Daily Search Forum Recap: April 30, 2024

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.

Microsoft Advertising has officially added Copilot to help advertisers using AI. Tuta complained to regulators over its ranking drop with the Google core update. We saw the same person rank in Google Search with multiple entities. Google renames product sites to product websites. Google Search App has a neat screenshot feature. I am offline today, all these stories were pre-written and scheduled, including this newsletter.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Copilot Now In Microsoft Advertising Platform
  Microsoft announced the general availability of Copilot in the Microsoft Advertising Platform. This means you can now use Copilot (Microsoft's AI) natural language conversational chat, asset recommendations, and image asset creation in the Microsoft Advertising platform.
• The Same Person With Multiple Entities In Google Search
  Last week, Shameem Adhikarath shared an example of an individual that shows up twice as two different entities in Google Search. It is like maybe Google was fed two distinct entities for the same person and now Google is showing both of them, with the same name and same query.
• Tuta Complains To EU Regulators Over Google March 2024 Core Update Ranking Drop
  Tuta Mail, a popular encrypted email service, complained to European Union tech regulators that Google dropped its rankings for all sorts of keyword phrases with the Google March 2024 core update. Tuta is upset they no longer rank for [encrypted email] after this update.
• Google Search App "Send A Link To This Page" When You Take A Screenshot
  One of my pet peeves is when people send me screenshots of pages they want me to read and do not include the URL to that page. Well, the Google Search app is trying to solve that issue by telling the person who took a screenshot to "Send a link to this page" by clicking a big blue "Share" button.
• Google Renames Product Sites To Product Websites
  Google has renamed the Product Sites search filter to Product Websites. These only really show up in the European regions and starting last week, Google renamed "Sites" to "Websites."
• Slimmer Google Dog Tag
  We have seen numerous dog tags for Dooglers, Google dogs, before. But this one looks slimmer than the old dog tags. I found this new photo of a Doogler and you can see the small Google collar tag.
• Programming Note: Offline For Last Days Of Passover
  This is a programming note that I will be completely offline for the last days of the Passover holiday. The last days of Passover are on Monday and Tuesday, April 29th and 30th. Any stories published here will be scheduled and written beforehand and not posted live.

Other Great Search Threads:

• I think we've gone through this discussion a few times since ... the past decade+. Go for another round, I'll mute the thread in the meantime. lol., John Mueller on X
• Thanks, Mike. I know that was painful to write. I've passed it on our our teams., Google SearchLiaison on X
• The team has always been extremely diligent., Mikhail Parakhin on X
• Yikes. If you're going to use AI chat features on your website or Google Business profile, make sure you monitor them. From our forum: "AI chat is quoting prices that are inaccurate and referring the customer to other moving company, Joy Hawkins on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google March 2024 core update rollout is now complete
• Google Search revenue increases 14% YoY to $46 billion
• Google CEO says AI overviews are increasing Search usage
• 6 things you should do after a Google core update rollout completes
• How to launch a product-led SEO strategy

Other Great Search Stories:

Industry & Business

• xAI, Elon Musk’s OpenAI rival, is closing on $6B in funding and X, his social network, is already one of its shareholders, TechCrunch
• Google plans $3 billion data center investment in Indiana, Virginia, Reuters
• Google to expand hardware R&D team in Taiwan, Nikkei Asia
• Investors Cheer AI Spending Boom in Big Tech—Just Not at Meta, Wall Street Journal
• Sundar Pichai Celebrates Googleversary, completes 20 years at Google, News9live

Links & Content Marketing

• How the role of content is changing in 2024, Marketing Week
• The opportunities and risks for using AI in content marketing, TechRadar

Local & Maps

• Free Google Maps Alternative Announces Major Real-Time Traffic Expansion, AutoEvolution
• Google Maps tests Live Activity on iPhone, 9to5Google

Mobile & Voice

• Report: Google Gemini Nano gets 'version 2' in coming months, 9to5Google
• What is generative AI like ChatGPT and Google Gemini good for?, Axios

SEO

• Common Questions About Schema Markup, Schema App Solutions
• Keyword Performance: What It Is and How to Track It, Semrush
• On-Page SEO: 5 Things You Can Improve to Rank Better, Motley Fool

PPC

• Target CPA Google Ads: Maximize Conversions & Minimize Costs, Semrush

Search Features

• 7 reasons I use Copilot instead of ChatGPT, ZDNET

Other Search

• Check your Google Search preferences if you made any changes in the last 2 weeks, Android Police

Feedback:

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Note: This was pre-written and scheduled to be posted today, I am currently offline for Passover.