SEARCHENGINES
Daily Search Forum Recap: January 19, 2023
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.
There was another unconfirmed Google search ranking algorithm update. Google Ads is rolling out experiments for Performance Max campaigns.
Google Search Console’s performance report may show a spike in data for product results due to a change. Google removed the playable podcast list view rich results. Bing is testing topics search refinement, like Google.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Google Search Ranking Algorithm Update On Wednesday?
It looks like we may have had another tremor or Google search ranking algorithm update kickoff yesterday, Wednesday, January 18th. We just had one this weekend after the December 2022 helpful content update and December 2022 link spam update finished on January 12th and now we have this, again. - Google Search Console Search Performance Product Results Clicks & Impressions Spike
Google has posted that you may see an increase in clicks and impressions in your search performance report when filtering by the product results search appearance in Search Console. Google said this is because Google is now picking up these products even without structured data. - Google Ads Rolling Out Performance Max Experiments
Google is rolling out Performance Max experiments in Google Ads today. We knew this would come and now, I think for the first time but I might be wrong, we are seeing some advertisers gain access to this. - Google Search Drops Playable Podcast Rich Snippets
Google has dropped the playable podcast search result rich snippets. 9to5Google reported this first, and there is a bit of confusion around what exactly Google removed. Google seems to have removed the recent episodes playable rich results for podcasts, where Google would show under a specific search result the recent podcasts. - Microsoft Bing Tests Topics Search Bar Refinements Like Google
Microsoft Bing is testing topics refinements options in the search bar, this is similar to what Google Search launched a few months back on mobile search and has been testing on desktop search. - Green Google Singapore Office
Google’s Daniel Waisberg shared some photos of the Google Singapore office. The images are embedded below but the one on top shows how green this space is. There is even a place that lets you grow
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:
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SEARCHENGINES
Google’s Internal Menu System Tracks Googlers Food Preferences

A Googler shared screenshots of the output from the Google internal menu system where it told her that one day she avoids salades and then she must have had some salads to correct that and the next day it say she enjoys salad. I am just amazed Google tracks the food Googlers eat and offers suggestions.
Here are those tweets embedded:
Important update.
As much as I would like to be a conspiracy theorist and assume that my tweets are being monitored, seems the initial warning was just a bug. pic.twitter.com/FRbkw6QE0g
— Lara Levin (@TheLaraxSF) March 23, 2022
So… I think I have two preferences set on the menu… that I like soups and salads. I think the system inverted that to things I avoid. It is now fixed. Inadvertent shaming is over.
— Lara Levin (@TheLaraxSF) March 24, 2022
Haha, I think it’s just “here are the menus for the day”, and it’ll show you things you might like most at the top. It’s not that fancy 🙂
— Lara Levin (@TheLaraxSF) March 24, 2022
To be clear, it doesn’t track you! You can set favorites. And there was a bug 🙂
— Lara Levin (@TheLaraxSF) February 2, 2023
This is really not a photo of the day but close enough…
This post is part of our daily Search Photo of the Day column, where we find fun and interesting photos related to the search industry and share them with our readers.
SEARCHENGINES
Daniel Waisberg Hosts Lizzi Sassman & Martin Splitt At Google Tel Aviv

A couple of months before John Mueller visited Daniel Waisberg at the Google Tel Aviv office, Lizzi Sassman and Martin Splitt of Google did as well. Here are the three smiling on the streets of Tel Aviv.
This was shared a while back on Twitter.
This post is part of our daily Search Photo of the Day column, where we find fun and interesting photos related to the search industry and share them with our readers.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Ad Revenues Down 3.6% Year Over Year

Google reported earnings last night and their ad revenue not only slowed but was technically lower year over year. Google’s ad revenue was down about 3.6%, while total revenue was up just around 1%.
Here is the snippet from the earnings report showing that:
Remember, Microsoft reported earnings the week prior and showed slowed growth but still growth. Microsoft Bing Ads grew 10% last quarter.
Here is a look at Google’s earnings numbers for the past 3 years:
You can see that Q4 2021 was higher than Q4 2022!
Ruth Porat, CFO of Alphabet and Google, said: “Our Q4 consolidated revenues were $76 billion, up 1% year over year, or up 7% in constant currency, and $283 billion for the full year 2022, up 10%, or up 14% in constant currency. We have significant work underway to improve all aspects of our cost structure, in support of our investments in our highest growth priorities to deliver long-term, profitable growth.”
Hence the mass Google layoffs to cut costs and increase profit. Keep in mind, Google’s profit was insane – $18 billion, that is $1 billion in profit per week! Sure, Google’s net income was down 34% year over year, so I get Wall Street.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
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