SEARCHENGINES
Despite Criticism in 2022, Google Says Search Results Are Better

In November, yes, a month ago, there was a lot of criticism across the web that Google Search and the results were declining. We touched on the topic when I covered a poll about SEOs being split on if Google is getting worse or is the web getting worse.
Now that it is a slower week, I am digging through some threads I did not cover when I should have, and I spotted Danny Sullivan of Google defending the quality of Google’s search results on Mastodon.
Angus McIntyre, a respected author, wrote on Mastodon “Have you noticed that results returned by #search engines like #Google seem to be becoming progressively less useful? Despite Google’s best efforts & frequent algorithm changes, the #SEO industry seems to be winning the battle to render the #web perfectly vacuous & entirely useless.” He linked to this blog post named A trillion dollar opportunity by Talia Goldberg.
Angus later on in the Mastodon thread wrote “Not to knock Google specifically here; I think there’s been a decline in result quality across the board, affecting all search engines. But there was a time when Google’s ability to bring up relevant results seemed almost supernatural. Now, not so much. I’d be interested to know if this perceived decline in quality is supported by stats. Response to my thread suggests others share my perception: what do the numbers say?”
So Danny Sullivan responded saying, “Our numbers say we’re showing more relevant results. I wrote a post about this earlier this year. But as I also covered, our expectations are likely higher, plus we likely feel more disappointed when results we want aren’t there. Of course, there’s more that can be done, and we’re definitely working on it.”
Danny linked to this post he wrote in March that has some quotes such as “Over the last seven years, we’ve decreased the number of irrelevant results by over 50%.”
The thread is an interesting one; if you want to dig through it, you can click on the Mastodon link and then dig into different branches of the conversation.
The thing with Google is that they won’t stop trying to keep improving, I know that. Will it ever be good enough? The answer is no, and I think Google is okay with that, but I don’t know if we are.
Forum discussion at Mastodon.
Source: www.seroundtable.com
SEARCHENGINES
Google Search Testing More Card Box Like Buttons In Search

Google is testing more card and box-like elements in the search results. We covered this with the product results interface a few weeks back but now we are seeing them for other elements.
Here are screenshots shared with me of these designs:
Via @b4k_khushal:
Via @mblumenthal via @b4k_khushal:
I kind of like them but I might be wrong. 🙂
Forum discussion at Twitter.
SEARCHENGINES
Microsoft Bing Search Features & Tests

Here is another batch of Microsoft Bing Search tests and features that were caught out in the wild that I wanted to share with you. They include sorting, filtering, carousels, animations, related content and maybe even some bugs?
(1) Sorting results by more parameters:
Bing test search filter to sort results by time period at the bottom of the search result.
You may already seen this at the top of the search result.@MSBing_Dev @rustybrick pic.twitter.com/Wc1AzUxHuV— Shameem Adhikarath (@shemiadhikarath) January 20, 2023
(2) Related videos under the video results:
Bing is testing related video searches under Bing Videos on SERP.
cc: @rustybrick pic.twitter.com/H26BiomGzU
— Shameem Adhikarath (@shemiadhikarath) January 24, 2023
(3) Dynamic and animated carousel information box of sorts, life cycle feature:
↗️ Cool feature by bing in desktop serp.
↗️ Life Cycle Visual thread. pic.twitter.com/0qCe8XYULp
— Khushal Bherwani (@b4k_khushal) January 19, 2023
Check the After and Before Screenshot- pic.twitter.com/aE1qJUp2Ol
— Anuj thaker (@Anuj_Thaker03) January 23, 2023
(4) See this location:
See this Location snippet at the top of the result. You can see the Bing location panel on the right side also.@MSBing_Dev @rustybrick pic.twitter.com/sIeJayYZ3W
— Shameem Adhikarath (@shemiadhikarath) January 20, 2023
(5) I am not sure what this is about:
Anyone else notice the @bing mouse logger script running on their search results? @facan it seems to be running and collecting data even if you don’t accept Microsoft’s privacy policy… @BingWMC is the data going to you? pic.twitter.com/3zuPeMnQIS
— @[email protected] (@davidiwanow) January 7, 2023
(6) Left side product refinement filters:
🆕 Bing test Refined By filter at left side of product section. pic.twitter.com/hz66CRmlVG
— Khushal Bherwani (@b4k_khushal) January 18, 2023
(7) Want more deals feature:
🆕Bing suggest online stores by adding this store carousal – “Want more deals? Browse these stores” pic.twitter.com/6eU9gSKkgW
— Khushal Bherwani (@b4k_khushal) January 23, 2023
(8) “Top Headlines” in Bing at the sitelink on the desktop search:
↗️ In Google, “Latest from xyz” is replicated as “Top Headlines” in Bing at the sitelink on the desktop search.
↗️ Here is snap from Google and Bing serp. pic.twitter.com/vzeUJYmnFb
— Khushal Bherwani (@b4k_khushal) January 30, 2023
(9) Bing is testing a different style for sitelinks on their – via Frank Sandtmann on Mastodon:
(10) Interesting character image on that search bar when you try to use a different search engine. I am not sure if it is new:
Bing is testing “search here” tabs on SERP. I have seen this first time. have you seen this.
For referance screenshots- pic.twitter.com/RAGQQR5GNd
— Anuj thaker (@Anuj_Thaker03) January 30, 2023
This is in addition to the other items we recently posted about Bing.
Forum discussion at Twitter threads above.
SEARCHENGINES
The Return Of Yahoo Search

Last week I reported that Yahoo Search posted on Twitter that it will be making search cool again. As I posted on Search Engine Land yesterday, we got more evidence that Yahoo is really moving forward with improving its search service.
Last night, Jim Lanzone, the CEO of Yahoo (more about him below), responded to Greg Sterling and myself about Yahoo getting into search:
Greg, I think you and Barry know – there are always new ways around the mountain. No reason to go straight at it. But we’re excited to start exploring again…and will be patient figuring it all out.
— Jim Lanzone (@jlanzone) January 31, 2023
So yes, we got that tweet that I covered last week, followed by a number of other tweets:
Just popping in to remind everyone that we did search before it was cool.
BRB making it cool again.
— Yahoo Search (@YahooSearch) January 20, 2023
But we got a lot more – we have a job listing for a Principal Product Manager, Yahoo Search. The job listing says, “We’re looking for a Product Manager for Search at Yahoo. We are looking for folks that are interested in pushing beyond the status quo to change the way folks interact and use search.”
Jim Lanzone, who was the CEO of Ask.com and worked for several years for Ask.com (previously Ask Jeeves), who is now the CEO at Yahoo. He is a search guy, originally, and I do suspect he will want to do big things again with search. Under Jim, Ask released some incredibly innovative features, like Ask 3D – which Google kind of ripped off with its Universal Search – as some say… So I think, Yahoo Search, under Jim Lanzone might be an interesting Yahoo Search to look at.
As I also said on Search Engine Land, Brian Provost, SVP & GM, Yahoo posted on LinkedIn about this job listing and wrote, “There’s going to be so much innovation in Search in the coming years and there aren’t many places where you can immediately have an impact this big. Would love to hear from you if you have a passion for Search and building product experiences.”
This is exciting – I suspect it will take a year or so to see anything – but I am looking forward to it.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
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