Google Tests Review Carousels & Blocks For Product Queries

Google is testing (I think again) review carousels and block units in its search results for product queries. A number of SEOs spotted these coming up over the past week or two, and they basically show product review content in a separate section within Google Search.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/gYocrIZ

Google Shopping Refinements With & Without Product Ratings

Google Search is now sometimes showing the ability to filter products in its search results by product rating. I am not sure if this is new or not, but I cannot replicate this but some are seeing the product rating filter/refinement option when searching.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/KJDG7uw

Google Tests New Shopping Search Filter On Mobile

Google is testing a new filter for its shopping results in the mobile search results. Instead of showing a single filter menu, Google is showing a product image carousel line first and then a filter menu for additional search filters.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/mv70SI4

Google Ask For Me - Calls Businesses For Costs For You

Google has a new Search Labs feature named Ask for me. Ask for me will have Google call businesses for you, to figure out the cost of the service and when it can be scheduled for you. It is like that Duplex feature we saw years ago, where Google would try to schedule a restaurant reservation for you.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/3x8mu2a

Microsoft Bing Advertising Revenue Up 21%

Microsoft reported its second quarter 2025 earnings and it showed that its search and advertising revenue was up 21%. The previous quarter it was up 18%, then 19% but before than it was 12% and 8% - so things are looking more positive.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/Hu3dipV

Google Ads Clarifies Docs Around Placement Exclusions After Confusion

Earlier this month, the Google Ads industry had a lot of confusion around if and in what cases the Google Ads API accept or support placement exclusions for Performance Max campaigns. Well, Google's Ginny Marvin clarified this the other day in an email to Navah Hopkins.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/AWRkjPT

Google AI Overviews Now Providing Programming Help

Google AI Overviews, even when not signed into a Google Labs project, is providing coding and programming examples and help. This started sometime yesterday, I believe, and before, I believe you had to opt into a Search Labs experiment to trigger this.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/32XyYTp

Google: SEOs Can Spot Made For Search Engine Content Quickly

John Mueller from Google noted that he finds it "interesting" how those who spend time in our industry "can often recognize made-for-search-engine content fairly quickly." Meaning, we are good at seeing a piece of content on the web and knowing if it was created to perform well in search or written by a normal user trying to help others.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/P3yWg0V

Google Search Tests Frequently Saved Label On Local Results

Google Search is testing the frequently saved label not just in the main search results but also on the local results, the places section, of the Google Search results.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/itzY0Ne

Google Search Tests Jobs At Similar Employers

Google is testing a new job carousel in the search results titled "jobs at similar employers." This likely pulls from the Google Jobs postings schema and more but it can come up if you are just searching for products from that company.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/7XEHRr9

Google Ads To Drop Certification For Some Advertisers & Reorganizes Verification Docs

Google Ads has made two updates around advertiser verification recently. One, in some countries, Google will no longer require certification for some advertisers. Second, Google has updated and reorganized the Google Ads Advertiser Verification documentation.21

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/vfNblHS

Bing Tests New Local Pack Design With Blue Backgrounds

Microsoft is testing a new local pack design and layout for Bing Search local pack results. Bing is placing these blue boxes, either below the map, to the right side, including different numbered variations.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/8dIjhYS

Google AI Overviews Come To Circle To Search

Now when you use Circle To Search in Google, Google can now return AI Overviews to those results. Google said they are "expanding AI Overviews to more kinds of visual search results for places, trending images, unique objects and more."

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/CUPFLVz

Google Tests Expandable Brand Store Panel

Google is testing an expandable brand store knowledge panel. So if you search for a brand like New Balance, Google will show a knowledge panel on the right with products, descriptions and so on but then if you click on the arrow button, it will expand and show you even more.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/3J0E5OF

Google Business Profiles Launches Chat With Text & WhatsApp In US

Google Business Profiles started to allow chat through texting and WhatsApp for businesses in international regions. Now, this feature seems to be rolling out to businesses based in the United States.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/N1fykja

Bing Adaptive Zoom Setting

Microsoft is testing a new search setting named Adaptive Zoom. I am not exactly sure what it does, I tried to toggle it on and off and see how clicking on results or links or pagination changes but I don't see any changes. So I am missing something here.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/MxmSCZb

Google Search Trending Products Carousel On Right Side

Google is testing placing a new products carousel, a trending products carousel, on the right side where the brand's knowledge panel would appear. So, instead of having details of that brand, it can show trending products from that brand.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/K1vPGnd

Google: Don't Dynamically Update Robots.txt File Multiple Times Per Day

Google's John Mueller said that since the robots.txt file is cached by Google for about 24-hours, it does not make much sense to dynamically update your robots.txt file throughout the day to control controlling. Google won't necessarily see that you don't want Google to crawl a page at 7am and then at 9am you do want Google to crawl that page.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/7xyqWmI

Google Testing AI Generated What People Are Saying

Google seems to be testing an AI-generated version of What People Are Saying in Google Search. This shows a similar video or social media type of search results but it says generative AI is experimental.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/6OJKTlh

