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 ranking volatility continues, with another big swing yesterday, September 18th. Google is mass suspending Google Business Profiles in some industries and segments. Google again said stop worrying too much about Core Web Vitals. Google is showing videos in the top insights products section. A new Google AI Overview study shows links mostly go to informational intent pages.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• 
  Google Search Ranking Volatility Continue With Big Movement Again 9/18
  
  
  To be honest, the Google Search ranking volatility has not cooled at all since the pre-launch of the Google August 2024 core update. But something happened yesterday which caused a bit more of a swing of things in the rankings at Google Search.
• 
  Google Suspending Many Google Business Profiles
  
  
  I am seeing a flood of complaints in the Google Business Profiles forums where businesses are complaining that their Google Business Profiles were suspended. Supposedly, Google is mass disabling Business Profiles in specific sets of industries or niches.
• 
  Google: Core Web Vitals Aren’t As Important As Some People Might Think
  
  
  Google again has downplayed the importance of Core Web Vitals as a Google Search ranking signal. Google’s Martin Splitt said in a video yesterday, “also core web vitals aren’t as important as some people might think.” He added, “they are they are not irrelevant though but do not over focus on these things.”
• 
  Google Product Results Top Insights With YouTube Videos
  
  
  Google is now showing videos, I guess from YouTube but I suspect it can support other video sites, within the top insights section of the product detail results. Previously, Google would just show review content but now Google added video content to this section.





• 
  Study: 96% Of Google AI Overviews Links Go To Informational Intent Pages
  
  
  Did you know that 96% of the links Google displays and shows in the AI Overviews link to content that has informational intent? A new study from seoClarity says this is the case, after analyzing over 1 million keywords in its data set.





• 
  Google’s Doogler Day
  
  
  Did you know Google has a special day for the Google Dogs, Dooglers. It is called Doogler Day and here is a photo of Doogler Day 2024.

Other Great Search Threads:

Search Engine Land Stories:

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

Industry & Business

• Exclusive: Google offered to sell part of ad tech business, not enough for EU publishers, sources say, Reuters
• ‘Lazy’ staff going home early has caused Google to ‘suffer’, says ex-boss, GB News
• Google was too scared to launch its LLMs before OpenAI, Android Headlines
• Google’s ad monopoly is harming journalism with sky-high fees for news publishers, antitrust trial hears, Daily Mail Online
• Microsoft Aggressively Pushes Edge and Rewards on Chrome users in Incognito Mode, Windows Report
• U.S. v. Google: Ad tech antitrust trial by numbers — so far, Digiday

Links & Content Marketing

Local & Maps

Mobile & Voice

SEO

PPC

Search Features

Other Search

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.

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 will soon show if an image is AI-generated, edited with photo editing software or taken by a camera. Google Search Console has a bug showing product snippet search appearances in the search performance report again. Google Ads announced negative keywords for PMax, new insights, expanding more AI features and more. Google Local Service Ads validation logic for bids email. Bing is testing scrollable search result snippets.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• 
  Google Ads Gains Negative Keywords, Insights, Reporting To PMax & Much More
  
  
  Google Ads announced a number of new features and updates to the ad platform this morning at DMEXCO in Europe. These include negative keywords coming to Performance Max campaigns, new insights and reporting, expanding AI features and much more.
• 
  Google Search To Label Images As AI Generated, Edited Or Taken With Camera
  
  
  Google Search will soon label images as AI-generated, edited with photo editing software or if it was taken with a camera in the image search results. This label will be added to the about this image feature, according to The Verge who spoke to Laurie Richardson, vice president of trust and safety at Google.
• 
  Google Search Console Product Snippets Report Surge Again, Likely A Bug
  
  
  It looks like we are seeing another surge in the Google Search Console Search Performance report when you filter by the product snippets search appearance filter. We had this happen in May of this year, it was a bug that Google fixed, and now we are seeing it happen again.




• 
  Bing Search Result Snippets That Are Scrollable
  
  
  Bing now lets you scroll within a specific search result snippet. So if you are looking at a specific search result, that specific snippet, you can scroll through, until you get to the next snippet.





• 
  Google LSAs Changes In Validation Logic For Bid Modifications
  
  
  Some advertisers received an email from Google this week with the subject line, “Changes in validation logic for bid modifications.” This email was sent to Google Local Service Ads advertisers who potentially used the API for that service.




• 
  Dancers At The Google App Summit
  
  
  Here is a video of dancers, they seem hired and not Googlers, dancing at a Google event named the App Summit. I found this on Instagram and found it a bit weird but what do I know.

