Google Hotel Knowledge Panels Posting Currently Turned Off Bug

Google seems to have a bug that prevents searchers from leaving hotel reviews directly in the Google Search desktop interface. It works fine within Google Maps and Hotel search interfaces but not in the web search interface.

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Google Ads Brand Linking Experiment

Google Ads seems to be slowly rolling out a new Google Ads experimental feature in the Google Ads Lab section named Brand Linking. Brand linking lets you "Link customers to brands," it reads.

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Microsoft Advertising Reminds Advertisers To Configure Email Settings

Navah Hopkins, the Microsoft Ads Liaison, posted a reminder on LinkedIn, encouraging advertisers to ensure the email settings are all configured properly. You can get monthly invoices, billing alerts, account notifications, ad and keyword rejection notices, optimization and performance tips and more.

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Google Vehicle Ads Gains Call Assets

Google seems to be testing showing call assets on Vehicle Ads within Google Search. So on the Vehicle Ads there is a way to call the dealer or seller, like you see on some other ads.

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Google Hiring Search Intelligence Chief of Staff

Google is hiring a Chief of Staff on Search Intelligence, Strategy and Operations. This job is to "help architect the next era of Search with AI," Rajan Patel, the Vice President of Search Engineering of Google, posted on LinkedIn.

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Google Ads To Allow Ads For Prediction Markets

Google Ads will update its advertising policies to allow ads for Prediction Markets starting on January 21, 2026. This will be allowed in the United States, but only for federally regulated entities.

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Google Ads Change History Adds Go To Button

Google added a new button to the Google Ads Change history report that lets advertisers quickly jump to different campaigns and ad groups in this report. It should be a big time saver for some advertisers.

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Google Search Tests Blue Send Button In Query Box

Google is testing a blue "Send" button in the search query box on its home page. When you type in your query, you can click "Send" to search Google for that query.

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John Mueller (Personally) On If Schema Helps With LLMs & Google

John Mueller, who works on the Google Search team, responded to a question that asks, "Does extensive Schema markup actually help Large Language Models (LLMs) understand your entity better, or is it just for Google Rich Snippets?" He responded to the question, prefacing it that it is his point of view and "this is not official guidance."

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Google's John Mueller Working On New Year's Day (2026 Edition)

Just like with Christmas day every year, so to with New Year's Day - Google's John Mueller and often other Googlers, are out and looking to respond to some questions on Google Search and SEO. John Mueller so far posted a few times on Reddit this morning, January 1, 2026.

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Google Displays New Year's Eve Doodle On New Year's Day

This is weird. It is 2026, and Google.com, the Google Search home page, is still showing yesterday's New Year's Eve doodle of 2025 going into 2026. But it is after 7 am ET here on January 1, 2026, and on all my devices, I see yesterday's Google Doodle.

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Google's New Year's Eve & New Year's Day Doodles

Google has posted the New Year's Eve Doodle and New Year's Day Doodle on the Google.com home page for when it is New Year's Eve for you and New Year's Day for you.

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Microsoft Advertising With All Accounts Tab

Microsoft made a small update to the Microsoft Advertising console where there is now an "All accounts" tab. This lets you see all your accounts in one place with quick access to account summaries, recommendations and more.

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Google December 2025 Core Update Has Finished Rolling Out

Google's December 2025 core update is now done rolling out, it took 18 days and 2 hours to complete. The core update started on December 11, 2025 at around 12:25 pm ET and ended on December 29, 2025 at around 2:05 pm ET...

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The Industry Mourns The Loss Of Andy Drinkwater - Experience & Friendly SEO

I am sad to report the passing of Andy Drinkwater, a super-experienced SEO and a friend to the search marketing industry. Andy was a UK-based SEO who loved educating his industry by contributing content and attending local events.

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Google Chrome Tests Replacing Gemini Button With Browse With AI Button

Google is testing swapping out the Gemini button at the top right of the Chrome browser, with a "Browse with AI" button. The button is more colorful and in your face, which probably gets more users to notice it.

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Google Questions Need For ccTLDs For Some International Websites

Google's John Mueller questioned the need for all websites to use ccTLDs, different domain names, to take their websites international. He said on Reddit, "you both make things harder on yourself, but you also make it harder for search engines to understand each of these sites."

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Google: #1 Google Ads Launches Of 2025

Google has been publishing these videos from advertisers on the number one Google Ads launches of the year 2025. Bug Ginny Marvin, the Google Ads Liaison, was asked and she picked PMax channel performance reporting as her number one feature release for Google Ads in 2025.

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Microsoft Advertiser: Exact Match Trumps Ad Rank On AI Surfaces & More

Navah Hopkins, the Ads Liaison for Microsoft Advertising, made it crystal clear that exact match is prioritized even over Ad Rank. Navah Hopkins wrote on X and LinkedIn, "Exact match will get the priority if it's there, otherwise Ad Rank determines everything."

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Google's John Mueller Working On Christmas (2025 Edition)

Every year, for the past 18 or so years, Google's John Mueller has been working on Christmas to provide support to those who need help with their Google Search ranking and SEO concerns. This year is no different; John Mueller has responded to several concerns on Reddit and other social media platforms today.

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Google Search Forgot The Holiday Decorations In 2025

For the past 15 or so years, Google would post holiday-specific decorations at the top of its search results for Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. Well, this year Google did not. Google did post an Easter egg in the search results, which they do every year, and it posted the season's greeting Doodle, but not the holiday-specific decorations.

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Bing: Duplicate & Similar Pages Blur Signals & Weaken SEO & AI Visibility

Fabrice Canel and Krishna Madhavan from the Microsoft Bing team posted a useful blog post named Does Duplicate Content Hurt SEO and AI Search Visibility? The short answer is yes, and the long answer is also yes.

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Google Ads Advisor Suggestions Within Google Ad Reporting

Google is testing pushing advertisers to use Google Ads Advisor from within the Google Ads reporting section. Google Ads suggested questions and prompts at the top of the report, which it thinks you would find helpful to chat with an AI bot about.

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Bing Search Tests More Sources Section

Microsoft is testing a "more sources" section within the Bing Search results. This seems to load a different user interface, with long card-shaped search results that you can slide through as a carousel.

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Google Search Bar Tests Teases For AI Mode With Animation In Box

Google is testing prefilling the search bar in a new Chrome tab, with teasers to encourage you to search deeper with AI Mode. Google is putting in the search box, "Research a topic," "Write something new," "Ask Google," and "Make a plan."

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