SEARCHENGINES
Daily Search Forum Recap: May 19, 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 Ads is testing swapping out the “ads” label with a “sponsored” label. Google is testing slightly larger favicons in the search results. Google is testing the scroll to highlight feature where it lets you share the highlighted text. Did we find a new knowledge panel spam hack or is it just a Google bug? Finally, Google can show video thumbnails in search even without a playable video on the page.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Google Ads Tests Replacing Ad Label With Sponsored Label
Google Ads is testing replacing the “ads” label with a “sponsored” label again. And just so you know, Google in 2010 replaced the “sponsored” label with an “ad” label until this day. Yea, sometimes we do see “sponsored” labels in Google Search but not for the normal search ads – those have been labeled “ads” for the UK and US regions for a long time now. - New Form Of Google Knowledge Panel Spam Or Is This A Simple Google Bug?
If you do a search on [seo services india] you will see a knowledge panel show up for a “musical artist” named “SEO Services in India.” The question is, is this a bug with Google misinterpreting entities or is this specific manipulation by an SEO as a form of new Google knowledge panel spam? - Google Tests Slightly Larger Favicons In Mobile Search Results
Breaking news — Google is testing a slightly larger favicon near the title of the search result in the mobile search interface. I do not know how Vlad Rappoport noticed this but he did and notified me of it on Twitter. - Google Search Scroll To Highlight Now Can Share Highlighted Text Via Social, Email, etc
The Google Search and Chrome feature where you click on a snippet and you are taken to a position on that publisher’s page and it highlights the appropriate text now also lets you share that text. Well, at least Google is testing that feature for some searchers, on some browsers and platforms. - Google Shows Video Thumbnail In SERPs Without Embedding Video On Page?
Crystal Carter posted an example on Twitter of Google showing a video thumbnail for a snippet of her page but that page did not actually embed a video on the page. So if you visit the specific page, there is no video for a user to click on to play. - Google Wallet Silly Putty Egg Toy
Google gave away these silly putty egg toys branded with the Google Wallet logo on it. Who doesn’t love silly putty eggs toys? Seriously, do you not enjoy silly putty?
Other Great Search Threads:
- I’m sure this won’t lead to keyword stuffing. 🙂 Etsy re: its search algo changes -> Etsy Search now considers keywords & phrases w/in your listing descriptions when ranking your listings. Aim to incorporate relevant keywords, Glenn Gabe on Twitter
- It follows redirects like how Googlebot would, that’s by design., John Mueller on Twitter
- Searches for “mental health therapist” and “mental health help” reached record highs this year in the U.S. Learn more about tools and resources that can help when you need it most → https://t.co/kzSS5AHzO0 #MHAM, Google on Twitter
- In our docs, we only talk about long redirect chains — the usual per-page redirects are not really a problem. (Also, don’t blindly trust what you can check with your own data :-, John Mueller on Twitter
- Today’s #APAHM #GoogleDoodle honors the birthday of disability justice activist, Stacey Park Milbern. Stacey co-created disability justice to fight for those marginalized within the disabled community—people of color,, Google Doodles on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Industry & Business
Links & Content Marketing
Local & Maps
Mobile & Voice
SEO
PPC
Other Search
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 Hanukkah Decorations Are Live For 2023

Hanukkah (aka Chanukah) starts this coming Thursday night, December 7th. Google has added its Hanukkah decorations to the Google Search results interface to celebrate. Google does this every year and I expect to see the same rollout in the coming weeks for Christmas and Kawanzaa but for now, since Chanukah is in the coming days, we have the Hanukkah decorations live at Google Search.
Here is a screenshot of the Chanukah decorations as they look like on the mobile search results.
You can see it yourself by searching on Google for [chanukah], [hanukkah], but not yet [חֲנוּכָּה] or other spelling variations yet but it should soon. It looks better on mobile than it does on desktop results.
To see the past, the 2023 decorations, 2021 decorations, 2020 Chanukah decorations, 2019 Google holiday decorations, the 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 and so on.
Happy Chanukah, everyone!
Forum discussion at X.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Pay Accepted Icons In Google Search Results

Google seems to be testing a Google Pay Accepted label or icon in the Google search results. This label has the super G logo followed by the words “Pay accepted” words next to search result snippets that support Google Pay and notate such in their structured data.
This was first spotted by Khushal Bherwani who shared some screenshots of this on X – here is one:
Here are some more screenshots:
Here is test and without test window for same query. pic.twitter.com/n9cYWBOsro
— Khushal Bherwani (@b4k_khushal) October 20, 2023
Brodie Clark also posted some screenshots after on X:
In continuation from the test from October, Google is now testing out a new Google Pay label associated with organic results. Last month, Google was testing Pay Accepted text, with this month changing it to Pay encrypted checkout. More details: https://t.co/MvFNoPmMDR pic.twitter.com/WDVVc4RbTO
— SERPs Up 🌊 (@SERPalerts) November 30, 2023
I tried to replicate this but I came up short.
This is not the first time Google had similar icons like this in its search results.
Forum discussion at X.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Discover Showing Older Content Since Follow Feature Arrived

Typically, Google Discover shows content that is less than a day old, but it can show content that is weeks, months, or even years old. However, typically, Google will show more recent content in the Discover feed. Well, that may have changed with the new Google follow feature.
Glenn Gabe, who is a very active Google Discover user, noticed that since the Follow feature rolled out, he has been seeing content that is weeks and months old way more often than before the follow feature rolled out. Glenn wrote on X that “this could also be playing a role. i.e. Google isn’t providing as much recent content, but instead, focusing on providing targeted content based on the topics you are following.”
It makes sense that if you follow a specific topic and if Google Discover only shows the most authoritative types of content, it might be hard for Google to find new content on that topic. So it does make sense that Google may show older content more often for that specific topic you follow.
Here are screenshots Glenn shared:
Have you noticed this in your Discover feed?
Forum discussion at X.
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