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 Maps released a bunch of data on its efforts to combat spam, fraud and abuse on its platform. Google’s Gary Illyes, Martin Splitt and Lizzi Sassman talked about de-SEOing Google’s own site. Google Search can help you find and book health appointments. Google is testing new ad extension icons and a lower price badge. Google Search has a bug with dark mode and that grey search bar. Plus I posted my weekly SEO video recap.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google Maps 2021 Blocked 100 Million Fraudulent & Abusive Edits & More
  
  Google announced its 2021 Google Maps and Google Business Profile spam fighting efforts, like it did for the 2020 year. Google said it blocked more than 100 million Business Profile edits and protected over 100 thousand businesses from suspicious activity and abuse attempts.




• Google Talks About de-SEOing The Search Central Web Pages
  
  Google’s Martin Splitt, Gary Illyes, and Lizzi Sassman sat together on the latest Search Off the Record to talk about de-SEOing – what we would probably call over-optimization strategies. It is an interesting listen to, stuff you probably heard before but it is interesting to hear Googlers who are intimate with how Google Search works tackle this issue on their own site.




• Google Search Tests Healthcare Provider Appointments & Booking
  
  Google announced that in addition to helping searchers find healthcare providers that take their insurance, they are now helping searchers book appointments at these healthcare providers. This is a limited pilot test with MinuteClinic at CVS and some other healthcare booking software services.
• Google Testing Lower Price Icon In Search Shopping Results
  
  Google is testing displaying a badge or icon or label that demonstrates if a product you are looking at is a low price or not. So if your product sells well below other products in that product category, Google might tell you with this new label.




• Google Ads Tests New Ad Extension Icons
  
  Google may be testing new Google Ads extension icons in the search results. Khushal Bherwani spotted these and notified me of these on Twitter, and I think they are new. New contact us and buy now icons are being placed in the Google search ad snippet.




• Google Search Bar Bug Makes Autocomplete Query Hard To See
  
  Many searchers are seeing a bug or a test gone bad within the Google Search bar or box while in dark mode. The text displayed in the autocomplete search suggested are grayed out on a light background, where it is super hard to read.
• Search News Buzz Video Recap: 3rd Google Product Reviews Update, Spring Update, Google Data That Might Surprise You, Google Ads Updates, UI Tests & More
  
  This week was pretty busy, we had the third Google product reviews update and I go deep into this algorithm update. We saw what I called a Spring 2022 Google search update…





• Google NYC Office New Food, New Games & New Places For Returning Googlers
  
  As Googlers return to the office, I guess those Googlers are welcomed to some new food options, new areas to explore, new games and more. Google wants employees in the office so they are doing what t

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

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