What an absolutely wild month in Google Land – between the Google Search API leak, the intense ranking volatility in May, and AI Overviews launching and all the hoopla around that. Let’s not forget the ongoing core update, the site reputation abuse, the Google Search Console bugs and so much more.

Let’s not forget all the other search features announced at I/O, Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai commenting on search quality and Google killing them web. Plus, we have that new Web filter but also testing special treatment for Reddit again. If that wasn’t enough, we had a Google News outage this past week.

It has been probably the most historic month in our little SEO world and boy has the wider news world picked up on what we do.

Normally I’d have more commentary but there is just so much and I summed up the bigger items above.

Here is the May Google webmaster report if you missed it.

Here are those top headlines for the past month:

Google Search API Leak:
Report: 14,000+ Google Search Ranking Features Leaked
Google Confirms Search Leak But Urges Caution

Google Algorithm Updates:
June 1st Google Search Ranking Algorithm Volatility
Memorial Day Google Search Ranking Volatility
Google Search Ranking Volatility Spike Around May 22
Continued Heated Google Search Ranking Volatility Through May 16th
Google Search Ranking Update Volatility Starting On May 9th
Google Search Ranking Update Volatility Starting On May 3rd
Google Lowers Search Rankings Of Deepfake Porn Sites

Google AI Overviews:
Google AI Overviews Launch In US Search Results
Google AI Overviews Are Here To Stay With Improvements – The Ray AIO Update
SEOing Into Google’s AI Overviews
Directory Of Embarrassing Google AI Overviews
Remove Your Content From Google’s AI Overviews
In Face Of AI Overview Backlash, Google Updates Docs With How To Show Web Only Results & How To Give Feedback
Many Searchers Want To Turn Off Google AI Overviews
Two Conflicting Google AI Overview CTR Studies
Google SGE AI Answers Now Cost 80% Less To Generate
Google SGE Says Drink Urine To Pass Kidney Stones Quickly
Google Renames AI Answer Back To AI Overview
Google Ads In AI Overviews, AI Shopping Ads, Brand Profile Ads & More AI Ad Tools

Google Search:
New Google AI Search Features Coming Soon – From Google I/O
Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO, Responds To Google Search Quality Issues
Google’s Sundar Pichai On AI Overviews Killing Web, Smaller Publishers & Search Console Data
Google Web Filter Goes Live To Show Just Text Links
Number Of Search Results Dropped Google Search Results Page (Hidden Under Tools)
Two New Googlebots: GoogleOther-Image & GoogleOther-Video
Google News Tab, Discover & Google News Not Returning Results
Google Discover Feed Not Loading For Some Searchers
Google Search Working To Surface Site When Site Name Is Referenced In Query
Google Search Can Now Index Electronic Publication (EPUB)
Google Robots.txt Parser Updated In GitHub
Google May Show How Many Shoppers Purchased On Your E-Commerce Site

Google SEO:
Google Began Enforcing The Site Reputation Abuse Policy Last Night
Google: The Site Reputation Abuse Policy Enforcement Not Yet Algorithmic
Google Lifts Some Site Reputation Abuse Policy Penalties
Google Report Spam Tool Adds Site Reputation & Expired Domains Abuse
PSA: Site Reputation Abuse Policy Also Applies To Google Discover
Google Search Confirms Deindexing Vast Amounts Of URLs In February 2024
Google’s Buckle Up Comment On Search 6 Months Later
Google Locks Down Complaints Of Image Thumbnails Not Showing In Search
Google: We Read Your Feedback On Search Quality & Changes May Come
Google: Sites Hit By The Old Helpful Content Update Can Recover & Grow
Google: Sites Hit By Helpful Content Update Could See Improvements With Next Core Update If…
Google Working On Surfacing More Content That Comes From The Heart
Google’s John Mueller On Recovering From Core Updates – Maybe You Had A Good Run…
Google’s John Mueller Blasts The Concept Of Toxic Links, Again
Google & Bing Say Upgrade To WordPress 6.5 To Gain Lastmod Sitemap Support
Google Again On Difference Between Algorithm Updates & Data Refreshes
Google: Video Pages Need To Be Super-Obvious Video Play Pages
Google Recrawls URLs At Different Rates: Multiple Times Per Day To Every Few Months
Only 10% Of SEOs Trust Google (Same As 10 Years Ago)

Google Search Console:
Huge Decline In Links Reported In Google Search Console Links Report
Some Reporting Fewer Links Reported In Google Search Console
Unusual Surge In Google Search Console Product Snippets Search Performance
Google Automated Action Viewer In Search Console Might Happen?

Google Local/Maps:
Is Service Areas A New Google Local Ranking Factor?
Google: Proximity Not A Relevancy Factor For Local Service Ads
Google Business Profile Call History & Chat Going Away
Google Business Profiles Shows Product Rejection Details
Google Local Business Profile Reviews Listings Updated

Google User Interface:
Google Tests Special Reddit Search Result Snippet Interface?
Google Rolling Out More Graphical & Richer Search Results
Google Mobile Tests Large Blue Visit Button On Search Results
Google Tests People Also Ask Open By Default
Google Shopping Ideas Search Carousel
Google People Also Ask Tests Shaded Boxed Interface
Google Tests Thin Top Deals Search Bar
Google Adds Visuals To About Source Knowledge Panels
Google Search Tests Custom Filters & Templates

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