SEARCHENGINES
Daily Search Forum Recap: July 25, 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.
Google’s Things to Know has been removed from the desktop search results. Google Local Services Ads is now showing three listings, up from two listings, on mobile. But Local Service Ads also are riddled with fake listings and reviews. Google product carousel shows product review content in “appears on these lists.” Google is testing the search bar menu with search refinements. And I posted another vlog with Jaimie Clark, this one on the Google Products Reviews update, and Jon Clark, on SEO for Startups.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Google Tests Search Bar With Refinements Mixed With Vertical Navigation
Google is testing mixing the search bar, where you normally see the vertical search options like videos, maps, images, shopping, news, etc – but also showing refinements for your searches. - Google Products Carousel Displays Product Reviews Under Appears On These Lists
Google has a section named “appears on these lists” that will show you which product review content (or comparison lists) has mentioned the product you are looking at. This works both on desktop and mobile and is displayed after you click on a product in the product carousel or product grid on mobile. - Google Local Service Ads Seeing A Lot Of Fake Reviews
Google’s Local Service Ads are supposed to be screened, guaranteed, and reviewed by someone contracted by Google. But supposedly, the reviews in many Local Service Ads are filled with fake reviews. - Google Now Showing Three Local Service Ads Listings
Google is now showing three local service ads listings in both the mobile and desktop interface. Previously, Google has shown two local service ads listings, but as Len pointed out on Twitter, Google is now showing three. The desktop interface has had three for some time, but mobile generally has shown only two listings. - RankRanger: Google Things To Know No Longer Showing In Desktop Search
The Google Things To Know box, which was announced at Google I/O, and eventually has been showing up for about 1% of desktop queries, is no longer showing up for any desktop query now, according to RankRanger data. - Vlog #183: Jaimie Clark On Google Product Reviews Update & Jon Clark On SEO For Startups
Jaimie and Jon Clark came for a visit and we all spoke SEO and a lot more. Jaimie Clark is the VP of SEO at Centerfield, she was previously the Head of SEO at Wirecutter, a New York Times company… - Google Pier 57
Months ago, Google opened up its new park area in New York City named Google Pier 57. Google has been hosting media events there, which I have yet to accept an invite to. But here is a photo of the G
Other Great Search Threads:
- GA4 is adding filters to their custom reports. To date all the standard reports shown when you log in are unfiltered. Admins can now apply filters, so all users see various subsets of data like US only, SEO only, or Mobile, Charles Farina on Twitter
- Google Under Pressure from Both Sides, WebmasterWorld
- Look at this collection of recommended books. I wonder if this works for Gates and others?, Adam J. Humphreys on Twitter
- My guess is time zone quirk., John Mueller on Twitter
- robots.txt prevents crawling, so if you’re worried about overloading your server, that would be enough. It’s unlikely that these URLs would appear, when, John Mueller on Twitter
- So Google thinks @elonmusk has an affair with Sergey Brin, Barry Schwartz on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Industry & Business
- Alphabet Stock Split Lands With a Thud in Worry-Filled Market, Bloomberg
- Pro-Russia authorities will ban Google in occupied regions of Ukraine, The Verge
- Congress Might Actually Pass ADPPA, the American Data Privacy and Protection Act, WIRED
- Google Fires Blake Lemoine, Engineer Who Called Its AI Sentient, Substack
- Sonos Wins Ruling on One Patent in Google Case Over Smart Audio, Bloomberg
- Elon Musk’s Friendship With Sergey Brin Ruptured by Alleged Affair, Wall Street Journal
- Google Is Selling Advanced AI to Israel, Documents Reveal, The Intercept
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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