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Another week and more Google Search ranking volatility, in fact, it has not calmed but we saw even more spikes in the middle of this week. Google Search Console may have a bug with product snippets reporting. Google Search App stopped working Saturday night for a few hours. Google said again, Core Web Vitals are not as important as many think. Google Indexing API may be causing some spammers some trouble, or maybe it is just normal indexing selection. Google updated its crawler documentation with the effects and snippets. Google suspended many Google Business Profiles this week. Google updated its documentation around review restrictions. A new study on Google AI Overviews shows links go to information intent pages. Google Search will label images as AI-generated, edited with software or taken with a camera. Google Ads added negative keywords for PMax, new insights and reports, and so much more. Google is testing sticky headers for the new layout. Google is testing expanded discussions and forums layouts. Bing is testing snippets that scroll. Google asked on social if you use Gemini to do SEO and then removed it. Google posted a bunch of the DOJ trail exhibits, files, documents and responses. That was the search news this week at the Search Engine Roundtable.

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Search Topics of Discussion:

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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 putting review and menu descriptions under photos in local listings. Google is placing blue map pins with location names in the search result snippets. Google Ads had enhanced conversion coverage data. Bing is testing a searches you may like widget. Bing Places has a new support form. And I posted the weekly SEO video recap.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• 
  Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Ranking Volatility Spikes, Search Console Bug, Search App Stalled, Google Ads News & Business Profile Suspensions
  
  
  Another week and more Google Search ranking volatility, in fact, it has not calmed but we saw even more spikes in the middle of this week. Google Search Console may have a bug with product snippets reporting. Google…
• 
  Google Blue Map Pin & City Name On Search Results Snippets
  
  
  Google is now showing a blue map pin with a city name under some of the search result snippets. This seems to be rolling out now and seems to be new. It shows you if a specific website is near you or in a specific city, I think.
• 
  Google Reviews & Menu Descriptions Under Local Photos
  
  
  Google is now showing reviews and menu descriptions when browsing photos on a Google Maps, Google Business Profiles listing. So when you scroll through photos, Google will show this content under the photo for some listings.
• 
  Google Ads Gains New Options On Enhanced Conversion Coverage Data Page
  
  
  Google has added a set of new filters and a website only report in the Enhanced Conversion Coverage data page/report. This can be found in the Google Ads console under the Enhanced Conversion Coverage Data page.
• 
  New Bing Places Support Contact Form
  
  
  Microsoft may have updated its Bing Places support contact us page. The new page requires you to authenticate yourself, then pick your region, before filling out the form. The form can be reached over here.
• 
  Bing Searches You Might Like Box
  
  
  Microsoft is testing new sections in the Bing Search results named searches you might like. This can show up as a box with search refinements between a set of search results or as trending searches on the right hand side of the search results.





• 
  Google Neon Sign – Rock Stage
  
  
  Here is a spot at the Google office in Zurich, Switzerland where bands can play. There is this neon Google logo sign in the background, with musical instruments on the stage.

Other Great Search Threads:

• “Helpful”, to not helpful, to helpful, to not helpful… all in the space of a year. This is so confusing, and Google really need to sort this out because there isn’t a lot independent sites left anymore, and I know many, Brandon Saltalamacchia on X
• First time I’ve seen Gemini sending a good amount of traffic to one of my recent blog posts, Bill Hartzer on X
• Getting bombarded by flags for “Unreliable Claims” anytime we try to post keywords from Ads Editor, Greg on X
• More about AI Overview tracking in GSC: I’ve explained before that it’s a maddening adventure trying to track AI Overviews in GSC. Well, here’s another maddening example. The site ranks in the AI overview (which would show up as posi, Glenn Gabe on X
• We have just updated our marketing landing page with a nice overview of some of Bing’s main features like the emerging Bing generative search powered by LLMs, as well as Images and Image Creation, News, Travel, Maps, Shopping, Safe Se, Jordi Ribas on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

Industry & Business

Links & Content Marketing

Local & Maps

• Android Auto adds NACS charger support for EVs, 9to5Google
• Booking.com’s price curbs on hotels may hinder competition, EU top court says, Reuters
• Here’s how Google Maps incident reports will work on Android Auto, 9to5Google
• Maps, AI, Open Buildings, Geospatial analysis, dataset, Google Blog
• New Policies & Shady Review Schemes: Is Google Helping or Hurting?, BrightLocal
• Startup Founded by Ex-Google Exec to Use AI to Forecast Weather, Bloomberg

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.

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.

The Google Search ranking volatility continues, with another big swing yesterday, September 18th. Google is mass suspending Google Business Profiles in some industries and segments. Google again said stop worrying too much about Core Web Vitals. Google is showing videos in the top insights products section. A new Google AI Overview study shows links mostly go to informational intent pages.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• 
  Google Search Ranking Volatility Continue With Big Movement Again 9/18
  
  
  To be honest, the Google Search ranking volatility has not cooled at all since the pre-launch of the Google August 2024 core update. But something happened yesterday which caused a bit more of a swing of things in the rankings at Google Search.
• 
  Google Suspending Many Google Business Profiles
  
  
  I am seeing a flood of complaints in the Google Business Profiles forums where businesses are complaining that their Google Business Profiles were suspended. Supposedly, Google is mass disabling Business Profiles in specific sets of industries or niches.
• 
  Google: Core Web Vitals Aren’t As Important As Some People Might Think
  
  
  Google again has downplayed the importance of Core Web Vitals as a Google Search ranking signal. Google’s Martin Splitt said in a video yesterday, “also core web vitals aren’t as important as some people might think.” He added, “they are they are not irrelevant though but do not over focus on these things.”
• 
  Google Product Results Top Insights With YouTube Videos
  
  
  Google is now showing videos, I guess from YouTube but I suspect it can support other video sites, within the top insights section of the product detail results. Previously, Google would just show review content but now Google added video content to this section.





• 
  Study: 96% Of Google AI Overviews Links Go To Informational Intent Pages
  
  
  Did you know that 96% of the links Google displays and shows in the AI Overviews link to content that has informational intent? A new study from seoClarity says this is the case, after analyzing over 1 million keywords in its data set.





• 
  Google’s Doogler Day
  
  
  Did you know Google has a special day for the Google Dogs, Dooglers. It is called Doogler Day and here is a photo of Doogler Day 2024.

Other Great Search Threads:

Search Engine Land Stories:

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

Industry & Business

• Exclusive: Google offered to sell part of ad tech business, not enough for EU publishers, sources say, Reuters
• ‘Lazy’ staff going home early has caused Google to ‘suffer’, says ex-boss, GB News
• Google was too scared to launch its LLMs before OpenAI, Android Headlines
• Google’s ad monopoly is harming journalism with sky-high fees for news publishers, antitrust trial hears, Daily Mail Online
• Microsoft Aggressively Pushes Edge and Rewards on Chrome users in Incognito Mode, Windows Report
• U.S. v. Google: Ad tech antitrust trial by numbers — so far, Digiday

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.