While this month was not as busy as last month, it was still a pretty stressful month for a lot of site owners and SEOs. I was expecting more core updates this past month, but we had none, whereas the previous report, we covered three confirmed Google updates.
So what did we have with Google Search in the past month? Well, we had a bunch of ranking volatility hit, starting with a weird Google local ranking bug, then we had some core ranking volatility in mid-January, then Google deployed something that caused some tracking tools some issues - it was a big deal for some. We had more volatility around the 20th, then the 24th and then the 29th.
Google updated its search quality raters guidelines with 11 new pages around spam. We also learned that Google can show sites with manual actions in the AI Overviews for now. Google said core updates don't impact site names. Google clarified its site reputation abuse policies throughout and then began additional enforcement in Europe and in Germany. Google also updated its manual actions for news and discover a while back, but we didn't notice until later.
Google may be testing Gemini 2.0 powered AI Overviews in the wild. Google AI Overviews work with Circle to Search. Google also launched Ask for me as a search labs experiment and a new daily listen feature which is an audio version of Google Discover.
Google Search Console added hourly data exports and sped up the timeframe for the performance reports in 30 minute intervals.
Google dropped breadcrumbs from mobile search snippets. We confirmed the page annotations opt out does indeed work.
Google may have fixed the Google Maps pin attack exploit. Google also added chat with WhatsApp in Google Business Profiles.
Plus a heck of a lot more - see the list below:
Google Updates & Volatility:
- Google Search Ranking Volatility Heats Up January 29 & 30th
- Google Search Ranking Volatility Spiked Friday Jan 24 Through Weekend
- Google Search Ranking Volatility Heated Starting On Jan 20th
- Is Google Blocking SEO Rank Checking Tools As Search Volatility Continues
- Google Search Ranking Volatility (Chatter High / Tools Low) - Mid-January
- January 2025 Google Local Ranking Update (Unconfirmed Bug)
- Google Search Quality Raters Guidelines Gain 11 New Pages
- Google Can Show Sites With Manual Actions In AI Overviews
- Google: Core Updates Do Not Impact Site Name Changes
- Google Expands Site Reputation Abuse Enforcement To German Sites
- Google Expands Site Reputation Abuse Enforcement To Europe
- Google Clarified Site Reputation Abuse Policy & Manual Actions
- Google Manual Actions For News & Discover Policy Violations Updated
- Google: Using Generative AI To Create Content For Links Against Spam Policies
- Google Prefers Review Ratings To Contain Author Name & Comments
- Google Updates Examples Of Events & Estimated Salary Images In Structured Data Docs
- Google: Merging Content More Challenging Than Site Moves For SEO
- Google: Spammers Encourage You To Waste Time Disavowing Links
- Google Search Quality Analyst Detects & Treats AI-Generated Content
- Google: Sometimes Doing SEO Can Cause More Problems
- Google: Don't Dynamically Update Robots.txt File Multiple Times Per Day
- Google On Losing Lots Of Links Fast: SEOs Often Overestimate Links
- Google: URLs Provide Minimal Additional Signals For Search Engines
- Google AI Overviews Go Deeper With Gemini 2.0?
- Google Ask For Me - Calls Businesses For Costs For You
- Google AI Overviews Come To Circle To Search
- Google AI Overviews Now Providing Programming Help
- Google Daily Listen Labs - Audio Version Of Google Discover
- Google Search Console Performance Reports Now Exports Hourly Data
- Google Search Console Reports Latest Update In 30 Minute Intervals
- URL Is Unknown To Google In Search Console Means URL Has No Priority
- Google Search Console Validate Fix Does Not Expedite Fixes
- Blank Screenshot In Google Search Console URL Inspection Tool May Be Fine
- Google Removes Breadcrumb From Mobile Search Results Snippets
- Tested: Google Page Annotation Opt Out Does Work
- Google Tests Review Carousels & Blocks For Product Queries
- Google Search Result Snippets Related Reviews Carousel
- Google Shopping Refinements With & Without Product Ratings
- Google Tests New Shopping Search Filter On Mobile
- Google Tests Search Results Zooming In To Next Page Of Search Results
- Google Search Tests Sitelinks Carousels On Desktop
- Google Tests A Darker Dark Mode
- Google Map Pin Attack Exploit Fixed
- Google Business Profiles Launches Chat With Text & WhatsApp In US
- Google Map Pins On Service Area Businesses - A Bug?
- Google Business Profiles Gains Batch Price Editing & Moving Menu Items
- Google Business Profiles Gains Add To Menu Option
- Google Business Profiles Now Allows Bulk Managing Special Hours
- Google Hotel Policies Updated On Availability & Rates
- Google Business Profiles Edit Products Feature Gains Product Studio AI
- Google Search Related Places Carousel Map
- Google Partners With The AP To Gain Real Time Data
- Google & Bing Search Engine Market Share Data Over The Year
For last month, check out the January 2025 Google Webmaster report.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
