SEARCHENGINES

Publishers Concerned With AI Powered Search From Google & Bing

Published

2 years ago

February 14, 2023

It is somewhat satisfying to see non-SEOs dig deeper into how search is changing at Google and Bing and to hear the concerns they have about these changes. We covered your concerns as SEOs and publishers a week ago but now the big publishers are voicing their concerns around AI-search and what it means for publishers.

To catch you all up, Google announced Bard which showed screenshots of a ChatGPT like interface in search which had zero links or citations to publishers. The Microsoft Bing AI announcement was much more thought-out and had links to publishers, ads and so on.

But what the big publishers are concerned about is that there will be less of a need for searchers to click on those links than they had in the past. It is a similar concern we had with featured snippets and then the head of search at Google, Amit Signhal, said publishers are the corkscrew and Google is the swiss army knife after Danny Sullivan called Google the biggest scraper and shared the concern publishers have about searchers not needing the 10 blue links anymore. But AI chat takes this to a whole new level, a whole new level.

Wired wrote, “web users spend more time with bots and less time clicking links, publishers could be cut off from sales of subscriptions, ads, and referrals.” “When asked at Microsoft’s media event this week about the new Bing search potentially plagiarizing the work of human writers, the company’s consumer chief marketing officer Yusuf Mehdi said the company “cares a bunch about being able to drive traffic back to content creators.” The links the Bing chatbot includes at the end of each response, he said, are meant to “make it easy for people to go in and click through to those sites.” Roulston of Microsoft declined to share information about how many early testers were clicking through those citation links to visit the information’s source,” Wired added.

The Verge wrote up the concern after the video interview Nilay Patel had with Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella. You should read or watch the interview, I’ll embed it below, but Glenn Gabe highlighted some of this in his tweets:

Some VERY important points regarding SEO, providing links to publishers, etc. Great to hear from @satyanadella -> Q&A with Satya Nadella on Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI, using AI to improve search as a product, competition with Google, and more https://t.co/JvhA2qPFAJ pic.twitter.com/m55sORYZgi

— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) February 9, 2023

And: “On the search side, I’m very, very clear. The search category is about fair use so that we can generate traffic back to publishers. Our bots are not going to be allowed to crawl search if we are not driving traffic. So therefore, that, I think, is the core of the category.” pic.twitter.com/iBYi5kuw1X

— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) February 9, 2023

And Marques Brownlee discussed it on his podcast as well, they even go through the concept of if publishers stop getting traffic from search and they cannot earn money on the content they produce – they will stop producing the content and the AI models will have nothing new to work with to train their models to give answers.

This just reminds me of all the featured snippet debate from almost a decade ago.

Looking back, SEOs would most rather prefer to have a featured snippet than not. Google even said they result in more traffic and not less but refuse to release data to publishers proving that. It is the whole zero click debate that Google disputes without any evidence.

None of this is new for most of the readers here, but to hear big publishers, big content creators be really concerned about this, is interesting and exciting.

Don’t get me wrong, I know both Microsoft and Google are thinking up ways to try to keep the overall ecosystem going with these new AI chat features baked into search. And I totally suspect there will be a lot of trial and error, a lot of change over the years. But I also believe that Google and Bing understand that they need content to be produced and won’t go too far to cause publishers to stop publishing.

But time will tell…

I also tweeted this morning about the irony of SEOs diving into generating content using AI (which Google is okay with) and them also complaining about the search engines using AI. Click through to see the responses to that tweet:

Somewhat ironic that SEOs were all into using AI to mass produce content, now that Google and Bing announce their AI content efforts, it is unfair. I like to just sit back and watch…

— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 13, 2023

Forum discussion at Twitter.

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SEARCHENGINES

Daily Search Forum Recap: August 30, 2024

Published

18 hours ago

August 31, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

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.

I posted the poll results for the Google August 2024 core update, most are down but not all. Google Shopping is testing a carousel for “more like this.” Google Ads has a “change bid strategy” popup. Google Store rating reviews for popular product videos are now being tested. Google Ads has a “here are some in the area” interface. And I posted the weekly SEO video recap.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Google August 2024 Core Update Impact Poll Results

Earlier this week, I posted polls across numerous sites, asking SEOs how they were impacted by the last Google August 2024 core update – knowing the update is not done rolling out yet. Overall, most said their rankings and traffic from Google Search are down but honestly, it is a pretty even distribution of responses.

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google August Core Update Data, SEO, Google Ads Features, Yelp Sues Google & More

We have been tracking the Google core update and seeing more surges and changes with those hit by the September helpful content update. I ran a survey asking how SEOs were impacted so far by the August 2024 core update…

Google Ads Change Bid Strategy Popup Dialog

Some advertisers see Google Ads show this request dialog popup asking them to change their bid strategies. This shows in the Google Ads advertiser console, which asks the advertiser to change their bid strategy from one option to another.

Google Shopping Carousel More Like This Button

Google Search is showing the shopping results but now shows “more like this” buttons under the products it shows for some carousel groupings. When you click on that “more like this” button, Google will dynamically load more products like it beneath the product you clicked on.

