Microsoft Bing Advertising Revenue Up 21% Again

Microsoft reported its third quarter 2025 earnings and it showed that its search and advertising revenue was up 21%, again. The previous quarter it was up 21% as well, then the quarter before that was up 18%, then 19% but before than it was 12% and 8%.

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Google: Four Identical Links On A Page Is Fine & Common

Google's John Mueller said having "four identical links on a page to another page seems fine & common to me." He said, don't worry if you have that in your navigation, and implied it won't have an impact on your SEO.

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Google Tests Linking Reviews Button On Local Panel To AI Overviews

Google seems to be testing linking the "Reviews" button you see in the local panel, on a Google Business Profile, to AI Overviews. So when you search for a business, see the local panel on the right side, and then click on "reviews," you are taken to an AI Overview result.

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Google Track Deals From This Search Toggle Button

Google is testing a feature to let you get notified if there is a deal for the product(s) you are searching for directly in Google Search. It is named "Track deals from this search" and it has a slider to toggle on the notification.

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Google: Changing Lastmod Date In Sitemap Isn't An SEO Hack

Google's John Mueller explained that changing the dates in your XML Sitemaps lastmod date to all show today, the most recent day, won't favor your rankings or SEO. He said on Reddit, "setting today's date in a sitemap file isn't going to be something that works in favor of anyone, it's just lazy."

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Google Tests New Shopping Ads Design

Google is testing a new design for the shopping ads format, one that looks a bit more like the image pack design than shopping ads.

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Bing Search Without Microsoft Name By Logo

Microsoft is testing removing its name, i.e. Microsoft Bing, next to the logo in the Bing Search bar. Normally the search bar has the Microsoft Bing name next to the logo on the left side of the search bar, now Microsoft is just testing showing the logo.

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Bing Copilot Answer More Videos Section

Microsoft Bing is testing placing a "more videos" section in the Bing Copilot answers. Recently we covered how Bing placed images and video links but this implementation makes more sense.

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Google Tests New Shipping, Returns & Payment Section In Retail Knowledge Panel

Last December, we reported how Google was showing a payments option section in the retailer/merchant knowledge panel. Google is now testing a clearer version of it, while adding shipping and return information to the payments section.

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Apple Updates Applebot Docs: Explaining Applebot-Extended vs Applebot

Apple has made some updates to its Applebot documentation, primarily explaining the difference between the normal Applebot crawler and the Applebot-Extended crawler. To be clear, Applebot-Extended is not new, Apple introduced it about a year ago but Apple wanted to clarify how blocking Applebot-Extended impacts Applebot, if at all.

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Google Search Console API Data Stuck On April 22

I am hearing reports that the Google Search Console API and tools that use the API, including Big Query exports, bulk exports and third party tools, are stuck with data from April 22nd but nothing sooner. It seems like there is something stuck in the data pipes within the API.

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Google Search Ranking Volatility Spiked Friday - April 25th

In my Friday video, I mentioned some more volatility heating up on Friday morning and I promised to cover it if I see more signs of that update. Well, many of the other tools noticed volatility around April 25th, this past Friday, in addition to the 22nd and 23rd volatility we covered earlier last week.

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Microsoft Advertising Suspends Client Connection Requests Temporarily

Microsoft Advertising has temporarily suspended the ability for agencies to send out client connection requests. Instead, the agency needs to reach out to Microsoft support and wait 5-7 days to hear back to be able to manage their client's ad campaigns on Microsoft.

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Bing With Two Rows Of Shopping Ads With Option To Expand

Microsoft is now showing two rows of shopping ads at the top of the Bing Search results. There is even an option to expand them to show more ads.

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Google Ad Revenue Up 8.5%, Overall Revenue Up 12%

Google reported earnings and their ad revenue is up again year-over-year, with an increase of 8.5%, and overall revenue is also up 12%. I should note, it is down from Q4 because Q4 is always Google's best performing quarter, which is why you don't really compare the it to the last quarter, but rather the same quarter from a year ago.

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Google Relaxing Local Service Ads Photo Guidelines After May 22nd

Google is relaxing its photo guidelines for Local Service Ads. This may result in photos that were not previously allowed, may be allowed after May 22, 2025. I am not sure if these photos will automatically show up in your Local Service Ads or if you need to manually approve them after May 22nd.

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Google Analytics Campaign Data Quality & Attribution Reporting Updates

A week or so ago, Google Analytics made some updates to how it handles campaign data quality and attribution reporting. Many are now seeing a new label named "Data not available" show up in their GA4 reporting.

