SEARCHENGINES
Confirmed Google User Agent & Crawler

Google’s John Mueller confirmed that the GoogleProber and the GoogleProducer (which we covered here) are both legit Googlebot user agents and crawlers. “These are official Google requests with a user-agent specific to the Google News config in Publisher Center so if they are blocked the feeds you set up may not work properly,” John added.
John did admit there is an issue with one or both of these bots crawling too much (either for his site or in general). John said, “We have found an issue that is affecting you where we are making too frequent requests and this will be fixed shortly.” John also said “We’ll also work on fixing the broken info-link.”
Here are these tweets for more context:
Hi @searchliaison @dannysullivan @JohnMu we are seeing a lot of traffic to publisher’s sites with a new user-agent ‘GoogleProducer; (+https://t.co/5l7Fm3K043) ‘. Our WAF is currently blocking it, but it’s origin is actually Google Proxy hosts. Is this legit traffic? Thank you! pic.twitter.com/twVlVI5gqJ
— Hernán Marsili (@hmarsili) January 31, 2023
Thank you, also, from the same IPs we have identify increased activity from GoogleProber UA. pic.twitter.com/J8eN3pRK32
— Hernán Marsili (@hmarsili) February 1, 2023
… We have found an issue that is affecting you where we are making too frequent requests and this will be fixed shortly. We’ll also work on fixing the broken info-link.
— johnmu is a ranking factor and so are you 🐀 (@JohnMu) February 7, 2023
Forum discussion at Twitter.
SEARCHENGINES
Bing Search Testing Short Search Menu

Microsoft Bing Search is testing showing fewer options in the search bar menu below the search box. We saw this with Bing Image search before and now we are seeing this with Bing web search.
This was spotted by Frank Sandtmann on Mastodon who wrote, “Bing is testing a massively reduced top navigation. Most navigation items have been grouped under “More”. Besides “All”, only “Chat” and “Shopping” are displayed.”
Here is his screenshot (click to enlarge it):
I believe I saw this before, but I cannot find my story on this. So I am a bit confused if I really saw it or not. Did you see this before?
I am not a fan of a short menu if there is space but that is me.
Forum discussion at Mastodon.
SEARCHENGINES
Bing Testing Search Result Listing Side Labels

Bing seems to be testing placing labels that describe the search result listing, on the left side bar of the search result listing. It seems the label will help define what the search result listing is about, maybe listing out some of its entities.
Frank Sandtmann spotted this and posted this screenshot on Mastodon (click to enlarge):
Frank said, “Possibly these boxes represent entities and main keywords of these pages.” “At first glance I don´t see the advantage for regular users. So, maybe this is giving a glimpse into how Bing organizes results? Maybe it’s not meant for the public?”
What do you think these are?
Forum discussion at Mastodon.
SEARCHENGINES
Google View In 3D Product Results With QR Code On Desktop Search

The other day we reported that Google was showing 3D product images not just on mobile search but on desktop. Now, Google is testing showing a QR code that the searcher can scan with their mobile phone so they can quickly see the product in 3D, since that is hard to do on desktop devices.
Brian Freiesleben posted a screenshot of this on Twitter showing the QR code displayed after clicking on a product. It says “scan the QR code with your mobile phone camera to view the item in your space.” This way you can see the 3D product image using augmented reality in your space.
Here is his screenshot:
Brian wrote, “Wow, okay so I was just added into this test again and spotted a new addition to this feature for 3D/AR on desktop. Google is testing displaying a QR code that you can scan with your mobile device camera to view the item in your space. Interesting.”
This is a smart way for Google to handle this feature on desktop.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
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