Here Are Some In The Area Google Ads

Google has this ad format, I don’t think it is new, but it is titled “Here are some in the area.” These look like a version of Local Service Ads, but they look different.

Google Store Rating Videos Reviews Of Popular Products

Google is now showing video reviews in the reviews of popular products section in the Google Store ratings landing area on Google Search. Got all that?

Window Cleaners At Google Brazil Office

Here is a photo of a window cleaner hanging from the outside of the Google office in Brazil, taking a selfie as he and his coworker clean the windows.

Other Great Search Threads:

Search Engine Land Stories:

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.

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SEARCHENGINES

Daily Search Forum Recap: August 29, 2024

Published

2 days ago

August 30, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

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.

Yelp sued Google, the search marketing industry found it funny. Google has a new tag diagnostic and consent management setup for Google Ads. Google says it does not count words or links on a page. Google is unifying booking on Google Business Profiles and Google Local Service Ads. Google is testing from your notifications.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Yelp Sues Google Over Unfair Advantage In Local Search

Yelp has officially filed a lawsuit against Google for allegedly using its monopolistic powers to give Google an unfair advantage in local search and local search ads. “For years, Google has leveraged its monopoly in general search to pad its own bottom line at the expense of what’s best for consumers, innovation, and fair competition,” Yelp’s General Counsel, Aaron Schur said.

Google: We Don’t Count Words Or Links On Your Blog Posts

We know Google has told us for many years that word count is not a thing, Google doubled down on it last year. Google’s John Mueller reiterated that over the weekend saying not just words on a page but also links on a page are not counted by Google.

Tag Diagnostics & New Consent Management Setup In Google

Google announced what it is calling “strengthen your first-party data strategy with new tools.” These new tools are Tag Diagnostics and a new consent management setup within Google Ads, Google Analytics, and Tag Manager.

Google Merging Booking On Google Business Profiles & Local Services Ads

Google emailed some local businesses saying it will begin “unifying” booking on Google Business Profiles (GBP) and Local Services Ads (LSA). Google said this will create a “more seamless experience for your clients and their customers.”

Google Search Tests From Your Notifications Box

Google Search seems to be testing a new search box that is titled “from your notifications.” I assume this works for Android devices only, where Google Search can detect the Android notifications, and show them when the query may be relevant to the notification?

Google Bangkok 3D Signage with Googlers You May Know

Here is a photo from the Google Bangkok office, when Google held a Search Central Live event. You can see Daniel Waisberg, Cherry Prommawin and Gary Illyes in the photo standing next to this Google 3D signage.

Other Great Search Threads:

Search Engine Land Stories:

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SEARCHENGINES

Daily Search Forum Recap: August 28, 2024

Published

3 days ago

August 29, 2024

Entireweb News Bot

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.

Please take my poll on the Google August core update – over here. Google Ads accidentally released an “internal tools” button. Google issued Google Discover manual action policy violations. Google Local Service Ads review links are expiring soon. Google Ads added new shopping trends reports, new AI features and more. Looker Studio won’t show Google Ads Auction Insights data soon.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Google August 2024 Core Update Impact Poll

Last week, a reader here asked if I would poll the audience to see how the last Google search algorithm update impacted them, the Google August 2024 core update. So, I am asking you to take the poll below or on X to see how SEOs, in general, were impacted by this core update.

Google Ads Gains Shopping Trends, Sync, AI & More Ad Features

Google Ads announced a number of updates yesterday, across new reporting, shopping tools and more ad features, including, of course, AI ad features. “To help retailers maximize success and stay nimble in this year’s shorter holiday shopping season, today at our annual Think Retail event we shared some new updates to Google tools,” Google wrote.

Google Ads Accidentally Releases Internal Tools

Tons of Google Ads advertisers are noticing a new button available in the Google Ads advertiser interface named “internal tools.” There is a lock icon for the internal tools button and when you click on it, it has the headline “audience builder.”

Google Issues Manual Actions Over Google Discover Policy Violations

In the past couple of days, Google has issued many manual actions around Google Discover policy violations. Just to be clear, you may have seen your Google Discover traffic drop with the August core update, and this policy violation notice would be unrelated to that. Google issued manual actions manually (but in batches) and Google never sends notices like this for algorthmic updates.

Google Local Service Ads Review Links Expiring, Business Profiles Reviews Will Remain

Google has posted a notice that the old customer reviews links in Local Service Ads will expire and the Google Business profile link will be what you should use going forward. The notice is in the reviews section within Local Service Ads.

Looker Studio Loses Access To Auction Insights Fields

Google’s Looker Studio has lost access to the Google Ads Auction Insights fields as of August 24, 2024 for new data sources. Then after September 23, 2024 it will no longer be available for existing data sources.

Search Queries On Google Shade Structure

We’ve seen these shade structures at the GooglePlex but I didn’t know that these round discs had search queries and questions engraved in them. I found an Instagram photo zoomed into the discs and you can see that this one asks “where did all the cowboys go?”