SEARCHENGINES
Google Bard Won’t Link To Sources Too Often
As you know, we’ve been playing with Google Bard, it just started to roll out a couple of days ago. Early on, we were disappointed thus far with how limited it seemed and more so, how it rarely linked to sources and content creators. Now, Google got back to us on why this is the case.
Google added a few topics to the Bard FAQs, including “How and when does Bard cite sources in its responses?” Let me quote what it says:
Bard, like some other standalone LLM experiences, is intended to generate original content and not replicate existing content at length. We’ve designed our systems to limit the chances of this occurring, and we will continue to improve how these systems function. If Bard does directly quote at length from a webpage, it cites that page.
Bard was built to be a creative and helpful collaborator—it works well in creative tasks like helping you write an email or brainstorm ideas for a birthday party. We see it as a complementary experience to Google Search. That’s why we added the “Google It” button to Bard, so people can easily move from Bard to explore information from across the web.
Bard is an experiment, and we’ll use its launch as an opportunity to learn, iterate, and improve the experience as we get feedback from a range of stakeholders including people like you, publishers, creators, and more.
So since Bard “generates original content and not replicate existing content at length,” Google does not feel the need to cite sources? Bard will however cite sources and link to them if Bard “directly quotes at length from a webpage.”
Instead, Google wants you to go from Bard to Google with the “Google It”, “so people can easily move from Bard to explore information from across the web.” So click on links from Google Search, do not click on links from Bard, too often.
But things with Bard are early and may change, “Bard is an experiment, and we’ll use its launch as an opportunity to learn, iterate, and improve the experience as we get feedback from a range of stakeholders including people like you, publishers, creators, and more.”
Honestly, I am shocked, I did not think Google would launch Bard without citing and linking to sources as much as and as well as Bing Chat does. Even Gary Illyes from Google hinted publishers would be okay with it.
Let me show some examples (click on the images to enlarge).
Google Bard on “Who is Barry Schwartz?” – this is not me, this is the famous Barry Schwartz, by the way:
No citations with the default response from Google Bard.
But Bing, it gives 15 links to 15 different sources:
To be fair, if I work hard, and go to draft two, I get some citations from Google Bard:
I posted about this on Twitter and here is some of the response and reaction to Google’s FAQ statement on the citation bit:
What a joke. Absolutely brazen content theft.
— Don Caldwell 🦑 (@DonCald) March 22, 2023
Meanwhile, Google could care less: https://t.co/QQmZ1jA8WK
— Rutledge Daugette (@TheRealRutledge) March 22, 2023
A positive perspective: Bard is bound to say weird things and give inaccurate information. If that’s the case, you won’t necessarily want your brand up there co-signing certain conversations or answers.
— dog excited to meet pluto (@dogmeetpluto) March 22, 2023
That’s not great for site owners.
I’ve also seen a number of people share Bard responses that are questionable or outright wrong. Responses should be treated like discussing a topic with a questionably-informed internet rando, rather than a factual response if there’s no source.— Peggy K (@PeggyKTC) March 22, 2023
Uggh. No/Minimal citations is a big negative for me. (both as a creator, and potential user of Bard)
— ElizabethH (@ElizabethH15) March 22, 2023
IMHO it’s impossible to overstate what an enormous problem this is for publishers. If citations are not prevalent and prominent, publishers should be able to opt out of being used in training data without it having any affect on SEO. And every publisher should opt out.
— Michael Magnuson (@mdmagnuson) March 22, 2023
To be honest, the user in me prefers Bard’s UI/UX compared to Bing Chat.
The SEO in me hates the lack of sources, but the way Bing Chat has them incorporated just looks a bit naff.
— Chloe Ivy Rose (@chloeivyroseseo) March 22, 2023
That’s a massive miscalculation on their side, it’s the wrong result that they will need to address
— @[email protected] (@davidiwanow) March 22, 2023
I mean this section is *interesting*…
“For now, Google Bard likely won’t be sending a lot of traffic to the web or websites.”And likely a challenge for anyone trying to do research.
