Archive of May, 2025

May, 18 2025

Google Search Ranking Update Volatility May 16th As I mentioned in my Friday video, there seems to be a lot of Google search ranking volatility that [...] - Search Engine Roundtable

May, 16 2025

The latest jobs in search marketing Land your next job in SEO or PPC. These brands and agencies are hiring to fill open search [...] - Search Engine Land
Bing Shopping Tests Shading Site Names Microsoft is testing shading the site names, the brand names, of retailers in the Bing Shopping [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
12 skills every SEO specialist must master by 2026 SEO in 2026 won’t be just about tactics. It’ll demand strategy, tech fluency, and human [...] - Search Engine Land
Google Search AI Shuffle Button Google is testing a "Shuffle" button in some of its AI generated answers within the [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
How AI shapes Google’s Search Ads rankings revealed in trial exhibit Learn how AI is integrated into Google’s Search Ads system, such as how ad relevance, [...] - Search Engine Land
Google's Pichai: Search Ads With AI Overviews Earn Same As Ads Without Google's CEO, Sundar Pichai, said that search ads with AI Overviews are at a baseline, at the same [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Google Working To Make It Easier To Share AI Overviews & AI Mode Robby Stein, VP of Product at Google Search, confirmed Google is working on making it easier to [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Google AI Max for Search campaigns: New insights from Ginny Marvin Google's Ginny Marvin talks AI Max: keywordless targeting, geographic controls, and better [...] - Search Engine Land
Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Rethinking Search, Replacing Reddit, Search Console Annotations & So Much More This week, we covered, you guessed it, more Google search ranking volatility. Google also said they [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Why PR is becoming more essential for AI search visibility In the AI search era, visibility starts with reputation. See why PR is now a core tactic for [...] - Search Engine Land
Apple Maps Adds Insights, Ratings & Reviews From More Sources Apple announced this week that it partnered with MICHELIN Guide; The Infatuation and Golf Digest to [...] - Search Engine Roundtable

May, 15 2025

How Referral Traffic Undermines Long-Term Brand Growth via @sejournal, @martinibuster Why relying on referral traffic may create an SEO weakness that can undermine long-term growth. - Search Engine Journal
Google Performance Max: Everything you need to know Learn what sets Performance Max apart from other Google Ads campaigns, and how it can drive [...] - Search Engine Land
HTTP Status Codes Google Cares About (And Those It Ignores) via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern Google's Search Relations team shares which HTTP status codes matter most for SEO. Learn how [...] - Search Engine Journal
Googler’s Deposition Offers View Of Google’s Ranking Systems via @sejournal, @martinibuster Google engineer's testimony gives an overview of how quality scoring works and reveals a hidden [...] - Search Engine Journal
Google Ads Device Targeting Controls For Performance Max Campaigns Google is rolling out device targeting controls and features within Google Ads Performance Max [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Google Search Testing New Sub/Second Menu Google is testing a new sub or secondary menu under the search bar in Google Search. This [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Google Rethinking Search Stack From Ground Up With LLMs Another Google court document from the DOJ trial showed that Google said it is currently rethinking [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
How to measure SEO success when AI is changing search Clicks are down, impressions are up – and your dashboard can’t explain why. Learn which [...] - Search Engine Land
New Google AI Overviews data: Search clicks fell 30% in last year Google search impressions are up, but fewer users are clicking through to websites, according to [...] - Search Engine Land
Google rolls out ‘Ads funded by’ labels in search results The 'Ads funded by' section is now in Google's My Ad Center. Google Search will show the payment [...] - Search Engine Land
Google Doc: Link Position & Click Bias Ranking Bias Adjustment The details from the DOJ and Google monopoly case hearing exhibits just keep on flowing and with [...] - Search Engine Roundtable