Other Great Search Threads:

• Add-ons is intended to be the place to access more advanced features such as custom reports, loyalty programs, and rules & supplemental data sources., AdsLiaison on X
• Bluish background when selecting items in the “People Also Search For” section, Deepak Yadav on X
• Google did some fall cleaning for its Google Search Console data anomalies page, Barry Schwartz on X
• In the UK suspected review abuse can lead to a 30 day review ban, Mike Blumenthal on X
• It’s additive. To be clear, advertiser’s data is already protected by robust security measures. But confidential matching employs newer privacy enhancing technologies – confidential computing and TEEs – and pro, AdsLiaison on X
• My latest research says no, service areas are still not a ranking factor., Darren Shaw on LinkedIn
• Tobias from @audisto did a bunch of JS rendering analysis across multiple search engines. Google Mobile uses a different pixel density, can do 10mm pixels high, and 1648 pixels in width., Mic King on X
• We’ve added a new “reasoning” focus (beta) on Perplexity for Pro users. It will use the new OpenAI o1-mini. There is no search integration yet. The model is slow, and usage is limited because of rate limits. It is good for puzzles,, Aravind Srinivas on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

Industry & Business

• Google Antitrust Trial: Company Saw AdMeld as a ‘Threat’ And Bought It, DOJ Says, Bloomberg
• Google takes Chile data center plans back to square one on environmental concerns, Reuters
• In US v. Google, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan defends the DoubleClick and Admeld acquisitions, The Verge
• Trial Update, September 16: Google’s power on full display as we learn IAB Tech Lab passed on Prebid to appease their largest funder, US v Google
• Google knew advertisers were key to publisher ad tool dominance, DOJ alleges, Marketing Brew
• Google wins challenge against $1.66 billion EU antitrust fine, Reuters

Links & Content Marketing

Local & Maps

Mobile & Voice

SEO

PPC

Search Features

Other Search

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.

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.

There are complaints about the Google Indexing API not working but I suspect it is working as Google planned. Google is testing sticky headers for ads and search results. Google is testing swipeable dots for carousels. Google Local Service Ads tests viewed X hours/minutes ago. Google is testing an expanded version of discussions and forums.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• 
  The Google Indexing API Not Working For Some Or Indexing Issues…
  
  
  There are complaints in the Black Hat SEO World forums that the Google Indexing API is not working. Some are saying Google is returning a call saying all is good but when it comes to indexing the content, it is not happening.
• 
  Google Tests Sticky Headers For Ads & Results
  
  
  Google is testing that new large ad and organic label headers design but this time having the header stick to the top as you scroll.
• 
  Google Search Tests Swipeable Dots For Carousels
  
  
  Google is testing a new interface in the search results to help searchers know they can swipe over a carousel to see more options. Google is placing swipeable dots at the bottom of some search boxes.
• 
  Google Tests Expanded & More Discussions and Forums Results
  
  
  If you didn’t have enough Reddit and forum results in your Google Search results page, well, now Google is testing showing even more in the Discussions and Forums box. Generally, Google shows a short snippet of maybe three results, now Google is letting you expand them to see even more.
• 
  Google Local Service Ads Shows You Viewed X Minutes/Hours Ago
  
  
  Google is testing showing the last time you viewed an ad, a Google Local Service Ad, by adding a label with those details. In this case, Google is showing “You viewed 15 minutes ago” next to this ad.
• 
  Yahoo Buildings Sign
  
  
  Here is a super exciting photo of the sign outside of the Yahoo! campus. It has arrows to which Yahoo building number is in which direction. I can’t remember the last time I was at a Yahoo office…

Other Great Search Threads:

• Google Ads issue with offline conversion imports, Barry Schwartz on X
• I don’t have additional details or a timeline to provide at this time., AdsLiaison on X
• A few months after we covered the South Africa badge, Google covered it just now, Barry Schwartz on X
• Google removed the poll about using Gemini for SEO purposes – wow, Barry Schwartz on X
• Perplexity is back up. We’ll learn how to handle spikes in usage better., Aravind Srinivas on X
• When working with large-scale sites, a question I’m often asked is: “Does our page indexing report look alright to you?” My response to this is generally that it looks fine on the surface, but only further digging into the reasons, Brodie Clark on X
• Planting more trees is not a ranking factor., John Mueller on Reddit

Search Engine Land Stories:

Other Great Search Stories:

Industry & Business

Links & Content Marketing

Local & Maps

Mobile & Voice

SEO

PPC

Search Features

Other Search

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.