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 will not deprecate third-party cookies in Chrome, after delaying this process numerous times. Google Ads Editor version 2.7 is now out. Google Ads has a new Sitelinks interface. Google is testing larger sitenames and favicons. Google Search is showing video descriptions generated using A Overviews.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• 
  Google Won’t Deprecate Third-Party Cookies In Chrome
  
  
  Google has decided not to deprecate, do away with, third-party cookies in Chrome. This is something Google has been planning and testing for a while, delaying the efforts numerous times, and now ultimately deciding to scrap those efforts.
• 
  Google Ads Editor Version 2.7 Is Now Out
  
  
  Google has released version 2.7 of the Google Ads Editor. This new update brings a number of new features and also deprecates a number of features. New features include AI-generated assets, account level content label exclusions, account-level negative keywords and more.
• 
  Google Search AI Overviews Video Descriptions
  
  
  Google Search is testing using AI Overviews to provide video descriptions in the Google Search results. When you click to expand some videos, Google may overlay the video and its description directly in the search results. And that description may read, “AI overviews are experimental,” which means the description was adapted by Google Gemini.
• 
  Google Tests Larger Sitename & Favicons
  
  
  Google is testing larger sitenames and favicons again. You can see a considerably larger font used for the sitename (the link in the Google search result snippets) and a larger favicon being tested in the search results.
• 
  New Google Ads Sitelinks Interface
  
  
  Google Ads has a new sitelinks interface, and functionality, for Performance Max campaigns. The new recommended sitelinks features are rolling out, plus there is a new numbered layout for the sitelinks.




• 
  Google Soda
  
  
  Here is a photo of two cans of drinks, maybe soda or some other energy drink, that is branded with the Google Innovator logo and name. I found this on Instagram and thought it was unusual enough to share here.

Other Great Search Threads:

• Apple Maps has just been updated for #Paris2024 Summer Olympics. New update includes stunning 3D models of Olympic venues, including temporary ones. Here are my favorites, Nikias Molina on X
• Google Core Update in progress: Are smaller sites starting to bounce back? These gains are minor and of course only estimates from Ahrefs. But both Retro Dodo and Travel Lemming seem to show the beginnings of a minor recovery., Mike Futia on X
• NSEO ::There’s more to it than you think! :: And right up until 3pm, I’ve twitched, itched and questioned whether we should. But we have … It’s live, Darth Autocrat (Lyndon NA) on X
• Reverification After Name/Service Area Updates, No Verification Methods, Local Search Forum
• So, hows the higher education sector going with all the Google changes. Going pretty well. I might say., Ori Zilbershtein on X
• We’ve added a new record to the GA4 BigQuery Event export that contains the Google Ads and Manual campaign context information for each session present in the export. This information will be repeated for every event in, Google Analytics on X

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.

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 is testing new link citations in the AI Overviews. Google is also testing saving AI Overviews for later. Google is showing some AI-generated images in some knowledge panels. Microsoft Advertising is rolling out new brand lists in Performance Max. Bing is testing related searches at the top.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• 
  Google Tests Link Icon Citations For AI Overviews
  
  
  Google is also testing link icons in the AI Overviews to show citations for statements generated in the AI Answer. These links, when clicked, will take you to an overlay window that shows those links in a search result format page. No, clicking the link icon will not take you directly to the source but you will see the search result snippet.




• 
  Google Testing Save Button For AI Overviews
  
  
  Google is testing the ability to save your AI Overviews to your Google Interests section. If you are opted-in to labs in Google, and you see AI Overviews, at the bottom of the AI Overview, you may see a new “Save” button.
• 
  New Microsoft Advertising Brand Lists For Performance Max Campaigns
  
  
  Microsoft Advertising is rolling out brand lists for Performance Max campaigns. “Brand lists allow greater control over brand image and ad visibility, including the brands you don’t want your ads to be associated with,” Microsoft wrote in its help documentation.
• 
  Google Knowledge Panels Using AI-Generated Images
  
  
  Google is showing AI-generated images in some of the knowledge panels they show in Google Search. Google is not creating these images; they come from images on third-party sites. And honestly, I kind of like it, at least in some cases.
• 
  Bing Tests Related Searches At Top – Below Search Bar
  
  
  Bing is testing placing the related searches at the top of the search results page, directly under the search bar. The searches are exactly what you would see in the bottom but in a different format at the top.
• 
  Google Wooden Hive Tree
  
  
  I don’t know what this is, but I spotted this photo at the Google office in Kirkland, Seattle. It looks like some sort of wooden art, maybe of a tree, maybe of some hive, I am not sure.

Other Great Search Threads:

Search Engine Land Stories:

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

Industry & Business

Links & Content Marketing

Local & Maps

Mobile & Voice

SEO

PPC

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.

Google announced that it will stop serving the Google URL Shortener, so any URL that was set up to redirect using goo.gl, which Google stopped supporting adding new ones back in 2019, will also stop serving.

Starting August 23, 2024, goo.gl links will start displaying an interstitial page for a percentage of existing links to notify users that the link will no longer be supported after August 25, 2025 prior to navigating to the original target page. Then after August 25, 2025, the link will then 404 and not redirect to the right destination URL.

So any redirects you have pointing to your site using goo.gl Google’s service, will die and not be counted.

As Glenn Gabe noted on X, that means billions of URLs on the web will simply vanish and begin to 404. Glenn shared how Majestic knows of 3.6 billion goo.gl links 36 billion historical links in its database.

This is the Interstitial page shown for some goo.gl links starting on August 23, 2024:

Here is the Majestic report from Glenn Gabe:

Google wrote:

Over time the percentage of links that will show the interstitial page will increase until the shutdown date. This interstitial page should help you track and adjust any affected links that you will need to transition as part of this change. We will continue to display this interstitial page until the shutdown date after which all links served will return a 404 response.

Note that the interstitial page may cause disruptions in the current flow of your goo.gl links. For example, if you are using other 302 redirects, the interstitial page may prevent the redirect flow from completing correctly. If you’ve embedded social metadata in your destination page, the interstitial page will likely cause these to no longer show up where the initial link is displayed. For this reason, we advise transitioning these links as soon as possible.

Note: In the event the interstitial page is disrupting your use cases, you can suppress it by adding the query param “si=1” to existing goo.gl links.

It’s ok, there’s only 3.6 billion https://t.co/VjE6xjVgSX links that Majestic has picked up. And 36 billion historically. August 25 will be very interesting. 🙂 pic.twitter.com/O3jUZHFQr3

— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) July 18, 2024

Is this a pain for any of you? I personally won’t be asking anyone with goo.gl links to update them for me.

Forum discussion at X and WebmasterWorld.