How to sign up for the new Google Search Generative Experience
Want to join the waitlist? This will only be available to U.S.-based searchers and will only be supported in the English language.
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Barry Schwartz's latest articles
The new Google Search Generative Experience: Here’s what it looks like
AI-generated answers will appear above Google's search results listings. Google will cite the websites it used to help generate the answer.
What ads look like in the new Google Search Generative Experience
Advertisers won't be able to track how ads perform in the new Google while it's experimental.
Google Search to become more “visual, snackable, personal, and human”
With Google I/O around the corner, we are all expecting big news from Google on how Google Search will change - here are some reported leaks on that news.
Google no longer requires video descriptions as part of structured data
Empty descriptions will no longer show up as errors in the Search Console reports.
Bing Chat available to more users, gains more visual answers, chat history and third-party developer capabilities
Over half a billion chats were conducted on Bing Chat since it launched, 3-months ago.
Google no longer recommends canonical tags for syndicated content
Instead, Google says block your syndicated content from being indexed.
Google: Page experience is not a ranking system, but it is a ranking signal
Google's core ranking systems look to reward content that provides a good page experience.
Google’s April 2023 reviews update was more volatile than the previous product reviews update, data providers say
This update was more widespread than previous updates because it targets more than just product reviews.
Google updates site names in search results after numerous complaints
The fix is rolling out and while it does fix a number of inappropriate site names, it does not resolve all the reported issues.
Google now supports 25 more countries with new return policy structured data
Plus, some are now noting more return and shipping details in the Google search results.
Google April 2023 reviews update is finished rolling out
As a reminder, this reviews update started on April 12 and goes well beyond just product reviews.
Bing search results gain site name and favicons
Bing Search is looking a lot more like Google Search and you can now report issues with site names to Google.
Bing Webmaster Tools to gain Bing Chat impressions and clicks next month
We will soon be able to see how much visibility and traffic Bing Chat is sending our web sites.
Bing Chat gets better at news questions and minimizes no-response answers
Plus, Bing said they reduced unnecessary duplicate searches and end conversations.
Google explains the use cases for its different crawler types
There is Googlebot, special-case crawlers and user-triggered fetchers.
Google removes several search ranking algorithm updates from its ranking systems page
Page experience is important for your users and usability, but it never seemed all that important for rankings.
You can now use Google Bard to help you code
You can use Bard to help you code up some Python scripts to automate some of your daily SEO or PPC tasks.
Google launches a new crawler named GoogleOther
This crawler is similar to Googlebot, but it will be used internally by Google teams to crawl the public web.
Google Bard adds more variety to drafts
Bard always showed multiple drafts but now those drafts are more distinct from each other, Google explained.
Google says helpful content should have good page experience
Google does add that when it comes to page experience evaluation, it is not just page specific but can also be site-wide.
Google Search Console page experience report going away
The Core Web Vitals and HTTPS report is staying but the mobile-friendly test is going away.
Google Search Console adds new rich results report for “Subscribed content”
Reader Revenue Manager publishers can now measure traffic from Google Search queries and fix structured data.
Google adds new return policy structured data support for merchant listing
These changes come with the new shipping and return information in the Google search results.
Google shows shipping and return information in the search results
Google Search Console added a report to monitor and fix the structured data required to enable this display.
Google planning new search engine while working on new search features under Project Magi
Project Magi will help searchers complete transactions while incorporating search ads on the page.
Google webspam report: SpamBrain caught 5x more spam
Because Google said it can detect spam faster, the company claimed that 99% of visits in Google Search were "spam-free."
Google Bard adds more search topics to “Google it” button
Google also now has a release notes document to track updates to Bard.
Microsoft Advertising professional service ads go global, broad match modifier changes rolling out and more
All broad match modifier keywords for search ads will now serve as broad match keywords instead of phrase match, Microsoft announced.
Google Analytics 4 now lets you modify and create events using regular expressions
This allows you to migrate destination and event goals using regex.
Google updates Bard to improve math, logic responses
Google said Bard can better understand and respond to prompts for multi-step word and math problems. Coding is coming soon.
Google Maps can detect fake phone numbers in photos and remove them
Google also shared some states on how it fought fake reviews and content in local search.
Microsoft explores sharing Bing Chat ad revenue with publishers
Bing Chat had ads since it launched Feb. 7. Now Microsoft says it's exploring ways to give some publishers a piece of that ad revenue.
How the March 2023 Google core update compared to previous core updates
We asked some of the Google tracking data providers for data on the latest Google algorithm update.
Google launches Perspectives, About this author and more ways to verify information
Google's new features should give searchers more reason to trust your site, your authors and the content on your pages.
Google March 2023 broad core update done rolling out
This March 2023 core update took 13 days to roll out. This was a fairly impactful update compared to previous core updates.
Core Web Vitals report within Google Search Console updated
You may see a change in the number of URLs reported in the Core Web Vitals report in Google Search Console
Microsoft fixes data loss within Bing Webmaster Tools API
Make sure to rerun any scripts you have that may be missing data from the Bing Webmaster Tools API.
Google Search Console breaks out Merchant listings and Product snippets appearances
This is an update to previously launched reports from last September.
2023 Survey: Local search ranking factors
Whitespark has surveyed dozens of local SEO experts to compile what they believe are the most important ranking factors for local search.