August 2023 Google Webmaster Report
Buckle up – it was one insane month of changes that all SEOs who care about Google need to catch up on. We had very unstable and heated Google search results, Google is testing links in AI-answers in SGE, the Search Console links report is broken and G…
Google Search Generative Experience AI-Generated Answers Gain Videos
Google is also adding videos to its Search Generative Experience AI-generated answer section. So now when Google thinks a video is helpful to answer the question, Google may embed a playable video directly in the answer.
Google Search Console Performance Reporting Not Tracking Search Generative Experience Yet
With the new Google Search Generative Experience, we are all hopeful that Google will give us reporting and filtering in Search Console. This way, we can track how well our sites are performing in SGE vs normal Google Search. But it seems like Search C…
Google’s John Mueller On When To Worry About Keyword Stuffing
Ever wonder at what point you need to worry that there are too many of the same keywords on the page? Well, John Mueller from Google said it is not having it ten or twenty times but rather three hundred to five hundred or more…
Google Business Profile Tests Generative AI To Help Owners Write Business Descriptions
Google Business Profiles is testing using generative AI to help business owners write descriptions about their businesses. When you edit your business profile in Google, and then edit your business description, Google is showing some owners a AI-power…
Google Search Generative Experience Tests Links In AI-Generated Answers
Looks like all the negative feedback around the lack of links within the AI-generated answers that are generated by Google’s Search Generative Experience has made a difference. Google is testing links directly in those answers in the SGE results.
Google Search Showing Too Many Ads – Google To Fix
Google, for some users, is showing up to five search ads on a page. Google generally won’t show more than four ads on a search results page. Google’s Ad Liaison, Ginny Marvin, responded to the concerns by saying, “Thanks for bringing it to my attentio…
Google Search Explore Tests “Return to Top” Button
Google is testing a “return to top” button at the bottom of the Explore section in the search results. Previously, you had to manually scroll to the top, but now you can just jump to the top with the click of a button.
Google Ads New Trademarks Policy Now Requires An Appeal Form
A couple of months ago we reported Google will be changing its Google Ads trademark policies to do away with the ability to have industry-wide blocks for trademarked terms. Instead, you will need to do this on the specific advertiser level. Google sai…
Google Tests New Local Search Ad Format
About a month ago, I spotted a new ad format in the Google Search results that had this local pack vibe. I shared it around, seeing if anyone else would notice it but I didn’t hear back. The new ad format looks like a local result but has a sponsored…
Google Removes @ID from Site Name Markup Documentation
Google has removed the @id mentions in the site name documentation calling the use of @id “unneeded.” If you compare the old version of the page to the new version, you will see the example code that shows @id lines were removed.
Google Search Generative Experience Does Not Show Snapshot Answers For Original Responses
The other day Agile SEO posted on Twitter an example of Google’s Search Generative Experience not showing any answer boxes, aka snapshots, for an answer it generated. Danny Sullivan, Google’s Search Liaison, responded by saying Google would do that wh…
Google: Content Written By Tapping Into Popular Searches Is Likely Not People-First Content
Danny Sullivan, Google’s Search Liaison, commented about a popular tactic content marketers use before writing content – using trending keyword tools to find topics that are trending or popular now. Sullivan wrote “Content with the primary purpose of t…
Google: We Don’t Archive Our Own Search Result Pages
Google’s John Mueller was asked if Google stores a permanent or semi-permanent copy of its own search result pages for future reference. John replied basically saying no, because it is not an efficient use of Google’s resources.
Google Business Profile Adds View As Customer Link
Google is testing adding a “view as customer” link to your Google Business Profile web search dashboard. This, I assume, allows you to view your business listing in web search as a customer would see it and not as you, the owner, would see it.
New Google Business Profile Policies Overview Page
Google has launched a new help document that gives business owners an overview of the Google Business Profile policies. I received an email about this update yesterday that read, “we’re simplifying our policies and guidelines.”
Vlog #234: Fabrice Canel On Sitemaps & Next Big Thing In Search
In part one, we learned more about Fabrice Canel of Microsoft Bing and spoke about indexing quality. In part two we dig more into the concern around content generation through generative AI tools and IndexNow…
Google’s Revised Site Name Questions & Resources Thread
With the updates to Site names last week, Google decided to post a revised set of questions, FAQs, resources, support and timelines on the whole Google Search site name bit in the Google Webmaster Help forums.
Bing Chat New Infrastructure Upgrade Taking Longer Than Expected – 30% Out
Microsoft is working hard to upgrade the Bing Chat infrastructure. This will not only make Bing Chat faster and more reliable but also enable features like third-party plugins and nosearch. But this upgrade is taking longer than expected, according to…
Can You Spot The Ad Label On These Microsoft Bing Search Ads?
Here are two screenshots of search ads in the Bing Search results. Let me know how long it takes you to find the “ad” label on these ads. It took me a while, like a good 20-30 seconds to find the ad label on these ads.