May, 14 2025

Why Google reviews will power up your local SEO in 2025 Photo-rich, specific reviews help your business rank higher in local search. Here's how to build a [...] - Search Engine Land
Google Clarifies: AI Overview Links Share Single Position In Search Console via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern Google clarifies that links in AI Overviews all share a single position in Search Console reports. - Search Engine Journal
Google Internal Emails On Google Marketing Live 2024 (Last Year) Remember the Power Pair from Google Marketing Live 2024? Well, that and several other items of [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Shocking 56% CTR drop: AI Overviews gut Mail Online’s search traffic Mail Online's Carly Steven warns that the impact of Google AI Overviews on traffic is dramatic, and [...] - Search Engine Land
Google Business Profiles What's Happening Feature Google is rolling out a new feature for Google Business Profiles named What's Happening. This [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Google Tests New Pagination Bar On Mobile Google is also testing a new pagination bar with page numbers and previous and next icons, instead [...] - Search Engine Roundtable

May, 13 2025

Google Updated Its Super G Logo In The iOS App Google has updated its Google iOS app and with that, the most noticeable change was it updated the [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Google Business Profiles launches “What’s Happening” Google said this feature "puts your timely updates, like "Today's Special" or [...] - Search Engine Land
18 Year Google Search Engineer Rants On DOJ's Anti-Trust Case Ryan Moulton, a Google Search engineer who worked on Google's search rankings algorithms for over [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Google Ads Performance Max image optimization now rolling out Google’s AI now auto-optimizes images in PMax campaigns, including pulling visuals from [...] - Search Engine Land
Value-based bidding: Why it’s key to boosting your Google Ads Here’s how these two bid strategies can optimize your Google Ads campaigns for the most [...] - Search Engine Land
Google: Stop Using Different URLs For Same Image Google made what I would consider a logical clarification to its image SEO best practices help [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Google Search Ranking Volatility Spiked Thursday - May 12 & 13 Google Search may be pushing out another search ranking update of sorts, I am seeing more signs of [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Google: Hreflang Doesn't Guarantee Indexing Google's John Mueller explained that just because you use hreflang tags on your pages, it doesn't [...] - Search Engine Roundtable

May, 12 2025

Google Tests Recipes With Interactive AI Overviews Google is testing a new recipe search feature that seems to be powered by AI Overviews, it also [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Google Updates Image SEO Best Practices: Use Consistent URLs via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern Google's updated image SEO best practices recommend using consistent URLs for images across your [...] - Search Engine Journal
Google Search Discussions Beta May One Day Replace Reddit Results Google has a new beta feature to encourage searchers to add comments and have discussions around a [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
16 reasons why your page isn’t ranking on Google Struggling to rank on Google? Dive into 16 possible reasons why your page isn't making the cut and [...] - Search Engine Land
LLM traffic not as engaged as organic traffic: Study The new data challenges claims made by Google and Microsoft Bing that AI-driven clicks are higher [...] - Search Engine Land
AI Max: Google’s new AI ad tool, explained A new Q&A sheds light on how AI Max works, offering advertisers clarity on automation, keyword [...] - Search Engine Land
Google Reminds That Hreflang Tags Are Hints, Not Directives via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern Google's John Mueller explains that Hreflang tags act as suggestions, not directives. Learn how [...] - Search Engine Journal
Is The SEO Job Market Undergoing A Major Shift? via @sejournal, @martinibuster Experienced SEOs report trouble getting hired. Is AI screening to blame? - Search Engine Journal
How to get cited by AI: SEO insights from 8,000 AI citations From ChatGPT to Gemini, here's what each AI model trusts – and how strategic content earns [...] - Search Engine Land
Google Search traffic decline is inevitable, execs say Google execs believe Search will lose traffic to Gemini or ChatGPT, and urged urgent Gemini [...] - Search Engine Land
Daily Search Forum Recap: May 12, 2025 Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today... - Search Engine Roundtable
Google Tests AI Overviews In Turkey, Sweden, Netherlands & More Prior To I/O Google seems to be on the verge of rolling out AI Overviews in within Google Search in more [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Google updates image SEO best practices to say use the same image URL for same image across your pages Some sites may use a different image file name URL for an image they use on multiple pages, Google [...] - Search Engine Land
Google Tests AI Mode Button On Google Search Box Google is testing ways to get more people to try AI Mode with a new AI Mode button in the Google [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
SEO in an AI-powered world: What changed in just a year What does SEO look like when AI tools become the first stop, not the last resort? A look at [...] - Search Engine Land

