SEARCHENGINES
Daily Search Forum Recap: August 3, 2022
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.
I posted the large Google webmaster report for August, it is an excellent way to catch up on the past month of SEO news. The Google tracking tools are possibly finally picking up on the Google product reviews update changes in aggregate. Google is testing showing image results with the site name and favicons in web search. Google launched a new simpler, more unified Google Tag. Microsoft Advertising announced a boat load of features like rolling out automotive ads, new ad formatting options, bid strategies and so much more.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Tracking Tools Now Picking Up On The July 2022 Google Product Reviews Update Volatility?
So we have been watching the July 2022 Google Product Reviews Update for some time and noticed that based on SEO chatter from within the community, it likely really kicked in on Friday afternoon. But the automated Google search result tracking tools really did not show much, in aggregate, but as of this morning, they now are. - Google Tag – A New Version
Google announced a new Google Tag that Google says will “unlock new capabilities to help you do more, improve data quality and adopt new features – without requiring more code.” Google Tag Manager is not changing today but it sounds like it will change in the future. - Microsoft Advertising Rolls Out Automotive Ads, New Ad Formats, More Bidding Options, Plus More
Microsoft announced its monthly updates for the Microsoft Advertising platform. This includes rolling out automotive ads, new ad formats, more bidding options, vertical ads and so much more. - Google Tests Site Name & Favicon On Image Results Within Web Search
Google is testing promoting the source of the images it displays in web search by adding the full site name and the favicon from the site in the image box. This was spotted by James on Twitter and I simply cannot replicate this. - August 2022 Google Webmaster Report
Here is the large Google webmaster report for August 2022 – catching you all up on what you may have missed in the past month related to Google search and SEO topics. We had a confirmed Google algorithm update, the July 2022 product reviews update, we had a large indexing outage and several unconfirmed updates. - G Logo In Cement Pillar At Google Germany
I found this photo of what looks like a cement pillar inside the Google Germany office. The weird part is not the pillar but the super G logo embedded in it. And I have no clue what is on top of it.
Other Great Search Threads:
- Does Google prefer simpler HTML?, Reddit
- Here’s how quickly Google can significantly alter the SERP! Baseball’s trade deadline will expire today at 6PM EST Meaning, no more trades for this season! Bec of that YESTERDAY (Aug 1) was a big big day for trad, Mordy Oberstein on Twitter
- My recommendation would be to … make awesome, high-quality photos of your own, and put them on your site. What do you want your site to be found for? That’s what you put on your, John Mueller on Twitter
- Se você mora perto de São Paulo, junte-se a @danielwaisberg & @methode para um SEO meetup no Google SP no dia 15 de agosto às 15:30. Preencha o formulário até sexta-feira, 5 de agosto (vagas limit, Google Search Central on Twitter
- They’re counted as normal results – we have this documented fairly well. They count as 1 query impression, 1 site impression, but individual URL impressions (like any time you have multi, John Mueller on Twitter
- We’re going to reward freshness if we determine that’s helpful to a query. We talked about this with the NYT back in 2007: https://t.co/ZIgfffaucY If time isn’t helpful, we tend not to use it. I ten, Danny Sullivan on Twitter
- For clicks, impressions, and position, there’s https://t.co/JG1YqFxplh which is imo pretty complete. You can’t both simplify it (let’s not “dumb it down”), and, John Mueller on Twitter
- FWIW we looked into this, and did not find any evidence of problems with, John Mueller on Twitter
- People are seeing your listing in search, but choosing not to click on it., John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Industry & Business
Links & Content Marketing
Local & Maps
Mobile & Voice
SEO
PPC
Feedback:
Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, you can follow us on Facebook and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.
Source: www.seroundtable.com
SEARCHENGINES
Google Business Profiles Removing Emojis & Special Characters From Business Names

For the past few weeks, there have been reports via the Local Search Forum that Google has been removing emojis and special characters from business names within Google Business Profiles. This means if you try to add an emoji for your name to stand out in the Google local listings, Google may remove that emoji.
