#google-search

#google-search

Just a couple of months ago, Google had ads on the local pack for less than 3% of tracked keywords; now it's up to about 22% of tracked keywords. This was data posted by Joy Hawkins on X she got from Places Scout. Joy wrote, "Just had Places Scout re-run the data to see how this looks in January so far (we're tracking across 1200 mobile ranking reports). The increase isn't slowing down yet."

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. I am seeing some really heated Google search ranking volatility over the past 24-hours again. Google is testing third-party endorsement content on search ads. Google added a preferred sources help document. Google Business Profile review appeals are no longer delayed. Google Ads PMax has new one click ad previews. And I posted the weekly SEO video recap.

Google saidits Search engine could break if the company is forced to implement strict new controls to protect and nurture web content in the AI era. The warning came after UK antitrust regulators proposed new rules for Google Search that would give publishers more control over how their content is used in AI features such as Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode. In response, Google said it is working on new ways to give websitesmore control over how AI chatbots and AI-powered answer engines access and use online content.

Britain's competition watchdog said Wednesday that Google should give news sites and content creators the choice to opt out of having their online content scraped to feed its AI overviews. It's part of a set of proposals from the Competition and Markets Authority aimed at loosening the U.S. tech giant's stranglehold on the U.K's online search market. The watchdog last year labeled Google a "strategic" player in online search advertising, using new digital powers to promote more competition by forcing changes to the company's business practices.

Google is testing the ability to add color to your search results page with a color palette picker. There is this palette icon at the top of the results that when clicked on says "Add a splash of color to the top of Search," and "Pick color." When you click on pick color it loads 10 colors to "Choose an accent color for the top of Search."

A few weeks ago, we covered how damaging the Google Search results were for recipe publishers and bloggers. It was nicknamed Frankenstein recipes because it would take pieces of these recipes from bloggers, mash them together and ruin them, all while also mentioning the brand name - hurting the brand. Well, Google may be rolling out a fix or adjustment to those results, by bringing back the recipe carousel results and removing or pushing down the AI Overview section for many recipe queries.

For example, when it was asked what the normal range for liver blood tests was, the AI would give false numbers due to lack of information. Nationality, age, and sex are all factors that play a role in determining the correct results. Therefore, someone could believe they are healthy when they should have actually been seeking medical attention. "Google's AI Overviews can put inaccurate health information at the top of online searches, presenting a risk to people's health,"

Google seems to be testing showing call assets on Vehicle Ads within Google Search. So on the Vehicle Ads there is a way to call the dealer or seller, like you see on some other ads. I scoured the web looking to see if this is new and I couldn't find any mention of this before, nor any screenshots of this.

Google is testing a blue "Send" button in the search query box on its home page. When you type in your query, you can click "Send" to search Google for that query. Shameem Adhikarath spotted this change and posted screenshots and a screencast of it on X - this seems to replace the new AI Mode button. So when you start typing in your query, the AI Mode button may switch into this blue Send button. Clicking "Send" take you to Google Search results and not into AI Mode.

Google is testing prefilling the search bar in a new Chrome tab, with teasers to encourage you to search deeper with AI Mode. Google is putting in the search box, "Research a topic," "Write something new," "Ask Google," and "Make a plan." Glenn Gabe spotted this change and posted on X saying, "Noticed this morning that Google had an animation of text running in the Google search bar in Chrome (in a new tab).

Google is testing extremely long and expandable search result snippet descriptions in the search results. These are also AI-generated snippets, which we've seen before, but not this long. This goes on for eight lines of text. This test was spotted by Brodie Clark who posted a video of it on X and on SERPAlerts - here is a GIF of that video:

Google just rolled out a change designed to help you discover AI Mode in Search. Without any fanfare or even an official announcement that I could find, Google has added a small plus sign to the main Search page. Hover over it, and you'll see "Upload files or images." Click or tap it, and you'll have the chance to upload a file to learn more about it through AI Mode.

Google's Nick Fox said standard licensing deals for publishers are not coming, and that optimizing for AI search is the same as optimizing for traditional search. Google warns not to use JavaScript for noindex tag. Google Ads exact match is not eligible to show ads in AI Overviews. Google Search Console average impressions are going back down. Google Search Console performance report is back up to date but not the page indexing report. Google search results gain read more links.

Myth. Google Search has changed dramatically. Ten blue links have morphed into search engine results pages (SERP) with zero-click features such as AI Overviews, knowledge panels, and a tab to AI Mode. But SEO is alive - and you need this expertise in your newsroom to help you navigate. An SEO may tell you that users search Google to " Know, Do, Go," that users perform:

Google faces fresh antitrust scrutiny from European Union regulators, who opened an investigation Tuesday into the company's use of online content for its artificial intelligence models and services. The latest regulatory flexing by Brussels risks antagonizing President Donald Trump 's administration, though EU officials denied they were singling out American Big Tech companies. The European Commission, which is the 27-nation bloc's top antitrust enforcer, said it's examining whether Google has breached competition rules through its use of content from web publishers and material uploaded to YouTube for AI purposes.