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Google Chrome Won't Release Alternative To Third-Party Cookies

Google has just given up on a third-party cookie alternative. Google announced it will maintain its "current approach to offering users third-party cookie choice in Chrome, and will not be rolling out a new standalone prompt for third-party cookies."

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Google Ads PMax Campaigns 90 Characters Of Text For All Descriptions

Google Ads has updated the number of characters you can add for the Performance Max campaigns descriptions to all be 90 characters long. Previously, there was a short description of 60 characters, but now they have all been updated to show 90 characters.

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Bing Webmaster Tools Working To Streamline Email Notifications

Fabrice Canel said Microsoft will streamline the Bing Webmaster Tools notifications because, at times, it can be a bit overwhelming. Fabrice wrote on X, "working to streamline things" when Martin MacDonald complained about getting way too many emails from Bing Webmaster Tools.

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Microsoft Launches Copilot Merchant Program

Microsoft launched the Copilot Merchant Program, a way to feed Copilot more details about your products. Microsoft said this is a way to "integrate your shopping experience with Copilot to help your brand gain visibility, acquire more customers and generate sales, all from a convenient centralized location with AI support at every step."

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Google Discover Cropping Publisher Images In New Full Width Redesign

Google has been rolling out its new full-width redesign of Google Discover. But the issue is that it is taking publishers' images and cropping them to fit this new width.

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Google Tests Video Player To Shopping / E-Commerce Card

Google launched its shopping / e-commerce card in the search results as a test several months ago. Since then, the card has undergone various tweaks. Now, Google is testing showing an animated/playable video in the shopping card block.

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Google AI Mode May Get Direct Query URL Method

While you can access Google AI Mode directly at google.com/aimode, there is currently no way to go direclty to something like google.com/aimode?q=QUERYGOESHERE. But that might come, said Robby Stein, VP, Product at Google Search.

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Google Search ccTLDs Are Going Away

Google.com will soon be the only way to access Google Search. The ccTLD versions of Google will redirect to Google.com. That means if you try to go to Google.ca, Google.fr. Google.co.uk and so on, those will all redirect to Google.com.

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Google Ads Suspended 200% More Advertisers (39.2M) & Removed 5.5 Billion Ads

Google has released its annual Google Ads Safety report and the big number that stands out to me is that Google has suspended over 200% more advertiser accounts in 2024 than it did in 2023; 39.2 million versus 12.7 million. Google also removed 5.1 billion ads, restricted over 9.1B ads, restricted ads on 1.3 billion publisher pages and took broader site-level enforcement action on over 220,000 publisher sites.

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Google Testing New Label In Search Results Snippets

Google is testing a "new" label in the search result snippets. Several people are noticing this "new" label next to search result snippets that have new content.

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Google AI Overviews With Duplicative Links

We know Google loves to link to its own search results from the AI Overviews, and we have seen those links sometimes go in a loop of sorts. But did you know Google can show the same link to a website in the AI Overviews more than once?

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Google AI Overviews Linking Over & Over Again To Itself

As you know, Google is okay with linking its AI Overviews back to more Google Search results. But is Google okay with linking the same query, to the same query, over and over again, through the AI Overviews?

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Google Again Says Structured Data Does Not Make Your Site Rank Better

Google said it again - structured data does not help your site rank any better. John Mueller of Google said this on Bluesky, "Structured data won't make your site rank better." He said, all it is "used for displaying the search features listed in" this search gallery document.

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Google Bug Product Snippet Image Carousel

There seems to be a bug that is impacting the first image in the product snippet image carousel set. I was notified about this a few times in the past few days by various people and while I cannot replicate this, many can.

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Google Tests AI Mode Shortcut In Search Bar

Google is testing a new shortcut location for AI Mode in the Google App on Android. Google is placing the shortcut button directly in the search bar.

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Programming Note: Offline For Passover Today

This is a programming note that I am completely offline for the Passover holiday today. In fact, this post was pre-written and scheduled to be posted today - so you know I am offline. Passover is/was Sunday and Monday...

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Google Ads More Button Overlays More Products In Hover

Google is testing a new ad format that overlays more product ads when you click on a "more" button. This is different from expanding a product carousel, in that this overlays on top of the current search results interface.

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Google To Drop Reviews On School Business Profiles

Google will stop showing reviews and ratings on school listings in Google Search and Google Maps. Google Business Profiles said, "Starting April 30, 2025, your school's associated Business Profile will no longer allow reviews and ratings."

