Link Building Strategies

Google is appealing the ruling that it is an illegal search monopoly - which surprises no one. Plus, Google asked the court to pause the remedies during the appeal phase.View the full article

As part of an article from The Verge taking aim at SEOs, Google says that they are aware of self-serving listicles and work to prevent this abuse from impacting results. View the full article

Google is losing one of its main sources of information for its Knowledge Graph, the CIA World Factbook. This was a reference resource produced by the Central Intelligence Agency between 1962 and 2026 with almanac-style information about the countries of the world.View the full article

Google's John Mueller confirmed that Google is not killing off all forms of schema and structured data support for Google Search. The question came up in a Reddit thread after Google's announcement about more structured data support and search features going away.View the full article

Google updated its JavaScript SEO documentation for the third time this week, this time to say that "while pages with a 200 HTTP status code are sent to rendering, this might not be the case for pages with a non-200 HTTP status code."View the full article

Google recently posted a new job listing for a GEO Partner Manager. The position calls for you to be responsible for the "transition Google's engagement model from Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) discovery to formal ecosystem advocacy."View the full article

Google has been using AI to write parts of the knowledge panels for some time now. But now it seems, when Google does that, it will show references and link cards, like it does in the AI Overviews.View the full article

Google is testing a knowledge panel that includes a places card that can be expanded to show a map and local pack results. I cannot replicate this, which makes me think this is a test. I do see the places section below the knowledge panel, but not one that you can click to expand.View the full article

Google seems to be rolling out colorful sections in the knowledge panels. Sometimes you will see gray, sometimes blue, sometimes orange and sometimes green and maybe more. We saw this on mobile over a decade ago, so this does seem new, especially on desktop.View the full article

Back in May, we covered how Google was testing a new sponsored results label that placed a few ads beneath it, as opposed to labeling each and every ad as sponsored. Well, that version seems to be expanding and more and more people are seeing it and many are not liking it.View the full article

A new agency-dedicated experience Merchant Center experience from Google should streamline managementView the full article

It looks like Google is launching a special agency version of Google Merchant Center named Merchant Center for Agencies. Google explained this version is a "tailored experience designed specifically for agency users. The product allows for the management of multiple Merchant Center accounts at scale."View the full article

Google announced a couple new Google Lens features; (1) they are expanding how AI Overviews show on Google Lens results and (2) Chrome and Google's iOS app now let you search your screen with Google Lens.View the full article

Google sent out emails yesterday through Google Merchant Center inviting some brands to manage and edit their brand content on Google Search. I suspect this is the visual brand profile ads/pages but I am not sure.View the full article

The folks at Google did a live demo of Android XR, Google's AR glasses with Gemini, at the TED 2025 event. It is pretty wild to watch this demo, so I figured I'd share it with all of you here, in case you missed it.View the full article

Google is testing showing the option ot track price changes for hotel results by email. We saw Google announce a similar feature back in March but now it is showing in the local hotel pack results in core search.View the full article

Google is testing labeling some photos in the local hotel listings with "Good to Know" AI-generated descriptions of some of those photos. These labels seem to summarize what the photo and reviews say about the specific area of that hotel.View the full article

We've seen the clipable coupons within the search results for several years now and in store listings and many places, but have we seen them in local knowledge panels? Maybe, I am not sure.View the full article

Google seems to be testing showing the local pack, Google Business Profile listings, at the top of the Google Shopping results in the Shopping tab. Normally, Google does not show local packs in the Shopping tab, I believe...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 is testing a newish section in the Google local panel to tell searchers how far that business is from your location. Google is testing adding either a "Get there" data point and/or a "From your location" data point. View the full article

Google is testing removing some of the action buttons on local panels, Google Business Profiles, including call and share, and replacing it with a numbered show more button. Clicking on that button opens up those additional action options.View the full article

Google is testing showing an AI Mode history button within the local panel in Google Search. When you are viewing a specific business or organization, there may be an AI Mode button in a history enclosure under the call, directions, buttons.View the full article

It seems the Google Search local feature that showed Questions and answers on local panels is no longer working for most businesses. I know Google disabled them in India, but they worked fine everywhere else.View the full article

Over the past few days, the local SEO community is pretty upset that Google appears to be testing removing the call button from the local results. I am not sure if this is a bug or part of the design of the new Web Guide interface that more people are seeing. Either way, I do think this must be an oversight and the call button should be added back, I would hope.View the full article