Marcin Karwowski posted about this in the forums, he said, “I just noticed that a while ago a huge number of business owners received an email with the same content, that their name was updated and the emoticon was removed from the name. Apparently, Google finally decided to clean it up and removed emojis from names en masse. It’s a beautiful day if emoticons in company names finally disappear.”
Here is a screenshot of a notice he received from Google about Google Business Profiles removing an emoji from the business name:
Darren Shaw said shortly after that he noticed this also with special characters. Shaw wrote, “I got a notification today about an “®” being removed from a name. This client needs that in their name, though.”
Google has a history of adding and removing emojis from the search results, but the local space has been somewhat left alone from those decisions – that is until now.
Forum discussion at Local Search Forum.
SEARCHENGINES
Microsoft Bing Updates Webmaster Guidelines For Conversation Mode and Bing Image Creator

Microsoft has updated the Bing webmaster guidelines to support the updates with the new co-pilot, AI, ChatGPT-powered version of Bing. Bing updated the answers section and added a new section for “conversation mode and Bing image creator.”
The current Bing webmaster guidelines is here and the section Bing updated was around here – it should jump you there.
Here is the new section titled “Conversation Mode and Bing Image Creator”:
The new Bing conversation mode builds on the existing Bing experience to provide users with a new type of search interface. Bing conversation mode generates responses using an AI model that has learned by processing a vast amount of text from the Internet. Based on the user query or prompt, the model produces an output that is coherent, relevant, and creative, according to the input and the context. The output can be a response, a web result, a poem, a story, a code, an essay, a song, or anything else that can be expressed in natural language. Bing Image Creator similarly uses an AI model that has learned by processing a vast number of images from the Internet. Based on the user prompt, the model generates an output image. The conversational model is also informed by and refines its output using available context, such as web results, feedback, and interactions, to improve its performance and accuracy. Ranking within conversation mode generally relies on the same parameters as the main web search results page.
User activity in these features is governed by the Terms of Use and Code of Conduct.
That section was not in the previous version.
Also, Bing updated the answers section to say:
Bing may enhance the results page with additional features to provide a richer search experience for some search queries. For example, if a user types “How tall is the Eiffel Tower?” Bing will respond with the answer of “300 m”. For some queries, Bing looks at search results across the web, returns a summarized answer, and links to its sources.
If the query is related to a business, Bing may return relevant information about the business, such as store hours and location. Business owners can claim and verify existing listings on Bing using Bing Places for Business (available in limited markets) to create, edit or update their listing information. In some cases, Bing may partner with third-party content providers, such as local restaurant review sites, to further enhance the user experience.
Previously it said:
Bing may enhance the results page with additional features to provide a richer search experience for some search queries. For example, if a user types “How tall is the Eiffel Tower?” Bing will respond with the answer of “300 m”. If the query is related to a business, Bing may return relevant information about the business, such as store hours and location. Business owners can claim and verify existing listings on Bing using Bing Places for Business (available in limited markets) to create, edit or update their listing information. In some cases, Bing may partner with third-party content providers, such as local restaurant review sites, to further enhance the user experience.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
SEARCHENGINES
The New AI Powered Microsoft Bing Is Really Impressive & Thought Out

Yesterday I was at the Microsoft office with dozens of other media folks (lots of famous YouTubers also) for Microsoft to showcase its next evolution of Bing, the co-pilot for the web powered by the upgraded ChatGPT.
I should start by saying the leaks were accurate representation of this but the demos were far more impressive. Microsoft posted its own blog post over here and my Search Engine Land coverage is here.
I will say, this is far more impressive and thought out than what Google rushed out with Bard on Monday. But Satya Nadella did say Microsoft has been working on this for a while, not just the AI and language models but also how to build it into search as an assistant, as an “intelligent agent” as he put it.
