Industry News

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 rolled out AI Mode to more users...

There are tons of complaints in the Google Business Profile Help Forums about a bug during the setup process of a Google Business Profile. When you get to the screen about adding your phone number and website address, the next button won't take you to the next screen - it just won't let you go to the next step.

I don't know if you might also like this, you probably won't but Bing is dropped ads in their featured answers, featured snippets. They are calling these ads "You might also like."

Google seems to be testing removing the green checkmark from the Local Service Ads. I was able to replicate this for the same query, and the same set of advertisers. In one case it has the Google Screened checkmark in green and in the other, it does not.

Google is promoting AI Mode in its search results with a large banner ad. The banner ad says, "New! Try Al Mode. Get Al-powered responses & ask follow-ups with a new experiment. Try now..."

Google will change how it counts clicks in Google Merchant Center starting April 21, 2025. This change will make clicks count the same way Google Ads counts clicks. This means your current and historical reporting for clicks may change on April 21st.

For some Google searchers the ability to go to page two of the search results is simply not possible. The classic Google pagination bar is missing at the bottom of the results for some searchers.

About 30 minutes ago, Google sent out a batch of invites to its new AI Mode. I was one who got that email but when I click on the "try now" button, it still tells me I am on the waitlist and I can't access it just 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.

Google spoke about when (if ever) independent sites will see their content surface better in Google Search and hint...

Google would not give a specific date for when we will see independent sites to start surfacing better and higher in Google Search. As a reminder, Google wrote with the March 2025 core update, "We also continue our work to surface more content from creators through a series of improvements throughout this year."