Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Spam Update And Post Volatility, Cloudflare Fights AI Overviews, Sneaky Google Ads
This week we covered the completion of the Google August 2025 spam update and then we saw ranking volatility heat up again post spam update. Google Search Console impressions are impacted by Google blocking bots…
Google Ads New Campaign Set Up Screen Updated
Google Ads seems to be rolling out a change to the campaign set up screen and flow. Instead of being asked what ad format you want to run, you must select all for PMax or specific campaign types for display, search, discover and so on.
Google Local Pack At Top Of Google Shopping Tab
Google seems to be testing showing the local pack, Google Business Profile listings, at the top of the Google Shopping results in the Shopping tab. Normally, Google does not show local packs in the Shopping tab, I believe…
Google Large Sponsored Results Grouping Label Rolling Out To More
Back in May, we covered how Google was testing a new sponsored results label that placed a few ads beneath it, as opposed to labeling each and every ad as sponsored. Well, that version seems to be expanding and more and more people are seeing it and ma…
Google AI Mode Agentic Features Go Live For Some
A month ago, Google announced new agentic (agent based) features for AI Mode. Well, some are now seeing this live in AI Mode, specifically making reservations at recommended restaurants.
Google AdSense Dropping Session-Related Metrics
Google is sunsetting the session-related metrics for Google AdSense. Google said this includes all metrics that rely on ad sessions, such as “Ad sessions”, “Ad session RPM”, etc.
Google Search Ranking Volatility Heated After August Spam Update
Over the past couple of days, especially since the Google August 2025 spam update officially completed, the Google search results have been rumbling. It is a bit hard to track due to the changes with the third-party rank checking tools, but there has b…
Cloudflare Tries To Give Sites A Way To Block Google AI Overviews – Will It Work?
Cloudflare announced Content Signals Policy, a new addition to robots.txt that allows you to express your preferences for how your content can be used after it has been accessed. This aims to block Google from using your content in AI Overviews, but Go…
Google Ads Dishonest Pricing Practices Policy Updates
Google is updating the Google Ads Misrepresentation policy concerning Dishonest Pricing Practices. This will require advertisers to disclose the payment model or full expense that a user will incur before and after purchase, and clarify any false or mi…
Google Search Live No Longer Requires Labs Opt-In Within US
Google announced that Search Live is now fully live in the US and no longer requires opt in to Search Labs. In July, Google released it on mobile in the U.S. for users enrolled in the AI Mode Labs experiment but now it is open to everyone in the US in …
Google To Label Some Search Ads With “Not A Government Website”
Google updated its Other restricted businesses: Government documents and services policy to say it may label some search ads to say, “Not a government website.”
Bing Tests Colorful Lines In Search Results
Microsoft Bing is testing colorful lines and separator sections in the Bing Search results. The colors are in blue, orange and gray (and maybe more).
Bing Search Ads With Free Shipping Text Attributes
Microsoft is testing showing text attributes that can say things like “Free Shipping on Qualified Orders” with an icon next to the search ads on Bing Search. This is not just the CTA buttons that these ads have supported for a while but additional tex…
Google Search Tests Featured Stores Sponsored Ads Section
Google is testing a new sponsored ads section in the search results named Featured Stores. This reminds me of the from online stores but that was organic/free, not ads.
Google Search Testing Shaded Stock Price Interface
Google is testing a shaded box design for the stock pricing and information in the Google Search results. Google has these shaded designs in other areas as well but for now, this may just be a test.
Google AI Mode Travel Planning Gains More Features
Google AI Mode has had travel planning for some time but according to some in the travel industry, Google recently began rolling out more of these features in the wild. These include dynamic day-by-day trip plans, hotel add-ons, tickets, and dining st…
Google: Authentication For SEO Tools & Personal Crawlers
Google’s John Mueller posted saying “Authentication for your personal crawlers & SEO tools is going to be more and more of a topic.” I believe, but I can be wrong, this is alluding to the num parameter being disabled and how tools are having issues now…
Bing Tests Bolds Titles For Search Results & Ads
Microsoft is testing bolding the title links in the Bing search results for both the organic and paid listings. I am not sure if this was a bug or a test, but I suspect it was a test.
Bing Tests Sitelinks Interfaces Again
Microsoft is testing various interfaces for the sitelinks in Bing Search. We’ve seen and reported on Bing testing sitelinks many, many times here, so here are a few more variations.
Google AI Mode Tests Moving Query To Right Side
Google is testing moving your query from the left top position to the right top position of the AI response within AI Mode. This is a subtle change but it is interesting to see Google test these small changes to AI Mode.