Google began to slowly roll out the Google Search Generative Experience on Thursday and I posted many screenshots of what I found. Since then, Danny Sullivan, Google’s Search Liaison, responded to some public complaints and criticism of this new search experience. John Mueller of Google also responded to some questions and complaints.

I figured it would be useful to compile those complaints and responses in this story.

Attribution complaints:

I see you noted how in expanded view, the association is even clearer. SGE is an experiment, so this type of feedback is appreciated and helpful as we continue to improve it. Also shared a bit more on linking here https://t.co/x4LLTp0nVH — again, thank you for the feedback.

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) May 27, 2023

Generative responses are corroborated by sources from the web & when a portion of a snapshot briefly includes content from a specific source, we will prominently highlight that source in the snapshot. In this example, the first link matches that & it also shows in expanded view. pic.twitter.com/xPRit5FssA

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) May 26, 2023

It’s the first link to the right of the snapshot. I’ve put a box around it. Also notice the other box at the end. When you see this, you can click through all the corroborating sources without going to expanded mode. pic.twitter.com/AoGoe9uMGJ

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) May 26, 2023

It’s the first link even when you don’t expand. That said, appreciate the feedback. SGE is an experimental experience in Search Labs, and it will evolve over time as we learn what is most helpful.

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) May 26, 2023

Appreciate the feedback, and would encourage you or anyone with access to also make use of the feedback tool that’s part of SGE. It’s an experiment, so the feedback will help us shape it and improve.

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) May 26, 2023

Appreciate the feedback; will pass it on.

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) May 26, 2023

Privacy complaint:

We use queries and other feedback to improve the predictive quality of SGE. But similar to autocomplete, we take steps to prevent any personally-identifiable information that may be contained in a query from being used for model training purposes.

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) May 26, 2023

Timing and location of the roll out:

Country-based roll-outs can be frustrating, sorry! It’s (hopefully) not going to go away, time to be patient :-).

— John Mueller (official) · #StaplerLife (@JohnMu) May 26, 2023

Search Console request:

It’s still early days 🙂

— John Mueller (official) · #StaplerLife (@JohnMu) May 26, 2023

Forum discussion at Twitter.

I went to Menachem Ani’s office, JXT Group, to chat all things paid search. We first spoke about he first got into the Google Ads business, he was doing Google Ads since the early times. He started in the space doing ads for eBay listings, using Froogle and Google AdWords in 2003. We then went off on some of the older days and the community.

In 2009 he started his own agency by doing some freelancing during a recession. It was a challenge, and scary, but it all worked out. And he focuses specifically on Google Ads with a slight focus on e-commerce, performance max, and lead generation. He does also Microsoft Advertising but it is a limited spend in general.

We spoke about how Google Ads has changed over the years and how complex it has grown.

But then we dove directly into how to structure PMax campaigns in Google Ads. Menachem said they like to condense the campaigns as much as possible. They look at the service breakdowns and also look at the goals. That defines how they segment into multiple campaigns. But then within campaigns, they break out asset groups within the product lines. But there is no specific number of campaigns, it depends on the client and what they sell. But the fewer campaigns, the better, he said.

More to come, but to learn more about Menachem Ani follow him @MenachemAni and on LinkedIn.

You can subscribe to our YouTube channel by clicking here so you don’t miss the next vlog where I interviews. I do have a nice lineup of interviews scheduled with SEOs and SEMS, many of which you don’t want to miss – and I promise to continue to make these vlogs better over time. If you want to be interviewed, please fill out this form with your details.

Forum discussion at YouTube.

Today, like previous years, Google has posted a grayed-out logo and a small US flag, to commemorate Memorial Day in the US. I will not be posting stories today, to respect the holiday.

Here is what it looks like:

Google also has a grayed-put logo at the top left of its search results page. Google has historically done nothing for the day, but in 2019 Google went with a grayed out logo and flag theme. They did the same thing this year.

Wishing you all a safe, healthy, peaceful and nice Memorial Day.

Forum discussion at Twitter.