Daily Search Forum Recap: April 16, 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.

Google Search ranking volatility is heating up now, did you notice ranking movement. Google was sued in the UK by a class action lawsuit for over $6 billion over its search dominance. Google Search will do away with its ccTLDs. Google Ads announced its ad safety report, suspending 200% more advertisers this year than last. Google is testing a "new" label. Google AI Overviews have duplicative links in some cases.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google Search Ranking Volatility Heating Up April 16th
  It's been about a week and what would be do without reporting on yet more Google Search ranking volatility... I am seeing signs of a Google Search ranking update and volatility over the past 24 hours, maybe kicking in April 15th through April 16th, today.
• Google Sued For £5 Billion In UK Class Action Lawsuit Over Search Dominance
  for £5 billion ($6.6 billion) in potential damages over allegations that the U.S. tech giant abused its "near-total dominance" in the online search market to drive up prices.
• Google Search ccTLDs Are Going Away
  Google.com will soon be the only way to access Google Search. The ccTLD versions of Google will redirect to Google.com. That means if you try to go to Google.ca, Google.fr. Google.co.uk and so on, those will all redirect to Google.com.
• Google Ads Suspended 200% More Advertisers (39.2M) & Removed 5.5 Billion Ads
  Google has released its annual Google Ads Safety report and the big number that stands out to me is that Google has suspended over 200% more advertiser accounts in 2024 than it did in 2023; 39.2 million versus 12.7 million. Google also removed 5.1 billion ads, restricted over 9.1B ads, restricted ads on 1.3 billion publisher pages and took broader site-level enforcement action on over 220,000 publisher sites.
• Google Testing New Label In Search Results Snippets
  Google is testing a "new" label in the search result snippets. Several people are noticing this "new" label next to search result snippets that have new content.
• Google AI Overviews With Duplicative Links
  We know Google loves to link to its own search results from the AI Overviews, and we have seen those links sometimes go in a loop of sorts. But did you know Google can show the same link to a website in the AI Overviews more than once?
• Google Agency Workshop Pool Party In Ball Pit
  Here is some event at the Brazil office named the Agency Experts Workshop Pool Party. You can see a ball pit filled with balls, I guess that is considered the pool? You can also see some beach chairs off to the side.

Other Great Search Threads:

• More evidence that Google AI Overviews seem to ignore hreflang. This company - Twinkl - is cited 4 times in AIO citations here (US search). Twice for the US site, once for its Nigeria site and once for its Netherlands site. All pa, Lily Ray on X
• The new full-width display for images in the Discover feed on mobile looks… not great. Pretty much every second article in my feed has an image preview that looks terrible. Comparing it against the page itself, there’s clearly, SERP Alert on X
• Don't just be different, be usefully different. Build upon what works by adding your specific value and insight to provide genuine information gain for your audience., Myriam Jessier
• Focus on ecommerce? -> Meet the Perplexity Shopping Tab - After searching for a commercial query, you can click the "Shopping" tab in @perplexity_ai to view products and other info like where it was reviewed (w/the option to click t, Glenn Gabe on X
• Today, Veo 2, our state-of-the-art video model, is rolling out to Gemini Advanced + Whisk! You can create 8s, high-res videos from text prompts in @GeminiApp with fluid character movement + lifelike scenes across a range of st, Sundar Pichai on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google sends personalized growth plans to advertisers, pushing AI-driven solutions
• Google Search to redirect its country level TLDs to Google.com
• AI agents in SEO: What you need to know
• How and why to ‘be the primary source’ for organic search

Other Great Search Stories:

Industry & Business

• China’s AI boom is driven by DeepSeek and chip restrictions, Rest of World
• Google Failed To Pay $2M In Commissions, Ex-Sales Rep Says, Law360
• Japan's antitrust watchdog issues Google 'cease and desist' order, CNBC

Links & Content Marketing

• Link Building Trends Report (2025), BuzzStream
• Personal Brand More Powerful Than Resume, Content Marketing Institute

Local & Maps

• TikTok takes on Google Maps by surfacing reviews in the comments tab, TechCrunch
• How AI is Rewriting the Playbook for Local SEO Experts and GMB / GBP, Search Engine World

Mobile & Voice

• Anthropic Nears Launch of Voice Assistant Feature for Claude to Rival OpenAI, Bloomberg
• Google Is As Google Does: A Mobile Page Analysis, Near Media
• Google rolling out auto-restart security feature to Android phones, 9to5Google
• Hands on: Gemini Live could get a Circle to Search-like feature, Android Authority

SEO

• BrightonSEO April 2025 Recap & Highlights, Oncrawl
• Data-Driven SEO: How to Adjust Your SEO Strategy With Data, Sara Taher
• Duplicate Content? A New Writer's Guide to Value-Driven Content, Hill Web Creations
• How to compare hourly Google Search Data (GSC) to track impact from major algorithm updates using the GSC API and Analytics Edge [Tutorial], GSQI
• Necessary Evil: Pushing Navboost, Lets Push Google’s Top Ranking Signal – Part Three, Search Engine World
• The SEOFOMO Ecommerce SEO in 2025 Survey, SEOFOMO
• Why Optimizing for “Near Me” Doesn’t Work, JumpFly
• How to Rank for a Keyword (8 Steps), Ahrefs

PPC

• Most Campaign Types Hidden Behind "See More" Link, PPC News Feed
• N-grams: the secret to managing search terms, Adalysis
• Store Ratings Show Return Policy Details on Desktop, PPC News Feed

Search Features

• Anthropic's Claude AI Is Coming to Your Google Account, Inc
• ChatGPT now has a section for your AI-generated images, The Verge
• Google’s World Quantum Day doodle explains superposition, Google Blog
• OpenAI wants to be more like Apple and Google, Fast Company

Other Search

• Google rolls out its AI video generator to Gemini Advanced subscribers, The Verge
• OpenAI may 'adjust' its safeguards if rivals release 'high-risk' AI, TechCrunch

Feedback:

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