Daily Search Forum Recap: December 3, 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.

Just because you buy a generic domain, it doesn't mean you'll rank well for it in Google Search. Google Ads customer match is now in GA4. Google Search is piloting a new YouTube video interface. Google Search is testing new underlines under more of the snippet. Google Gemini is testing linking out more prominently.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google: Just Because You Call Yourself It, It Doesn't Mean You Will Rank For It
  Google's John Mueller responded to a question on why a company is not ranking for its new brand name, saying, "Just because you call your company something doesn't mean it'll show up on top in search like that."
• New Google Ads Customer Match For Google Analytics Audiences
  Google Analytics now supports Customer Match from Google Ads. Audiences exported to Google Ads will now also include your first-party consented, hashed customer data, and your tag-based user identifiers, Carly Boddy from Google wrote on Bluesky.
• Google Search YouTube Summary Pilot: Quick Takes & Key Takeaways
  Google is testing a new video format for some YouTube videos that provide "easy to digest" summaries of YouTube videos based on the users queries. This is a pilot that is rolling out to some searchers over the past week or so and gives you a new user interface showing you quick takes and key takeaways from those videos.
• Google Gemini Testing New & Improved Link Sources
  Google's Gemini is testing a new format for showing sources and links, a format that gives publishers and content sources more visibility in its AI answer engine. Google Gemini's AI search results may soon show sources much more clearly, wrote Android Police.
• Google Tests Underline Title, Link & Domain On Hover In Search Results
  Google seems to be testing underlining the title, link and domain in the search result snippet when you hover your mouse cursor over the snippet. Generally, Google will just highlight the title link, the blue link, under the URL but here Google is underlining all of it.
• Polar Bears At GooglePlex
  Here is a photo from the GooglePlex, the main Google headquarters, where you see there are polar bears set up in front of Stan the dinosaur. I spotted this via long-time Googler Louis Gray on Bluesky.

Other Great Search Threads:

• Former Client Generating Fake Reviews, Local Search Forum
• Google is preparing another AI-powered feature for Chrome called “Store reviews,” this feature will show you a “summary of reviews from independent websites like Trust Pilot, ScamAdvisor, and more,” this summary will be displa, Leopeva64 on X
• I'm just not sure what the desired outcome would be. Is it that the "source site" wants to be considered the only place where the information is found? I feel like the syndication model has been around for long, and (simplified, I know) you, John Mueller on Bluesky
• Sick of competitor names showing up as matches to your phrase match keywords in Google Ads? Negative them out in bulk before they even appear with this cool tool I built! Let me know if it helps you as much as its helped me!, Darcy Burk on X
• Memories of blink means we're officially old. Wikipedia: "Netscape only agreed to remove the blink tag from their browser if Microsoft agreed to get rid of the marquee tag in theirs during an HTML ERB meeting in February 1996.", John Mueller on Bluesky

Search Engine Land Stories:

• OpenAI has no immediate plans for ChatGPT advertising
• How to become an industry thought leader by building content pillars
• Google Chrome site engagement service metrics
• How to cultivate SEO growth through continuous improvement
• 8 tips to craft clear and impactful client communication

Other Great Search Stories:

Industry & Business

• Google buys land in Finland for potential data center, Data Center Dynamics
• UK antitrust suit hits Microsoft with claim for $1.25B in cloud fees damages, TechCrunch
• What’s Next for Google’s Search Monopoly, New York Times

Links & Content Marketing

• What Marketers Should Know About Data Cleaning, Modeling, and Governance, Content Marketing Institute
• Adopting AI is Not a Marketing Strategy, Market Scale

Local & Maps

• How Google’s November 2024 Core Update Impacts Multi-Location Businesses, GMBapi
• Local Keyword Research: Why You Need It & How to Find Keywords Today, RicketyRoo
• Waves of GBP Suspensions Reflect Google Support Failures, Near Media
• What is the Difference Between a Disabled and a Suspended Google Business Profile?, Sterling Sky
• Why Buying 5-Star Google Reviews Could Cost You Everything, Sterling Sky
• Announcing the All New Moz Local, Moz

Mobile & Voice

• Gemini-powered Google Assistant answering with new voice, 9to5Google
• Apple Vision Pro global rollout continues with Taiwan, AppleInsider

SEO

• 2025 SEO Trends: Top Predictions from 23 Industry Experts, Moz
• 7 SEO Predictions for 2025, Search Engine World
• Google's reinterpretation of Site Reputation Abuse is wreaking havoc among publishers, SEO for Google News
• How to create your own Knowledge Panel / Entity Tracker on Google Sheets [5 Steps], Gus Pelogia
• SEO in 2025: 4 Trends to Look Out For, Sitebulb
• When to publish & update content using SEO insights, SEO For Journalism
• How to Communicate SEO Fixes to Developers, Sara Taher
• How to Get Your Website Featured in AI Overviews (EP39), Compass Digital Strategies

PPC

• 10 Sales-Boosting Holiday Strategies for Google Ads Performance Max Campaigns, WordStream
• Ad Strength Symbol Spotted on Asset Group Level in PMAX, PPC News Feed
• Malicious Ads in Search Results Are Driving New Generations of Scams, Wired
• OpenAI explores advertising as it steps up revenue drive, Financial Times (Sub)

Search Features

• Google AI Overviews Research: 2024 Recap & 2025 Outlook, SE Ranking
• Google Using Your Images in AI Overviews Without Credit: Where’s the Line?, Bill Hartzer
• Why does the name 'David Mayer' crash ChatGPT? Digital privacy requests may be at fault, TechCrunch

Other Search

• How retail businesses are using Gemini generative AI models, Google Blog
• The race is on to make AI agents do your online shopping for you, TechCrunch

Feedback:

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