— Crystal Carter (she/her) (@CrystalontheWeb) March 22, 2023
I actually think #Bard could work very well for local if Google was willing to include URLs, use more its local knowledge graph and offer Maps links. pic.twitter.com/YZLB1DrY3u
— Greg Sterling 🇺🇦 (@gsterling) March 22, 2023
The same thought I had when started playing with it https://t.co/RllWsaQ9KQ
— Gianluca Fiorelli (@gfiorelli1) March 22, 2023
One shimmer of hope is that if and when Bard is integrated some how into Google Search, those integrations you will see more prominent links to content creators. Via the WSJ, “Sissie Hsiao, a vice president in charge of Google Assistant, said the company “is deeply committed in supporting a healthy and vibrant content ecosystem” and “will be welcoming conversations with stakeholders.” She said when AI tools are integrated into search the company will give priority to sending valuable traffic to content creators. “
Good to hear from Google’s Sissie Hsiao about Bard for Search + Citations -> “She said when AI tools are integrated into search, the company will give priority to sending valuable traffic to content creators.” https://t.co/K3U82vtAu6 pic.twitter.com/xWbRl7SLRs
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) March 22, 2023
So we will see. Until now, prepare to be disappointed with any little traffic you might see from Google Bard.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
SEARCHENGINES
Mikhail Parakhin Confirms He Is No Longer Working On Copilot At Microsoft
Mikhail Parakhin, the former head of Bing Search and Microsoft Advertising at Microsoft, confirmed he is no longer working on the Copilot project. He stepped down as the head of Bing Search and Microsoft Advertising weeks ago after Microsoft hired Mustafa Suleyman as the CEO of AI at Microsoft.
We knew Mikhail Parakhin was planning to work on something new but now Mikhail Parakhin confirmed that he is no longer working on Copilot.
He said on X, “Not working on Copilot anymore, onto new things.”
I did follow up and asked if “onto new things” means new things within Microsoft or new things at a new company but I did not hear back on that. His LinkedIn profile still shows he is at Microsoft.
Here are those posts:
I know, those were the best 🙂
— Mikhail Parakhin (@MParakhin) May 9, 2024
Not working on Copilot anymore, onto new things.
— Mikhail Parakhin (@MParakhin) May 9, 2024
I am super interested in what Mikhail is working on now and I suspect he will tell us soon.
I deeply miss his transparent and frequent posts about what Microsoft is working on with Copilot and Bing Search…
Forum discussion at X.
SEARCHENGINES
Daily Search Forum Recap: May 10, 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 says site reputation abuse is not about links, it is about content. Google Local Service Ads ranking removed proximity as a ranking signal. Google Shopping may soon tell searchers how many shoppers purchased at your e-commerce site. Google Local panels now can show the owner of the business. Mikhail Parakhin from Microsoft confirmed he is no longer working on Copilot. Plus, I posted the weekly SEO video recap.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
-
Google: Site Reputation Abuse Isn’t About Linking
Danny Sullivan, Google’s Search Liaison, made it crystal clear that the site reputation abuse policy has zero to do with linking. This means that who you link to and/or who links to you has no impact on this new policy that Google began enforcing with manual actions earlier this week. -
Google May Show How Many Shoppers Purchased On Your E-Commerce Site
Google has sent some Google Merchant Center e-commerce site managers notifications that a new annotation may begin to show up in the search results next to their site’s listing that shows how many searchers purchased on your site. It may read, “1K shopped here recently.” -
Google: Proximity Not A Relevancy Factor For Local Service Ads
Google has updated its Local Services Ads help document on ad rankings to remove the line around “proximity to potential customers’ locations” is a ranking factor for those ads. Ginny Marvin, the Google Ads Liaison, said the document was updated but there was no recent or “sudden change to ranking considerations” to LSA rankings or positions. -
Google Local Panel With Owner Attribute
Google can show the owner of the business in the local panels in the Google search results. I suspect this is not new but I don’t believe I’ve seen this before, where Google will add an “owner” attribute to the local panel. -
