Daily Search Forum Recap: December 8, 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 is testing Search Live in AI Mode…
Google Search Console Insights Adds Social Channels
Google announced it is adding social channels within the Google Search Console Insights report. This “lets you review Search performance of social channels associated with your website directly within Search Console,” Google wrote.
Google AI Mode Tests Search Live (Voice) With Citation Cards
Google is testing integrating Search Live (Gemini Live – voice search as you talk) in AI Mode. Plus, this version shows citation cards as part of the answer, as you are having a conversational search with AI Mode.
Google Search Ranking Volatility Heated Over This Past Weekend
It was a heated weekend, the Google Search ranking volatility was pretty heated and there was a lot of chatter within the SEO industry. Not all the tools are showing big swings but many are. And everyone is asking, what happened with Google confirming…
Business Insider To Use AI To Publish Quick News Stories
Business Insider posted a disclaimer about a new AI pilot where it will use “a custom GPT to help publish quick news stories.” This custom GPT was trained on the style of how Business Insider journalists write and will all be edited by an editor at Bu…
Google Tests Image Animation For Search Ads
Google is testing an animation, where an image asset slides into the sponsored results listing. So it turns a pure search text ad into a text ad with an image that slides in from the right side of the screen.
Bing Tests Expandable Favicon On Hover Over
Microsoft is testing expanding the favicons in the Bing Search results interface when you hover your mouse cursor over the search result listing and/or ad.
Introducing social channels in Search Console
Today, we are excited to announce a new experiment in Search Console that offers site owners a unified
view of their Google Search performance across their websites and social channels. With this update,
we are expanding the S…
Introducing social channels in Search Console
Today, we are excited to announce a new experiment in Search Console that offers site owners a unified
view of their Google Search performance across their websites and social channels. With this update,
we are expanding the S…
Building A Web Strategy To Outgrow Google
[ Summary ] Website owners and marketers are blaming Google’s AI changes for lost traffic—but the real issue is dependence on Google itself. You can reclaim control by exploring other search engines, browsers, and visibility channels. Stop waiting for …
Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Search Volatility, AI Mode Taking Over Search, Search Console AI Configurator & 22 Year Anniversary
This week, we, of course, covered the ongoing Google Search ranking volatility. Google is now blending AI Mode directly into AI Overviews. Google’s home page search bar added a new upload feature to take you into AI Mode…
Google API Doc Hints Service Areas Not A Local Ranking Factor
Over the years, we have written that service areas are not used as a local ranking factor by Google Search. Well, the API leak document also implies this to be true.
Google Search Console Performance Report Tests AI Powered Configurator
Google is testing a new AI-powered configuration tool, as it calls it, to help you build instant reports based on your natural language questions. So basically Ads and Analytics Advisor but for Search Console, plus this just builds reports and doesn’t …
Google Search Console Average Impression Increased For Many
If you look at some of the profiles/sites in your Google Search Console performance reports, you may notice a significant increase in the average position being reported. This happened when Google removed the num=100 parameter and is likely due to scra…
Google Merchant Center New Regional Member Pricing (Beta)
Google Merchant Center is now beta testing regional member pricing, where you can offer different member prices based on the shopper’s regions. This will essentially override the member price in the regional inventory feed.
Google Ads Learn More Button At Top Right
Google Ads may be testing placing an ad extension button at the top right of the sponsored result on the desktop interface. This button, in this example, shows the text “Learn more.”
Did We Pass Peak AIO? — Whiteboard Friday
Has Google reached “Peak AI Overview”? In this episode of Whiteboard Friday, Tom analyzes late 2025 data, revealing a drop in AIO frequency for informational queries and a new trend of AI results appearing below position one.
How do people use AI assistants?
Carried by the inertia of “search query” mentality, AI SEO professionals often oversimplify how people interact with their AI assistants in chat sessions. To help us define the primary interaction types we surveyed the major AI platforms and compiled the following list AI chat type list: Funnel Mode Let’s flip that around and reorganize it […]
Daily Search Forum Recap: December 4, 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 Search rankings are volatile again and heating up. Plus…
Google Search Ranking Volatility Heats Up December 3rd & 4th
I am seeing some signs of a Google Search ranking update and intense volatility that kicked in late yesterday. The SEO community started chattering about it over the past several hours and some of the tools are showing a spike in volatility with the Go…