Microsoft showed how you can not only get wicked smart answers, that you’d expect from ChatGPT but also how the user experience in search works smoothly with it. The right side panel that shows you not just the answers, but also the attribution and other ways to expand on those answers. You can also toggle from search to your chat assistant, and the chat feature will just pick up from search and visa versa. It just works together, at least in the demo.
I will have full access to it soon but you can also request access at bing.com/new.
Here is the home page as I see it:
Here is a screenshot Bing provided of the chat:
I live tweeted the event, where I tried to capture as much of the demo as possible, here are those tweets:
I see a bus load of famous YouTubers and reporters – like real famous.
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
I am in the back of the bus – was sitting across from iJustine:
Heading to Microsoft’s campus to learn what they’re planning, possibly, with ChatGPT. #Microsoft pic.twitter.com/7cUdA35869
— Lance Ulanoff (@LanceUlanoff) February 7, 2023
They funneled us into a breakfast area:
Timelapse (5 minute) of the Microsoft Media event – where Bing search goes AI… pic.twitter.com/z0DkMfaCd4
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
Then we went to the keynote room and Sam from OpenAI was sitting right in front of me:
Look who I see at this Microsoft event – it’s @sama pic.twitter.com/a6hRVjdnqT
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
Then Satya took the stage:
He is talking about AI and how its incredibly exciting times and how this can solve so many problems.
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
Satya saw what OpenAI developed and he was mind blown #Microsoft – now they need to scale this technology pic.twitter.com/UZAdDbCTIq
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
This AI technology will reshape every software category @satyanadella said #microsoft pic.twitter.com/Z3DkuQ1hnF
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
Then Yusuf Mehdi took the stage:
40% of queries result in someone clicking back and most searches are three keywords or less…
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
he explains navigational, informational and other searches people do today. 50,000 people’s searches go unanswered, which is why it is time for a new approach with search.
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
Bing is using a new ChatGPT designed for search
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
also, new core search index improvements and they applied AI to its core and it resulted in a huge improvement in relevancy
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
New Bing homepage to search with more words. pic.twitter.com/4vc6wXxjYz
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
And it shows more real time using the Bing index pic.twitter.com/fo1gIykQs6
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
It won’t be perfect so there are feedback links
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
New chat button in search to go from search to chat pic.twitter.com/1Y90o461nw
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
Microsoft is also bringing this AI copilot to Edge browser by integrating Bing in a new cool way with chat and to summarize and compare based on what is in the Bing index pic.twitter.com/rPhw6X27Qt
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
And it shows more real time using the Bing index pic.twitter.com/fo1gIykQs6
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
It won’t be perfect so there are feedback links
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
New chat button in search to go from search to chat pic.twitter.com/1Y90o461nw
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
Microsoft is also bringing this AI copilot to Edge browser by integrating Bing in a new cool way with chat and to summarize and compare based on what is in the Bing index pic.twitter.com/rPhw6X27Qt
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
That’s it I think pic.twitter.com/HXL4hLnrOf
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
More on technicals on these Bing upgrades – it’s pretty technical pic.twitter.com/C1pyswdeCB
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
I’ll add, this all seems light-years ahead of what Google showed us yesterday… At least from an integration and UX standpoint
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
it will expand to more people over time…
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
New Bing waitlist page at https://t.co/KWfVn2gd7S pic.twitter.com/abNP30skHJ
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
Microsoft won’t talk about the cost difference to run ChatGPT versus normal search…
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
@nfarley10 asked about Ads and @yusuf_i_mehdi said ads will be there, its in the screenshots from the presentation
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
More from Nicole on that over here.
and now I have early full access to the new Bing – what a big search box you have! pic.twitter.com/eTU4w1VWMU
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
There is a lot there but check out Techmeme – there is so much coverage of this and it is deserved. Also, Nicole did a test drive of the new Bing – her write up is here.
Finally, created this short vlog style video of my experience with this in person media event:
Forum discussion at Twitter & WebmasterWorld.
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