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.
The DOJ ruled Google is a monopoly and action will be taken to limit that. Google Search rankings are also heating up. Google Search Console has a new recommendations section. Google Business Profiles shows your competitors in the see also carousel. There is a new SEO scam going around. Google served ads for products from other merchants and will issue credits. Google Trends has a new design for trending now results.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
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Google Is A Monopoly, Federal Judge Rules (What’s Next)
Judge Amit Mehta, a US federal judge ruled on Monday that Google is a monopoly. “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Judge Mehta wrote in his 286-page filing (PDF). -
Google Search Ranking Volatility Heats Up After DOJ Monopoly Ruling
It’s been about a week since the superheated and bursting Google Search ranking volatility, and since then, it did happen to calm down a bit, at least relatively speaking. But now I am seeing the Google search ranking volatility heat up again. -
Google Search Console Recommendations (Experimental)
Google Search Console is rolling out a new recommendations feature where Google will show you site improvement recommendations. These recommendations are based on the data in Search Console and aim to help improve your site’s performance on Google Search. -
Google Served Ads For Products From Other Merchants, Google Will Issue Credits
The big Google Ads reporting outage from the eve of August 1st was an intentional outage due to Google serving ads for products from other Google Merchant Center accounts. This was not just an ad spend issue but also a privacy and data issue for Google advertisers. But don’t worry, Google will issue credits to the “small fraction of advertisers” that were impacted by this. -
SEO Scam Where You Pay Google To Fix Your Search Rankings
There is this SEO scam going around where scammers are saying you pay Google to fix your rankings in Google Search. All you need to do is prepay them and Google will fix your site. John Mueller from Google said “this is a scam,” that Google does not offer such a service. -
Google Trends Rolls Out New Trending Now Design
Google Trends began rolling out a new design for the trending now page a day or so ago. The new design seems to give you more filter options and provide more keyword data on the same page. -
Google Business Profiles Listings See Also Carousel Leading To Competitors
Google is testing the “see also” carousel on Google Business Profiles. This means, someone can be looking directly at your local listing on Google, maybe because they searched for your company name, and Google can be suggesting competitors right under your listing. -
Google Secret Room Behind Bookcase
Here is a GIF or video of the secret room at the Google Kitchener office. Google has this hidden room only accessible by tilting the correct book in this bookshelf. They also have this in New York City and, Boulder, Colorado.
Other Great Search Threads:
- Data: 14 of the top 1000 sites are now blocking OAI-SearchBot, which is for SearchGPT (including NYT, Wired, NewYorker, Vogue, GQ, and more), Glenn Gabe on X
- Can you tell if this image is real or not? Take the quiz to test your AI-detection skills and repost with your score to help stop the spread of deepfakes. (Yes, it’s an AI generated image), Brad Smith on X
- Do you remember Google Alerts? Pepperidge farm remembers… because it’s…, Gary Illyes on LinkedIn
- Is value-based bidding for lead gen right for me, Google Ads on YouTube
- This is due to a bug that led to the Google Display Network label appearing in error in some Demand Gen campaign reporting. I’ll get back to you on this when I have more information., AdsLiaison on X
Search Engine Land Stories:
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
Industry & Business
Links & Content Marketing
Local & Maps
Mobile & Voice
SEO
PPC
Search Features
Other Search
Feedback:
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