Link Building Strategies

Google is testing shading the background color behind the search ads, sponsored results, and the local pack in the Google Search results. I do like that Google is testing differentiating the organic/free listings with the search ads/sponsored listings.View the full article

Google's Daniel Waisberg announced today at the Google Search Central event in Tel Aviv that Search Console will be gaining brand query filters. Plus, these filters will be AI-assisted, I am told.View the full article

Only two months ago, Google officially rolled out the follow feature on Google Discover. Now, that feature is no longer active and Google has removed the documentation associated with it.View the full article

Google announced some new features for Google Maps including a big one for reviews, where reviewers can now use nicknames instead of their real names when leaving reviews. Plus, Google added trending places to the explore tab and insider tips/know before you go to the results.View the full article

A court document from the Department of Justice Google monopoly case shows Google internally discussed six different options for giving (or not giving) publishers control over AI usage. The options range from do nothing new to add options to opt out of just AI Overviews (formerly known as SGE).View the full article

I am seeing some signs of a Google search ranking update over the past day or so but the chatter is super limited right now. Many of the tools spike yesterday but like I said, the SEO community chatter was calm. I wonder if this volatility was related to maybe the Cloudflare outage or Gemini 3 rolling out.View the full article

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 thought about how to give publishers control over AI using its content, but well...View the full article

More and more people are starting to see Google Ads within the Google AI Mode results. Google told us these ads were being tested on desktop AI Mode results back in May and over the past several weeks, more and more are starting to see them in the wild.View the full article

As you know, Google has been testing a way to click a button to message multiple businesses through the Local Service Ads. Google now calls that message fan out. That being said, Google seems to be testing variations of that button.View the full article

In April, we saw a small disclaimer on the Google AI Overviews within Google Search to "Check important info." Well, Google is testing a much larger disclaimer, at the bottom of the AI Overview that says, "Double-check important information" and "It's a good idea to check info in multiple places" with a "Learn more" button.View the full article

Google has updated the list of countries where using Google Ads for offline gambling advertising is prohibited. Google updated the list on November 19, 2025 to match countries where offline gambling is not allowed.View the full article

OpenAI announced shopping research within ChatGPT, "a new experience in ChatGPT that does the research for you to help you find the right products," as OpenAI put it. This is clearly OpenAI's response to Google's AI Mode and Gemini 3 shopping experiences.View the full article

Google has updated how it shows events within AI Overviews. It can now show the direct display of events, instead of an event summary. It is also a bit buggy, but here is how it looks.View the full article

Google rolled out Ads Advisor, its AI-based chatbot for Google Ads, a couple of weeks ago. But some are noticing that if you have an MCC account, where you manage multiple advertisers under one account, the Ads Advisor responses can mix advice from one chat you had about one client account, to a new chat on a totally different client's account.View the full article

Google's John Mueller said that rewriting AI content by a human won't change the site's ranking in Google by default. Instead, he said, you need to rethink your whole content strategy and the purpose of the site.View the full article

Google may have pushed out a Google search ranking update over the past couple of days. Although the chatter was somewhat quiet, it picked up today and some of the tools are also picking up on an update. I suspect the update and volatility started a couple of days ago, maybe on Monday, November 24th.View the full article

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today...View the full article

Google uploaded its Thanksgiving Doodle to the Google Search home page, google.com. It is a typical and expected cute Google Doodle - more on that later. But when you click on it, you are not taken to the Google search results page, instead you are taken directly into AI Mode.View the full article

Google's John Mueller made a joke about how next year, SEO companies will be offering GEO-Detox services as a billable line item after many of the SEO companies already billed their clients for GEO services.View the full article

Google Ads has supported adding WhatsApp Messenger for a while to your ad extensions. Now, it seems Google is also rolling out support for more messaging apps, including Facebook Messenger and Zalo, the Vietnamese instant messaging multi-platform service.View the full article

The Google local pack within the Google Search results changes, I think. When you click on the "More businesses" button at the bottom of the local pack, you aren't taken into Google Maps anymore; you are taken to the Google Places tab. And then when you scroll to see more, the pagination is broken.View the full article

Google Ads now lets you create up to five custom views on the Overview tab. The Overview now supports custom views and you can add up to five tabs and create Overview pages customised for your unique needs, Google wrote on the Google Ads console.View the full article

Google Ads is testing two new sections in the Overview tab. There is a new trends section and a new performance by stage section.View the full article

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today...View the full article

For the past week or so, a number of local SEOs and local business owners have been unable to see the admin panel, also known as NMX, when they search for their business in Google Search. This is not impacting everyone. I see it, many see it, but for some businesses, it does not show up.View the full article