May, 9 2025

Set your content playbook on fire: Why the old SEO game is over Search is changing fast. Zero-click answers, AI content, and solved queries threaten your strategy. [...] - Search Engine Land
Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Volatility, D.C. Creator Summit, Apple Safari Google Searches Drop & Google Ads AI Max It's been calm for the past two weeks but we are seeing Google ranking volatility hit on May 8th. [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Google Search Stops 20X More Scammy Pages With Better AI Google said it is now able to catch "20-times the number of scammy pages," that it did in [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Google Ads AI Max: Automation with a side of anxiety Google’s new AI Max for Search sparks mixed reactions from advertisers, blending automation [...] - Search Engine Land
Bing Search Tests Next/Prev Pagination Microsoft is testing a new pagination bar for its Bing Search results. Instead of the left arrow, [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Daily Search Forum Recap: May 9, 2025 Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today... - Search Engine Roundtable
Google Ads With Number Of Followers Google is showing the number of followers for a Facebook profile in the Google Ads, the search ads. [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Google AdSense Auto Optimize Adds Site Level Controls Google AdSense announced that the Auto optimize feature is now configurable at the site level. [...] - Search Engine Roundtable

May, 8 2025

How we’re using AI to combat the latest scams Chrome and Android are releasing new AI-powered features to help combat online scams. - Inside Search
Google Disputes News That Search Engine Use Is Falling via @sejournal, @martinibuster Google pushed back against news reports of shrinking Search demand, pointing to "overall" [...] - Search Engine Journal
Google Search Ranking Volatility Spiked Friday - May 8th It has been a couple of weeks since we last reported on a Google search ranking update, I bet a ton [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
How Google Protects Searchers From Scams: Updates Announced via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern Google’s AI-powered security now blocks 20x more scams in search results, Chrome, and Android. - Search Engine Journal
Google Tests Read Reviews Button & Appointment Tags On Local Listings Google is testing new buttons and tags on its local listings and local ads. These include a new [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Apple Says Google Searches Down On Safari & Google Says Searches Are Up Yesterday, Apple's Eddy Cue said searches on Google via Safari were down last month for the first [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Strategic PPC moves to offset traffic loss from zero-click search As zero-click search becomes the norm, organic traffic is eroding. Here's how paid media can bridge [...] - Search Engine Land
Google Analytics Real Time Reporting Lagging Again Google Analytics real time reporting seems to be lagging again this morning. I woke up to a ton of [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Google says it is 20 times better at catching scams in Google Search And is able to block more than 80% of fake phone number scams within Google Search. - Search Engine Land
Google Business Profiles Show Business Address Toggle Broken Google Business Profiles has another bug, this time with the toggle to hide or show the business [...] - Search Engine Roundtable

