SEARCHENGINES
Google Product Reviews Update Done, Blogger SEO Best Practices, Mobile-First Indexing Alive, SEO Rants & Much More

Shockingly, Google finished rolling out the Google product reviews update on August 2nd and didn’t even tell us on social. We are seeing some volatility and fluctuations in Google Search may be due to the Google Product Reviews update starting late last Friday and the tools noticed it on Wednesday but that was after it was done rolling out. Google added new links to content guidelines, one of those guidelines was for best SEO practices for bloggers which were later removed. Google is still moving sites over to mobile-first indexing, over 5 and a half years later. Google Search Console temporarily suspended the validate fix feature during some classification changes. John Mueller from Google had a beautiful SEO rant, which some might not like. Google changed how it shows snippets for search results with quoted text. Google is testing “perspectives” in the search results. Google is testing site names and favicons for image results in web searches. Google is loading new people also ask in the footer. Google is also showing the view in 3D for some products again. Google Business Profiles is testing an expandable menu for editing your listing. Google added Asian-owned attributes for Google Business Profiles. Discovery Ads now work with Google Ads Editor and Api and more… Google has a new tag, called the Google Tag. Microsoft Advertising released a boat load of features including rolling out automotive ads, new ad formats, more bidding options, and more. Google’s secret algorithm may be exposed to Rumble due to a legal ruling. 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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Source: www.seroundtable.com
SEARCHENGINES
Microsoft Bing Updates Webmaster Guidelines For Conversation Mode and Bing Image Creator

Microsoft has updated the Bing webmaster guidelines to support the updates with the new co-pilot, AI, ChatGPT-powered version of Bing. Bing updated the answers section and added a new section for “conversation mode and Bing image creator.”
The current Bing webmaster guidelines is here and the section Bing updated was around here – it should jump you there.
Here is the new section titled “Conversation Mode and Bing Image Creator”:
The new Bing conversation mode builds on the existing Bing experience to provide users with a new type of search interface. Bing conversation mode generates responses using an AI model that has learned by processing a vast amount of text from the Internet. Based on the user query or prompt, the model produces an output that is coherent, relevant, and creative, according to the input and the context. The output can be a response, a web result, a poem, a story, a code, an essay, a song, or anything else that can be expressed in natural language. Bing Image Creator similarly uses an AI model that has learned by processing a vast number of images from the Internet. Based on the user prompt, the model generates an output image. The conversational model is also informed by and refines its output using available context, such as web results, feedback, and interactions, to improve its performance and accuracy. Ranking within conversation mode generally relies on the same parameters as the main web search results page.
User activity in these features is governed by the Terms of Use and Code of Conduct.
That section was not in the previous version.
Also, Bing updated the answers section to say:
Bing may enhance the results page with additional features to provide a richer search experience for some search queries. For example, if a user types “How tall is the Eiffel Tower?” Bing will respond with the answer of “300 m”. For some queries, Bing looks at search results across the web, returns a summarized answer, and links to its sources.
If the query is related to a business, Bing may return relevant information about the business, such as store hours and location. Business owners can claim and verify existing listings on Bing using Bing Places for Business (available in limited markets) to create, edit or update their listing information. In some cases, Bing may partner with third-party content providers, such as local restaurant review sites, to further enhance the user experience.
Previously it said:
Bing may enhance the results page with additional features to provide a richer search experience for some search queries. For example, if a user types “How tall is the Eiffel Tower?” Bing will respond with the answer of “300 m”. If the query is related to a business, Bing may return relevant information about the business, such as store hours and location. Business owners can claim and verify existing listings on Bing using Bing Places for Business (available in limited markets) to create, edit or update their listing information. In some cases, Bing may partner with third-party content providers, such as local restaurant review sites, to further enhance the user experience.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
SEARCHENGINES
The New AI Powered Microsoft Bing Is Really Impressive & Thought Out

