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.
Google has rolled out penalties to European sites going against the site reputation abuse policy. Yahoo Search is testing a new AI chat feature. Google has dropped breadcrumbs from the mobile search result snippets. The opt out feature for page annotations does work. Bing is testing a real estate filter for its search results. Google AI Overviews are now in Circle To Search.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
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Google Expands Site Reputation Abuse Enforcement To Europe
Google looks to have expanded its enforcement of its site reputation abuse policy to European regions this week. Google began enforcement in the US back in May but Google seems to have issued a ton of these manual actions (manual penalties) to European based sites. -
Yahoo Search Tests AI Chat
Yahoo seems to be testing AI Chat within its search results. The chat feature loads on the right side for your query. You click on it and it loads an AI chat bot. -
Google Removes Breadcrumb From Mobile Search Results Snippets
Google has removed the breadcrumb from the mobile search results, leaving only the domain in the search result snippets. The desktop search results will continue to have the breadcrumb and domain in the snippets. -
Tested: Google Page Annotation Opt Out Does Work
Google is still testing its offensive page annotation feature in the Google iOS app still, but the good news is that the opt out feature does indeed work. Yes, it takes about a month, but if you opt out, Google will stop showing page annotations on your web pages. -
Bing Tests Real Estate Search Menu Filter
Microsoft is testing a new search filter menu option that lets you filter by real estate results. This shows up in the normal search menu below the search box. -
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." -
Google Vintage Venice Holiday Party
Here is another holiday party Google held, this one was at Google's Venice, California office. They had several holiday parties and here is another one, I don't think I covered it but it seems they had a weird circus theme going on here.
Other Great Search Threads:
- It's like making a really long page - theoretically the text on the bottom could be found in search, but if a user explicitly wants information like that, they might choose to bounce instead of digging for it. Make it easy for users to want, John Mueller on Bluesky
- Why Do Google site: Results Fluctuate Compared to Search Console Index, WebmasterWorld
Search Engine Land Stories:
- 5 ways to get the most from Performance Max in 2025
- Google sending manual actions for site reputation abuse in Europe?
- Google Search ad spend climbs 10% YoY, despite AI disruptions: report
- How to use Lookalike segments in Google Ads
- App Store vs. Google Play: Tailoring your ASO strategy for maximum impact
- From search to social: Retargeting organic traffic with video strategies
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Industry & Business
- Google hit with $12.6M fine in Indonesia for monopolistic practices in payment system, TechCrunch
- Google invests $1 bln in OpenAI rival Anthropic, FT reports, Reuters
- Google wins UK injunction over YouTube block on Russian broadcasters, Reuters
- I don’t need a court case to tell me Google is a monopoly, Fast Company
- Microsoft is no longer OpenAI's exclusive cloud provider, TechCrunch
- More Changes Coming to Microsoft and Google’s Productivity Apps: Grammarly CEO, The Information
- OpenAI ups its lobbying efforts nearly seven-fold, MIT Technology Review
- Record-breaking 5.6 Tbps DDoS attack and global DDoS trends for 2024 Q4, Cloudflare
Links & Content Marketing
- Enterprise Content Marketing Research, Content Marketing Institute
- The Overlooked Reason Your Content Isn't Gaining Traction, SparkToro
Local & Maps
- Here's where Apple Maps beats Google Maps, MacDailyNews
- How to Rank for Near Me Searches on Google, Sterling Sky
Mobile & Voice
- Google Gemini now works across multiple apps in a single prompt, The Verge
- Google makes Circle to Search more helpful, TechCrunch
- New Gemini app features coming to Android devices, Google Blog
SEO
- How Does Organic CTR Affect SEO? (& 5 Ways to Improve it), Semrush
- How To Add Robots.txt in Shopify For Google Merchant Center?, FeedArmy
- How will email marketing impact Search in 2025?, SERP's Up
- IndexWatch 2024: Visibility Losers on Google UK, SISTRIX
- What does the future hold for SEO? - An interview with Aleyda Solis, Advanced Web Ranking
PPC
- 5 Ways You’re Losing Money in Google Ads (Without Even Knowing It!), WordStream
- Demand Gen Gets Dedicated Conversion Metrics in Google Ads Beta, PPC News Feed
- Is "Search Max" the Next Big Thing in Google Ads? Early Insights Emerge, PPC News Feed
- Your Perfect Pre-Launch Campaign Checklist, PPC Hero
Search Features
- Circle to Search is adding new one-tap actions and AI overviews for visual searches, Android Faithful
- OpenAI Preps ‘Operator’ Release For This Week, The Information
Other Search
- Google AI tools for education: Tips on how teachers can use AI, Google Blog
- Google Workspace for Education’s new safety features for IT admins, Google Blog
- This New AI Search Engine Has a Gimmick: Humans Answering Questions, Wired
- Updated Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental model available, 9to5Google
Feedback:
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