Google AI Search Update: Completely New Grounding Format
Gemini’s grounding context has a completely new format which I don’t fully understand yet. It seems custom to different prompt types and breaks outside the old index 1, index 2…etc model. Sharing the discovery for now hoping to hear more from the community and add to it later. Prompt: Dan Petrovic latest articles BEFORE NOW […]
How user prompts shape your content visibility in AI search.
A single article. Seven different queries. Radically different passages surfaced. This isn’t a bug. It’s the ranker doing exactly what it’s supposed to do—and it reveals something important about how content actually gets discovered in AI search. The Data We ran seven query variations against one health article about teas for ulcerative colitis. The article […]
Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google December 2025 Core Update, Discover Alignment To Rankings, Search Console Features, AI Mode Updates & More
In this week’s recap, we covered that the Google December 2025 core update was unleashed. Google also said more core updates are definitely on their way and one should be coming soon Google also updated its…
Google Gemini Local Results In Visual Formats
Google announced that Gemini can now respond to your local questions with local results in a “rich, visual format.” Google will visually lay out the local results to include photos, ratings, and real-world info from Google Maps data.
Google On AI Max Inferred Intent vs Raw Text
Brad Geddes dug into how he felt “AI Max can trump your existing exact and phrase match keywords and then claim credit for the conversions and revenue.” And then Google’s Ad Liaison, Ginny Marvin responded to those specific examples on why this happene…
Google Maps Share Button Drops X For Reddit & Facebook
Google Maps is updating its share buttons by removing the options to share on X and adding the options to share on Reddit and Facebook.
Google News AI-Powered Article Overviews Go Live For Some Publishers
On Wednesday, Google announced a number of new AI features, which we covered (links below) but one other feature Google spoke about was “AI-powered article overviews.” This is an experiment Google News is trying with a handful of publishers.
Google Notification For Reviews & Rating Restrictions Removals
Google is now sending email notifications for when Google Business Profiles has removed the restrictions on your reviews and ratings. The email says, “Restrictions on your reviews and ratings have been removed” and it comes from the Google Business Pro…
Level Up Your SEO Strategy with a Product Mindset — Whiteboard Friday
Frustrated by technical SEO tickets that never get fixed? In this episode of Whiteboard Friday, Gus Pelogia explains how adopting a “product mindset” can bridge the gap between SEOs and developers. Learn how to leverage sprint planning and discovery me…
Google December 2025 Core Update Is Rolling Out – You Surprised?
Google officially announced the rollout of the December 2025 core update on Thursday at around 12:25 pm ET. This core update is expected to take about 3 weeks to roll out. Google said this “is a regular update designed to better surface relevant, satis…
Google AI Mode Links Updated & Adds Contextual Introductions
Google announced it has updated the links in AI Mode to encourage searchers to click more. Google also introduced contextual introductions to embedded links in AI Mode responses.
Google Preferred Sources Now Global & Adds Spotlighting Subscriptions
Google announced that Preferred Sources is now rolling out globally, after launching just in the US and India in August, following its beta period in June. Plus, Google announced Spotlighting subscriptions are coming to Gemini, AI Mode, and AI Overviews.
Google AdSense Offerwall Optimization: Automatic Enrollment
In June, Google moved Offerwall out of its AdSense beta, making it available to all. Now, if you are using Offerwall, Google will opt you into Offerwall optimization.
Bing Tests Hide Sponsored Results Button & Ad Grouping, Like Google Ads
Microsoft is testing out the new Google Ads sponsored results label, ad grouping and hide button with its own Bing Search results ads. Microsoft Advertising search ads in Bing are testing grouping multiple search ads under one “Sponsored results” label…
Google Web Guide Expands To All Tab Officially (Opt In Still Needed)
Google has officially expanded the Web Guide to the “All” tab. Originally when it launched as a Search Labs beta, it was under the “Web” tab but as we saw, Google began expanding it to the “All” tab.
Daily Search Forum Recap: December 10, 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 updated its search documentation to state that it does smaller core updates more often without con…
Google: Discover Minimally Aligned To Search Ranking
Google has told us that core updates impact visibility within Google Discover, but that may have changed at some point. Andy Almeida from the Google Trust and Safety spoke about Google Discover and one of his slides wrote, “Minimal alignment to Search …
Google Ads Contact Us Support Tests Integrating Ads Advisor
Google is testing incorporating Ads Advisor into the contact us page for Google Ads support. Google was doing this for policy disapproval support requests as well.
Google Shopping Crawlers Are Too Fast For JavaScript Generated Structured Data
14 months ago, Google updated its documentation around its shopping related structured data warning not to generate your structured data dynamically through JavaScript. Yesterday, at the Search Central Live event in Zurich, a Google engineer explained…
Google Updates Docs: We Do Smaller Core Updates Without Announcements
Google updated its core update documentation to say it does smaller core updates and does not announce those updates. This is not new; Google told us this back in 2019. What is new is that Google added it to its search developer documentation.