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 rolled out the audio, talk and listen version of Search Live. Google is testing new options to report reviews. Google updated its URL structure best practices document. Google is testing swapping site name and URL in the search result snippets. Google Ads has a new promotion preview screen.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
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Google Rolls Out Talk & Listen Version Of Search Live In Labs
Google has begun rolling out the audio version, talk and listen version, of Search Live in the Google app to those who opt into the AI Mode experiment. This is not the video/camera/visual version, that won't be live in the app for a few more months - although you can access it now in the Gemini app. -
Google Tests New Report Reviews Options For Local Listings
Google is testing new report reviews options in the Google Business Profiles reviews section. You can access it, if you are in the test, by looking at your local reviews in Google Search and clicking on the report / alert icon next to any review. -
Google URL Structure Help Doc Updated
Google has updated its URL structure best practices help documentation - it was pretty much a rewrite but the overall guidance is not new. Google said they added "clearer flow and is easier to navigate, with added examples based on real-world URLs we've encountered." -
Google Tests Swapping Site Name & URL In Search Snippet
Google is testing swapping the site name with the URL in the search result snippets. So instead of the site name being shown at the top of the search result snippet, Google is showing the URL above that, followed by the site name. -
Google Ads New Promotion Preview
Google seems to be testing a new way to preview ads within Google Search, specifically promotions. There is a new "Promotion Preview" tool that shows what your promotion will look like on Google Search before it goes live to customers. -
Glass Enclosed Google TPUs
Here is a photo of two Google TPUs, Tensor Processing Units, enclosed in glass or plastic, labeled as version v4 and v5. I assume these are being preserved for some historical purpose.
Other Great Search Threads:
- Anyone who thinks ChatGPT will fully replace search as we've known it probably has never set ChatGPT as their default search engine. I love the AI thing and use it a lot, but it is a slow miserable experience as a 100% o, Greg Boser on X
- Bing testing bold content with all over serp with italic font, Khushal Bherwani on X
- I understand these technologies are complex, and people are getting bombarded by hype (marketers gonna market, I guess, bloggers gonna blog). Telling people not to freak out just doesn't have the same impact as telling people to absolutely, John Mueller on Bluesky
- We don't have public numbers on that, but I like the fact that you can pick the kind of search that you want, and change from search to search. Do you find the forums mode more helpful for your searches?, John Mueller on Mastodon
- Haven’t checked Bing Webmaster Tools lately? Big updates! IndexNow, AI-powered insights, Copilot guidance, and expanded search data. Optimizing for AI search? Time to revisit BWT!, Microsoft Bing Webmaster Team on X
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Google updates its URL structure best practices document with added examples
- Google brings AI video tool Veo 3 to YouTube Shorts
- Google launches Search Live with talk and listen within Google App
- Trump grants TikTok another 90-day lifeline as sale talks stall
- Amazon and Roku join forces to reshape connected TV advertising
- Google Ads Maximize Clicks: Your guide to getting more traffic
- 5 ways to improve PPC lead quality
- SEO KPIs to track and measure success in the age of AI
Other Great Search Stories:
Industry & Business
- Microsoft Job Cuts Planned Aimed at Salespeople, Bloomberg
- Microsoft prepared to walk away from high-stakes OpenAI talks, Financial Times (Sub)
- OpenAI Is Phasing Out Its Work With Scale AI After Meta Deal, Bloomberg
- Google dealt blow at EU’s top court over record €4.12bn competition fine, Financial Times (Sub)
- Google Suffers Blow in Fight Over EU’s €4.1 Billion Android Fine, Bloomberg
Links & Content Marketing
- 5 Most Common Link Building Mistakes (And How to Fix Them), The Upper Ranks
- How to Stop the Scroll: An Introduction to Content Resonance, iPullRank
- Update on Yoast AI Optimize for Classic Editor, Yoast
Local & Maps
- Apple joins Google in push to export Korea's high-precision map data, The Korea Herald
- Google Maps testing Material 3 Expressive redesign on Wear OS, 9to5Google
- Pedestrian Apple Maps camera spotted getting panoramic views in Leeds, Yahoo News
Mobile & Voice
- Gemini Live on your phone may soon be just a swipe away, Android Authority
- Safari in iOS 26, macOS 26 puts content first with UI changes, AppleInsider
- tvOS 26 redesign video: Liquid glass, Control Center, AppleInsider
- A look into Google's Android XR strategy and its big gaming push, Android Central
- Interview: Craig Federighi Opens Up About iPadOS, Its Multitasking Journey, and the iPad's Essence, MacStories
SEO
- How to Optimize for “Fan out” Queries for AI Optimization, Ann Smarty
- LLM Optimization (LLMO): Get AI to Talk About Your Brand, Semrush
- Meet the New Web Crawlers: AI Bots Are Closing in on Search Engine Bots, Ahrefs
- SEO Presentations Are Loaded With Empty Statistics, SEO Theory
- Don’t Block What You Want: DuckDuckGo and Common Crawl to Provide IP Address API Endpoints, Merj
- Is Quality Why Your Pages Are Crawled but not Indexed?, JumpFly
PPC
- Google’s Commerce Media suite launches in beta today, Google Blog
- Inside the Microsoft Advertising Partner Awards: What are judges looking for?, Microsoft Advertising
- What Is Google Ads Performance Max & How Does It Work?, WordStream
- Why Paid Search Ads Can Work So Well For Niche Industries, PPC Live
Search Features
- Gemini coding capabilities: Release Notes podcast episode, Google Blog
- What I Learned From Analyzing Google’s AI Mode Patent, Moz
Other Search
- AI Scraping Bots Are Breaking Open Libraries, Archives, and Museums, 404 Media
- Yandex releases Alchemist: an innovative open dataset enhancing text-to-image model quality, Yandex
- ChatGPT's Impact On Our Brains According to an MIT Study, TIME
- Why Big Tech cannot agree on artificial general intelligence, Financial Times (Sub)
Feedback:
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