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How Google Search Uses Your Feedback Submission

Google Search representatives often tell us to use the feedback link when we see something that is off or needs improvement with Google Search. Well, what happens when you use that feedback link?

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Google Expands Availability For Structured Data Carousels (beta)

Google has expanded where the Structured data carousels (beta) search feature works and for what types of queries. When it first launched, about a year ago, it was available for flights queries in Germany, France, Czechia, and the UK. Now it is available for queries related to ground transportation, hotels, vacation rentals, local business, and things to do (for example, events, tours, and activities) in all European Economic Area (EEA) countries.

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Google AI Mode Tests Anchor Text & URL Base Links

Google is testing various link formats in AI Mode. Initially Google launched AI Mode with those tiny paperclip links, but Google, like they've done in AI Overviews, is testing in AI Mode, anchor text links and URL links within the text of the AI response.

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Google Knowledge Panel AI Overview With Reference Links

Google has been using AI to write parts of the knowledge panels for some time now. But now it seems, when Google does that, it will show references and link cards, like it does in the AI Overviews.

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Google Updates Some Merchant Center Product Specs

Google has made a number of updates to its Merchant Center product data specifications, including some that went into effect on April 8th and some that will go into effect on July 1, 2025.

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Google Search With More AI Overviews

Pretty much every data provider that tracks AI Overviews in Google Search are showing that Google is showing AI Overviews more often today than they were a month ago. I am sure this is no surprise to many of you, I mean, we see them so often now.

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Google Refreshes Its Merchant Opportunities Report

Google announced it has refreshed its Shopping tab listings report which it initially launched in November 2022 and renamed it to the Merchant opportunities report. The refreshed report now includes details about payments methods and store ratings, Google said.

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Google Search Video Ads

Google can show search ads with video formats. I mean, Google has been doing this for a while now, but they are kind of rare to see. This latest one is a video ad from Adidas.

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Google: Hreflang Tags With 301 Redirects Are Probably Okay

Google's John Mueller said if you have hreflang tags that point to a 301 redirect, it is probably okay. But you probably also want to automate the process of setting up those hreflang tags so that there is no redirect.

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Bing Tests Ad Labels Not In Blue

Earlier this month we reported that Bing was testing ad labels in blue colors. Well, now I am seeing examples of those ads labels without the blue, but rather normal black text and icons on white backgrounds.

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Bing Related Image Search Box

Microsoft seems to be testing a new related image search box in the main web search results in Bing Search. I personally cannot replicate this, which I take as a sign that this is a test.

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Microsoft Bing Copilot Answers Serving Product Results

Microsoft seems to be serving produt and shopping results within the Bing Copilot Answer boxes. When I first saw this I thought this was a bug, but it keeps happening and I can replicate this.

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Google AI Review Summaries Now In Local Knowledge Panels

Last November, Google began using AI to generate review summaries in Google Maps. Well, now they seem to be showing up in the local knowledge panels on the right side of the Google Search results page.

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Google Local Service Ads Advertisers Console Down All Day

Google's Local Service Ads advertiser console, where advertisers go to manage their LSAs, has been inaccessible for many advertisers since this morning. Google has not yet confirmed the issue but I see a number of complaints from advertisers starting at around 8 am ET.

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Microsoft Bing Copilot Search Now Live

In late February, Microsoft began quietly testing its new AI Search interface and engine probably named Bing Copilot Search or maybe just Copilot Search. Well, now it seems to be more rolled out, according to Mayank Parmar at Windows Latest.

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Google Search Tests Indent Vertical Bars By Title & Descriptions

Google is testing placing vertical gray bars by the search results titles and descriptions, indenting them in a bit, for stylist purposes. I am not sure what this adds to the search results, but Google decided to test it.

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Google Local Questions & Answers Feature Gone?

It seems the Google Search local feature that showed Questions and answers on local panels is no longer working for most businesses. I know Google disabled them in India, but they worked fine everywhere else.

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Microsoft Advertising Updates For Shopping Campaigns, Audience Ads, PMax & More

Microsoft Advertising's team posted its monthly recap of what is new with the Microsoft Advertising platform. There are new items across Shopping campaigns, audience ads, and Performance Max (PMax) management and more.

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April 2025 Google Webmaster Report

It's time for the monthly Google Webmaster Report - the April 2025 version. This month we had the Google March 2025 core update kick off and finish rolling out. Google launched AI Mode, AI Overviews are now powered by Gemini 2.0, we saw some weird AI search tests, expansion of AI Overviews and a whole slew of AI changes.

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