Google Hotel Policies Updated On Availability & Rates

Google is updating its hotel prohibited practices policy to specify that (1) you are required to display final room availability and rates before requesting user information and (2) you are required to avoid price changes after users enter their personal information.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/D4mPyBk

Is Google Blocking SEO Rank Checking Tools As Search Volatility Continues

For the past week, we've been discussing how most of the third-party tracking tools have been showing much calmer and cooler search ranking volatility. This is all while the chatter within the SEO community still seems super heated. The reason may be that Google has been deploying new and more advanced blocking mechanisms towards these SEO tools.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/MeEs3pB

Google Tests Search Results Zooming In To Next Page Of Search Results

Google Search is testing a zoom animation/effect when you click to the next page of the search results. Previously, we saw Google testing sliding in the next page of results from the right side of the page, but this one is a zoom-in animation.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/hQ7Unjt

Google Updates Child & Teen Ads Policies Around Transparency

Google has said it has updated its child and teen ads policies to increase transparency and make it easier for advertisers to understand these policies. Google added there are no changes to enforcement with these updates.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/mjBtiXO

Google Search Generative AI For People Also Search For

Google is testing using its generative AI, Gemini, for the "people also search for" section within Google Search. I mean, Google is testing AI all over search, so I guess it makes sense for Google to use it here too.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/nl7T3aL

Bing Ads - See More Links (Sitelinks)

Microsoft is testing a new ad format where you can click "see more links" to show even more sitelinks on the search ads shown in the Bing search results. These are powered by Microsoft Advertising and seem to load even more links below the links already displayed in the search ad, in the search results.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/Vm1e6Lv

Google Search Tests Sitelinks Carousels On Desktop

Google is testing the sitelinks carousel on the desktop search results interface. We saw this on the mobile results in December 2023 and all the way back in 2017 but now Google is testing them on desktop search.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/DIn6mZV

Google Search Video Tab With Continuous Scroll

In June 2024, Google dropped continuous scroll (infinite scroll) on desktop search and then mobile search. But if you click on the video tab within Google Search, continuous scroll is there.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/09BkbjN

Google Ads Adds Legal Waiver For Images

Google has added a new checkbox for you to comply with when you upload images to Google Ads. This is Google having you sign a waiver that "own all legal rights to the images on the landing pages."

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/e2mJYz7

Google Search Result Snippets Related Reviews Carousel

Google Search has these search results snippets that show a related reviews carousel under the snippet. You can swipe through the related reviews and then click on them to reveal a YouTube video or other format of a review.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/gtQkRLJ

Bing Testing Bold Sponsored Labels

Microsoft is testing using bold sponsored labels in the Bing Search results. So instead of the very hard to see sponsored labels in Bing Search, Microsoft is testing bolding those sponsored labels.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/FwlWs16

Bing Tests Updated AI Copilot Answer Which Is More Publisher Friendly

Microsoft is testing an updated Bing Search AI answer box powered by Copilot is testing an updated interface, that seems to promote links to publishers more. The links are more publisher-friendly, including showing the full domain name of the publisher and includes the site's favicon, which helps with branding.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/jgV32k7

Google Manual Actions For News & Discover Policy Violations Updated

A few months ago, Google quietly updated the manual action policy violations list for News and Discover policy violations. Google removed the adult-theme and artificial freshening sections and then added a slew of deceptive practices sections, while also updating the hateful content section.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/jThrHqK

Google Search Ranking Volatility Tools Cool Down

For the first time in forever (see what I did there?) the third-party Google Search volatility tools have cooled down to normal volatility levels. The chatter has been somewhat more typical levels over the past week, that is not to say some have not seen decreases or increases in their search visibility, but as a whole, it seems things have calmed down a bit.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/d0DAzIF

Google Local Services Ads For Tax Specialist Drops Auto Credits & Features

Google has turned down some features for the tax specialist vertical in Google Local Service Ads. The big one is that there is no auto-crediting for this vertical. Also, Google removed message leads, booking and all recording for the Tax Specialist vertical in Google LSAs.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/UZz0yWg

Google Ads Updates Political Content Policy For CA Residents For Deepfakes

Google has announced it has updated its Google Ads political content policy this month for to include a form related to California restrictions. "California residents may use this form to report ads that may violate California Elections Code Division 20, Chapter 7," Google said.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/zrINRgk

Google Search Product Detail View Tests Share Icons

Google is testing adding a share icon to the product detail view within the search results. This comes up at the top of the panel, after you click on a product from the popular products section of the search results. And as you scroll, the share and other icons stick to the top.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/mVWjH7F

Google Tests Super Long Cookie Notice On Home Page

Google is testing writing out a 57 words, 364 characters, notice on its home page, about its cookie usage and data usage. It is super weird to see three lines of legal text right below the Google search box on its home page.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/MoZ914y

