Daily Search Forum Recap: March 21, 2025

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 tools are reporting a ton of volatility over the past day or so, but is this some sort of bug or real Google core update volatility? I posted my quick takeaways from the Google Search Central Live event from yesterday. Google Search Console's API will soon support the 24-hour view. Google Ads now lets you hide all recommendations. Google says to stop over-focusing on tiny SEO metrics. The Google mortgage calculator has not worked in a week. And I posted the weekly SEO video recap.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google March 2025 Core Update Volatility Bursts Or Tools Confused?
  As a reminder, the Google March 2025 core update touched down on March 13th, and as Google said, not before. And while many sites were hit super hard in the early days, the net of this update didn't seem as wide as other core updates. Now, I am seeing the third-party tracking tools explode this morning - but is it a tool issue or real core update volatility being detected?
• Google Ads Now Lets You Quickly Hide All Recommendations
  Google Ads now lets you quickly hide all recommendations with the click of a button. Previously you had to hide each recommendation one-by-one, but now you can hide them all with one click.
• Google: Stop Over Focusing On Tiny SEO Metrics
  John Mueller from Google said on Bluesky that he sees some SEOs over-focusing on the tiniest SEO metrics and that they should spend their time focusing on more important things.
• Google Search Console API To Support 24-Hour Hourly View
  Google Search Console's API will soon add support for the 24-hour hourly data view, plus, this will give you access to not just the past 24 hours but the past 8-days by hour.
• Google's Mortgage Calculator Hasn't Worked In A Week
  About a week ago, if you searched for mortgage related math questions in Google Search, Google stopped giving you the answer. Google first introduced its mortgage calculator features a decade ago but suddenly the features disappeared last weekend.
• My Takeaways From Google Search Central Live NYC 2025
  Google hosts events around the world for SEOs, content creators, webmasters, site owners and marketers named Google Search Central Live. They've been doing it for years and I've attended many over the years. This is the first time the event was held in the new St. John's Terminal, which is made to impress - let me say.
• Google Wired LED Tree
  Here is a photo from outside of the Google offices in London, where the tree is Google wired. It has LEDs in the colors of the Google logo throughout the tree. This doesn't seem to be from the holidays but I can be wrong.
• Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Core Updates, AI Search Leak, AI Overviews linking to Google, Assistant To Die, Bing News & More
  Google confirmed that the volatility we saw prior to the core update was unrelated to this latest core update. I also posted status updates on the Google March 2025 core update. Google is testing AI Search features beyond the new AI Mode...

Other Great Search Threads:

• Google’s Review Flagging Options: Why the Difference Between the UK & US?…, Claudia Tomina on LinkedIn
• This is a personal project that's been the main source in the industry since I first published it in 2017. All others that came after are bad copies of it. Here I sit, watching @Google rank copies of the articles while sourcing my content to, D@RWIN on X
• Today, I asked the folks at Google for some air cover regarding the changes in user behavior. What we know is AIOs are changing the distribution of search queries and driving less traffic, but more qualified traffic. I believe they are see, Mic King on X
• Weird bug! Some of this is outdated though. Here’s the real deal– choose your fighter ;), Rajan Patel on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google Search Console API gains 24-hour hourly data for past 8 days coming soon
• Google’s AI Mode: Here’s what matters for SEOs and marketers
• Google may remove your page from search if users don’t interact with it
• Microsoft Bing/Copilot use schema for its LLMs
• SEO priorities for 2025: Your guide to search success
• Reddit SEO: Everything you need to know
• How to expand from Meta Ads into Google Ads

Other Great Search Stories:

Industry & Business

• A mother suing Google and an AI chatbot site over her son’s suicide says she found AI versions of him on the site, Fortune
• Apple faces lawsuit over Apple Intelligence delays, TechCrunch
• John Giannandrea out as Siri chief, Apple Vision Pro lead in, AppleInsider
• Microsoft had $12 billion Coreweave option, deferred to OpenAI, Semafor
• Perplexity in Early Talks for Funding at $18 Billion Value, Bloomberg
• Thoughts on the European Commission’s Preliminary Finding of Self-preferencing by Google, Near Media
• Perplexity’s CEO Has An Ambitious Plan to Take on Google, Bloomberg
• Our experiment on the value of European news content, Google Blog

Links & Content Marketing

• Must-Know Video Strategies and Tips for 2025, Content Marketing Institute
• AI is reshaping B2B content marketing, eMarketer

Local & Maps

• Android Auto 13.9 update is now widely available, 9to5Google
• Android Auto Users Confused Over the Google Maps Feature Many People Hate, AutoEvolution

Mobile & Voice

• Hands on with Apple Vision Pro guest mode in visionOS 2, AppleInsider
• Apple innovation and execution, Benedict Evans
• Apple Vision Pro Chief Mike Rockwell Named Siri Head; Giannandrea Keeps AI Role, Bloomberg
• Google Spam Crackdown on Digital Media Is Hurting Freelance Writers, Business Insider

SEO

• How to Beat Amazon at SEO, Practical Ecommerce
• Showing Value Beyond The Deliverables: Tips For SEO Client Retention, BrightLocal
• The End of SEO as We Know It: Welcome to the AIO Revolution, Sify
• The Week of March 10th - The Most Volatile SERPs In a Year, Local SEO Guide
• Video SEO 101: Dominate the new search landscape, Wix SEO Hub

PPC

• Google Ads: Ensuring Your Video Ads Run Only on YouTube, Jyll Saskin Gales
• The Digital Revolution: How PPC Transformed Modern Advertising, JumpFly
• Unlock Customer Insights with Performance Max Campaigns, Amsive
• VAC Duplication Now Defaults to Demand Gen, PPC News Feed
• Manual vs. Smart Bidding in Google Ads: Which is Better?, Jyll Saskin Gales
• PMAX Search Terms Available in the Search Terms Report, PPC News Feed
• Updates to Healthcare and Medicines Policy in Estonia and Lithuania (June 2024), Google Advertising Policies Help

Other Search

• Anthropic adds web search to its Claude chatbot, TechCrunch
• Claude can now search the web, Anthropic
• Men's College Basketball Tournament First Round 2025 Doodle, Google Doodles
• OpenAI upgrades its transcription and voice-generating AI models, TechCrunch
• SearchResearch Challenge (3/25/25): To search, or to AI? That is the question..., SearchReSearch

Feedback:

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