SEARCHENGINES
Google Ranking Updates, News Indexing Bug, AI Content, Trust, Awards, Page Experience, Links, Related & Bing Chat

For the original iTunes version, click here.
Every week, the Google Search volatility keeps getting hotter, but Google did say we should have a confirmed update this summer. Google fixed the News indexing bug late last Friday. Google said AI-generated content is not, by default, well received by Google’s ranking algorithms. Google said journalistic awards are not a direct ranking signal. Google explained how to build trust with customers. Google said a good page experience does not fix other SEO issues. Google Search Console’s link report is showing fewer links. Google dropped support for the related search operator. Google is still working on improving the preferred language setting in Google Search. Most SEOs use noindex for archived category and tag pages. Google’s John Mueller posted his thoughts on keyword research. John also shared his thoughts on fake personas online. We saw some Google quality raters visiting sites. Bing Chat now supports visual search. In a week or two, Bing Chat will work on any browser, and in the coming weeks, we will see dark mode from Bing Chat. Google is testing compare systems and savings from government energy programs. Google News has suggested sources for you. Google Search has a new section for “updates for you.” Google Ads Editor version 2.4.1 minor release is available. I removed AMP from my site a few weeks ago, and I report on how it is going. Also, I interviewed Microsoft Bing’s Fabrice Canel; check it out. 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.
SPONSOR: Wix – has been doing a lot of cool things for SEO. Check out what they’ve been doing. Now you can add hierarchy to static pages; beforehand, you could not put static pages under one folder (see here). Plus, more significant Wix news is their new Wix AI site builder tool that can make images and more for your site (see here).
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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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