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 Ads posted its first feature announcement in over two months, it is on PMax updates. Bing Webmaster Tools fixed a notification bug. Google SGE renamed its AI overviews to AI Answer. Most SEOs have not filled in the Google March 2024 core update feedback form. A Google search for flag GIFs can lead to Nazi flags.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
Google Ads Posts First New Feature Announcement In Two Months – PMax Updates
Google Ads has posted its first new features announcement in its help section in over two months. This was to announce several Performance Max campaigns features, which we will get into below. But like I reported earlier, Google has not posted anything in this section for two months prior to posting this new announcement.
Googling “Flag GIF” Leads To Nazi Flags In Google Search
If you search for [flag GIF] on Google, click on the “waiving” refinement, you are taken to images of Nazi flags. I waited a full week to report on this, a full week from when Google acknowledged the issue and it is still an issue.
Bing Webmaster Tools Notifications & Insights Bug Fixed
Fabrice Canel from Microsoft confirmed Microsoft has fixed a bug with Bing Webmaster Tools showing inaccurate and/or irrelevant notifications in the notifications and insights section. Fabrice wrote, “Happy to report that the fix has been implemented and the issue should now be resolved for your site and all sites once data is refreshed.”
Google SGE AI Overviews Has A New Title – AI Answer
Google is now labeling or using the title of its SGE, Search Generative Experience, “AI Answer.” This replaces the title “AI Overviews” and “Al overviews are experimental.” This change happened on Monday, I believe.
Most SEOs Did Not Send Feedback To Google On The March 2024 Core Update
Google opened up its feedback form after it announced the Google March 2024 core update was completed and it seems most SEOs did not send Google feedback. Why? Maybe because many don’t believe Google will use that feedback to help them? Maybe because SEOs don’t want to share specifics with Google?
Sundar Pichai 20 Year Google Anniversary
Google’s CEO, Sunday Pichai, on April 26, 2024, posted on Instagram that he is celebrating him 20 year anniversary of working at Google. He started on April 26, 2004 and is now running the place.
Other Great Search Threads:
ave you seen this before…. Seems like looker studio google has got lot of spam links injected …i just encountered this while checking something… its tons of content… made a search with site: hea, Raman on X
Gartner: “By 2026, Google will lose 1/4 of queries to AI” Datos: “Really? Let’s investigate that claim with data from millions of real Internet users.” https://t.co/5QErT9g9IF Embarrassing that th, Rand Fishkin on X
The favicon guidelines are at https://t.co/9z0HOt9H5f – not all sites have unique favicons, so I wouldn’t immediately call that spammy. For images in general, a legal path may be open via the DMCA process., John Mueller on X
Well, moved to Munich, Germany., John Mueller on X
The more server logs and crawl patterns I see, the more I’m sure the world needs more SEOs. Of the good kind. You see, part of good tech SEO is fixing spiders traps, optimizing crawling, speeding up sites. 1/6, Joost de Valk on X
This Google Ads thing is becoming really expensive. Fee increase from 2% to 2.5% for Italy. Fee increase from 2% to 3% for Spain. Fee increase from 5% to 7% for Turkey., Thomas Eccel on X
We’re committed to ongoing and planned enhancements and listening to great ideas as yours to help us maximizing our crawl efficiency and minimize crawls. There’s no AI or PhD that can outperform the IndexNow signal when it is properly configured. We f, Fabrice Canel on X
Search Engine Land Stories:
Reminder: New Google Search reputation abuse policy starts soon
Google Ads will pause low-activity keywords starting in June
Explore the latest in AI, SEO, PPC, and more at SMX Advanced
