Industry News

Catch up on interesting new discussion and industry news.

    Google Assistant To Be Replaced Bu Gemini

    rustybrick
    by rustybrick
    Mar 17, 2025 at 4:51 AM
    The time has come for the Google Assistant to be replaced by Gemini, Google's younger and better assistant (despite it being wrong way too often). Google announced, "Over the coming months, we're upgrading more users on mobile devices from Google Assistant to Gemini; and later this year, the classic Google Assistant will no longer be accessible on most mobile devices or available for new downloads on mobile app stores."

    Microsoft Bing: SEOs Should Focus on Conversions & Click Value

    rustybrick
    by rustybrick
    Mar 17, 2025 at 4:41 AM
    Fabrice Canel from the Microsoft Bing team told SEOs that instead of focusing on traffic and rankings, they should focus on conversions and click value. He said on X, "SEOs should focus on conversion."

    Google Said It Made Updates To AI Overviews Links In May But Did Not

    rustybrick
    by rustybrick
    Mar 17, 2025 at 4:31 AM
    Digiday reported that a Google spokesperson told them they made link updates to AI Overviews in May 2024 that added more links and made it easier for searchers to click on links. But I don't think that is true, that didn't come until August 2024, and did they really help drive clicks to your sites?

    Google Merchant Center Adds Return Code Example With returnPolicyCountry

    rustybrick
    by rustybrick
    Mar 17, 2025 at 4:21 AM
    Google added returnPolicyCountry to the return policy code examples within the Google Merchant Center structured data document. This is because Google requires returnPolicyCountry for MerchantReturnPolicy.

    Google Hijacks Restaurants Booking System Leading To No Available Reservations

    rustybrick
    by rustybrick
    Mar 17, 2025 at 4:11 AM
    Imagine you own a restaurant and you get all your reservations online through your booking system; you even tell people to book online when they call, via an automated message. But then, all of a sudden, Google decides to hijack that booking link and replace it with Google Assistant's calling feature.

    Google Updates Googlebot's IP Addresses In JSON File Daily

    rustybrick
    by rustybrick
    Mar 17, 2025 at 4:05 AM
    Google has switched from updating its googlebot.json file, the file that contains the list of IP addresses Googlebot uses, from weekly to daily. Gary Illyes from Google said this was done based on feedback from the community.

    “Ack, think, act”—building trust as a product manager

    by Rian van der Merwe
    Mar 15, 2025 at 6:13 AM
    Many (oh my word, so many) years ago I wrote that I thought “fairness” is the most important characteristic of a good Product Manager. I still stand by that, but I had another thought recently about a related characteristic that forms the other side of that coin.

    Jakob Nielsen’s 30+ year old usability heuristics remain true to this day, but it’s not just relevant to UI/UX. In particularly I think “Visibility of System Status” is one of the most important skills a PM can internalize. The...

    Daily Search Forum Recap: March 14, 2025

    rustybrick
    by rustybrick
    Mar 14, 2025 at 7:00 AM
    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 began rolling out the March 2025 core update yesterday...

    Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google March Core Update, Google AI Mode Concerns, Google 22% Growth & AI Search Engines Wrong

    rustybrick
    by rustybrick
    Mar 14, 2025 at 5:01 AM
    This week we covered Google's March 2025 core update being released. Google responded to some complaints or concerns about Google's new AI Mode. A study showed Google grew 22% over the past year...

    Google March 2025 Core Update Is Rolling Out - Here Is A Deeper Dive

    rustybrick
    by rustybrick
    Mar 14, 2025 at 4:51 AM
    Google officially announced the rollout of the March 2025 core update yesterday at around 12:30 pm ET. This core update is expected to take up to two weeks to roll out. Google said this is a regular core update but did make a note about helping surface content from content creators.