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 said it is working on surfacing more heartful helpful content, after no sites seemed to have recovered from the last helpful content update. Danny Sullivan said he speaks directly to engineers working on Google Search. Google doesn’t let you turn off AI Overviews, but Bing lets you turn off its AI responses. Google Notes says it is ending the labs feature soon but Google may bring comments to notes.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• 
  Google Working On Surfacing More Content That Comes From The Heart
  
  
  Last week we reported how Danny Sullivan, Google’s Search Liaison, said how they are looking for ways to better promote sites that were hit by that helpful content update in September. Now, over the weekend, John Mueller from Google added, “the team working on this is explictly evaluating how sites can / will improve in Search for the next update.”
• 
  Bing Lets You Turn Off AI Responses But Google Doesn’t Let You Turn Off AI Overviews
  
  
  Google has been rolling out AI Overviews in its search results since last week and more and more searchers are super unhappy that there is no way to turn off the AI Overviews. Michael Schechter, a Vice President at Microsoft, shared a screenshot in Bing, on how you can turn off Copilot responses in Bing Search with the click of a button.
• 
  Danny Sullivan: We Speak Directly To Engineers Working On Google Ranking Systems
  
  
  Google was asked where Google’s Danny Sullivan and John Mueller get their information from when responding to search and ranking-related questions. Sullivan responded directly to the engineers who code those ranking systems at Google.




• 
  Google Says Notes On Search Now Ends Soon
  
  
  Google has updated the Google Search Labs to say that Notes on Search now “ends soon.” As a reminder, last November Google rolled out as a labs the Notes feature in Google Search and Google Discover.
• 
  Comments To Notes In Google Search?
  
  
  Google may be bringing comments to the Notes on Google Search (and Discover) feature. Notes on Search came last November as a labs feature in Google Search and Google Discover. Google recently tested a new button for the notes feature in Search. Now Google may be testing comments on Notes.
• 
  NYC Bring Your Child To Work Day At Google NYC
  
  
  Google held its annual bring your child to work day at the Google New York City office. This was back in late April and I found some cute photos of kids at Google doing face painting, gaming, balloons and more.

Other Great Search Threads:

• OpenAI has added a ‘make this chat discoverable’ option, letting users decide if their chats should appear in search engines. That’s cool! (cont..), Shameem Adhikarath on X
• Yesterday was my last day as head of alignment, superalignment lead, and executive @OpenAI, Jan Leike on X
• AI Overviews aren’t just good. They’re necessary for the long-term health of the web. It is time for a thread about AI, search and really the (nearish) future of publishing and the web. (and plz subscribe to the podcast at the end i, Bryan Casey on X
• Google has launched a small update for Search Knowledge Panels, specifically now displaying in this case the total numbers of teams managed by Josep Guardiola and Arne Slot starting with the last one (current or former)., Radu Oncescu on X
• Google! I have used your weapons against you! You have been cursed by The Smiling Man!, Ed Zitron on X
• Search engines and users don’t see what you did before you show the images to them., John Mueller on X
• I just left Google last month. The “AI Projects” I was working on were poorly motivated and driven by this mindless panic that as long as it had “AI” in it, it would be great., Scott Jenson On LinkedIn

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:

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Google announced they are rolling out AI Overviews in the US and many searchers want to turn it off, and some content creators want to opt out of them. Google also announced new AI search features that will roll out soon. OpenAI showed off their GPT-4o 24 hours before Google I/O and it was amazing. Google search results volatility has been super hearted all week long. Google confirmed it deindexed vast amounts of URLs in February. Google lifted some of the site reputation abuse manual actions earlier this week. Google said sites hit by the helpful content update can see a lift after the next core update. Google has read our feedback on our issues with search quality and changes may come, maybe. Google also might give us an automated action viewer in Search Console. Google also rolled out a web filter to see only text links in the search results. Google lowered the search ranking of some deepfake porn sites. Google locked down the complaint forum thread around images not showing in the search result snippets. Google may have a new local ranking signal, service areas. Google Local Service Ads tests messaging multiple businesses at once. Google Ads AI summaries are going live for some advertisers. Google Ads changed the functionality for suspended accounts. Google AdSense will not change the minimum reporting thresholds for channels. That was the search news this week at the Search Engine Roundtable.

SPONSOR: Wix Studio lets digital marketing agencies get all of the benefits Wix has to offer from best-in-class SEO capabilities to 99% up-time with the added value of an extensive client and team management system baked right into the platform.

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!

For the original iTunes version, click here.

Google announced they are rolling out AI Overviews in the US and many searchers want to turn it off, and some content creators want to opt out of them. Google also announced new AI search features that will roll out soon. OpenAI showed off their GPT-4o 24 hours before Google I/O and it was amazing. Google search results volatility has been super hearted all week long. Google confirmed it deindexed vast amounts of URLs in February. Google lifted some of the site reputation abuse manual actions earlier this week. Google said sites hit by the helpful content update can see a lift after the next core update. Google has read our feedback on our issues with search quality and changes may come, maybe. Google also might give us an automated action viewer in Search Console. Google also rolled out a web filter to see only text links in the search results. Google lowered the search ranking of some deepfake porn sites. Google locked down the complaint forum thread around images not showing in the search result snippets. Google may have a new local ranking signal, service areas. Google Local Service Ads tests messaging multiple businesses at once. Google Ads AI summaries are going live for some advertisers. Google Ads changed the functionality for suspended accounts. Google AdSense will not change the minimum reporting thresholds for channels. That was the search news this week at the Search Engine Roundtable.

SPONSOR: Wix Studio lets digital marketing agencies get all of the benefits Wix has to offer from best-in-class SEO capabilities to 99% up-time with the added value of an extensive client and team management system baked right into the platform.

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!