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's December 2024 spam update is still heated, although it should be done rolling out any time now. Google Merchant Center relaxed its inconsistent language policy. Apple wants to be involved in defending its search deal with Google. Google Ads bug may lead to Google turning on broad match for some campaigns. Googlers are again working on Christmas.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
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Google December 2024 Spam Update Burns Through Christmas
The Google December 2024 spam update seems to have burned through the Christmas holiday, with high volatility on Christmas eve and day. I saw comments from site owners and creators about how devastated they were through the holidays and it was gut-wrenching to read those comments. -
Why Apple Wants To Be Involved In Google's US Antitrust Case
Apple has issued a motion of intervention in the DOJ vs Google antitrust case, specifically in the remedies side to help Google fight the default search agreement it has with Apple. Why is Apple doing this? Primarily because Apple wants its $20 billions from Google and Apple does not yet want to enter the general search engine space. -
Google Ads Bug May Lead To Broad Match Quietly Being Turned On
There may be a bug impacting some Google Ads advertiser accounts that will quietly switch your campaigns to have broad match turned on, even when that campaign may have used phrase or exact match. This can happen when you switch from non-conversion based bidding to a conversion based bidding strategy. -
Google Merchant Center Now Allows Some Inconsistent Languages Across Site & Feeds
Google has relaxed its inconsistent language policy within Google Merchant Center to allow some languages between your product feed and your website language not to match. Google wrote, "we are relaxing the supported language policy to allow some differences between your product feed language and website language." -
Googlers Working Christmas & Christmas Eve (2024 Edition)
Every year I like to cover how I spot Googlers, like John Mueller, but yes others, working and communicating with the SEO community on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. This year is no different, with John Mueller, Martin Splitt and even Gary Illyes responding to the SEO community during the holidays. -
Santa Pulls Up In Front Of Google Dublin Office In Classic Car
Santa pulled up in a 1969 Morgan Plus red sports classic car (I think) in front of the Google Dublin office. I am not sure if Google was been nice or naughty but hey, here is the photo. -
Google's Ugly Sweater Contest
Google's CEO, Sundar Pichai, shared photos from Google's annual ugly sweater contest. This year, Gemini was the judge. He shared a number of photos from the event.
Other Great Search Threads:
- Nothing says better "I want to wipe out my site from search" than these bad boys. Ok HTTP status codes do. And "noindex". Connection issues? Ok there are many things., Gary Illyes on Bluesky
- We are excited to share that Foursquare is a proud partner to OpenAI and ChatGPT search, Foursquare On LinkedIn
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Google Ads alert: broad match auto-toggle raises concerns
- Google tightens ad policies to align with Search spam rules
- Google expands AI organized search results to restaurants
- Top 15 SEO stories of 2024
Other Great Search Stories:
Industry & Business
- Apple seeks to defend Google's billion-dollar payments in search case, Reuters
- Google remedy proposals leave little room for settlement, says Wells Fargo, Yahoo Finance
Links & Content Marketing
- 10 Remote Jobs In Marketing That Pay Up To $200,000+ In 2025, Forbes
- How To Craft a Visual Marketing Strategy That Sells (2024), Shopify
Local & Maps
- 6 Reasons Google Local Services Ads (LSAs) are a Racket in Real Estate, SEO Savvy Agent
- How Do I Rank Higher in Google Local Search?, BruceClay
- Google Maps is deleting location history soon, so act now to save your data, Fox News
Mobile & Voice
- Gemini's Deep Research feature is available across more languages and regions, Android Central
- Google Reportedly Compares Gemini AI to Anthropic’s Claude in Model Evaluations, AutoGPT
- How I Use Type to Siri to Eliminate Awkward Interactions in Public, Make Use Of
- How to enable Apple Intelligence, Macworld
- iOS 18.2 just added a faster way to message Siri and ChatGPT, 9to5Mac
- My favorite Android phone of the year isn't from Samsung or Google — and it sets a new standard, Tom's Guide
SEO
- Best SEO Plugin for WordPress Ecommerce: Top 7 Picks for Sellers (2025), Bluetuskr
- Exposing Big Publishers Since Google Killed My Replay Jutsu With The Spam Update, Replay Jutsu
- Parsing Google’s Search Results by Keywords: A Detailed Guide to Building a Free Google Parser, Habr
- Google's Crawling December Series Summarized with NotebookLM, Packted
PPC
- Scam Sniffer: Malicious Google ad campaign redirects crypto users to fake Pudgy Penguins website, Crypto News
Search Features
- Google lets you review members of Congress, and the appraisals are brutal, Washington Times
- Google starts rolling out Gemini's Deep Research model in more regions, Android Police
Feedback:
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