Daily Search Forum Recap: November 21, 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.

DOJ asks the judge in the Google monopoly ruling to have Google sell off Chrome, restrict Android and end default search partner deals. Google AI Overviews may have delayed indexing. Google iOS App has page annotations and a new opt out form. Google sitelinks has new icons and labels. Bing is testing circle shaped favicons, they changed it from circle to square earlier this year.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• DOJ: Force Google To Sell Chrome, Restrict Android & Ban Default Deals
  The Department of Justice has asked the judge in the Google monopoly ruling case to force Google to sell Chrome, restrict Android from serving Google Search, and ban its default search deals with Apple and others devices. Of course, Google says this is "widely overboard proposal goes miles beyond the Court's decision."
• Google AI Overview Index Serving Delayed Compared To Web Results
  Google AI Overviews seems to be slower with removing citations/content from its index that it serves for answers, when compared to web search. This includes when a page or section is noindexed or robots.txt out and when Google deindexes the pages or sections of the site, due to a manual action or some other reason.
• Page Annotation In Google iOS App Browser
  Google launched a new feature in the Google App for iOS named Page Annotation. When you are browsing a web page in the Google App native browser, Google can "extract interesting entities from the webpage and highlight them in line." When you click on them, Google takes you to more search results.
• Google Sitelinks With Icons & Labels
  Google Search is testing showing icons and labels in the sitelinks within the search results snippets. I am seeing icons for a phone, price tag, fork/knife, map pin and information icons.
• Bing Search Tests Circle Shaped Favicons In Search Results
  Almost a year ago, we reported how Bing Search went from circle favicons in the search results to square favicons in the search results. Now, we are seeing Bing testing going back to the circle formatted favicons.
• Noogler Doogler at Google
  Here is another Doogler photo, a Google dog photo. This dog looks super happy. It was another dog at the Google office on Halloween. It seems Google had some dress up contest for these dogs.

Other Great Search Threads:

• "You can easily switch back and forth from profit based and revenue based bidding without impacting performance” - @adsliason, Greg Finn on X
• Continuing this week’s focus on confidential matching in Google Ads: An update In September, we noted that “attestation” would soon be available for confidential matching. Now, advertisers also have the option to encrypt their, AdsLiaison on X
• I think this partnership between @perplexity_ai and @stripe to enable inline purchases directly from search results is very neat. (And, as a reminder, we launched an agent toolkit last week -- check it out if you want to enabl, Patrick Collison on X
• Looker is great, but not an excuse for everything. I think the toggle hasn't been added from the start because it affects 1 out 4 elements in that page, so it might look a bit weird - an, Daniel Waisberg on X
• Report: U.S. Justice Department Official to Ask Google to Sell Off Chrome Browser, WebmasterWorld
• Thanks for @ahrefs for integrating IndexNow, Fabrice Canel on X
• Dear SEO Industry, especially practitioners who have been in search for 15+ years; it is time to step up and lead., Jason Kilgore on LinkedIn

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google outlines 2025 ads API roadmap
• Google reshapes in-store shopping with AI-powered comparisons
• Google AI Overviews massively surge in travel queries
• How to leverage Google Analytics 4 and Google Ads for better audience targeting
• Google Business Profile’s AI-transcribed menu upload just got better
• 4 tips for better PPC client meetings

Other Great Search Stories:

Analytics

• Customer Match in Google Analytics, Google Analytics Help
• No, it is not your fault: Google Analytics has had problems all over the globe, M4C

Industry & Business

• Musk Joined Call Between Trump, Google CEO, The Information
• A closer look at Google's first mass timber building, Google Blog
• AI Slowdown Is Everyone Else's Opportunity, Bloomberg
• DuckDuckGo calls for EU to widen its Digital Markets Act probe of Google, TechCrunch
• How Google Spent 15 Years Concealing Its Internal Conversations, New York Times
• Join us at Search Central Live in Zurich!, Google Search Central Blog
• Roadblocks to Competition: Investigate Google’s Non-Compliance with the EU’s Digital Markets Act, Spread Privacy
• Chinese AI Pioneer Baidu Posts Biggest Sales Fall Since 2022, Bloomberg
• OpenAI accidentally deleted potential evidence in NY Times copyright lawsuit, TechCrunch

Links & Content Marketing

• Long-form content makes a comeback in marketing strategies, FIPP
• Ultimate Reading List for Marketers: 60+ Book Recommendations, Content Marketing Institute

Local & Maps

• Google Maps Location History/Timeline change is still rolling out, 9to5Google
• New Research: European Local Search Behavior in the Home Services Vertical, Near Media
• How to use Apple Maps in iOS 18, Tom's Guide

Mobile & Voice

• OpenAI brings ChatGPT's Advanced Voice Mode to the web, TechCrunch
• 7 reasons Google Gemini is better than ChatGPT, Android Police
• Facebook Messenger Gains Siri Integration, Audio and Video Voice Messages and More, MacRumors
• Google Gemini can remember things now, The Verge
• Messenger adds Siri voice control, AI video backgrounds, voicemail, 9to5Mac

SEO

• Black Friday SEO Tips for Success, Digitaloft
• Enhance keyword research with Yoast SEO and Semrush, Yoast
• Exploring URL Volatility in Google‘s AI Overviews, Semrush
• How To Do Keyword Research for SEO, BruceClay
• Is it time to leave algorithms behind?, SERPs Up
• Is AI Stealing My Clicks?, MediaPost
• The SEO Framework: Log file analysis - why is it underused and overlooked?, Oncrawl
• Google CTR Stats – Changes Report for Q3 2024, Advanced Web Ranking
• The Ultimate On-Page SEO Checklist for 2025 (Tried & Tested), Measure Minds Group

PPC

• Ad Duplication Simplified for Demand Gen, PPC News Feed
• Are High CPCs Killing Your Google Ads ROI?, Jyll Saskin Gales
• Cashback Promotion Incentive Spotted in Ads, PPC News Feed
• Google Ads API 2025 release and sunset schedule, Google Ads Developer Blog
• How to increase conversions from Performance Max, Microsoft Advertising
• Introducing lower confidence reach data in the Bid Manager API, Google Ads Developer Blog
• Update to "Act for Prevention and Control of Hazards of Fraudulent Crimes” in Taiwan (November 2024), Google Advertising Policies Help
• Google Ads Introduces "Conversation Started" Conversion Action, PPC Hero
• Optimize Pricing with Sale Price Suggestions in Merchant Center, PPC News Feed

Search Features

• OpenAI releases a teacher's guide to ChatGPT, but some educators are skeptical, TechCrunch
• The AI Reporter That Took My Old Job Just Got Fired, Wired

Other Search

• AlphaQubit: Google’s research on quantum error correction, Google Blog
• How AI is powering a robotics revolution, Financial Times
• Google Discover has become Reach’s ‘biggest referrer of traffic’, Press Gazette
• OpenScholar: The open-source A.I. that’s outperforming GPT-4o in scientific research, VentureBeat

Feedback:

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