How to transform your Google Ads headlines with anti-audiences
The future of SEO in an AI-powered world
Optimizing for INP, the new Core Web Vitals metric
Google adds 6 new AI features for Performance Max
Number of concerns over Google Privacy Sandbox grow to 111
Microsoft makes Copilot available to all advertisers
Top 5 paid search B2B lead gen strategies for 2024
Study: 56% of Google’s top three positions are held by ccTLDs
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Google delays phase-out of third-party cookies…again , Brainlabs
Setting up Google Analytics, Craig Campbell
How Google’s post-cookie delay affects the ad industry, Ad Age
Industry & Business
Google takes lion’s share of UK ad market as publishers lose out, Press Gazette
Apple poaches AI experts from Google and builds a secret AI lab, QZ
Friends From the Old Neighborhood Turn Rivals in Big Tech’s A.I. Race, New York Times
Google Founders’ Hand-Picked CEO Nears Billionaire Status Too, Bloomberg
Google needs a more formalized way to kill products, 9to5Google
Local Memo: Rank Isn’t the Primary Decision Factor for Consumers in Many Industries, SOCi
San Francisco homeless people to receive $1,000 a month from Google, The San Francisco Standard
Google sued by US artists over AI image generator, Reuters
Meet the Woman Who Showed President Biden ChatGPT—and Helped Set the Course for AI, Wired
Microsoft and OpenAI sued yet again by Chicago Tribune and New York Daily News, Engadget
Microsoft Concern About Google’s Lead Drove Investment in OpenAI, Bloomberg
Links & Content Marketing
11 Content Experiments to Run to Increase Traffic, SEOTesting
Content Buckets: 6 Examples of Ways to Organize Your Content, Semrush
What Are Reciprocal Links? Are They Good or Bad for SEO?, Semrush
Why Digital PR is essential to supercharge E-E-A-T, Hallam
HARO: Is It Alternatives You’re Looking For?, Ahrefs
Local & Maps
Steps for Better Local Business Client Meetings, Moz
Yelp launches new AI assistant to help consumers easily find and connect with service professionals, Yelp
Mobile & Voice
Google rejected 2.28 million risky Android apps from Play store in 2023, Bleeping Computer
Meta and Google Are Betting on AI Voice Assistants. Will They Take Off?, New York Times
SEO
AI Is Poisoning Reddit to Promote Products and Game Google With ‘Parasite SEO’, 404 Media
How to combine SEO and CRO, Blue Array SEO
3 Steps to Get Ahead in an AI-First Search World, BrightEdge
Carving a Career in SEO — How NOT to Get Taken for a Ride, Moz
How Did Authority Bloggers Beat the Google Update?, Chris Garrett
SEO A/B testing: realizing the value of a good experimentation program, Search Pilot
SEO for Developers: 10 Best Practices to Know, Semrush
SGE: New data and the future of SEO and SERP…, STAT Search Analytics
User Search Journeys: Advantages and Use Cases for Agencies, seoClarity
What is bounce rate and how has it changed?, Wix SEO Hub
Why Google SEO Traffic is More Appealing Than Social Media, Adam Riemer
Yoast SEO 22.6 brings more enhancements, Yoast
What to do about Google’s Reddit habit?, SERP’s Up SEO Podcast
PPC
April 2024 update to Display & Video 360 API, Google Ads Developer Blog
Display & Video 360 updates from Google NewFront, Google Blog
Google Ads Keywords Explained: Boost Your PPC Performance, Semrush
How To Add Google Shopping Conversion Annotations, FeedArmy
How to Track Keywords: The Ultimate Guide, Semrush
Search Features
Why your Google search results may look different, The Hill
OpenAI introduces “Memory” feature for ChatGPT Plus users, The Decoder
Other Search
How Machine Learning improved the Chrome address bar on Windows, Mac and ChromeOS, Chromium Blog
We’re bringing the Financial Times’ world-class journalism to ChatGPT, OpenAI
Developers seethe as Google surfaces buggy AI-written code, The Register
Google Image Search, Hill Web Creations
How good is OpenAI’s Sora video model — and will it transform jobs?, Financial Times (Sub)
Feedback:
Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.
