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.
US search ad revenue grew almost 16% with 102.9 billion. Google demoed its new AR/VR/XR glasses with Gemini for the first time. Google dropped the events carousel from the desktop results, it may be a bug. Bing Webmaster Tools will streamline its email notifications. Microsoft launched a Copilot merchant program.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
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Google Live Demo Of Android AR Glasses
The folks at Google did a live demo of Android XR, Google's AR glasses with Gemini, at the TED 2025 event. It is pretty wild to watch this demo, so I figured I'd share it with all of you here, in case you missed it. -
IAB/PWC: U.S Search Ad Revenue Grew 15.9% With $102.9 Billion In 2024
The IAB and PwC released their annual Internet Advertising Revenue Report, which showed search ad grew 15.9% with $102 billion in ad dollars in 2024. Search ads made up the largest pie of internet ad spending at 39.8%. -
Google Drops Event Rich Results Carousel On Desktop Search: Bug?
Google seems to be no longer showing the events carousel, event rich results, in the desktop search results. I see them on mobile search but I cannot trigger them on any browser on desktop search. -
Bing Webmaster Tools Working To Streamline Email Notifications
Fabrice Canel said Microsoft will streamline the Bing Webmaster Tools notifications because, at times, it can be a bit overwhelming. Fabrice wrote on X, "working to streamline things" when Martin MacDonald complained about getting way too many emails from Bing Webmaster Tools. -
Microsoft Launches Copilot Merchant Program
Microsoft launched the Copilot Merchant Program, a way to feed Copilot more details about your products. Microsoft said this is a way to "integrate your shopping experience with Copilot to help your brand gain visibility, acquire more customers and generate sales, all from a convenient centralized location with AI support at every step." -
YouTube Cookies at News Summit 2025
Here are some tasty looking YouTube branded cookies. They were made for the YouTube News Summit 2025 in Paris. There were about 250 people from 150 leading news media companies across 80 countries at the event. I wonder if they ran out of cookies.
Other Great Search Threads:
- I doubt I was the first, but I have talked about it over the years. It's a common comparison. Years (and years and years) ago, Brian Pinkerton described early search as a conversation but where follow up was hard. This is from when I inte, Danny Sullivan on Bluesky
- Google crushed my site. Any hope of return?, BlackHatWorld
- I see nothing in SEO has changed in the past decades, John Mueller on Bluesky
- We’re celebrating Easter with an interactive Search experience - search for “Easter” to activate it. We’ve been celebrating Easter with Search experiences for the last 6 years. (This is how we commemorate, News from Google on X
- This is why LLMs & search engines should really be separate products LLMs predict the next most probable token. They are digital "yes men" The problem is Google wants to use AI Overviews to leverage its search monopoly into an AI mono, Nate Hake on X
Search Engine Land Stories:
- U.S. search ad revenues surged to $102.9 billion in 2024
- The best affiliate networks by need and use case
- The ROAS illusion: Rethinking what Google Ads success looks like
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Industry & Business
- Google Makes History With Rapid-Fire Antitrust Losses, New York Times
- Google to appeal against part of US court's decision in monopoly case, Reuters
- How quantum computing could supercharge Google’s AI ambitions, CNBC
- Google Faces Its Monopoly Reckoning, Wall Street Journal
Links & Content Marketing
- List of Website Directories, Search Engine World
Local & Maps
- What's new in Google Business Profile: April 2025, Google Business Profile Help
- Marketing Attribution for Local Service Businesses (and why care), Level343
Mobile & Voice
- A guide to App Store & Google Play ranking factors, Blue Array SEO
- New updates to Google Play Console for developers, Google Blog
SEO
- Fragmented search ensures the future of SEO, Product Led SEO
- Freelance SEO Consultant Vs SEO Agency - Which Is Best?, Nikki Pilkington
- SEO Copywriting Tips & Tricks to Increase Your Ranking, Go Fish Digital
- I Built an AI Tool to Decode Google Discover. Here's What It Found, Metehan
PPC
Search Features
- NBA Playoffs 2025 Doodle, Google Doodles
Other Search
- OpenAI's new reasoning AI models hallucinate more, TechCrunch
- OpenAI and Shopify poise partnership on ChatGPT shopping, Testing Catalog
Feedback:
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