Google Search Volatility Cooling, AI Overviews Penalties, Maps Pin Hack Fix, Search Market Share & More

Search Engine Roundtable Podcast

This week I covered how the third-party search rank checking tools seem to have cooled, but the chatter is still pretty heated. Maybe Google is blocking these tools, as I covered. Google still shows sites in AI Overviews even if they have manual actions. Google updated its manual actions for News and Discover policy violations. Google says it selects third-party review boxes algorithmically. Google prefers review ratings to contain the author's name and comments. Google Maps pin attack exploit seems to be fixed. Google Search people also search for is testing using AI, and so is What People Are Saying. Google Search video tab has continuous scroll. Google is testing a zoom animation for going to the next page of the search results. There is this scary Google Ads phishing scam going around. Google Ads Search Max may be coming soon. Google updated its hotel policies. Bing updated its AI answers to be more publisher friendly. Bing is testing bolding the sponsored label in its search results. Bing Ads is testing see more links. Google partnered with the Associated Press for more real time news. We posted some search market share numbers, but can you trust them. That was the search news this week at the Search Engine Roundtable.

SPONSOR: Wix Studio - Did you know the Wix Studio SEO Course is live. It covers topics like keyword research, technical SEO, local SEO, SEO reporting, link building and more. Learn more at wix.com/seo/learn/course and also check out the new LLM brand visibility tracker resource.

0:00 - Introduction

1:03 - Google Search Ranking Volatility Tools Cool Down

1:31 - Google Search Ranking Volatility (Chatter High / Tools Low) - Mid-January

1:53 - Is Google Blocking SEO Rank Checking Tools As Search Volatility Continues

2:44 - Google Can Show Sites With Manual Actions In AI Overviews

3:34 - Google Manual Actions For News & Discover Policy Violations Updated

4:07 - Google Third-Party Review Boxes Algorithmically Selected

4:40 - Google Prefers Review Ratings To Contain Author Name & Comments

5:09 - Google Map Pin Attack Exploit Fixed

5:37 - Google Search Generative AI For People Also Search For

5:52 - Google Testing AI Generated What People Are Saying

6:10 - Google Search Video Tab With Continuous Scroll

6:28 - Google Tests Search Results Zooming In To Next Page Of Search Results

6:45 - Scary Google Ads Phishing Scam

7:42 - Google Ads Search Max Coming Soon?

7:58 - Google Hotel Policies Updated On Availability & Rates

8:32 - Bing Tests Updated AI Copilot Answer Which Is More Publisher Friendly

8:47 - Bing Testing Bold Sponsored Labels

9:01 - Bing Ads - See More Links (Sitelinks)

9:15 - Google Partners With The AP To Gain Real Time Data

9:39 - Google & Bing Search Engine Market Share Data Over The Year

10:33 - Conclusion