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.

Bing Search tests clearer distinction between organic and paid ads. Google says having “News” in your name is not bad. Microsoft Advertising Bing Ads adds carbon neutral label. Google Product reviews have summary labels. Google updated its local business profiles reviews page.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Bing Tests Clear Distinction Between Free & Paid Search Results

Microsoft’s disclosure of search ads on Bing has not been the greatest, honestly, in many cases, worse than Google’s disclosures. Recently, however, Bing has been testing a clearer distinction between its ads and organic free listings.

Google Product Review Summary Labels Snippet

Google is now showing these short summaries of reviews by placing a label over the review with one or a few words. So the labels might show “low quality,” “compact,” “lightweight,” “performs well” and so on.

Google Local Business Profile Reviews Listings Updated

Google has updated the page where you view, reply and report reviews for your Google Business Profile listing. Joy Hawkins spotted the change and she says it seems to be live, personally, I think I still see the old version.

Google: Having News In Your Site Name Is Fine

Here is a new SEO myth I have not heard before… Someone said that using the word “news” in your site’s name is bad for SEO and Google ranking. John Mueller from Google said it is not, it is fine to use “news” in your site name.

Bing Ads Carbon Neutral Label Goes Green

Microsoft Advertising, the ads you see in Bing, have these “Marketing with Purpose Attributes” ad labels with carbon-neutral labels. Those labels used to be gray, but now Bing has them in a dark green, which makes them way more visible.

Black Girls Code Event For Girl Scouts At Google NYC

Google hosted a Black Girls Code event for some Girl Scouts in the Google New York City office. Here is one of many photos I found of the April event on Instagram.

Other Great Search Threads:

Google ad reps once again trying to cause stress for myself & client How can a client not look at this email and not panic?, Paul Rooney on X
Noticing that Google is highlighting hours even more by making them a green color. Makes sense since we know they matter more now as they are a ranking factor., Joy Hawkins on X
Thanks – I passed it on., John Mueller on X
It’s nothing to do with that. It’s purely about the manual creation of source pages., Google SearchLiaison on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

Google is not about blue links, says ex-CEO Eric Schmidt
Meta launches AI-powered ad creativity tools
Report: 64% of technical SEOs believe AI isn’t a job security threat
Unpacking Google’s 2024 E-E-A-T Knowledge Graph update
Google hides search results count under tools section
How an ecommerce site increased commercial monthly organic traffic from 37K to 210K

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

Google Users Battle Company Over Analytics Data, MediaPost

Industry & Business

Elevating Women in SEO for a More Inclusive Industry, Moz
Google Beefs Up AI Sales Effort to Persuade Businesses to Start Buying, The Information
Google will exit prominent San Francisco waterfront office tower , San Francisco Chronicle
Microsoft Creates Top Secret Generative AI Service for US Spies, Bloomberg
Microsoft to Invest Over $3 Billion to Build AI in Wisconsin, Wall Street Journal

Links & Content Marketing

How to Create a Content Outline: A Step-by-Step Guide, Semrush
Employee Social Media Guidelines: How To Protect Your People and Brand, Content Marketing Institute

Local & Maps

Apple Expands Essential Apple Maps Feature, Catching Up Google Maps Now a Priority, AutoEvolution
Fans Rename Drake’s Mansion ‘Kendrick’s House’ on Google Maps, Gizmodo

Mobile & Voice

Google’s AI plans now include cybersecurity, The Verge
Opera has a new AI that can summarize stories like Google Gemini, Android Police
RSA: Google Enhances Enterprise SecOps Offerings With Gemini, TechRepublic
Siri has become Apple’s Bing. It’s time for an AI-inspired change, ZDNET

SEO

12 SEO HTML Tags You Need to Know, Semrush
A comprehensive guide to crafting your SEO strategy, Oncrawl
Google Search’s Core Updates Are Crushing Sites And Reshaping The Web, AdExchanger
SEO lessons from Reddit: Takeaways for your own content strategy, Wix SEO Hub
What Is Pixel Ranking and Why Is It Important for SEO?, seoClarity
Take your SEO off life support, SERP’s Up SEO Podcast

PPC

Google Ad Preview Tool: How to Check Your Ads, Semrush
Tax Suspension in Merchant Center? Fix It With This Easy Setting!, ZATO Marketing
Commercial Underpinning—The Secret Weapon to Ad Performance, PPC Hero

Search Features

Google app on Android adds share button for Search results, 9to5Google
OpenAI says it’s building a tool to let content creators ‘opt out’ of AI training, TechCrunch
Can’t get Circle To Search? Google Lens could have you covered (APK teardown), Android Authority
Google brings Circle to Search to any iPhone with Lens shortcut, 9to5Google

Other Search

AI Devices Get A Rude Wake-Up Call; A Mysterious OpenAI Product Event Is Likely Postponed, The Information
OpenAI Is Readying an AI Search Product to Rival Google, Perplexity, Bloomberg
gpt2-chatbot confirmed as OpenAI, Simon Willison
YouTube Music extension coming to Google Gemini — how it works, Tom’s Guide

Feedback:

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