Implicit Queries in AI Search
Back in 2015 I wrote about Google’s reliance of user behaviours signals for ranking purposes. In that article I already covered their use of implicit signals, but now there’s an update! While investigating Google’s grounding pipeline (the system that feeds web content to Gemini before it generates an answer) I came across the same patent […]
Google Won’t Use Sitemap Files If Its Not Convinced Of New/Important Content
Google’s John Mueller said that if Google is not convinced that there are new and important content to index on your site, then it won’t use the sitemap file on your site. Just because you have a sitemap file, it does not mean Google will index all the…
Google: A Spike In Impressions Doesn’t Cause Problems For Search
Google’s John Mueller said a spike/increase in impressions within Google Search Console does not cause any specific problems within Google Search. There are a number of posts where some users are seeing a surge in impressions within Google Search Cons…
Bing Tests New UI For AI Responses With New Links & References
Microsoft is testing a new user interface for the Bing Copilot AI responses. The new interface shows these link and references cards both inline and on the right.
Google Business Knowledge Panels With AI Generated Services
We’ve seen Google use AI for local panel descriptions, menus and more. But now Google is also using AI to generate a list of services a local business offers.
Google Email: Fake Or Incentivised Reviews Found On Your Business Profile
Google is now (past few weeks?) sending out emails when it detects fake or incentivised reviews on your Google Business Profile. Google also says it has removed the fake or incentivised reviews that were identified.
Google Search Console Page Indexing Report Missing A Chunk Of Data
The Google Search Console page indexing report seems to be missing a chunk of data. The missing data is from December 15th and earlier, but we do have data from December 15th (14th) through today.
Google Search Ranking Volatility Beginning To Cool?
Some are wondering when the Google Search ranking volatility will begin to cool down a bit. While many of the tools continue to show heated volatility over the past weeks, some are starting to show signs of cooling.
Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Volatility Heated All Week, Google Reviews Vanishing, AI Overview & AI Mode Links Updated, Google Ads News and more
For the original iTunes version, click here.
This week…
Google Discourages Force Indexing Pages To Search
Google’s John Mueller said that he discourages large sites from force indexing its pages to Google Search. He said on a comment on LinkedIn, “I strongly recommend not relying on trying to force indexing.”
Google Updated The Business Profile Review Policies
As I noted in my story yesterday about Google reviews dropping out, Google has updated the Google Business Profiles review policies, the Prohibited & restricted content section.
Google Ads Updates Budget Pacing For Ad Scheduling
Google sent out an email to some Google Ads advertisers about changes coming to Google Ads budget pacing for ad scheduling. These changes go into effect on March 1, 2026.
ChatGPT Ads From Expedia Spotted In The Wild
As you know, OpenAI said they would release ads in ChatGPT and then about ten days ago, said the ads went live for a limited number of users. Since then, we have not seen reports of anyone seeing ads in the wild within ChatGPT until now.
Google Sponsored Places Search Ad Unit
Google may be testing a new ad unit named Sponsored Places. I think this is new, I mean, have any of you seen this before in the search results? Instead of it saying “Sponsored results” or a local pack with sponsored listings.
AI Mode: Features & Ranking — Whiteboard Friday
Analyze early data from Google’s AI Mode in STAT. This study of 40,000 keywords reveals a mere 12% overlap with traditional organic rankings and explores how the verbose, text-heavy nature of AI Mode is shifting the search landscape.
Google AI Mode Works In 53 New Languages
Google has added 53 new languages to AI Mode, which means the AI Mode works in just under 100 languages. This was announced by Nick Fox from Google on X yesterday.
Google: We Do Not Have A Bad Title Algorithm Filter Of Sorts
Google’s John Mueller responded to a concern about having bad title tags and how that might impact your site in Google Search. He said on Bluesky “I don’t think our systems have a “we don’t like this one guy’s titles” filter.”
Complaints Over Google Reviews Being Removed Again
There has been an uptick in complaints from businesses around Google local reviews disappearing or being removed. We had something similar last October and it was fixed in December and now I am seeing more complaints about reviews going missing.
Google Search Console Still Testing Branded Queries & Social Channels Feature
The other day, Google released the Google Search Console AI-powered configuration tool and we continued to wonder when the other features, like branded queries and the social channels would go live. Well, Google’s John Mueller confirmed Google is stil…
Google Ads Updates Certification Process For Cryptocurrency
Google is rolling out an update for Google Ads advertisers to certify for some cryptocurrency and complex speculative financial products. This is “incrementally to all advertisers over a period of time and not all advertisers and certification applica…