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.
Google Search quality raters guideline were updated. Google Ads launched a ton of new PMax features. Google says spammers encourage you to waste your time disavowing links. Google Ads to drop certification for some advertisers. Bing is testing a new local pack design. Plus, I posted my weekly SEO video recap.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
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Google Search Quality Raters Guidelines Gain 11 New Pages
On Thursday, January 23rd, Google updated its search quality raters guidelines PDF document. The last time Google updated this document was for the March 2024 spam update changes, over ten months ago. This update seems to focus on on spam and adds some additional details. -
New Google Ads Performance Max Features
Google announced a number of new Google Ads Performance'¬' Max'¬' features with the aim to provide advertisers with more control, transparency, and actionable insights within Performance Max campaigns, the company said. These include updates around more campaign control, enhanced Search reporting and guidance, and asset group improvements. -
Google: Spammers Encourage You To Waste Time Disavowing Links
Google's John Mueller said that when it comes to disavowing links "it's in a spammer's best interest to encourage others to spend time on it." Why? Because Google has said there is little reason to disavow links, unless you have a manual action or know you did some bad linking. -
Google Ads To Drop Certification For Some Advertisers & Reorganizes Verification Docs
Google Ads has made two updates around advertiser verification recently. One, in some countries, Google will no longer require certification for some advertisers. Second, Google has updated and reorganized the Google Ads Advertiser Verification documentation.21 -
Bing Tests New Local Pack Design With Blue Backgrounds
Microsoft is testing a new local pack design and layout for Bing Search local pack results. Bing is placing these blue boxes, either below the map, to the right side, including different numbered variations. -
Google Moose Head Sitting Room
Google has this sitting room or area in their office in Korea that has this moose head like mount on the wall. There are these fancy green chairs below it, with the artistic head mounted on a fancy wall. -
Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Search Volatility, European Manual Actions, Quality Raters Updated, Bing Hides Google & Yahoo AI Chat
Google search ranking volatility is heated this week, but some of the tools are having issues tracking them. Google is sending out penalties, manual actions...
Other Great Search Threads:
- (I have thoughts on "scientific research"...) But it's not very counter-intuitive that when an actual subject matter expert is closely involved (not just as a byline), the outcome is of higher quality (whether "higher quality" is directly r, John Mueller on Bluesky
- 45.7% of all searches made on Google are branded! (based on @Ahrefs study of 150M+ search queries in the US) I recently shared a very similar statistic: "36.9% of all SEARCH QUERIES in Google are branded." ...and @randfish k, Tim Soulo on X
- Following up on recent discussions on Google's recent changes and their impact on ZipTie.dev and other SEO tools - I wanted to share our findings that might add another perspective to this industry-wide challenge., Tomek Rudzki on LinkedIn
- If you want people to use your website, so that you can collect more money (or share knowledge, or just exist), then first make it possible for people to use your website. Digital accessibility helps everyone; it's not a fad, it's not an SE, John Mueller on Bluesky
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Google Analytics 4 rolls out cross-property report copying
- HubSpot’s SEO collapse: What went wrong and why?
- Google updates search quality raters guidelines with a focus on spam
- Brave Search Rerank lets you boost or remove sites from search results
- Google expands Performance Max asset/search term reporting capabilities
- How would a Google breakup impact SEO?
- Google’s Vidhya Srinivasan to lead Ads & Commerce teams
- LLMs are disrupting search – is your brand ready?
- How to build a search engine to disrupt Google
- Google no longer shows breadcrumbs in mobile search results snippets
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Copy reports and explorations across properties, Google Analytics Help
- How to Find Conversion Rate in GA4, SEOTesting
- How to Verify if Your Cookie Consent Manager Is Actually Working - with Chrome Browser, Corina Burri
- Still confused by the GA4 interface?, Ecommerce Consultancy
Industry & Business
- Google Wins UK Ruling Blocking Russian Fine Worth More Than World GDP, Bloomberg
- Apple and Google hit with UK antitrust probe into mobile ecosystems, CNBC
- CMA assessment of mobile ecosystems, Google Blog
- Google acquires part of HTC’s Vive XR team for $250 million in cash, PhoneArena
- India Presses Apple, Google to Open Up to State-Backed App Store, Bloomberg
- Microsoft's head of venture has resigned, TechCrunch
- OpenAI’s Stargate Deal Heralds Shift Away From Microsoft, Wall Street Journal
- Watch EU Unfairly Targets Apple, Google, Trump Says, Bloomberg
Local & Maps
- Do Links Impact SEO Local Pack Rankings, Sterling Sky
- How To Edit Business Hours on Your Google Business Profile, Sterling Sky
- Key Performance Indicators for Home Service Marketing Success, Red Canoe Media
- Stop Paying For Lots of Local SEO Citations, Sterling Sky
- 10 Expert Tips for Taking Great Photos for Your Google Business Profile, Whitespark
Mobile & Voice
- 2025 State of Mobile, Sensor Tower
- Android 16 public beta adds Google’s limited take on live notifications, The Verge
- Google-owned Fitbit to pay $12.2 million after consumers were burned by smartwatches, CBS News
- Google’s Gemini AI smart home controls are rolling out to everyone, The Verge
- Perplexity launches an assistant for Android, TechCrunch
- We’re accelerating the Android XR platform with a new agreement with HTC., Google Blog
SEO
- Photos for Local SEO: Why They Matter and How to Get Them Right, Whitespark
- 6 Steps to Win at Real Estate SEO in 2025, Backlinko
- HCU/SPAM/CORE Google Algorithm Impact Analysis Part 1 - The Victims, Hobo
- Should You Chase AI Overviews: Here's How to Decide, SuccessWorks
- Practical Use Cases of TF-IDF SERP Analyzer Chrome Extension, Decode Digital Market
- Top SEO Tips for 2025 — Whiteboard Friday, Moz
PPC
- 24 Up-To-Date PPC Statistics to Know in 2025, Backlinko
- Google Tests Varied Headline Sizes in Ads, PPC News Feed
- Policy Changes for Government Documents And Services Policy, PPC News Feed
Search Features
- Bing search results in Edge are obscuring Chrome links to promote Microsoft's browser, TechSpot
- Brave Search now lets users ‘Rerank’ results from favorite sites, Bleeping Computer
- Google TV tests 'News Briefs' feature powered by Gemini, 9to5Google
- OpenAI may preview its agent tool for users on the $200 per month Pro plan, TechCrunch
- OpenAI’s new Operator AI agent can do things on the web for you, The Verge
Other Search
- ChatGPT suffered a major outage this morning, but OpenAI says it's back up, TechCrunch
- Why Is Google Not Showing Joe Biden in Its US Presidents List?, Newsweek
- EP 189: How Does Google GBP Support Really Work? Brad Wetherall, ex-Director- Support Operations, Interview, Near Media
Feedback:
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