May, 7 2025

Cloudflare CEO: AI is killing the business model of the web Google's value exchange with content creators has collapsed – and the web's business model is [...] - Search Engine Land
Google Held Another Google Creator Summit - This Time In D.C. Google held another Google Creator Summit where they invited 7 creators on a fully paid expense [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Is Google really getting worse? (Actually, it’s complicated) Explore why Google search may feel worse, why it isn’t necessarily worse, and how shifting [...] - Search Engine Land
What to do when AI Overviews take the spotlight in search When Google answers first, how do you stay visible? Explore actionable SEO tactics for AI Overviews [...] - Search Engine Land
Apple May Add AI Search Engines to Safari As Google Use Drops via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern Apple is exploring AI search engines like ChatGPT for Safari, signaling a shift from Google’s [...] - Search Engine Journal
Google searches in Apple’s Safari fall for first time in 22 years Google’s grip on search is showing cracks — and Apple’s already planning for what [...] - Search Engine Land
Local SEO audit guide: How to improve local rankings Run a successful local SEO audit with this step-by-step guide. Uncover issues, optimize your local [...] - Search Engine Land
Google Ads New AI Max For Search Campaigns Google has announced a new Google Ads search campaign feature named AI Max. Google says AI Max for [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Google Search Results Page With Large Sponsored Results Ad Grouping Google is testing showing a large "Sponsored results" header in the search results that [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Google Search Tests Moving About Results Count Within Tools Menu Google is testing moving the about results text, where it shows the count of results, to within the [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
New Google Merchant Center Event Promotion Google has a "new feature," as it labeled it, within Google Merchant Center, for event [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Daily Search Forum Recap: May 7, 2025 Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today... - Search Engine Roundtable
Google Ads Tests Sitelinks Carousels With Images Google is testing showing images within the sitelinks carousel in Google Ads and sponsored results. [...] - Search Engine Roundtable

May, 6 2025

Why creator-led content marketing is the new standard in search From TikTok to Google SERPs, creator-led content is now a key pillar of search. Learn to build [...] - Search Engine Land
10 ways to leverage generative AI for advanced SEO Explore 10 advanced AI strategies for technical SEO, content, and UX – from LangChain agents [...] - Search Engine Land
Unlock next-level performance with AI Max for Search campaigns Introducing AI Max for Search campaigns, bringing the latest and best of Google AI to help you [...] - Inside Adwords
Brazilian Publishers Not Happy With Google & Discover For the past week or so, news publishers from Brazil have not been happy with Google. It seems that [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Use AI to understand complex text online with Simplify, now on the Google app for iOS. When you're trying to learn about something new on the web, you might come across content that uses [...] - Inside Search
The latest AI news we announced in April Here are Google’s latest AI updates from April 2025 - Inside Search
Google Ads announces AI Max for Search campaigns beta Google’s AI Max feature gives you a faster way to expand on queries and dynamically create [...] - Search Engine Land
Google Popular Products With Video & Content Reviews (Some 55 Years Old) We've seen variations of Google's popular products section in the search results show both article [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Daily Search Forum Recap: May 6, 2025 Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today... - Search Engine Roundtable
Google Ads Tests New Ad Group Interface For Search Campaigns Google is testing a new ad groups interface for the Google Ads Search campaigns console. This [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Google Business Profiles Information Edit Rejection Notice Google is now sending emails to business owners when a Google Business Profile information edit was [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
What LLMs link to and why it matters for your brand Only 9% of links in LLM results point to branded domains. Explore the data, learn what this means [...] - Search Engine Land
Google Site Commands Display AI Overviews Here is a weird one - doing a site command and Google presenting an AI Overview summary of the [...] - Search Engine Roundtable

May, 5 2025

Google’s Walled Garden: Users Make 10 Clicks Before Leaving via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern A study analyzing Google vs ChatGPT traffic finds Google keeps users on its site longer, but sends [...] - Search Engine Journal
Google’s Updated Raters Guidelines Target Fake EEAT Content via @sejournal, @martinibuster Google has expanded its Quality Rater Guidelines to help identify more deceptive SEO tactics and [...] - Search Engine Journal
7 SEO tests to help improve traffic, engagement, and conversions Great SEO starts with smart testing. Here’s why even failed tests drive big wins – and [...] - Search Engine Land
Google Tag Gateway For Advertisers & More Google announced a number of new tag, analytics and data strategies on Friday including a new [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Google Shares Insight About Time-Based Search Operators via @sejournal, @martinibuster Google’s “before:” and “after:” operators let you filter by date, but [...] - Search Engine Journal
Google Tests Replacing Map Local Pack With AI Overviews Google may be testing replacing local pack at the top of the Google Search results for "near [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Google Shopping Ads Tests Label For Lowest In 30 Days Google is testing a new label or green text on its shopping ads to tell you when the price of that [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Google's AI Crawler For Gemini, Google-Extended, Does Render JavaScript Google's AI crawler, Google-Extended, the crawler it uses for Gemini and other related AI services, [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Google AdSense To Not Allow You To Block Video Games Ads Google AdSense will remove the ability to block the video games category of ads. So if you [...] - Search Engine Roundtable

