Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Volatility Heated All Week, Google Reviews Vanishing, AI Overview & AI Mode Links Updated, Google Ads News and more
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This week…
Google Discourages Force Indexing Pages To Search
Google’s John Mueller said that he discourages large sites from force indexing its pages to Google Search. He said on a comment on LinkedIn, “I strongly recommend not relying on trying to force indexing.”
Google Updated The Business Profile Review Policies
As I noted in my story yesterday about Google reviews dropping out, Google has updated the Google Business Profiles review policies, the Prohibited & restricted content section.
Google Ads Updates Budget Pacing For Ad Scheduling
Google sent out an email to some Google Ads advertisers about changes coming to Google Ads budget pacing for ad scheduling. These changes go into effect on March 1, 2026.
ChatGPT Ads From Expedia Spotted In The Wild
As you know, OpenAI said they would release ads in ChatGPT and then about ten days ago, said the ads went live for a limited number of users. Since then, we have not seen reports of anyone seeing ads in the wild within ChatGPT until now.
Google Sponsored Places Search Ad Unit
Google may be testing a new ad unit named Sponsored Places. I think this is new, I mean, have any of you seen this before in the search results? Instead of it saying “Sponsored results” or a local pack with sponsored listings.
Google AI Mode Works In 53 New Languages
Google has added 53 new languages to AI Mode, which means the AI Mode works in just under 100 languages. This was announced by Nick Fox from Google on X yesterday.
Google: We Do Not Have A Bad Title Algorithm Filter Of Sorts
Google’s John Mueller responded to a concern about having bad title tags and how that might impact your site in Google Search. He said on Bluesky “I don’t think our systems have a “we don’t like this one guy’s titles” filter.”
Complaints Over Google Reviews Being Removed Again
There has been an uptick in complaints from businesses around Google local reviews disappearing or being removed. We had something similar last October and it was fixed in December and now I am seeing more complaints about reviews going missing.
Google Search Console Still Testing Branded Queries & Social Channels Feature
The other day, Google released the Google Search Console AI-powered configuration tool and we continued to wonder when the other features, like branded queries and the social channels would go live. Well, Google’s John Mueller confirmed Google is stil…
Google Ads Updates Certification Process For Cryptocurrency
Google is rolling out an update for Google Ads advertisers to certify for some cryptocurrency and complex speculative financial products. This is “incrementally to all advertisers over a period of time and not all advertisers and certification applica…
Google Search Console AI-Powered Configuration Goes Live
Google has finally fully rolled out the Google Search Console AI-powered configuration tool. Google wrote on LinkedIn, “The Search Console’s new AI-powered configuration is now available to everyone! Have you already tried it?”
Hover Pop Up Links Official In Google AI Overviews & AI Mode
Earlier this month, we covered Google testing what we called contextual overlay link cards in AI Overviews and AI Mode. Well, Google officially began rolling them out yesterday, and they are more like hover-over pop-up link cards.
Google Ads Tool Auto Enabling Paused Keywords?
Google Ads may be automatically enabling paused keywords in your advertising accounts. I am waiting for a statement from Google on this but there are reports that this is being done through the low activity system bulk changes.
Google Ads Now Shows PMax Placement Report Details
Google Ads is now showing in the “When and where ads showed” report, the ability to see PMax, Performance Max, reporting. So you can see the placement, type, network and impressions you are getting from your PMax campaigns.
Google Is Losing A Knowledge Graph Source – CIA World Factbook
Google is losing one of its main sources of information for its Knowledge Graph, the CIA World Factbook. This was a reference resource produced by the Central Intelligence Agency between 1962 and 2026 with almanac-style information about the countries …
Google AdSense Anchor & Vignette Ads Bug Won’t Close Ads
There is a bug impacting a number of Google AdSense publishers where the anchor and vignette ads won’t close for users. This has been an issue since February 13th and Google is reportedly working on a fix for the issue.
Only 12% of AI Mode Citations Match URLs in the Organic SERP
Why do only 12% of AI Mode citations match organic SERP URLs? Discover how AI Mode selects sources and how to win visibility beyond rankings.
Google: Allowing Opting Out Of AI Overviews Is A Huge Engineering Project
A few weeks ago, we reported Google was exploring ways to allow sites to opt out of showing up in Google’s AI features, like AI Mode and AI Overviews. Google’s Sulina Connal said at the FT Strategies News in the Digital Age conference that this is a “h…
Google Ads Recommendations Doc About The Results Tab
There is a new Google Ads help document named About the Results tab in Google Ads Recommendations. It explains that in the Results tab, you can now view the performance impact after you apply them.