SEARCHENGINES
Google Coati Algorithm Update

At SMX Next yesterday I have the privilege of interviewing Hyung-Jin Kim, the Vice President of Google Search. Hyung-Jin Kim has been working on search quality for the past 20 years and leads up core ranking at Google Search. He mentioned a few times during the interview the animal Coati and I had to ask what he was referring to. I covered this as well at Search Engine Land but I need to make note of it here as well.
Hyung-Jin Kim said Coati is not just another black and white animal, like Panda or Penguin, but is what Panda evolved into. Yes, Google’s Panda algorithm update turned into a new update, an updated Panda algorithm, Google internally code-named Coati. I was taken back, you can watch the SMX keynote in playback mode to see my reaction because I have never heard the name Coati before. But he mentioned it a couple of times and I had to ask him what he was referring to.
He told us that yes, Panda was “consumed” into the larger core ranking algorithm as we covered in 2016. But before that, I guess, “Panda has been subsequently replaced by Coati.” Coati was a successor to Panda, he said Coati is an update to the Panda algorithm and what Panda evolved into.
I followed up to ask if Coati might be considered what we call these “core updates” but he said no, Panda and Coati are part of the core ranking algorithm but are not specifically a core update algorithm.
I highly recommend you watch the SMX keynote interview that I did with Hyung-Jin Kim of Google. If you don’t want to, then read Lily Ray’s recap at Search Engine Land.
Again, just to be clear, there is nothing new going on here outside of just some history about Google algorithm updates that we did not know until today. But there is nothing to act on with this history lesson.
Here is some of the reaction from the SEO community around this unknown algorithm:
And we had no idea that happened. 🙂 Coati was the successor to Panda. Panda is part of Google’s core ranking algo now (as of Jan 2016). It’s not the same as medieval Panda, but still there (just now Coati). https://t.co/cIqGSx2CyP
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) November 15, 2022
Some great nuggets of information in that interview. Coati, E-A-T, HCU, and EXPLORE, which I just covered again today on SER. I was like, *exploratory*…??? What? 🙂 pic.twitter.com/l95gZTHJnN
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) November 15, 2022
I had to Google what a Coati was 🦝 🙂 but, interesting to learn Panda algo itself has evolved and has been consumed into the larger core ranking algorithms. @smx Next https://t.co/qdYeRwbwPa
— Holly Miller Anderson | Marketing, SEO, Growth (@millertime_baby) November 15, 2022
Just heard on @smx about Panda “evolving” into Coati. Google’s Algos are always being updated and therefore evolving, but this interview by @rustybrick of Hyung-Jin Kim is the first I have heard of the name Coati. #SEO https://t.co/0LZurP2Yhh
— Boyd Lake SEO (@boydlake) November 15, 2022
At the SMX 2022 Keynote Hyung-Jin Kim, the VP of Search at Google, explained, that Panda was replaced by an update to Coati. Coati is a new version of Panda and part of the core ranking algorithm. Summary by @lilyraynyc >> https://t.co/ia2fwgZoXV
— Oᒪᗩᖴ KOᑭᑭ ✌️🔥 (@Olaf_Kopp) November 16, 2022
That was so good!
The new algo HJ mentioned was “Coati”. Can’t wait to dig into this more!https://t.co/T666eEK87M— Dr. Marie Haynes🐼 (@Marie_Haynes) November 15, 2022
Not gonna lie; it is actually stinkin’ cute.
— AJ Ghergich (@SEO) November 15, 2022
Forum discussion at Twitter.
Source: www.seroundtable.com
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.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Core Update Done Followed By Intense Search Volatility, New Structured Data, Google Ads Head Steps Down & 20 Years Covering Search

Google’s November 2023 core update finally finished rolling out this week, and it was the longest core update rollout. Then, a day later, we saw more intense Google search ranking volatility and chatter. Google added new organization structured data and also added a new profile page and discussion forum structured data, both with Search Console and Rich Results test support. Google’s crawl rate setting is going away soon. Google Search Console went down a couple of times this week. Google spoke about the SEO value of bringing back 404 pages for links. Did you see the Google patent for what appears to be SGE? Microsoft is working to bring GPT-4 Turbo to Copilot and Bing Chat. Google Ads won’t allow personalized ads for consumer finance topics in February 2024. Google Local Service Ads has new impression metrics. Google Ads released its Ads API schedule for 2024. Google is testing Gray accepted labels in the search results. Google is testing line separators between sitelinks. Google is testing an interview label for news results. Google local photos is testing hearts and other emotion reactions. Google is testing removing the cache link from the search result listings. Google’s head of search ads, Jerry Dischler, is stepping down after 15 years. And I’ve been covering the search industry and search for 20 years now. And if you want to help sponsor those vlogs, go to patreon.com/barryschwartz. That was the search news this week at the Search Engine Roundtable.
Sponsored by BruceClay, who has been doing search marketing optimization since 1996 and also has an amazing SEO training platform.
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