Yesterday I was at the Microsoft office with dozens of other media folks (lots of famous YouTubers also) for Microsoft to showcase its next evolution of Bing, the co-pilot for the web powered by the upgraded ChatGPT.
I should start by saying the leaks were accurate representation of this but the demos were far more impressive. Microsoft posted its own blog post over here and my Search Engine Land coverage is here.
I will say, this is far more impressive and thought out than what Google rushed out with Bard on Monday. But Satya Nadella did say Microsoft has been working on this for a while, not just the AI and language models but also how to build it into search as an assistant, as an “intelligent agent” as he put it.
Microsoft showed how you can not only get wicked smart answers, that you’d expect from ChatGPT but also how the user experience in search works smoothly with it. The right side panel that shows you not just the answers, but also the attribution and other ways to expand on those answers. You can also toggle from search to your chat assistant, and the chat feature will just pick up from search and visa versa. It just works together, at least in the demo.
I will have full access to it soon but you can also request access at bing.com/new.
Here is the home page as I see it:
Here is a screenshot Bing provided of the chat:
I live tweeted the event, where I tried to capture as much of the demo as possible, here are those tweets:
I see a bus load of famous YouTubers and reporters – like real famous.
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
I am in the back of the bus – was sitting across from iJustine:
Heading to Microsoft’s campus to learn what they’re planning, possibly, with ChatGPT. #Microsoft pic.twitter.com/7cUdA35869
— Lance Ulanoff (@LanceUlanoff) February 7, 2023
They funneled us into a breakfast area:
Timelapse (5 minute) of the Microsoft Media event – where Bing search goes AI… pic.twitter.com/z0DkMfaCd4
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
Then we went to the keynote room and Sam from OpenAI was sitting right in front of me:
Look who I see at this Microsoft event – it’s @sama pic.twitter.com/a6hRVjdnqT
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
Then Satya took the stage:
He is talking about AI and how its incredibly exciting times and how this can solve so many problems.
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
Satya saw what OpenAI developed and he was mind blown #Microsoft – now they need to scale this technology pic.twitter.com/UZAdDbCTIq
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
This AI technology will reshape every software category @satyanadella said #microsoft pic.twitter.com/Z3DkuQ1hnF
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
Then Yusuf Mehdi took the stage:
40% of queries result in someone clicking back and most searches are three keywords or less…
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
he explains navigational, informational and other searches people do today. 50,000 people’s searches go unanswered, which is why it is time for a new approach with search.
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
Bing is using a new ChatGPT designed for search
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
also, new core search index improvements and they applied AI to its core and it resulted in a huge improvement in relevancy
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
New Bing homepage to search with more words. pic.twitter.com/4vc6wXxjYz
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
And it shows more real time using the Bing index pic.twitter.com/fo1gIykQs6
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
It won’t be perfect so there are feedback links
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
New chat button in search to go from search to chat pic.twitter.com/1Y90o461nw
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
Microsoft is also bringing this AI copilot to Edge browser by integrating Bing in a new cool way with chat and to summarize and compare based on what is in the Bing index pic.twitter.com/rPhw6X27Qt
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
And it shows more real time using the Bing index pic.twitter.com/fo1gIykQs6
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
It won’t be perfect so there are feedback links
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
New chat button in search to go from search to chat pic.twitter.com/1Y90o461nw
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
Microsoft is also bringing this AI copilot to Edge browser by integrating Bing in a new cool way with chat and to summarize and compare based on what is in the Bing index pic.twitter.com/rPhw6X27Qt
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
That’s it I think pic.twitter.com/HXL4hLnrOf
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
More on technicals on these Bing upgrades – it’s pretty technical pic.twitter.com/C1pyswdeCB
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
I’ll add, this all seems light-years ahead of what Google showed us yesterday… At least from an integration and UX standpoint
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
it will expand to more people over time…
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
New Bing waitlist page at https://t.co/KWfVn2gd7S pic.twitter.com/abNP30skHJ
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
Microsoft won’t talk about the cost difference to run ChatGPT versus normal search…
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
@nfarley10 asked about Ads and @yusuf_i_mehdi said ads will be there, its in the screenshots from the presentation
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
More from Nicole on that over here.
and now I have early full access to the new Bing – what a big search box you have! pic.twitter.com/eTU4w1VWMU
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 7, 2023
There is a lot there but check out Techmeme – there is so much coverage of this and it is deserved. Also, Nicole did a test drive of the new Bing – her write up is here.
Finally, created this short vlog style video of my experience with this in person media event:
Forum discussion at Twitter & WebmasterWorld.
SEARCHENGINES
Google Search Testing New Video Layout In Search

Google may be testing a new layout for videos it displays in the Google Search results. Google is testing a new format for how the videos show in the Google Search results.
This new format shows a larger video in the listings, as opposed to a smaller thumbnail image with more details. This was spotted by Khushal Bherwani on Twitter who shared the new and old screenshots.
New video format:
Old video format:
Google has been testing and displaying larger video thumbnails for some time, as an FYI.
I am not sure which one I like more, I would have to pick I guess the smaller thumbnail?
Forum discussion at Twitter.
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