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 confirmed ads with AI Overviews make as much as ads without AI Overviews on the page. Google Maps had almost one billion reviews added in 2024, with 752 million photos and videos and more. Apple Maps is adding more insights, ratings and reviews. Google Search has a new "Shuffle" button it is testing for AI search results. Google is working to make it easier to share AI Overviews and AI Mode. Bing Shopping is testing shading site names. And I posted the weekly SEO Video recap.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
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Google's Pichai: Search Ads With AI Overviews Earn Same As Ads Without
Google's CEO, Sundar Pichai, said that search ads with AI Overviews are at a baseline, at the same level as search ads without AI Overviews, in terms of ad revenue per query. He added, and now it is just about going up from there, and with AI, he doesn't see it to a problem. -
Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Rethinking Search, Replacing Reddit, Search Console Annotations & So Much More
This week, we covered, you guessed it, more Google search ranking volatility. Google also said they are rethinking its search stack from the ground up because of LLMs. Google is testing AI Overviews in more regions and languages prior to Google I/O/ Google is testing AI Mode buttons throughout Google... -
Google Search AI Shuffle Button
Google is testing a "Shuffle" button in some of its AI generated answers within the Google Search results. When you click the shuffle button, it seems to redo or change up the response Google's AI gives you. -
Google Maps 2024: 999 Million Reviews & 752 Million Photos / Videos Published
Last month we shared the spam efforts the Google Maps team announced - but did you know that in 2024 Google had almost one billion reviews published within Google Maps? That is 999 million reviews, 752 million photos and videos and 94 million place edits published just in 2024. -
Apple Maps Adds Insights, Ratings & Reviews From More Sources
Apple announced this week that it partnered with MICHELIN Guide; The Infatuation and Golf Digest to provide "insights, ratings, and reviews from expert sources" within Apple Maps. -
Google Working To Make It Easier To Share AI Overviews & AI Mode
Robby Stein, VP of Product at Google Search, confirmed Google is working on making it easier to share AI Overviews within Google Search and AI Mode responses. -
Bing Shopping Tests Shading Site Names
Microsoft is testing shading the site names, the brand names, of retailers in the Bing Shopping search results. So the name Amazon is in a blue shaded background color as opposed to just saying Amazon.com. -
Google Ukulele Jam
Here is a group of Googlers who are ukulele enthusiasts playing together. I found this on Instagram and it made me smile for a bit. So I am sharing this here.
Other Great Search Threads:
- Google Local Services Ads Accept New Terms Or Else Reminder Email. Still Stating My Theory That Google Is Planning To Somehow Work This Ad Format Into Ai Mode Or Ai Overviews. The Reason I Suspect This Is Mentioned In This Summa, Anthony Higman on X
- Just heard from @chippy on LinkedIn that it was a SERP structure change for Reddit results, so Reddit is not dropping in visibility. I had explained before that the drop didn't look right since the other visibility tools weren't showing, Glenn Gabe on X
- Useful resources to protect your Google Account, Google Search Community
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Straight from the source: 2025 Search Engine Land Awards judges reveal what makes an application award-worthy
- Most users only read a third of Google’s AI Overviews: Study
- Google rolls out ‘Ads funded by’ labels in search results
- New Google AI Overviews data: Search clicks fell 30% in last year
- YouTube unveils new shopping ads for TV viewers
- How to measure SEO success when AI is changing search
- Google Performance Max: Everything you need to know
- 6 tactical ways to responsibly use AI for everyday SEO
Other Great Search Stories:
Industry & Business
Links & Content Marketing
- 5 Verb-Strengthening Strategies To Crush Weak Writing, Content Marketing Institute
- Finding and Testing Internal Link Changes with Screaming Frog, Screaming Frog
Local & Maps
- Apple CarPlay 2 Finally Lands As ‘CarPlay Ultra’—but Aston Martin Gets It First, Wired
- CarPlay Ultra, the next generation of CarPlay, begins rolling out today, Apple
- South Korea delays decision on letting Google move hi-res map data overseas, TechCrunch
Mobile & Voice
- Apple unveils powerful accessibility features coming later this year, Apple
- Apple’s new ‘HomePad’ is in the works with these five features, 9to5Mac
SEO
- Google Explains Why Having a Differentiating Brand Is Important To Search Visibility, Bruce Clay
- Google's Hyung-Jin Kim Shares Google Search Ranking Signals, SEO Book
- How Long Does It Take to Rank in Google? And How Old Are Top Ranking Pages?, Ahrefs
- Quality vs Quantity: Getting the Balance in Your SEO Strategy, Codefixer
- Relevance Engineering at Scale: Smarter Content Pruning with Embeddings & SEO, iPullRank
- SEOs: The Unsung Heroes Behind Google’s Trillion-Dollar Success, Search Engine World
- The State of SEO in 2025, Detailed
- Why SEO Is Far from Dead, JumpFly
- E-E-A-T Implementation for AI Search, BrightEdge
- Ecommerce SEO Testing: Data-Driven Strategies That Work, SEO Testing
- Google Discover SEO: How to Appear in Google Discover in 2025, SEOSLY
- Google I/O SEO predictions, Product Led SEO
- Google Merchant Center Update. Prepend Brand Name in Product Titles, FeedArmy
- Google Top Quality Store Optimization: Tips & Tricks for Ecommerce SEO, Brodie Clark Consulting
- The Essential Technical SEO Checklist I Developed for Client Success, Tech SEO Vitals
PPC
- All You AI Max for Search Campaigns Questions Answered, PPC Chat
- Best PPC Tools: My 9 Top Picks Under $300, Ahrefs
- YouTube’s Brandcast 2025 recap: News and announcements, Google Blog
- How Google’s AI Overviews is affecting paid search strategies, Digiday
Search Features
- AI overviews: How are publishers adapting to the rise of clickless search?, The Current
- Google confirms Gemini for Chrome on Windows 11, teases big AI upgrade, Windows Latest
- Mozilla Firefox to Promote Perplexity Search Engine, Windows Report
- New AI and accessibility updates across Android, Chrome and more, Google Blog
- What is the environmental cost of Google's AI Overview Searches?, Matt Tutt
Other Search
- 6 Google Search Alternatives That Protect Your Privacy, How To Geek
- Debugging the Internet: HTTP, TCP, and You, Search Off the Record
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