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.
We saw some heated ranking volatility in Google Search, was there another unconfirmed Google update on Saturday? Google Ads had some big API issues early Sunday morning - Google never confirmed it. Google Search Console does not show fan out queries. Microsoft said it blocked over one billion ads in Microsoft Advertising. Google did not give us more structured data, like it said it would. Google Ads has a new method for brand match testing. Google is testing AI Mode in the search bar of Chrome on desktop and Android.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
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Heated Google Search Ranking Volatility On Saturday June 28th
On Saturday, June 28th, it appears that another significant Google Search ranking update occurred, although Google has not confirmed it. There has been significant search ranking volatility and chatter within the SEO industry over the past 24 hours or so. -
Google Ads API Outages and Slowness; Microsoft Ads Warns About Google Imports
Google Ads is experiencing some technical difficulties, although their ad status dashboard indicates that all is currently fine. The issue is somewhat significant in that even Microsoft Advertising is warning that you should manually update your Microsoft Ads account instead of using the Google Import when the Google APIs are having issues. -
Google Supports Fewer Structured Data, Not More Like Promised
The other day, I complained that Google told us we'd have more core updates, more often. Well, Google also said they would support more structured data, and Google did the complete opposite of that. -
Microsoft Removed Over One Billion Ads & 475,000 Advertiser Accounts
Microsoft released its Microsoft Advertising trust and safety report, which revealed it removed or restricted over one billion ads. The company also suspended over 475,000 advertiser accounts over the year. -
Google Tests AI Mode In Chrome Search Bar (Desktop & Android)
Google is testing showing the ability to search in AI Mode within the Chrome search bar on desktop and Android devices. This is obviously being tested both in the US and in India, where AI Mode is available. -
PSA: Fan Out Queries Are Not In Google Search Console
Over the past couple of weeks, I've been hearing buzz that some think that Google Search Console will show the "query fan-out" queries in Google Search Console. It does not, Google Search Console at best will show you the query used by the searcher, not how Google AI is expanding the query with its query fan-out technique. -
New Google Ads Broad Match Experiments Testing
Google is reportedly rolling out a new way to conduct broad match keywords experiments and A/B testing. Google wrote this "new approach is aimed at delivering faster results and reducing some of the common experimentation errors, by diverting traffic and budget within the existing campaign (instead of creating a campaign copy for the experiment treatment arm)." -
Google Green University Jackets On Dancers
Google supposedly had these dancers perform at the Google Dublin office and they all worse these green university jackets with the super G Google logo. This was for Philipp Schindler of Google?
Other Great Search Threads:
- Another day, another GMC audit, another finding of random dead product pages Google somehow finds and puts into your product feed unless you TURN OFF FOUND BY GOOGLE. Seriously, go do it now. Go turn it off. I've never yet seen a, Kirk Williams on X
- Have been thinking of this a lot recently "outsourced to a large number of creators" mentioned on Google's "Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content" page? and its said as one of question to access content quality, Gagan Ghotra on X
- It could be a bot. I don't know GA, but perhaps there's a way that you can prevent it from being counted there, if you find it annoying. For help with GA, I'd go to their help community:, John Mueller on Bluesky
- Using @Sistrix? There are new AI Overview features to check out, including a new keyword filter (AI Overview with ranking), a new report for 'AI Overviews within SERP', and AI Overviews in the keyword SERP archive (with AI summary, sourc, Glenn Gabe on X
- Yeah, it's just a technical log for your information. It doesn't mean it's the strongest connection between the pages. I wouldn't worry about it :), John Mueller on Bluesky
Search Engine Land Stories:
- The latest jobs in search marketing
- Microsoft Ads gets granular with new asset-level reviews
- Survey says: AI is changing search, but links still matter to SEOs
- Microsoft removed 1 billion ads for violations in 2024
- SEO leads as 68% of organizations shift strategies for AI search: Survey
- Google Ads simplifies broad match testing
- How to deliver PPC results to executives: Get out of the weeds
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Outbound Click Report in GA4, KRM Digital Marketing
Industry & Business
- Google Convinces OpenAI to Use TPU Chips in Win Against Nvidia, The Information
- Hard Fork Live, Part 1: Sam Altman and Brad Lightcap of OpenAI, New York Times
- OpenAI’s Unreleased AGI Paper Could Complicate Microsoft Negotiations, Wired
- Read Google’s 2025 Environmental Report, Google Blog
- Looksmarts Suit Against Google Tossed, Search Engine World
- OpenAI Takes a Page From Palantir, Doubles Down on Consulting Services, The Information
Links & Content Marketing
Local & Maps
- Android Auto 14.6 update is now more widely rolling out, 9to5Google
- Google Maps makes starting a collaborative list less confusing, Android Authority
- Sharing a spot on Google Maps might get a little more tap-heavy with this update, Android Police
- This Unexpected Google Maps Update on Android and iPhone Is Causing Major Confusion—and Most Users Haven’t Even Noticed, Rude Baguette
Mobile & Voice
- HomePod is getting two new features this fall with iOS 26, 9to5Mac
- Google email hints that Gemini will be closer to replacing Google Assistant on July 7th, PhoneArena
- I Tried 4 Android Digital Assistants and Kept This One, Make Use Of
- Siri Digital Assistant Gets Failing Grade, Investor's Business Daily
SEO
- Gated Content: What It Is & When to Use It, Cypress North
- Google Doesn’t Expect Online Bot Traffic To Double By Mid-July (Despite What Its Help Center Says), AdExchanger
- How to avoid the most catastrophic SEO mistakes, Browser Media
- "Real Estate Agent Near Me" Searches are Declining, SEO Savvy Agent
- AI Is Stealing Your SEO Traffic: Here's How to Fix It, G2
- Key Traditional vs AI Search Differences - A Visual Comparison, Aleyda Solis
- LLM search optimization seems to mirror strategies used in classic SEO, study finds, The Decoder
- URL Encoding Done Right: Best Practices for Web Developers and SEOs, Merj
PPC
- Ads Trust and Safety: Year review—2024, Microsoft Advertising
- Google Ads Scripts Sunsetting Ad Customizers for Expanded Text Ads and Legacy Ad Extension Entities Starting July 14, 2025, Google Ads Developer Blog
- Hackers Poisoning AI Tools’ Google Search Results to Deliver Infostealers, The Cyber Express
- How Google and Meta Campaign Support Is Undermining PPC Agencies, PPC Hero
- How Much Does Digital Marketing Cost in the UK?, Koozai
- Ad Preview Tool Requires Assets Before Displaying the Preview, PPC News Feed
- Upcoming Removal of debug_enabled in Google Ads API Offline Conversion Imports, Google Ads Developer Blog
- Video Analytics Available in Google Ads, PPC News Feed
Search Features
- Are Google’s AI Overviews Hurting Your Traffic? Here’s What We’re Seeing, Koozai
- MUVERA: Making multi-vector retrieval as fast as single-vector search, Google Research Blog
- What is Google’s New AI Mode and Why are Experts Worried?, AI Magazine
Other Search
- Apple, Google Told DeepSeek App Is Illegal in Germany, Bloomberg
- I chatted with five AI bots - these made the best conversations, ZDNET
- AI is ruining houseplant communities online, The Verge
Feedback:
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