Google Daily Listen Labs - Audio Version Of Google Discover

Did you ever want to listen to a summary of your Google Discover feed? Well, now you can. Google has a new Search Labs experiment called "Daily Listen" that puts together a five-minute or less audio overview of the top stories you'd be interested in for the day.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/96pJdXs

Google Grays Out Logo On National Day of Mourning for President Jimmy Carter

If you go to the Google home page today, you will see a gray Google logo. Google does this on somber days and since today is the national day of mourning for President Jimmy Carter, Google has grayed out the logo.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/t6JsBry

Google Ad Scheduling & Smart Bidding Campaigns Doc Update Confuses

Google has updated one of its help documents to specifically say that ad scheduling isn't compatible campaigns that use Smart Bidding. The previous version of that page said, "Ad scheduling is not compatible with both Smart Shopping campaigns and App campaigns." This change to the help document is causing a lot of confusion but in all honesty, likely means nothing has changed.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/LgaEeyf

Google Ads PMax Pause/Enable/Remove Conversion Actions On Asset Group Level

Google Ads is testing allowing advertisers to pause, enable and/or remove conversion assets on the asset group level for Performance Max campaigns. Some advertisers are able to enable/pause/remove individual conversions within their Google Ads accounts.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/ysijRTz

Google Tests People Also Ask & People Also Search For Refinements

Google is testing new search refinement options to let users expand their queries for the people also ask and people also search sections of the search results. We've seen numerous variations of this over the years but here are new ones.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/EJGv3mC

Microsoft Tricking Bing Users To Thinking They Are On Google

About a month ago, a reader sent me a screenshot of Bing showing this weird search box on its page after you search for Google. I thought it was some weird Microsoft Rewards promotion and took it at that and moved on. I was wrong, tons of publications are now saying this is Microsoft's way of tricking Bing users to thinking they are using Google Search.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/eHAUrIQ

Google Discover Feed Showing More Sources For Stories Within Cards

Google is showing now sometimes showing more than one source for a story in the Google home page, Google Discover, feed. This can show up in a carousel format or a stacked format, just beneath the main story in your Discover feed.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/5vfxthq

Google: URLs Provide Minimal Additional Signals For Search Engines

The topic of URLs for SEO and ranking is one that has been around since search engines first existed and 25+ years later, it is still a popular topic. Google has said time and time again that keywords in URLs don't offer a significant ranking boost for SEO and ranking purposes and Google said it again in 2025.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/2aitdAQ

Google: Core Updates Do Not Impact Site Name Changes

Google said that core updates should have no impact on a site name in the Google Search results being updated or changed. When asked, John Mueller of Google wrote, "That shouldn't be related to a core update."

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/FtV93Nu

Blank Screenshot In Google Search Console URL Inspection Tool May Be Fine

Did you ever run the Google Search Console URL inspection tool, and click on the view crawled page link, and then see a blank screenshot under the screenshot tab? It might not be an issue, says Gary Illyes of Google. As long as you see the HTML you want Google to see in the HTML tab, you are fine.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/ZVkJ6ft

Google: Adding Country Codes To URLs Won't Help For SEO

Google's John Mueller said that simply adding country codes to your URLs won't result in "any change at all" for regional ranking reasons. He added, changing your URLs will result in "temporary fluctuations" because of the URL change but it won't help you in the long run with ranking well in those regions.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/RW4daQV

Bing Tests Arrow Buttons For Sitelinks Like Google

Bing is now testing placing these arrow buttons, in a circle button format, next to the sitelinks. This is something Google has been testing on and off for some time in their search results as well.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/Sf8Hsyi

Google Search Console Screenshot Is What Google Search Sees

Google's John Mueller was asked if the Google Search Console screenshot feature in the URL Inspection Tool is what Google Search sees. John responded saying, "For the most part, yes" and then added some caveats.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/mjspFIR

Google Local: Places People Are Talking About

Google seems to be testing a new local search feature that is categorized as "Places people are talking about." It shows you local restaurants with social media information, like posts from Instagram and Facebook, in a carousel format.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/dhxtOUR

Edit Images With AI In Google Ads Asset Library

Google Ads launched a new beta to let you edit existing images in your Google Ads asset library. This was previously in Product Studio but according to Menachem Ani, a Google Ads professional, this is new to the Google Ads asset library.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/asOomDW

Google Ads Leads From Messages Beta Conversion Goals

Google Ads has a new conversion goal that is in beta named "leads from messages." Conversion goals labeled as account default will use data from all of your campaigns to improve your bid strategy and campaign performance, even if they don't seem directly related to sales, Google says.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/FSi3jXa

Google & Bing Search Team Activity On New Years 2025

Every year I report on how some Google representatives are active within the SEO communities, offering SEO support and encouragement of sorts, to the SEO community. This year is no different and we have numerous Googlers and Microsoft Bing representatives active on New Years Eve and New Years Day (the day is not over) online and active in the SEO communities.

from Search Engine Roundtable https://ift.tt/k0u6RKB