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 won’t calm down, we have another volatile weekend. Google may have penalized the Forbes Advisor site. We have another interview with Google’s Danny Sullivan, this one done by Aleyda Solis. Google Search Console recommendations are not fully rolled out yet. Google updated its Google Shopping interface. Google Local Service Ads has TCPL (Target Cost Per Lead).

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• 
  Google Search Ranking Volatility & Shuffles This Weekend
  
  
  Google will not, refused to, calm down, and the ranking volatility, the shuffling of the search results, remains constant. This weekend, probably starting on Friday, September 27th, through the whole weekend, we are seeing even more signs of movement and volatility.
• 
  Did Google Hit Forbes Advisor With A Search Penalty Over Site Reputation Abuse?
  
  
  Google may have hit Forbes Advisor with a manual action, downgrading its rankings over maybe the site reputation abuse policy. Lars Lofgren wrote about this marketplace, as he put it, on September 18th and then a week or so later, it looks like it was hit by a Google manual action.




• 
  Another Interview With Google’s Search Liaison: Big Brands, UGC Content, AI Overviews & Future
  
  
  Danny Sullivan, the Google Search Liaison, has been interviewed again – this time by Alyeda Solis. It is pretty similar to my interview with Google’s Search Liason, but this one is recorded and available for everyone to watch.
• 
  Google Search Console Recommendations Not Fully Rolled Out
  
  
  About 8 weeks ago, Google announced Google Search Console Recommendations and rolled it out to a limited number of properties within the platform. Google said the roll out will be slow and yea, it is slow. Daniel Waisberg from Google confirmed on Friday that it is not fully rolled out yet.
• 
  Google Local Service Ads TCPL (Target Cost Per Lead)
  
  
  Google seems to be rolling out a new bidding option for Local Service Ads named Target cost-per-lead (tCPL) bidding. Target cost-per-lead (tCPL) bidding is a semi-automated smart bid strategy. You set your desired average cost per lead, and Local Services Ads automatically adjusts bids to aim for that target.
• 
  Google Shopping Interface Updated With Expandable Refinements
  
  
  Earlier this month, we reported that Google was testing a new Google Shopping Search interface. Well, Google may have rolled it out now. There is the new logo, with a more e-commerce like interface and then these large search refinement boxes.
• 
  Big YouTube Button & Glowing Blocks
  
  
  Here is a photo from the Google offices in Tel Aviv of a guy sitting on a really big YouTube button, next to a stack of glowing red blocks.

Other Great Search Threads:

Search Engine Land Stories:

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

Industry & Business

Links & Content Marketing

Local & Maps

Mobile & Voice

SEO

• AI crawlers are hammering sites and nearly taking them offline, Fast Company
• JSON–LD vs Microdata Revisited, Search Pilot
• Proving the value of organic investment in SEO, Blue Array SEO
• Unpacking NerdWallet’s SEO: 10 Things I Discovered , Ahrefs
• Website duration performance based on category durations, Kopp Consulting
• SEO Dashboard in Google Sheets, Hobo
• 8 SEO Hiring Managers Share Their #1 Interview Question, Ahrefs
• Real Estate SEO: 6 Things You Can Do to Compete With Big Sites, Ahrefs
• SEO for Ecommerce Product Pages, Practical Ecommerce
• Srsltid impacting Core Web Vitals via TTFB caching, RUMvision

PPC

Search Features

Other Search

Feedback:

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Google Search rankings gains were lost for many, followed more more volatility this week. Google updated its web search spam policies, with a focus on site reputation abuse. Google’s cache operator is now fully dead. Google’s site command for image search seems broken. Google fixed a Search Console reporting bug with product snippets. Google Maps has this fake reviews notice on business profiles. There may have been a spike in reviewed removed by Google on September 17th. Also small changes to your business listing may now trigger re-verification on Google Business Profiles. Google merchant listings now added priceType and sale pricing examples. Google spoke about image SEO and the importance of the embedded page. Google is testing new shopping/product cards on the search results. Google is testing “from small businesses” carousel. Google is testing “states in the news” and “backstory” sections for top stutters. Google product detail grids is testing most popular and best price labels. Google is testing for you labels and preferred source labels. Google Ads has a ten sitelinks but it is a bug. We had a poll on if you are using traditional search less now with AI products out. That was the search news this week at the Search Engine Roundtable.

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Today is the day Google would be celebrating its birthday or anniversary – September 27th. As Google posted last year, On September 27, 1998, Google Inc. was officially born.

But if you go to Google.com, there is no Doodle on the home page to celebrate. Google generally, but not always, has a special birthday Doodle, unless there is another event they want to commemorate on September 27th.

Instead, all you see is the classic Google logo on the Google home page:

Last year, Google had their 25th birthday Doodle that went through all the old Google logos over the years:

They went all out for their 25th birthday, a lot of events, parties, and celebrations.

Maybe this year, with all the legal issues and troubles, Google is not in the mood to celebrate. Maybe with all the new AI competition, they are feeling sluggish? Maybe with all the search ranking wonkiness, they are feeling tired? I am not sure.

I did email Google’s press team to get a statement and if I hear back, I’ll add it here.

Here are the past Doodles on this date:

Just note, in the old days, Google couldn’t decide on when it was its birthday. Google celebrated the birthday on September 7th, September 8th, September 26th, even on September 4th, but in the most recent years, Google has been consistent with September 27th.

Happy 26th birthday Google – I guess?

Forum discussion at X.