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Daily Search Forum Recap: May 15, 2024

Published

2 months ago

May 16, 2024

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 AI Overviews (formerly SGE) is officially live in the US search results, my article goes deeper on this than most. Google also is rolling out new AI features in search in the coming months. Google Search has a new filter to just show text links, it is called “web.” Google has lowered the search rankings for Deepfake porn sites. Google may be showing more review stars in the search results.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Google AI Overviews Launch In US Search Results

Google, as expected, has officially launched AI Overviews in the US and will expand the launch to other countries by the end of this year. AI Overviews were in Search Labs under the Search Generative Experience last year and has finally launched.

New Google AI Search Features Coming Soon – From Google I/O

Google not only announced that AI Overviews are rolling out in the US this week but a number of new AI based search features coming out later in Google Search and in Google Search Labs. These features include the ability to adjust AI Overviews, muti-stepping reasoning, planning, AI-organized search results and Lens search with video.

Google Web Filter Goes Live To Show Just Text Links

In February, we caught Google testing a new search filter named “Web Results.” Well, last night it went live under the name “Web.” You can now filter search results to only show text links and weed out all the videos, images, and other non-text links.

Google Lowers Search Rankings Of Deepfake Porn Sites

Bloomberg reports that Google has downgraded/lowered the search rankings of Deepfake porn sites. Bloomberg wrote, The company is lowering such content in search rankings, a spokesperson said, adding Google is “continuing to decrease the visibility of involuntary synthetic pornography in search and develop more safeguards as this space evolves.”

Google Mobile Search Showing More Review Stars?

Google may be showing more review stars in the mobile search results, according to some reports. RankRanger six-point lift in how often review stars are showing in mobile search, while is also showing a lift but more modest lift.

Sundar Pichai Shares Photo From Back Of Google I/O Stage

Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, shared a photo right before he got on stage at the Google I/O event. You can see it is from the back of the I/O keynote stage and it shows the thousands of people in the stands at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California.

Other Great Search Threads:

Adding the markup with JS is fine. IMO it makes it harder to debug on your side, and I wouldn’t over-do it & follow general JS-SEO best practices, but it can work. The difference is mor, John Mueller on X

As a pre-Google I/O warm up we’ve just released web-vitals v4. See the below thread for all the improvements. And, later this week, check out @malchata ‘s talk for Google I/O where he’ll be explaining how to use some of these to, Barry Pollard on X

I’m not aware of any changes there., John Mueller on X

It has to be rendered to be seen. With a complex JS configuration (chained JS files, conditional API requests, etc), rendering gets harder. You can make it really hard to render pages for search, you can also make it easy. Valid JSON-LD in HTML is the eas, John Mueller on X

Project Astra is a prototype from @GoogleDeepMind exploring how a universal AI agent can be truly helpful in everyday life. Watch our prototype in action in two parts, each captured in a single take, in real time, Google on X

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Daily Search Forum Recap: July 3, 2024

Published

17 hours ago

July 4, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

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 Console delays do not mean there is an unconfirmed core update rolling out, Google said. Google does not show those reporting delays in the Google Search Status Dashboard. There is an update zero click study from Rand Fishkin. Google is testing current styles carousel in Google Search. And Google Ads brand exclusions won’t prevent your ad from showing random firms, yet.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Google Search Console Delays Is Not A Google Core Update

Another rumor coming out of the Google Search Console reporting delays is that this is some sort of unconfirmed update is rolling out. Well, that is not the case at all. John Mueller of Google said this is not a core update or even an unconfirmed core update.

Google Zero Click Study Now At 58.5% In 2024

Rand Fishkin has come out with his 2024 edition of the Google zero click study and it shows that in the US, zero clicks are now at 58.5%, which is down from 65% in 2021. The study says about 37% of Google searches lead to no action, 21.4% lead to another Google search and 41.5% lead to a click.

Google Explains Why Search Console Reporting Delays Are Not In Search Status Dashboard

As of right now, Google Search Console is having a significant delay with its Performance reports and some are wondering why the status of the delay is not in the Google Search Status Dashboard like other search related issues.

Google Ads New Brand Exclusion Won’t Prevent Your Ads For Showing For Random Firms

The other day we reported about the new Google Ads brand controls. But as we gain more and more clarity, it seems it does not give advertisers all the controls they need.

Current Styles Google Search Carousel

Google Search has a new shopping-related carousel named “current styles.” This shows up for some shopping-related queries, and if you search for a product, it might show you style variations that may be trending.

2024 Google Product Expert Summit Photos

Google held a large Google Product Expert Summit in Zurich a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to share some, not all, some of the photos from the event.

