Google AI Mode Reporting Coming To Search Console
Google has confirmed that AI Mode reporting will be coming to Google Search Console. It is currently not yet in Search Console, but it will be coming as part of the AI Mode rollout.
Bug: Google Search Console Discover Performance Report Hashtag Notice
Google Search Console’s Discover performance report has a weird bug. It started early yesterday morning where a blue notice prompt would show up and have a mysterious hashtag, with the text “Learn more” and “Got it.” This is obviously a bug.
New Google Docs On Using AI Generative Content & AI Search Features
Google has published two new help documents on the topic of AI; one on guidance on using generative AI content on your website and the second on AI features and your website. Google also published a blog post on the topics over here.
Google Merchant Center Now Recommends Product’s Brand Name In Title
Google has updated its title structured data help document for Google Merchant Center to now recommend you add the product’s brand name to the title of the product when it’s a differentiating factor.
Google Sitemap Error For Some International 5 Character Subdomains
Google has a weird and somewhat limited and rare issue with sitemap files within Google Search Console. These sitemap files cannot be fetched and retrieved by Google Search. The issue seems to be related to 5-character subdomains that are on a Polish …
Google Doc: Link Position & Click Bias Ranking Bias Adjustment
The details from the DOJ and Google monopoly case hearing exhibits just keep on flowing and with that, we have another mention of how Google does look at clicks from the search results. This one talks about how the position of the link can be a bias to…
Google Search Console Tests Add Annotation In Performance Reports
Google is testing adding the ability for you to add your own annotations to the Google Search Console performance reports. This is one of the requests SEOs have been asking for from Google for a long time and now Google is testing this in Search Console.
Google: Stop Using Different URLs For Same Image
Google made what I would consider a logical clarification to its image SEO best practices help document. It now says don’t upload the same image under different URL/file names to your site, even if you embed that image on different pages on your site.
Google: Hreflang Doesn’t Guarantee Indexing
Google’s John Mueller explained that just because you use hreflang tags on your pages, it doesn’t mean those pages will be indexed and/or ranked in Google Search. He said on Bluesky, “hreflang doesn’t guarantee indexing.”
Google Search Stops 20X More Scammy Pages With Better AI
Google said it is now able to catch “20-times the number of scammy pages,” that it did in the past, leading to a reduction of “these scams by more than 80% in Search.” Google credits investments in AI-powered scam detection systems and improved scam c…
Google Held Another Google Creator Summit – This Time In D.C.
Google held another Google Creator Summit where they invited 7 creators on a fully paid expense trip to their Washington, D.C. office to spend the first two days in some larger Small Business Summit and then day three with Danny Sullivan, Paul Haahr an…
Google’s AI Crawler For Gemini, Google-Extended, Does Render JavaScript
Google’s AI crawler, Google-Extended, the crawler it uses for Gemini and other related AI services, does render itself and can render JavaScript, just like Googlebot, Google’s main web search crawler.
May 2025 Google Webmaster Report
Here is our monthly Google Webmaster Report – the May 2025 edition – where I summarize the past 30 days or so of the big organic Google related news in one place. Google did not have any official Google ranking updates but we sure did see several days …
Google Search Console Discover Performance Report Hack Suggests Desktop & Mobile Data Filters Coming
We know Google will be bringing Google Discover to the desktop interface, heck, we’ve seen Google testing it for a while now. But did you know that Google will also show the breakdown of mobile versus desktop performance of Google Discover in Google S…
Google: Four Identical Links On A Page Is Fine & Common
Google’s John Mueller said having “four identical links on a page to another page seems fine & common to me.” He said, don’t worry if you have that in your navigation, and implied it won’t have an impact on your SEO.
Google: Changing Lastmod Date In Sitemap Isn’t An SEO Hack
Google’s John Mueller explained that changing the dates in your XML Sitemaps lastmod date to all show today, the most recent day, won’t favor your rankings or SEO. He said on Reddit, “setting today’s date in a sitemap file isn’t going to be something t…
Google Search Console API Data Stuck On April 22
I am hearing reports that the Google Search Console API and tools that use the API, including Big Query exports, bulk exports and third party tools, are stuck with data from April 22nd but nothing sooner. It seems like there is something stuck in the …
Google: Image Streaming Is Not SEO Friendly
Google’s John Mueller pretty much said that using image streaming techniques will not result in an SEO friendly outcome. He actually said, “It’s a great way to prevent your images from being found through search engines.”
Google Merchant Center EnergyConsumptionDetails Replaced By certificationIdentification But Backwards Compatible
Google updated its Google Merchant Center merchant listing structured data documentation to removed the EnergyConsumptionDetails properties and added an alternative solution to the certificationIdentification property. But keep in mind that the hasEner…
Google Stops Supporting Special Announcement Structured Data On July 31
Google announced it will be deprecating the Special announcement structured data on July 31, 2025. This structured data was introduced during COVID as a way to communicate special announcements from websites and businesses related to health and safety.