Google Search Ranking Volatility Heats Up - Movember Update

Starting maybe late Thursday, into Friday, November 7th, I started to feel a Google Search ranking update and volatility brewing. Like I've been saying since the num=100 parameter change, it has been harder to validate those feelings, but based on the chatter I have been seeing in the SEO community and some of the third-party Google Search tracking tools, I think there was a Google update around November 7, 2025.

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Google Discover Numerous Experiments Documented

As VP of Engineering for Search at Google, Rajan Patel said months ago - "We're experimenting with various approaches to X in Discover." Google has been super busy with testing various approaches to Google Discover. Here are some of the more recent tests I found via Damien (andell) and Gagan Ghotra over the last few weeks.

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Gemini Coming To Google Maps For Directions, Traffic & Places

Google Maps is getting an update from Gemini where you can ask Google Maps questions about locations, where Google Maps can give you more human directions and Google Maps with Lens can tell you more about a store or location.

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Google Merchant Center Adds Promotions For Top Performing Products

Google added a new promotion method in Google Merchant Center for Top-performing products. This lets you just promote your best performing products in Google Shopping and Google Search.

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Google AI Mode Gains 3 New Agentic Capabilities

Google's Robby Stein announced three new agentic capabilities within AI Mode - (1) booking event tickets (2) booking beauty appointments and (3) wellness appointments.

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Google Merchant Center Smart Cropping - You Can Opt Out

Did you know that Google Merchant Center will automatically crop your product images in Google Shopping if it thinks it will look better in Google Search? Did you know that you can also opt out of what they call "Smart Cropping"?

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November 2025 Google Webmaster Report

We had a few unconfirmed but big Google search ranking updates but we are still waiting on an official core update...

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Ongoing Google Search Console API Bug Impacts Search Appearance Filter

Google Search Console has a bug with its API when filtering on the searchAppearance dimension. This bug occurs when using the notEquals or notContains operators, it will only return rows with the excluded value, instead of excluding those rows.

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Google Adds Chrome Web Store Google-CWS User Agent To Docs

Google added a new user agent to the Googlebot's user-triggered fetchers documentation. The new user agent is for the Chrome Web Store named Google-CWS.

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Reddit: Search Traffic Flat, AI Not Traffic Driver & 50% Of Traffic Is From Google

Reddit announced earnings late last week and it boggles me how people love this stock. I am not a financial expert of analysis but Reddit has been saying for some time that 50% of its traffic comes from Google Search. Reddit also said on this Q3 earnings call that its search traffic is flat and that AI is not a traffic driver, at least not yet.

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Cross Campaign Metrics In Google Ads Overview Tab

Google may have a new chart in the Google Ads overview tab named cross campaign metrics. It seems similar to the Cross-Media Reach Measurement but this is shown in the overview tab and not in that specific report.

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Bing Tests Snippet Image Carousel With See More Link

Microsoft is testing a "see more" link within the Bing Search image carousel on search result snippets. Sometimes Microsoft will show an image carousel below a search result snippet, sometimes it will show product results and sometimes it won't show at all.

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Bing Search Adds Country/Region Selector

Microsoft is testing a way to change the country and region you are in when doing searches on Bing. There is a new country/region selector for this, similar to how Google handles it.

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Google Ad Revenue Up 13% & Bing Ads Revenue Up 16%

Both Google and Microsoft reported its earnings today; Alphabet's Q3 2025 earnings and Microsoft's Q1 2026 earnings. Google reported ad revenues up by XX% with $ and Microsoft reported ad revenues up by XX%.

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Undocumented Google User Agent For GeminiiOS

There may be an undocumented Google user agent named GeminiiOS. GeminiiOS is apparently used when a user clicks on a source link from the Gemini app on their iPhone.

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Google's John Mueller On Best CMSs For SEO

Google's John Mueller was asked what is the best CMS, content management system, is for SEO and ranking well on Google Search. John replied that all the modern CMS platforms are fine and there are no big differences, SEO-wise, between any of them.

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Google Launching Merchant Center For Agencies

It looks like Google is launching a special agency version of Google Merchant Center named Merchant Center for Agencies. Google explained this version is a "tailored experience designed specifically for agency users. The product allows for the management of multiple Merchant Center accounts at scale."

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Google Business Profile With Get Google QR Code Button

Google is testing showing a "Get Google QR" code button when you search for your business in Google Search. This button is with the Edit Profile, reviews, photos, posts, performance, and other buttons you see to manage your Google Business Profile.

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Google Local Hotel Listings With Track Price Changes By Email

Google is testing showing the option ot track price changes for hotel results by email. We saw Google announce a similar feature back in March but now it is showing in the local hotel pack results in core search.

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Google Business Profile Performance Report Missing Oct 14 - 16 Call Data

Google Business Profile performance reports seem to be missing a chunk of call data from last week. The call data is missing from October 14 through October 16, 2025.

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Google Ads (Formerly AdWords) Launched 25 Years Ago

Google Ads is celebrating its 25th birthday/anniversary today. Yes, Google launched AdWords 25 years ago today in 2000. In 2018, Google renamed AdWords to Google Ads and the ad labels and technology have drastically changed over the years.

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Google AI Mode Tests Different Colored Map Pins

Google is testing using different colored map pins in the map embed within Google AI Mode. The map pins can be in red, blue, yellow and maybe orange?

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Google Local Profile AI Mode History Button

Google is testing showing an AI Mode history button within the local panel in Google Search. When you are viewing a specific business or organization, there may be an AI Mode button in a history enclosure under the call, directions, buttons.

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Google Tests Different Recipe Card Sizes Or Is It A Bug

Google may be testing displaying different-sized cards for recipe results in the Google Search results. The cards show large and small graphics that make the results look misaligned.

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Google AdSense Adds Confirmed Click Status Breakdown To Reports

Google AdSense added a new breakdown option named Confirmed Click status breakdown. This breakdown is available on all your reports under the "Breakdowns" dropdown selector at the top left.

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