Daily Search Forum Recap: July 17, 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 announced the June 2025 core update finished after just over 16 days…
Google AI Mode Gets Gemini 2.5 Pro & Deep Search For A Fee
Google is charging searchers to access the latest and best of its AI Mode and Deep Search. Google released Gemini 2.5 Pro for AI Mode and Deep Search for Google AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers.
Google Discover Officially Gets AI-Generated Summaries
Several weeks ago, we reported Google was testing AI-generated summaries for Google Discover. Well, according to TechCrunch, Google has confirmed as of this week, this is an official launch and is rolling out in the U.S.
How The Google Ask For Me Feature Works & New AI Local Calling
Earlier this year, Google released a new search labs feature named Ask For Me. Google would call local businesses to get the information you need and then send it to you, without you having to pick up a phone. Well, it is still in labs, still an expe…
Google Tests Much Larger Favicons In Search
Google is testing much larger favicons in the Google Search results on mobile. We’ve seen Google test variations to favicons and sitenames countless times and covered a lot of them here but this version has Google using a really large favicon and some…
Google Ads Tracks Call Assets QR Codes Or Send Email
For the past couple of years, we’ve seen Google show QR codes you can scan and email or text this number to call features in the Google Ads. Google’s Ads Liaison, Ginny Marvin, confirmed that these actions are indeed tracked by Google Ads, down to the …
Google June 2025 Core Update Finished Rolling Out
Google’s June 2025 core update is now done rolling out, it took 16 days and 18 hours to complete. The core update started on June 30, 2025 at around 10:34 am ET and ended on July 17, 2025 at around 4:18 am ET. Google posted saying, “The rollout was c…
So Now You’re Just Going To Bribe Me For Reviews?
It has begun. The Great Bribe Spam Tidal Wave Of 2025. I don’t know what else to call it. Companies desperate to be seen in AI Overviews are now (apparently – based on my limited experience) offering people … stuff … if theyR…
Daily Search Forum Recap: July 16, 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 said barely indexed sites can mean Google isn’t convinced of the site overall…
Google: Barely Indexed Sites Can Mean Google Isn’t Convinced Of The Site Overall
Google’s John Mueller replied to a question around indexing issues on a site and said that if the site is hosted on a strong platform and is technically sound, and “it’s barely getting indexed, often that’s a sign that our systems aren’t convinced abou…
Google Ads Expandable Summary Row (Fed vs Asset Metrics)
Google Ads seems to be testing an expandable row in the channel performance report that shows you an overview of your feed-based vs asset-based metrics. You can click on a carrot icon to expand the row and expose the data summary.
Google Ads Change History Ghost Users – AdWords Administrator
Have you ever noticed ghost users in your Google Ads change history log? It just shows “AdWords Administrator” but doesn’t show which user, by name, made the change.
Google Core Web Vitals Update In Search Console – Bug or Normal?
Google seems to have updated its core web vitals metrics within Google Search Console a few days ago. The weird thing is that good URLs and URLs need improvements metrics all went down around that date but the poor URLs stayed the same.
Google Search Console Adds More 24 Hour Data Comparison Options
Google has added two more comparison views to the Search Console performance reports. One lets you compare last 24 hours to previous period and the other lets you compare last 24 hours week over week.
Google Business Profile Appeal Tool Now Shows Rejection Reasons
Google Business Profiles appeal tool now shows the reason your appeal was rejected. It can show a list of reasons why the appeal was rejected, so that next time you submit the appeal, you can hopefully get it approved.
The Biggest Lessons I Learned From the HCU So Far
Struggling to recover from Google’s HCU updates? Learn data-backed strategies to protect your site by understanding topical radius and helpful content signals.
The Era of Zero-Click Search and Zero Click Marketing
This is a preview of Chapter 9 from my new ebook – Strategic SEO 2025 – a PDF which is available to download for free here.
Read the full article here The Era of Zero-Click Search and Zero Click Marketing © Copyright 2006-2021 Shaun Anderson
Google Local Ranking Documentation Updated
Google has updated its local ranking documentation and Tips to improve your local ranking on Google page. The new wording is shorter and has fewer details than the older version.
Google Business Profiles Automatically Adding Social Media Links To Businesses
Google seems to be automatically adding social media links to Google Business Profiles. A post from Darren Shaw of Whitespark shows that hundreds or thousands of locations had their social media links added over the past short period of time.
Google Search Console Analytics API New Metadata Incomplete Data Points
Google announced it has a new metadata field for its Search Analytics API (for Search Console’s performance reports) that will tell you about incomplete data points you received through the API. Google said, “This field provides context about the state…