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.
The Google Search results volatility seems to be heating up again. Google clarified its language with its site reputation abuse policy in numerous documents. Google is showing map pins on SAB-level listings. Google's John Mueller said doing SEO can sometimes lead to problems. Google is testing an expandable brand store panel.0
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
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Google Search Ranking Volatility Heated Starting On Jan 20th
We may be seeing more Google search ranking volatility start to get heated starting this weekend, through January 20th and 21st (and maybe today). Some of the Google tracking tools are having issues tracking these changes but some are not. But I do see a lot of chatter spike in the past couple of days. -
Google Clarified Site Reputation Abuse Policy & Manual Actions
Google has updated not just its site reputation abuse policy for clarification purposes, Google also updated the manual actions section for site reputation abuse. Finally, Google also updated the language on Search Quality User report. Again, these are just clarification changes, and as Google put it, "it include guidance from our blog post's FAQ on site reputation abuse." -
Google Map Pins On Service Area Businesses - A Bug?
For the past month or so, Google has been showing map pins on Service Area Businesses within Google. Previously, Google did not show pins on businesses without a public address but now they are, in some views. -
Google: Sometimes Doing SEO Can Cause More Problems
John Mueller of Google said that sometimes doing SEO can cause sites more problems with search and search rankings. Sometimes not doing SEO, might be better, John implies. -
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. -
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. -
Google Light Stage - 3D Images
Here is Google's Light Stage that I guess they use to scan in 3D objects and people for YouTube videos or games. This was at the Google Playa Vista office in California and I found this on Instagram.
Other Great Search Threads:
- Google Local Services To Google Business Profile Extension Deadline Pushed Back. LOL, Anthony Higman on X
- Developers, please be careful when installing Homebrew. Google is serving sponsored links to a Homebrew site clone that has a cURL command to malware. The URL for this site is one letter different than the official site., Ryan Chenkie on X
- Do you know if the robots.txt thing changed for the site? I'm now wondering if it makes sense to flag that in Search Console - considering some sites might choose to just not have a robots.txt by design..., John Mueller on Bluesky
- Google Search have indexed insane number of Grok conversations but do those users know?? That their conversations with Grok can be seen by others via Google Search., Gagan Ghotra on X
- Had an interesting morning figuring out why a (seemingly valid) robots.txt file wasn't being respected by Googlebot - turns out it was 404'ing despite being accessible in the browser (apparently this might be a bug in the SEOmatic plugin, Matt Tutt on Bluesky
- There’s no better proof that your content doesn’t matter than a big brand hit by a site reputation abuse penalty ranking with error pages that have zero content. That’s exactly what is happening with AP Buyline pages., Goog Enough on X
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Google Ads revealing low-volume search terms as ‘Private’
- Make 2025 the year your video creative shines
- New Google Ads feature spotted: Asset history
- Evolving SEO for 2025: What needs to change
- The art of subtraction: How to do more with less in SEO
- Want to speak at SMX Advanced in-person? Now’s the time to submit your most advanced session ideas.
- How to optimize PPC forms and follow-ups for lead gen in 2025
- Google Ads Search Max – new match type spotted
- Google introduces ‘Source’ column in Performance Max search terms insights
- TikTok restores service in the U.S., credits Trump for reprieve
Other Great Search Stories:
Industry & Business
- Watch Google's Porat on the US-China AI Race, Bloomberg
Links & Content Marketing
- Forget Fear, Joyful Marketing Works: Examples From Top Brands, Content Marketing Institute
- New Data Suggests AI Prefers High DA Publishers, BuzzStream
Local & Maps
- I've Dropped Google Maps in Favor of This Open-Source Alternative, Make Use Of
- 4 Things Apple Maps Does Better Than Google Maps, Wired
- Google Maps update: New carousel, SearchLab Digital
Mobile & Voice
- Gemini overlay redesign more widely rolling out in beta , 9to5Google
- Gemini app homepage simplified again with overlay redesign, 9to5Google
- Why mobile-first indexing could be affecting your rankings, Oncrawl
SEO
- Is SEO Dead in 2025? No, But Changes Are Coming, Semrush
- What is Googlebot Crawler and How It Works, RankRanger
- Why SEO Audits are an Important Investment, Codefixer
- 3 Best Free Browser Extensions for SEO, Momentic
- Agency vs. In-House SEO: What I Learned Working Both Sides, SEOjobs
- Clarifying the site reputation abuse policy, Google Search Central Blog
- Content SEO: What every news SEO needs to know, SEO For Journalism
- Do Your Meta Tag "Issues" Really Need Fixing?, Momentic
- Does brand support SEO or does SEO support brand?, Wix SEO Hub
- Gootloader Malware Employs Blackhat SEO Techniques To Attack Victims, Cyber Security News
- How to create an effective SEO roadmap, Yoast
- How to Use Google's NLP API Demo to Write Title Tags, Sara Taher
- Measuring Google AI Overviews: Performance Insights and Strategies, Rich Sanger SEO
- Nailing Ecommerce SEO In 2025: From Content to CTR, Sitebulb
- Relational Databases vs. Graph Databases: What's the Difference?, Schema App
- SEO Trends for 2025: Top 11 Predictions, Walsh & Partners
- What is a SERP Feature? Common SERP Features & Information, SEOTesting
- Why do you need an SEO Audit - Copy, Codefixer
PPC
- Display & Video 360: the demand side platform for a connected internet, Google Blog
- First Look at Customer Retention Goal Setup, PPC News Feed
- How to Identify and Solve for Competitors Bidding on Your Terms, PPC Live
- Local Product Feeds Quietly Removed From Google Ads UI, PPC News Feed
- Swipeable Demand Gen Sitelink Layout on YouTube Mobile, PPC News Feed
- Why Shopping Campaigns Compete with Demand Gen & PMax on YouTube, Cypress North
Search Features
- Google Discover updates feedback options, Gagan Ghotra
- Google's Circle to Search could add product comparisons to its bag of tricks (APK teardown), Android Authority
Other Search
- Introducing the Sonar Pro API by Perplexity, Perplexity
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