and more Google Search ranking volatility, in fact, it has not calmed but we saw even more spikes in the middle of this week. Google Search Console may have a bug with product snippets reporting. Google… -
Google Blue Map Pin & City Name On Search Results Snippets
Google is now showing a blue map pin with a city name under some of the search result snippets. This seems to be rolling out now and seems to be new. It shows you if a specific website is near you or in a specific city, I think. -
Google Reviews & Menu Descriptions Under Local Photos
Google is now showing reviews and menu descriptions when browsing photos on a Google Maps, Google Business Profiles listing. So when you scroll through photos, Google will show this content under the photo for some listings. -
Google Ads Gains New Options On Enhanced Conversion Coverage Data Page
Google has added a set of new filters and a website only report in the Enhanced Conversion Coverage data page/report. This can be found in the Google Ads console under the Enhanced Conversion Coverage Data page. -
New Bing Places Support Contact Form
Microsoft may have updated its Bing Places support contact us page. The new page requires you to authenticate yourself, then pick your region, before filling out the form. The form can be reached over here. -
Bing Searches You Might Like Box
Microsoft is testing new sections in the Bing Search results named searches you might like. This can show up as a box with search refinements between a set of search results or as trending searches on the right hand side of the search results. -
Google Neon Sign – Rock Stage
Here is a spot at the Google office in Zurich, Switzerland where bands can play. There is this neon Google logo sign in the background, with musical instruments on the stage.
Other Great Search Threads:
- “Helpful”, to not helpful, to helpful, to not helpful… all in the space of a year. This is so confusing, and Google really need to sort this out because there isn’t a lot independent sites left anymore, and I know many, Brandon Saltalamacchia on X
- First time I’ve seen Gemini sending a good amount of traffic to one of my recent blog posts, Bill Hartzer on X
- Getting bombarded by flags for “Unreliable Claims” anytime we try to post keywords from Ads Editor, Greg on X
- More about AI Overview tracking in GSC: I’ve explained before that it’s a maddening adventure trying to track AI Overviews in GSC. Well, here’s another maddening example. The site ranks in the AI overview (which would show up as posi, Glenn Gabe on X
- We have just updated our marketing landing page with a nice overview of some of Bing’s main features like the emerging Bing generative search powered by LLMs, as well as Images and Image Creation, News, Travel, Maps, Shopping, Safe Se, Jordi Ribas on X
Search Engine Land Stories:
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Industry & Business
Links & Content Marketing
Local & Maps
- Android Auto adds NACS charger support for EVs, 9to5Google
- Booking.com’s price curbs on hotels may hinder competition, EU top court says, Reuters
- Here’s how Google Maps incident reports will work on Android Auto, 9to5Google
- Maps, AI, Open Buildings, Geospatial analysis, dataset, Google Blog
- New Policies & Shady Review Schemes: Is Google Helping or Hurting?, BrightLocal
- Startup Founded by Ex-Google Exec to Use AI to Forecast Weather, Bloomberg
Mobile & Voice
SEO
PPC
Other Search
Feedback:
Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.
SEARCHENGINES
Daily Search Forum Recap: September 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.
Google Search will soon show if an image is AI-generated, edited with photo editing software or taken by a camera. Google Search Console has a bug showing product snippet search appearances in the search performance report again. Google Ads announced negative keywords for PMax, new insights, expanding more AI features and more. Google Local Service Ads validation logic for bids email. Bing is testing scrollable search result snippets.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
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Google Ads Gains Negative Keywords, Insights, Reporting To PMax & Much More
Google Ads announced a number of new features and updates to the ad platform this morning at DMEXCO in Europe. These include negative keywords coming to Performance Max campaigns, new insights and reporting, expanding AI features and much more. -
Google Search To Label Images As AI Generated, Edited Or Taken With Camera
Google Search will soon label images as AI-generated, edited with photo editing software or if it was taken with a camera in the image search results. This label will be added to the about this image feature, according to The Verge who spoke to Laurie Richardson, vice president of trust and safety at Google. -
Google Search Console Product Snippets Report Surge Again, Likely A Bug
It looks like we are seeing another surge in the Google Search Console Search Performance report when you filter by the product snippets search appearance filter. We had this happen in May of this year, it was a bug that Google fixed, and now we are seeing it happen again. -
Bing Search Result Snippets That Are Scrollable
Bing now lets you scroll within a specific search result snippet. So if you are looking at a specific search result, that specific snippet, you can scroll through, until you get to the next snippet. -
Google LSAs Changes In Validation Logic For Bid Modifications
Some advertisers received an email from Google this week with the subject line, “Changes in validation logic for bid modifications.” This email was sent to Google Local Service Ads advertisers who potentially used the API for that service. -
Dancers At The Google App Summit
Here is a video of dancers, they seem hired and not Googlers, dancing at a Google event named the App Summit. I found this on Instagram and found it a bit weird but what do I know.
Other Great Search Threads:
- Add-ons is intended to be the place to access more advanced features such as custom reports, loyalty programs, and rules & supplemental data sources., AdsLiaison on X
- Bluish background when selecting items in the “People Also Search For” section, Deepak Yadav on X
- Google did some fall cleaning for its Google Search Console data anomalies page, Barry Schwartz on X
- In the UK suspected review abuse can lead to a 30 day review ban, Mike Blumenthal on X
- It’s additive. To be clear, advertiser’s data is already protected by robust security measures. But confidential matching employs newer privacy enhancing technologies – confidential computing and TEEs – and pro, AdsLiaison on X
- My latest research says no, service areas are still not a ranking factor., Darren Shaw on LinkedIn
- Tobias from @audisto did a bunch of JS rendering analysis across multiple search engines. Google Mobile uses a different pixel density, can do 10mm pixels high, and 1648 pixels in width., Mic King on X
- We’ve added a new “reasoning” focus (beta) on Perplexity for Pro users. It will use the new OpenAI o1-mini. There is no search integration yet. The model is slow, and usage is limited because of rate limits. It is good for puzzles,, Aravind Srinivas on X
Search Engine Land Stories:
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Industry & Business
- Google Antitrust Trial: Company Saw AdMeld as a ‘Threat’ And Bought It, DOJ Says, Bloomberg
- Google takes Chile data center plans back to square one on environmental concerns, Reuters
- In US v. Google, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan defends the DoubleClick and Admeld acquisitions, The Verge
- Trial Update, September 16: Google’s power on full display as we learn IAB Tech Lab passed on Prebid to appease their largest funder, US v Google
- Google knew advertisers were key to publisher ad tool dominance, DOJ alleges, Marketing Brew
- Google wins challenge against $1.66 billion EU antitrust fine, Reuters
Links & Content Marketing
Local & Maps
Mobile & Voice
SEO
PPC
Search Features
Other Search
Feedback:
Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.
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