Other Great Search Threads:

Search Engine Land Stories:

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Daily Search Forum Recap: July 2, 2024

Published

2 days ago

July 3, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

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 Search Console has some reporting delays, Google is working on a fix. Google Ads has a new setting to declare if a political ad is altered or synthetic (AI) that must be used. Google Ads will allow fantasy sports and lottery courier ads. Google Local Service Ads now show in the mobile business finder. Google Merchant Center updated how it uses your conversion data. Microsoft Advertising launched new property center section. And I posted the big Google Webmaster Report for July.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

July 2024 Google Webmaster Report

This month we had Google June 2024 spam update roll out over a seven-day period. We had a few other unconfirmed Google search ranking updates as well, listed below. Let’s not forget yet another Google indexing bug after the core update was announced…

Google Search Console Working To Fix Search Performance Delays & Latency

Google has confirmed it is working to fix the delays and latency issues with the Google Search Console Performance reports. This happens to the performance reports and often other reports in Google Search Console every now and then and generally Google is able to get it to catch up over time.

Google Ads Gains New Checkbox: Altered Or Synthetic Content

As you may remember, Google Ads requires political ads to disclose if the content, images or other assets in any way used synthetic content (i.e. AI content). Now Google Ads seems to be adding a checkbox for these ads to check off if these ads use “Altered or synthetic content.”

Google Merchant Center Conversion Data Usage Changes

Google sent out notices via email to Google Merchant Center merchants about a change to how Google collects and uses conversion data that you share with Google. Google said it may use that data for new reporting and also for ways to improve Google Search experiences and services.

Google Local Service Ads Now On Mobile Local Business Finder

Google is now showing Local Service Ads directly in the mobile version of the Google local business finder interface in Google Search. We know Google is showing LSAs now on Google Maps for iOS but now we are also seeing it on this surface.

Google Ads To Allow Fantasy Sports & Lottery Couriers Ads In Many States

Google has posted that it begin to accept and run ads for Daily Fantasy Sports and lottery couriers in many states within the United States. This change goes into affect on July 15, 2024 and advertisers must apply for certification.

Microsoft Advertising Property Center & Lodging Campaigns Expands

Microsoft announced Property Center for Microsoft Advertising’s lodging campaigns. This should make it easier for you to manage your Hotel Price Ads and Property Promotion Ads for your hotel or vacation rental property.

Google Fashion Summit In Brazil

Google held some sort of Google Fashion Summit in the Brazil office. I spotted some photos of it on Instagram from Ana Elisa who wrote, “Today was a day to visit Google and share some of @santa_lolla strategies to stay relevant on the platform. Only proud of this team.”

Other Great Search Threads:

Search Engine Land Stories:

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Daily Search Forum Recap: July 1, 2024

Published

3 days ago

July 2, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

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.

After the Google June spam update completed, we had even more Google Search ranking volatility over the weekend. Bing has a new Bing Webmaster Guideline for prompt injection. Some are seeing small increases for sites hit by the Google helpful content update. Google explained why soft 404s are bad. Google Maps added troubleshooting and FAQs for missing and removing reviews. Google Search is testing a top quality store badge near the site name.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Google Search Ranking Volatility Over June 28th & 29th Weekend

On the heels of the completion of the June 2024 spam update this Thursday, June 27th, I am now seeing signs of an unconfirmed Google Search ranking algorithm update and volatility. It seems more heated than the week of this spam update rollout but less weak than you’d see with a Google core update.

Some Sites Hit By Google Helpful Content Update Seeing Small Lifts

There are reports that some sites hit by the Google September 2023 Helpful Content Update are seeing small, somewhat tiny, lifts over the past week or so. Again, based on what we’ve been tracking, we have yet to see any recoveries but we are all hopeful we will see significant recoveries for some of those sites with the next core update.

Prompt Injection Added To Bing Webmaster Guidelines

Bing added a new guideline to its Bing Webmaster Guidelines named Prompt Injection. A prompt injection is a type of cyberattack against large language models (LLMs). Hackers disguise malicious inputs as legitimate prompts, manipulating generative AI systems (GenAI) into leaking sensitive data, spreading misinformation, or worse, according to IBM.

Google Explains Why Soft 404s Are Bad

Gary Illyes from Google explained two reasons why soft 404 errors are bad. Soft 404s are when a page returns a 200 status okay, but Google thinks that page should return a 404 page not found error. According to Gary, soft 404s are bad because they (1) limit crawl budget and (2) the pages won’t likely show up in Google Search.

Google Posts Reviews Troubleshooting & FAQs For Missing and Remove Reviews

A Google community manager, Alistair D., posted a Reviews troubleshooting and FAQs document in the Google Business Profiles forums. It goes through why reviews go missing, why reviews are removed and how to troubleshoot those issues with the Google Business Profiles tools.

Google Search Tests Top Quality Store Badge Near Site Name

Google is testing placing the top quality store badge and icon next to the site name area in the Google mobile search results. This brings up that icon from the bottom portion of the snippet to the very top of the snippet.

Mechanical Bull Riding At Google

Google had an employee appreciation day event of some sort and here is a photo of one Googler riding a mechanical bull. I posted the embed of the video he posted on Instagram of the event.