Daily Search Forum Recap: December 22, 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.

We had big Google search ranking volatility over the weekend, likely from the end of the December core update. Google sued SerpApi, which is super controversial. Google is pushing off Gemini replacing the Google Assistant. Google deleted more reviews this year. Google Ads it testing a learn more button in the ad text. Google expands ads in AI Overviews in more countries. OpenAI added local knowledge panels to the ChatGPT results.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google December 2025 Core Update Volatility On Saturday - December 20
  As you all know, Google announced the Google December 2025 core update on Thursday afternoon, December 11th, we saw some significant volatility hit early on December 13th and then it seemed to cool a bit towards the middle of the week. Now, I am seeing signs of more intense volatility hit on Saturday, December 20th.
• Google Sued SerpApi Over Scraping Search Results
  On Friday, Google announced it had filed a lawsuit against SerpApi for scraping the Google search results. Google alleges that SerpApi is running an "unlawful" operation that bypasses Google's security measures to scrape search results at an astonishing scale.
• Google Expands Ads In AI Overviews To More Countries But Not For Sensitive Verticals
  Google quietly updated its AI Overviews ad documentation to say that ads in AI Overviews are supported in Australia, Canada, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, and US. Previously, it just said it was available in the US and "will expand to select English speaking countries soon."
• Report: Google Deleting Local Reviews More Than Ever
  GMBapi posted data that looks at tens of thousands of Google Business Profiles across multiple countries and showed that review deletions have increased significantly over the year, compared to previous periods.
• Google Pushes Timeline For Gemini Replacing Assistant Into 2026
  Anish Kattukaran, CPO at Google Home & Nest announced in the Google Gemini forums that Gemini will not be replacing Google Assistant by the end of 2025. He wrote, "We're adjusting our previously announced timeline to make sure we deliver a seamless transition, and will continue our work to upgrade Assistant users to Gemini on mobile devices into 2026."
• ChatGPT Gains Local Knowledge Panels
  OpenAI has added local knowledge panels to the ChatGPT results. When you ask for local information and then click on a business name, ChatGPT will load a local knowledge panel on the right side.
• Google Tests Learn More Links After Ad Text
  Google is testing appending "learn more" links to the end of the Google search ads text. So the Google Ad will have its normal ad description and at the end, Google is testing adding "Learn more" with an arrow to the right, in blue anchor underlined text.
• Live Hand Painting At Google Dublin
  Google had an event named the CE Awards 2025 at the Dublin office. And part of that was this live hand-painting setup. I am not sure on the details. Maybe this artist live painted the people there so they can take it home? I am not sure.

Other Great Search Threads:

• Always fun to catch up with @OfficialLoganK! This time Rhiannon Bell, VP of UX for Search joined us for another episode of Release Notes to talk Gemini 3 in Search and our new Generative UI capabilities., Robby Stein on X
• Happy Holidays to you! And to all the SEOs, GEOs, AEOs, LEOs, VEOs, YEOs… basically every flavor of *EO out there who crushed it in 2025... and followed guidelines. May your rankings be high, your traffic, Fabrice Canel on X
• Tuesday, Dec 23, will be my last working day of the year. I'll be returning on Jan 6th . . . Thanks for all the engagement & feedback throughout the year. It was big one, and customer, AdsLiaison on X
• We're working on it. Any specific suggestions?, Rajan Patel on X
• What do they hope to achieve? The biggest value of a highly performant website is essentially that users can do more in the same amount of time (and then stay longer, do more). It seems like a fools errand to fake it, without actually making it better. Bu, John Mueller on Bluesky
• Huge shout out to @NBCNews for nationally airing our TV interview Friday warning about untested plagiarized Frankenstein AI recipes. Google needs to stop using our brand name to try to trick users into trusted them., Inspired Taste on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Microsoft launches asset-level ad reviews
• Google to loosen pharma ad rules for AdMob authorized buyers
• Google sues SerpApi over scraping and reselling Search data
• Microsoft Bing explains how duplicate content hurts AI search visibility
• Your next customer might not be human: Designing journeys for people and AI agents
• How to use broad match without losing control
• Google vs. publishers: What the EU probe means for SEO, AI answers, and content rights

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• 10 Gemini prompts to help you keep your New Year's resolutions, Google Blog
• Google Cloud’s Business Trends Report 2026: Key findings, Google Blog
• Google Research 2025: Bolder breakthroughs, bigger impact, Google Research Blog
• New detailed characteristic controls, ChatGPT Release Notes
• OpenAI adds new teen safety rules to ChatGPT as lawmakers weigh AI standards for minors, TechCrunch
• Should You Invest in Growing Your AI Visibility?, Semrush
• How big are Google’s grounding chunks?, DEJAN

Analytics

• An Overview of Florida Data Privacy Law: Digital Bill of Rights (FDBR), Measure Minds Group
• GA4 Email Tracking, KRM Digital Marketing

Industry & Business

• Inside the Balancing Act Over Google’s Compute Crunch, The Information
• Palo Alto Networks announces multibillion-dollar Google Cloud deal, CNBC
• Apple, Google tell workers on visas to avoid leaving the U.S., NPR
• OpenAI Is ‘Definitely Not’ Too Big to Fail, Economist Says, Bloomberg
• OpenAI Is Getting More Efficient at Running Its AI, Internal Financials Show, The Information
• Why Nvidia maintains its moat and Gemini won’t kill OpenAI, SiliconANGLE

Local & Maps

• Hacking Engagement, Review Deletions, Maps' Economic Power, Real Estate Ads, Near Media
• Local Falcon Launches an Agentic AI for Google Business, Globe Newswire
• Local Services Ads - Frequently Asked Questions, Steady Demand

SEO

• Changelog 2025: AI Insights, Beta Features, and API Features, SISTRIX
• Everything You Need to Know to Paywall Your Content, Search Engine World
• Forget “Google Zero.” We need to talk about “People Zero.”, Nieman Journalism Lab
• Does Duplicate Content Hurt SEO and AI Search Visibility?, Bing Webmaster Blog
• What Will Change in Google Discover in 2026? Everything That Was Said at Google Search Central Live in Zurich and That You Should Already Be Applying, Clara Soteras
• Understanding SEO: What Changes When the Marketing Team Gets It, Level343

PPC

• The GAM Changes On Publishers’ Wish List, AdExchanger
• Hidden Media Settings Appear in Google Ads Location Manager, PPC News Feed
• New Auto Opt-In for Resized Videos in Demand Gen, PPC News Feed
• What Google’s New Merchant Extortion Tool Means for Restaurant Operators, Restaurant Technology News

Search Features

• Gemini will replace Google Assistant on Android in 2026, 9to5Google
• Google Translate just added a feature that solves the tool's biggest problem, Android Police

Other Search

• Gemini for Home takes its first step outside the US, Android Police
• A DMCA "Bot War": Google Search Processed 5 Billion Takedown Requests in 2025, TorrentFreak
• TPU Mania, The Chip Letter

Feedback:

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