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.
Bing has added some neat AI features to its shopping search results. Google is shutting down the Buy on Google program in the US. Google Ads is testing larger images in the search results. Bing Chat's share feature should start to return next week. Google Ads is rolling out brand restrictions for search campaigns and brand exclusions for performance max campaigns. I hope you are all ready for GA4. And I posted the weekly SEO video recap.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
- Bing Gains AI Shopping Features For Price Match, Buying Guides & Review Summaries
Bing announced a number of new features it says are powered by AI in both Bing, Bing Chat, and the Edge sidebar. The features include AI-generated buying guides, AI-generated review summaries, and new price match monitors. - Google To Shutter Buy On Google Program In US
Google sent merchants an email yesterday informing them that Buy on Google in the United States will be closing on September 26, 2023. Google is piloting a new feature to skip right to the checkout page for merchants but the Buy on Google will be gone for Google Search, however, will remain on YouTube. - Google Ads Showing Larger Images Again
Google Ads has been showing larger images on and off for a while now. But here is an ad for a law firm that has really large images on the desktop search interface. - Bing Chat Share Feature Returning On July 4th
In May, Bing added a share feature to Bing Chat and then had to abruptly remove the feature in early June. Bing's Mikhail Parakhin said that the feature should start to slowly roll back out, under a new system, starting on July 4th. - Google Ads New Brand Restrictions For Search & Brand Exclusions For Performance Max
Google Ads announced that new brand settings are rolling out for Search and Performance Max campaigns. Specifically, brand restrictions for broad match in Search campaigns and brand exclusions in Performance Max campaigns are rolling out. - Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Search Ranking Volatility, Pinging Google Sitemaps, Bing Index Coverage, AI, Search, Local & PPC
This week in search, we had yet another week of heated Google search ranking volatility without a confirmed Google search ranking update. Google said it would drop the Ping endpoints for Google Sitemaps later this year. Some are seeing the new index... - Google Map Your Summer Booth
At the newish Google Pier 57 office in New York City, Google popped up this stand to promote the new mapping features. It looks like a map your summer booth that showcases some of the new AI features
Other Great Search Threads:
- Here's the story. I have access to 2,979 PMax ecommerce campaigns. It's probably not the biggest single sample of the market. GroupM or whoever prob has more. But GroupM is not going to drill the data and share what they found with, Mike Ryan on Twitter
- We did make it much faster this week, but it is exactly the same in quality - didn't change that., Mikhail Parakhin on Twitter
- Yes, sorry, we are being constantly attacked by scrapers and DDOS, sometimes have to prohibit VPNs. We are improving the defenses, this issue should go away soon., Mikhail Parakhin on Twitter
- The guidance is to show Googlebot the content that search users from the same region as Googlebot's crawling from would see. If you do something more / different for logged-in users, that's up to you (Googlebot doesn't log in)., John Mueller on Twitter
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Google rolls out brand restriction settings to all advertisers
- How Facebook ranks content in 2023: Feed, Stories, Reels and more
- Buy on Google program to shut down Sept. 26
- Bing adds new AI-powered shopping tools
- GA4 for B2B: How to track events and conversions
- 7 PPC planning tips when entering a new geographic market
- Scaling an agency: Lessons of growth and change
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- GA4: The Good, The Bad, And The Alternatives, Search Engine Journal
- Getting to Know Google Analytics 4 for Legal Marketers, JDSupra
Industry & Business
- An update on Canada’s Bill C-18 and our Search and News products, Google Blog
- Google Parent Company Alphabet and Airtel Collaborate on Project Taara to Provide Affordable Internet to Villages, MySmartPrice
- Transparency woes mount, just as Google's antitrust pressures start to intensify, Digiday
Links & Content Marketing
- 3 Agile Fixes To Keep Your Marketing Operations Humming, Content Marketing Institute
- Diversify Your Content Strategy — Whiteboard Friday, Moz
Local & Maps
- Google Maps’ glitch places Heathrow Airport in middle of Portsmouth docks, Telegraph
- How Do I Create A Delivery Route In Apple Maps?, MacSources
- Why Are Google Maps Results More Volatile Than Organic Search Results?, Local Visibility System
Mobile & Voice
- Apple's choice of Vision Pro controls is right, say researchers, AppleInsider
- How to stop your iPhone listening to you, Tom's Guide
- Mastering Google Assistant: Essential Commands You Need to Know, Gizchina
- Siri's a disaster, and it feels like Apple doesn't care, Macworld
SEO
- Does semantic HTML help Search identify and evaluate content?, Google Search Central YouTube
- Internal linking fundamentals for SEO, Wix SEO Hub
- SEO Split Test Result: Adding BoatTrip Structured Data to Ferry Route Pages, Semrush
- Should ChatGPT Set Your SEO Writing Strategy?, SuccessWorks
- How Long Does It Take Google To Index A New Website?, SEOSLY
- How To Check If A Page Is Indexed, SEOSLY
- How to Format a Blog Post (For Search Success), Ahrefs
- The Only 3 Keyword Monitoring Tools You Need, Ahrefs
PPC
- Women’s World Cup insights for your ads, Microsoft Advertising
- Ad agencies say they never liked Google video partners inventory, Ad Age
Search Features
- New features coming to Fact Check Explorer, Google Blog
Other Search
- On-device diffusion plugins for conditioned text-to-image generation, Google Research Blog
- Our approach to news regulation, Google Blog
Feedback:
Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, you can follow us on Facebook and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.
