SEARCHENGINES
Daily Search Forum Recap: March 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 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
Feedback:
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SEARCHENGINES
Google Search Testing New Video Layout In Search

Google may be testing a new layout for videos it displays in the Google Search results. Google is testing a new format for how the videos show in the Google Search results.
This new format shows a larger video in the listings, as opposed to a smaller thumbnail image with more details. This was spotted by Khushal Bherwani on Twitter who shared the new and old screenshots.
New video format:
Old video format:
Google has been testing and displaying larger video thumbnails for some time, as an FYI.
I am not sure which one I like more, I would have to pick I guess the smaller thumbnail?
Forum discussion at Twitter.
SEARCHENGINES
Microsoft Bing Event Today – Expecting ChatGPT Search Integration

I am currently in Seattle and headed to the Microsoft Campus in Redmond for an in-person press event. I decided to go, assuming it would be related to ChatGPT and Bing but Microsoft would not tell me what it was about, nor would Microsoft let us say we are going to the event. Then yesterday at 2pm, when the news broke about Google Bard (story will be here), Microsoft said we can talk about the event.
So the news is out there that there is a event, see Techmeme. The email Microsoft sent says, “Microsoft has some exciting news coming in February and we’d like to invite you to an in-person experience at the Microsoft Campus in Redmond.”
“We can’t share a lot more at this stage, but you won’t want to miss it. This invitation is for you only, but if you’re unable to attend please let us know and we’ll see if we can consider another of your teammates,” Microsoft added.
Then after the Google news came out, Microsoft sent an email saying, “In light of recent announcements, you may now acknowledge your participation in tomorrow’s briefing in Redmond, leveraging the language in the briefing invitation.”
So yea, this press event seems to be about the Bing ChatGPT solution. I am very much looking forward to seeing what Microsoft Bing has to show here and I’ll be sharing the news here, on Search Engine Land and likely will be tweeting a ton @rustybrick. So make sure to follow me on Twitter to see the latest from Bing on this news.
And we have this photo of Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft with Sam Altman of OpenAI together last night:
hello from redmond! excited for the event tomorrow pic.twitter.com/b7TUr0ti42
— Sam Altman (@sama) February 6, 2023
I am expecting this to look a lot like the Bing ChatGPT interface leaks we covered earlier. Here are those screenshots:
Here is the home page screenshot that widens and enlarges the search box and says “Ask me anything”:
Here is his screenshot of the results, the answers being returned:
And here is the GIF he made of this:
Brain buzzing with all the search news and announcements this week! SEOs cannot sleep. What a time to be alive! The future is bright 🚀
— Fabrice Canel (@facan) February 7, 2023
More to come soon.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Search People Cards Visible In US

Back in 2020, Google Search introduced a feature named people cards. It was only available in India but now it seems like it might be expanding, as I can now see it in the United States.
Brian Freiesleben’s card, which he created when it was first announced by spoofing his location to be in India, is now showing up as a people card for searchers in the United States. Personally, I was able to bring it up on my mobile device in New York.
Here is a screenshot he shared of this on Twitter:
He said, “I found my name now triggers a ‘people card’. This was introduced in Google India back in 2020. I spoofed my location back then to create the card and now (finally) it’s appearing.”
Glenn Gabe was able to replicate it as well:
Thanks!
Man, I have tried to kill that flickr page so many times…it pops back like a weed every time. This is new motivation to try to unlock that account and delete it haha.
— Brian Freiesleben (@type_SEO) February 3, 2023
Forum discussion at Twitter.
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