May, 2 2025

Reddit Q1 Report: What It Means For Digital Marketing And SEO via @sejournal, @martinibuster Reddit expanded its global reach in Q1 2025, with logged-in and logged-out user activity growing [...] - Search Engine Journal
Four new ways we’re helping marketers improve data strategies and app measurement. Complex consumer journeys and industry changes impact how marketers measure performance. To help [...] - Inside Adwords
Google Ads To Display Payment Profile Name Of Advertiser In My Ad Center Google Ads is updating its Ads Transparency policy to specify that it will display the payment [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Want to beat AI Overviews? Produce unmistakably human content Identify content topics where readers want to hear from people – and leave no doubt that [...] - Search Engine Land
What's Changing With Google Ads: Interview Ginny Marvin Navah Hopkins sat down with the Google Ads Liaison, Ginny Marvin, and spoke about the topic of what [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Server-Side vs. Client-Side Rendering: What Google Recommends via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern Google's Martin Splitt shares key JavaScript rendering insights. He discusses AI crawlers, SSR vs. [...] - Search Engine Journal
App deep links: connecting your website and app Since 2013, Search has recognized the importance of app deep links in a mobile-centric world . [...] - Google Webmaster Central
Bing Tests Half Underline For Search Bar Microsoft is not only testing removing the name "Microsoft Bing" from its search bar and [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Google launches first-party data setup, iOS app conversion tracking tools Google's new tools strengthen first-party data, improve iOS app measurement, and future-proof [...] - Search Engine Land
Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Search Ranking Volatility, Wild AI Mode, Google Ads Commercial Queries & Channel Reporting & ChatGPT Shopping Search This week we covered the ongoing Google Search ranking volatility. I posted the big Google [...] - Search Engine Roundtable

May, 1 2025

New ways to interact with information in AI Mode Anyone in the U.S. can now get immediate access to AI Mode in Labs. - Inside Search
Reimagining EEAT To Drive Higher Sales And Search Visibility via @sejournal, @martinibuster You can't add EEAT to a site, but you can create the conditions that lead to the signals Google [...] - Search Engine Journal
33% of Google Users Stuck with Bing After a Two-Week Trial: Study via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern Study reveals 33% of Google users stayed with Bing after trying it for two weeks. Is Google’s [...] - Search Engine Journal
Google Expands AIO Coverage In Select via @sejournal, @martinibuster Search visibility is shifting as AI Overviews replace organic listings across a growing number of [...] - Search Engine Journal
Apple Intelligence To Add Google Gemini & Other AI Google has confirmed that Apple will be adding its Gemini AI service to Apple Intelligence by the [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Google Is Launching Search Central Deep Dive Events via @sejournal, @martinibuster Google announced a new series of multi-day events called Deep Dive for in-depth coverage of the [...] - Search Engine Journal
Google AdSense To Show Ads In AI Chatbots Google AdSense has been testing serving and displaying ads within AI Chatbots. Bloomberg reported [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
May 2025 Google Webmaster Report Here is our monthly Google Webmaster Report - the May 2025 edition - where I summarize the past 30 [...] - Search Engine Roundtable
Google Al Mode being tested outside of labs, drops waitlist, adds product and place cards & history panel Google is getting serious with AI Mode by adding new features but also testing it in the wild. - Search Engine Land
Google adds to its transparency rules for who is paying for ads Google is expanding ad transparency by revealing who’s funding ads — making it crucial [...] - Search Engine Land
AI Overviews data: Google visits are up but engagement is falling Google's AI Overviews appear to be changing how users interact with Google – but not how they [...] - Search Engine Land