Mikhail Parakhin No Longer Working On Copilot At Microsoft
Mikhail Parakhin, the former head of Bing Search and Microsoft Advertising at Microsoft, confirmed he is no longer working on the Copilot project. He stepped down as the head of Bing Search and Microsoft Advertising weeks ago after Microsoft hired Mustafa Suleyman as the CEO of AI at Microsoft. -
Google Ads Cyclone Money Machine
I found this photo funny. It is one of those cyclone money machines that money flies around in, and a person inside is supposed to try to grab as much money as possible. Well, there is a Google Ads logo on this one. Oh, the irony of this photo… -
Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Search Ranking Volatility, Site Reputation Abuse Enforcement, Pichai On Search Quality, HCU Recovery & More
Google may have had two search ranking algorithm updates, one around May 9th and one around May 3rd. Google began its site reputation abuse policy enforcement this week with manual actions, and it is not about linking. Google said sites may recover from the helpful content update. Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO, responded…
Other Great Search Threads:
Search Engine Land Stories:
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Industry & Business
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 Search Ranking Volatility, Site Reputation Abuse Enforcement, Pichai On Search Quality, HCU Recovery & More
For the original iTunes version, click here.
Google may have had two search ranking algorithm updates, one around May 9th and one around May 3rd. Google began its site reputation abuse policy enforcement this week with manual actions, and it is not about linking. Google said sites may recover from the helpful content update. Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO, responded to search quality issues in an interview. Google is now hiding the number of search results under the tools menu. Google will remove the disavow link tool at some point. Gemini stopped linking to sources. Google renamed AI Answers back to AI Overview. Google is testing a new Notes button in Search. Google SGE said you should drink urine to pass a kidney stone. Google has product review summary labels. Google may show searchers how many people purchased on your e-commerce site. Google Ads new Performance Max for marketplaces. Rumors of 25% of Google Ads accounts being audited are false. Bing is testing clearer distinctions between free and paid search results. Google LSAs ranking help document removed that proximity is used for ranking. Google Local Business Profiles is testing a new review listing. Google Search is testing showing only local results for near me queries. Google Analytics gained Google Ads conversion performance beta reporting. Statcounter said Google didn’t lose market share, it was a bug in the reporting. That was the search news this week at the Search Engine Roundtable.
Sponsored by Similarweb, the all-in-one- strategic SEO software. Get clarity of the SEO landscape through competitor analysis, keyword research, rank tracking, SERP insights and more. With industry-leading traffic and keyword data, based on real user journeys, Similarweb gives SEO professionals the whole picture so they can strategize smartly and drive sustainable business growth.
Make sure to subscribe to our video feed or subscribe directly on iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or your favorite podcast player to be notified of these updates and download the video in the background. Here is the YouTube version of the feed:
Search Topics of Discussion:
Please do subscribe on YouTube or subscribe via iTunes or on your favorite RSS reader. Don’t forget to comment below with the right answer and good luck!
-
MARKETING7 days ago
The key to correcting the C-suite trust deficit
-
MARKETING6 days ago
A Recap of Everything Marketers & Advertisers Need to Know
-
PPC4 days ago
How the TikTok Algorithm Works in 2024 (+9 Ways to Go Viral)
-
MARKETING4 days ago
How To Protect Your People and Brand
-
SEARCHENGINES5 days ago
Google Started Enforcing The Site Reputation Abuse Policy
-
SEO5 days ago
Blog Post Checklist: Check All Prior to Hitting “Publish”
-
SEO3 days ago
How to Use Keywords for SEO: The Complete Beginner’s Guide
-
PPC5 days ago
How to Craft Compelling Google Ads for eCommerce