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 emails reminders about Google Business Profiles policies and guidelines. Google dropped the toggle to switch to Gemini in the Google iOS app. Bing is testing outline search results. Bing Copilot Answers now include maps and local results. Google Shopping adds a search Google button. And I posted the weekly SEO video recap.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
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Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Search Volatility, Google Sued Over AI Overviews, Google Ads Auction Changes & Bing and Apple Intelligence
Another week and more Google search ranking volatility hit mid-week, did you notice? Google's crawler might be causing issues on your site this week. Google still is making its crawling more efficient and better. Google Search Console's API had delayed this week. Google was sued over AI Overviews... -
Google Emails Reminder About Business Profile Policies
A couple of days ago, Google sent out an email to owners of Google Business Profile listings. The email was a reminder about the Google Business Profile policies, and it highlighted policies around reviews. -
Bing Copilot Answers With Map & Local Results (with Ads)
Microsoft Bing Search's Copilot Answers now can show maps and local results, including local ads. The AI answer has a map on the left side and then on the right side it has local organic and paid listings with the company name, address, phone, website and directions - plus a photo. -
Google iOS App Drops Gemini Toggle
A year or more ago, Google added a toggle switch to use Gemini directly in the iOS Google Search app. Well, that was removed this week and you now need to go to the native Gemini app to use Gemini, you cannot use the Google app. -
Bing Tests Outlining Search Result Snippets
Microsoft is testing outlining the individual search result snippets within Bing Search. So when you look at a snippet, it has this outline around it, and then when you hover your cursor over it, it highlights more. -
Google Shopping Adds Search Google Button For Some Queries
If you go to Google Shopping and enter a query that is not shopping related, Google will add a button above the shopping results asking you to search Google for that query. -
Google Astronaut Ned
We've seen astronaut suits at Google before, but here is another, at a different office, and with a guest name tag on that reads, "Ned Legweak." This one is at the Google Sunnyvale office.
Other Great Search Threads:
- GPT-4.5 is ready! good news: it is the first model that feels like talking to a thoughtful person to me. i have had several moments where i've sat back in my chair and been astonished at getting actually good advice from an AI. bad n, Sam Altman on X
- On the earnings call they just said, "cash flow from operations was offset in part by the approximately $3,700,000 in cash we used to acquire Third Door Media." Search Engine Land is just one part of Third Door Media. Note: Th, Glen Allsopp on X
- Then someone sells toxic SEO cleanup services?, John Mueller on Bluesky
- How common is it in non-SEO circles that "technical" / "expert" articles use AI-generated images? I totally love seeing them [*]. . [*] Because I know I can ignore the article that they ignored while writing. And, why not should block them, John Mueller on Bluesky
- I've been brewing up a technical hashtag #SEO challenge for the past week, and it's finally live! 🚀 Test your skills at https://inspectthepath.com and let me know what you think., Axel Hansson on LinkedIn
Search Engine Land Stories:
- 59% of Americans click on brands they know in Google results: Survey
- 5 SEO content pitfalls that could be hurting your traffic
- How BigQuery ML unlocks better targeting, bidding, ROI in Google Ads
- Google Ads run different auctions for each ad location
- Branded search and SEO: What you need to know
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Data Analytics Market Size to Surpass USD 483.41 Billion by, Globe Newswire
Industry & Business
- Crowdsourced Google Document Reveals Latest Job Cuts Across Teams, Business Insider
- Google's Sergey Brin says ‘final race to AGI is afoot’, 9to5Google
- Google’s Sergey Brin Asks Workers to Spend More Time In the Office, New York Times
- Sergey Brin Urges Google Employees To Work Harder and In Office Daily, The Information
- US authorities can see more than ever, with Big Tech as their eyes, Proton
- The 8th Google Store is on its way, this time in Washington DC, Android Police
Links & Content Marketing
- Scale content creation without lowering quality (with template), Yoast
- Understanding Keyword Research: 5 Things To Look For In Your Data, Alice Rowan
Local & Maps
- Waze update brings maps to your car's instrument cluster, 9to5Google
- Users Call for Urgent Google Maps Updates Due to Incident Reporting Issues, AutoEvolution
Mobile & Voice
- Google adds Song Search history: How to access on Android, 9to5Google
- Hear that? Google Pixels are listening for trouble on NYC subway tracks, Android Police
SEO
- 11 Years of Google Warming: Is Search Heating Up?, Moz
- Google Search Changes Upend Publishers’ Product-Review Sites, Wall Street Journal
- How Google determines relevancy & helpfulness, Marie Haynes
- Mobile-First Indexing: Essential SEO Best-Practices, MarketingProfs
- Structured Data, Not Tokenization, is the Future of LLMs, Schema App Solutions
- What Is JavaScript SEO? 6 Best Practices to Boost Rankings, Backlinko
- What is Index Bloat? — Whiteboard Friday, Moz
PPC
- 6 Mistakes Killing Your SaaS Google Ads ROI (+ How to Fix It), Foundation Inc
- Amazon Is Running Video Ads in Rufus, Its Gen AI Search Engine, AdWeek
- Can Your Google Ads Program Support Multiple Goals?, Group Twenty Seven
- Exciting News: Curators added to the Microsoft Advertising Partner Program, Microsoft Advertising
- Seven reasons PMax is stealing your Search impressions, Adalysis
- PMAX Takes the Lead in Google’s Latest Ad Grant Change, PPC News Feed
Other Search
- Introducing GPT-4.5, OpenAI
- Microsoft Copilot now out for macOS, AppleInsider
- OpenAI announces GPT-4.5, warns it’s not a frontier AI model, The Verge
Feedback:
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