Daily Search Forum Recap: July 9, 2025

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 Search Console added a discussion forums search appearance filter to the performance report. Be careful if you use AI to generate content for Google Search. Google says the order of URLs in the disavow file do not matter. Google Ads click volume is declining but why? Google Ads defends hidden search terms as privacy-driven.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google: Order Of Disavow Link File Does Not Matter
  Google's John Mueller said the order of the URLs or sites you list in your disavow link file does not matter. He added that the file is not processed in real time, it is crawled and then taken into account as Google crawls the web.
• Be Careful With Google When Publishing AI Content
  A recent study from Ahrefs said that AI-generated content does not hurt your Google rankings. And while the study really shows this to be true, there are plenty of sites that overdid it with AI-generated content and saw their Google rankings massively decline in the long run.
• Google Ads Defends Hidden Search Terms As Solely Privacy Driven
  Ginny Marvin, Google's Ads Liaison, defended why so many search terms are hidden within the Google Ads advertiser console and reports. She said, "the threshold increase was solely privacy-driven." She added this was a question she asked when she was joining Google, suggesting it was important for her to learn before joining the company.
• New Google Search Console Discussion Forum Search Appearance Filter
  Google Search Console now gives you the ability to track the performance of your Discussion forums rich results within the Google search results. Google added a new search appearance filter for Discussion forums that you can select and filter on.
• Google Ads Generating Fewer Clicks? Why?
  The folks at PPC Hero noted that Google Ads CPCs increasing and there is a decline in ad click volumes within Google Search. The question is why? More competition? Higher CPC prices? New bidding strategies? AI Overviews causing a drop in ad clicks?
• Google Android Construction Street Poster
  Google made up custom street signs and posters to hang around the GooglePlex area, the main Google headquarters, while they do construction and expansionary work on their buildings.

Other Great Search Threads:

• Starting in July 2025: Existing Video Action Campaigns will be upgraded to Demand Gen campaigns automatically., Greg on X
• The 202506 Chrome User Experience (CrUX) release is now live on BigQuery! Check out the announcement post for the full info: groups.google.com/a/chromium.o... Highlights below, Barry Pollard on Bluesky
• The real story behind Google Earth is absolutely wild. It started as an $800/year 3D tool used to cover the war in Iraq. Then Google bought it — and made it free. Then it: - Saved 4,000 lives in Hurricane Katrina - Reunited lost, Bilawal Sidhu on X
• You may have noticed that Microsoft Advertising is a little more particular about wording choices. Let's break down why the following ad and landing page work (and the risk areas) for Microsoft Advertising editorial policies, Navah Hopkins on LinkedIn

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google Search Console adds Discussion forums search appearance filter
• Google Ads Editor 2.10 drops
• Google Ads data shows query length shift post-AI Mode
• Google AI Mode available in India without sign-in
• PPC budget planning: Aligning business goals, ad spend, and performance

Other Great Search Stories:

Industry & Business

• Google Settles Privacy Class Action Over Period Tracking App, Bloomberg
• Google AI spending primarily on technical infrastructure, Reuters

Links & Content Marketing

• 6 Things I Wish I Knew My First Day Building Links, The Upper Ranks
• Does Being Mentioned on Highly Linked Pages Influence AI Mentions?, Ahrefs

Local & Maps

• Google Maps is now available on Garmin’s smartwatches, The Verge
• The Evolution of Google Hotel Search Results, Hotel News Resource
• Ultimate guide: Optimizing your Google Business Profile, SearchLab Digital

Mobile & Voice

• Gemini app rolling out Google Home Broadcast support, 9to5Google
• Google prepares option to turn off Pixel Launcher AI Mode shortcut, 9to5Google
• No thanks: Google lets its Gemini AI access your apps, including messages, Malwarebytes

SEO

• 5 SEO tips for selling internationally on Shopify, Ilana Davis
• Google Doesn’t Owe You and I'll tell you exactly why!, SEO for Lunch
• How SEO Completes the Funnel: Long-Term Traffic That Converts, Koozai
• Multilingual vs. Multiregional – Which Strategy Is Right for Your Website?, International Web Mastery

PPC

• Google Highlights Irrelevant Words in Bold in Search Ads, PPC News Feed
• Sustainable Ad Strategies for Publishers, Microsoft Advertising
• Why are Google Ads CPCs increasing?, PPC Hero
• 5 Things I Wish I Knew Early on in My PPC Career, JumpFly Digital Marketing Blog
• Google believes AI Max is a game changer for search campaigns, Digiday

Search Features

• Exploring Google's new AI Mode and what it means for SEO, Oncrawl
• Navigating the New Era of AI Search, Brainlabs

Feedback:

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