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.
META/Facebook shows signs of crawling the web and potentially building its own search engine. Google's home page adds new AI buttons below the search box. Google has updated its guidelines for representing your business on Google in the Google Business Profiles help documentation to add a new rule. Google says hreflang alternates, hreflang URLs are not "indexed in the proper sense. We are seeing more AI labels on Google Ads, like on Discover and the local pack. Microsoft has released the ability to adjust and appeal disapproved assets in bulk. This feature is named Bulk edit disapproved assets and should be live globally in all Microsoft Advertising accounts.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
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Meta/Facebook Crawling Web & May Be Building Search Engine
Meta, the social media company that operates Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Threads, is allegedly crawling the web and in the process of building its own search engine. Pieter Levels posted about this pattern on X and wrote, "Meta is ALLEGEDLY building their own Google search engine..." -
Google Local Disallows Repeated Bilingual Names & Transliterations
Google has updated its guidelines for representing your business on Google in the Google Business Profiles help documentation to add a new rule. Google said for your business name you cannot repeat "the same business name in multiple scripts or languages." -
Google: Hreflang URLs Not Indexed In The Proper Sense
Google's Gary Illyes said that hreflang alternates, hreflang URLs are not "indexed in the proper sense." In short, Google just keeps the hreflang URL as alternate URLs. So the URL is not what is getting the page indexed, it is just being stores as an alternative to the main page URL. -
Google AI Labels On Local Pack & Google Discover Ads
A month ago, Google said it would now label ads created or edited with AI with an AI label within the ad or on the ad itself (depending on the region). We soon saw those AI labels roll out on ads in the Google Search sponsored results but now we are also seeing them in the local pack listings and within Google Discover. -
Microsoft Advertising Bulk Edit/Appeal Disapproved Assets
Microsoft has released the ability to adjust and appeal disapproved assets in bulk. This feature is named Bulk edit disapproved assets and should be live globally in all Microsoft Advertising accounts. -
Google Home Page Create Images, Ask About Files & Brainstorm Buttons
The Google home page is testing or rolling out now, new AI features and buttons in place of the Google Search and I'm Feeling Lucky buttons. There is now "Create images," "Ask about files," and "Brainstorm" buttons below the big search box. This is in addition to showing the AI Mode button, the plus sign at the left of the search box, Google Lens, and the Voice button. -
Google Korea Cafe Order Form
I have never seen a photo of an order form from a cafe at the Google offices. Here is one from the Google Korea office that says "CAFE CENTRAL SELF ORDER SHEET." I guess it makes it easier to order a coffee?
Other Great Search Threads:
- Do not expect a profile to become verified without a video. This is already happening in spam-prone categories., Vinay Toshniwal on LinkedIn
- The search visibility trending for Calm is anything but calm... They tanked right around the 7/11 unconfirmed update and then surged back in early August. I haven't dug in much, but super interesting to see that considering the 7/11 movement we saw across sites., Glenn Gabe on X
- I Think This Is Literally The First Time Ever I Have Seen Google Ads Suggesting That I Reduce Budget. Lol Has Anyone Seen This Before? The Suggestion Did Not Make Logical Sense Tho LOL, Anthony Higman on X
- Google may soon introduce two new features for Google Chrome users based in the EU — “Skills in Chrome” and “Connected Apps / Universal Commerce Protocol” — as part of its broader Google AI Mode experience., Radu Oncescu on X
Search Engine Land Stories:
- ChatGPT Ads rolls out oCPC campaigns, AAM and product carousels
- Google expands Limited Ad Serving policy across all Ads
- Microsoft Advertising adds bulk editing for disapproved assets
- YouTube tests image ads during horizontal mobile playback
- Google Ads adds dedicated reporting for new customer acquisition
- How business context changes AI recommendations
- What six perspectives reveal about demand generation in AI search
- Your rankings aren’t telling you what your customers see
- You can’t demand the click if you won’t give the link
Other Great Search Stories:
AI & LLMs
- Cloudflare launches Kitesurf, a browser built for AI agents, TechCrunch
- Hello Local Business, Your AI Ads Are Costing You Customers, Aftermath
- How 5 builders are using Gemini Omni, Google Blog
- Improving Fable 5 Safeguards, Anthropic
- OpenAI slows release of Astra model citing cyber capabilities, Axios
- One of China’s Most Powerful AI Models Has Also Escaped Containment, Wired
- Finding Bard Inside Google's Gemma 4, DEJAN
- Move 37 Is the Moment AI Changes Everything. It’s Suddenly Happening Everywhere., Wall Street Journal
- What Happened: OpenAI and HuggingFace, Zvi Mowshowitz
Analytics
- Before You Ask AI to Analyze Your Data, Do This First, MeasureU
- From ranking to recommended: get your site ready to thrive in the age of AI agents, Cloudflare Blog
Industry & Business
- 11th Circuit Rejects Keyword Advertising Liability-Deltona v. NOCO, Eric Goldman
- Google Data Center Announces Plans to Pave Over Protected Wetlands, Futurism
- OpenAI seeks dismissal of Apple's trade secrets lawsuit, Reuters
- Auto mode is now the default in Claude Code for Pro, Max, and Team plans, Simon Willison
Links & Content Marketing
- How marketers are building for AI search, Digiday
- Vibe Coding My Way to a Semi-Automated Content Pipeline, Owain Lloyd-Williams
Local & Maps
- Google Maps borrowed Waze's best features, so why do I still need both apps?, Android Police
- Google Business Profile Review Questions Study: What We Found by Analyzing GBP Review Questions for 765 Local Businesses, Whitespark
Other Search
- Remembering the pre-Google web, when search was an experiment, Ars Technica
- Why Google Search Is Actually Dumb, HackerNoon
PPC
- Google Ads PPC Case Study: How Postcode Bidding Increased Local Inventory Ad Impressions by 300% and Local Sales by 40%, PPC Live
- Google Launches Third-Party Pre-Screen Program, PPC News Feed
- Inside ChatGPT Ads’ prohibited categories: what advertisers actually run, BotScope
- The New Rules of Google Ads: Redefining Search Marketing in the Age of AI, PPC Hero
- Google's Demand Gen Drop Adds Gemini Creative and Auto-Resize to YouTube Ads. The Q3 Media Plan Just Changed., MKDM
- Free Ad Credit Offers for Current Advertisers, PPC News Feed
Search Features
SEO
- Do LLMs Respect robots.txt? Where robots.txt Can and Can't Block AI, Seer Interactive
- Elon Musk's APR Energy Acquisition Has an SEO Problem - Here's the Fix, HackerNoon
- The SEO’s Guide to Agentic Commerce — Whiteboard Friday, Moz
- SEO’s Hidden Value: Why Attribution Models and AI Search Are Changing How We Measure Organic Success, Koozai
- The GEO Tooling and Data Market Has a Trust Problem, Duane Forrester Decodes
- These SEO Strategies Drive 90% of Your AI Visibility, Zyppy.com
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