Daily Search Forum Recap: October 6, 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 has an ongoing serving issue since late Friday. There is also a bug with events not serving in Google Search. Google is testing the show more button on AI Overviews, it goes directly to Google AI Mode. The new Bing Places is now rolling out. Google is testing AI-generared search snippet descriptions again. Google revealed the dates for when call ads will be sunset. Microsoft will discontinue the Microsoft Advertising ads grant program. And I am offline Tuesday and Wednesday, anything posted was pre-written and scheduled.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google Confirms Google Search Serving Issue
  Google has confirmed a Google Search serving issue that is currently ongoing and impacting serving "some pages in some locales." This is a large enough issue that Google posted about it on its Google Search Status Dashboard.
• Google Search Event Carousel Feature Goes Missing?
  If you search for [events near me], Google may not show you any events near you. It seems like Google is not serving that events carousel right now. I suspect it is a bug and I wonder if this is related to the serving bug from Friday afternoon?
• Test: Google AI Overviews Show More Button Jumps Into AI Mode
  Google is testing having the "Show More" button within AI Overviews jump you directly into AI Mode as opposed to loading more of the AI Overview beneath it. This appears to be a test, as I am unable to replicate it.
• Google Tests AI Generated Search Snippet Descriptions
  Google was previously testing placing AI-generated snippet summaries below each search result snippet. Now, Google is testing replacing the search result snippet's description with its own AI-generated description.
• Bing Places New Dashboard Rolling Out
  As we reported earlier, Microsoft said a new Bing Places update is coming soon. Well, now it is rolling out to businesses in Bing Places for Business.
• Google Reveals Dates For Call Ads Going Away
  A year ago, we learned that Google would transition from Google call ads, call-only ads, to using call assets within responsive search ads (RSAs) but we didn't know the dates. Now, Google said this will happen in two phases: February 2026 and February 2027.
• Microsoft Advertising Ad Grant Program To Be Shut Down
  Microsoft will be shutting down its Microsoft Advertising Ads for Social Impact ad grant program. It will officially be discontinued in December 2025.
• Googler In Panda Costume Doing Handstand
  Here is a photo from the Google office in Montreal of a Googler, maybe a Googler, doing a handstand while wearing a Panda costume. I found this on Instagram and thought some of the older SEOs would appreciate it.
• Programming Note: Offline For Sukkot On Tuesday & Wednesday
  This is a programming note that Tuesday and Wednesday are Sukkot and I will be offline the next two days. I will be offline on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 7th and October 8th.

Other Great Search Threads:

• About TrueView views and YouTube public views in Google Ads, Google Ads Community
• Just celebrated my 20th year at Google! Growing up I had two main passions., Philipp Schindler on LinkedIn
• Ah, Search Engine Land, now with fully AI-generated content written by SearchBot (which was trained on SEL content) -> Robots.txt: SEO landmine or secret weapon? Looks like SearchBot also published an article this morning about href, Glenn Gabe on X
• New image format on Google Discover on Desktop. Increasingly common, we can see larger vertical image formats in Discover feeds on Desktop (when we see the Discover feed on the Google homepage)., Damien (andell) on X
• The Web Sustainability Guidelines (WSGs) have entered the building!, Tim Frick on LinkedIn

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google Search serving issue in some locales
• New Bing Places for Business is live
• Aashna Makin’s experience of when best practices backfire
• The latest jobs in search marketing
• Microsoft to end nonprofit ad grant program in December
• Google to phase out Call-Only Ads by 2027
• Google Analytics expands benchmarking with unnormalized metrics
• Google Ads copywriting with AI: Getting the prompt right
• AI Max for Search: Everything you need to know

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• Google's Gemini AI app could soon be getting a big makeover, TechCrunch
• Google, OpenAI Use Math Contests to Prove AI Progress, Bloomberg
• OpenAI's Sora 2 Heralds the AI Era for Social Media & the ‘Attention Economy', Newcomer
• Sam Altman Says the GPT-5 Haters Got It All Wrong, Wired
• AI Finds its Niche: Writing Corporate Press Releases, Gizmodo
• OpenAI and Jony Ive grapple with technical issues on secretive AI device, Financial Times (Sub)

Industry & Business

• Google Argues a Forced Sale of Ad Exchange Is Too Risky, Bloomberg
• Google Commits $4 Billion To Arkansas Data Center Build, Yahoo Finance
• Google Fights Push To Get Reports From Gov't Monopoly Suit, Law360
• Google Beats Search Engine Patent Suit For Good, Law360
• Google’s chief technologist on how AI is reshaping learning, The Hindu

Links & Content Marketing

• General Mills doubles down on snackable content with sketch series, Marketing Dive

Local & Maps

• AI Mode Impacts on Local Search: Researching Local Health Clinics, iPullRank
• Google Maps has become my ultimate city guide, thanks to this simple strategy, Android Police
• Google Maps Rival Launches a Brilliant Device Waze Should Totally Copy, AutoEvolution

SEO

• How to Audit Brand Mentions for Modern SEO, Ahrefs
• How to Rank in AI Search: Strategies for LLM Visibility, SEO Testing
• SEO proposals MUST focus on the HIPPO, Product Led SEO
• The QualityNsrPQData Model: The Core of Google's Page Quality Assessment, Hobo

PPC

• Get Ready for the Phase Out of Call-Only Ads, PPC News Feed
• Google Ads API Minimum Budget Typo Corrected, PPC News Feed
• Update to Political Content policy in Chile (October 2025), Google Advertising Policies Help
• Better Audience Targeting in Google Ads, Practical Ecommerce

Search Features

• ChatGPT Shopping: How to Get AI to Recommend Your Products, Backlinko

Other Search

• A new search engine raises $1.1M to let obsessive fans dive down internet rabbit holes, TechCrunch

Feedback:

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