Daily Search Forum Recap: August 5, 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 Posts updated its creation tool within Google Business Profiles. We are seeing AI Overviews within AI Overviews. Google did not confirm it uses MUVERA in search but rather maybe something like it. Google Search has this AI Catch Up feature. Google Ads sitelinks to impact ad strength for PMax campaigns. Microsoft Advertising audience planner was updated. Finally, it seems Google Search is indexing and ranking Google Maps search results pages - which is against its own policies.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google: We Did Not Confirm We Use MUVERA
  Gary Illyes said that despite what people are saying, he did not confirm Google uses MUVERA - Multi-Vector Retrieval via Fixed Dimensional Encodings. He said that Google might use something like it in Google Search but he did not confirm that Google actually uses it today in Google Search.
• Google Search Indexing & Ranking Near Me Google Maps Results
  It looks like Google Search is indexing and also ranking Google Maps search results pages for some [near me] types of queries. Google is listing these Google Maps search results directly in the Google search results.
• Google Posts Creation Tool Refresh Now Live
  Google has rolled out an update to the Google Business Profiles Google Posts creation tool. We covered Google testing these changes earlier but now it is officially live as of late Friday.
• Google AI Overviews Within AI Overviews
  Did you know that Google can show AI Overviews within AI Overviews. We've seen AI Overviews in people also ask, we've also seen AI Mode in people also ask. But to show AI Overviews within an AI Overview, seems a bit redundant.
• Microsoft Advertising Audience Planner Updated
  Navah Hopkins, the Microsoft Ads Liaison, posted about new updates released to the Microsoft Advertising Audience Planner. Hopkins said her favorite feature of this tool is that it can tell you if you "have an unwinnable math problem."
• Google AI Catch Up
  Similar to the AI Audio overviews in Google Search, Google is testing "AI Catch Up." These give you summaries of the highlights from the latest game you Googled to get the score and other highlights.
• Google Ads Sitelinks Impact Performance Max Ad Strength
  Did you know that your sitelinks in your Performance Max (PMax) campaigns can impact the overall ad strength? Google actually has a help document that lists that and the ad strength widget in Google Ads now lists ad strength.
• Google Venice Beach Sign
  Here is a new photo from the Google offices in Venice Beach. Here it shows the Google branded Venice signage at the office there.

Other Great Search Threads:

• New in AI Max for Search: “Locations of Interest” targeting, Adriaan Dekker on LinkedIn
• AdSense Earnings and Observations - August 2025, WebmasterWorld
• Does SEO matter any more?, WebmasterWorld
• Get outside your comfort phone | 8.20.25 Learn more and sign up for #MadeByGoogle updates, Made by Google on X
• New Asset Optimization Launching in Your Existing Demand Gen Image Ads, Menachem Ani on X
• The UI within Google Maps for ads on GBP listings feels very deceptive @adsliaison. The 'visit site' link is the same color as 'save', 'nearby', 'suggest an edit' etc. and is placed exactly where you would expect the website addre, SERP Alert on X
• Confirming today is migration day! TCPA will migrate under Max Conversions as an optional goal and TROAS will migrate under Max Conversion Values as an optional goal., Navah Hopkins on LinkedIn
• Your try-on photos are not used for training purposes or anything other than helping you try things on virtually. To be extra clear, these photos are not shared with other Google products or services and you have the option to delete them at any time., Rajan Patel on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• AI Max gets new reporting features
• AI Max experiments arrive in Google Ads: Here’s how they work
• Google briefs brands on AI Mode ads ahead of Q4 rollout
• SE Ranking acquires Planable to expand into social media, AI search
• Crawling for AI search: Balancing access, control, and visibility
• What Google’s AI Mode means for your B2B paid search strategy
• Black Friday PPC strategy: Your AI search playbook

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

• Google Analytics now suggests tracking AI chatbots in custom channel groups, PPC Land

Industry & Business

• A.I. Has Ushered in Silicon Valley’s ‘Hard Tech’ Era, New York Times
• How Tech Firms Like Google and Meta Are Embracing the Military, New York Times
• How we’re making data centers more flexible to benefit power grids, Google Blog
• Microsoft Is an AI Darling, but Its Core Businesses Are Booming Too, Wall Street Journal
• SE Ranking acquires Planable to embrace AI search, SE Ranking

Links & Content Marketing

• Content Restraint: Marketing's Most Overlooked Strategy, Content Marketing Institute
• My Complete AI Content Process for Ahrefs, Ahrefs

Local & Maps

• Book a Table with Perplexity and OpenTable, Perplexity
• Getting your Business “On the Map” in Chatgpt – MapBox Local Search Comes to ChatGPT, Search Engine World
• Local Search: Can ChatGPT Close the Gap with Google?, Local Dialog

Mobile & Voice

• Apple exec says Siri will get ‘much bigger upgrade than we envisioned’, 9to5Mac
• Apple's Answers team is a bigger deal than it might seem, 9to5Mac
• Google dunks on Apple Intelligence in new Pixel 10 ad, The Verge

SEO

• Google Owes The SEO Industry Absolutely Nothing, And This Is Why, Nikki Pilkington
• Literally the web, Growth in Flux
• SEO Is Dead. Say Hello to GEO., NY Magazine
• About Us Pages: Important for Both Visitor and SEO Trust Signals, JumpFly
• SEO After a Site Redesign: Don’t Let Rankings Slip, Koozai

PPC

• AI Max for Search Is Rolling Out. Here's What to Know, WordStream
• HOW TO: Make Your Ads Show in AI Overviews on Google, JXT Group
• Unlocking enhanced Performance Max targeting in the Google Ads API, Google Ads Developer Blog
• Update to Gambling and Games Policy: Cameroon and Namibia (August 2025), Google Advertising Policies Help

Search Features

• Google's AI Kills Traffic: Here's How Small Businesses Can Survive, Forbes
• What we’re optimizing ChatGPT for, OpenAI

Other Search

• Agents or Bots? Making Sense of AI on the Open Web, Perplexity
• Kaggle Game Arena evaluates AI models through games, Google Blog
• OpenAI’s ChatGPT to hit 700 million weekly users, up 4x from last year, CNBC
• Perplexity is using stealth, undeclared crawlers to evade website no-crawl directives, Cloudflare

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