Link Building Strategies

This is just a programming note that I will be 100% offline starting Wednesday night (October 1st) through Thursday night (October 2nd) for Yom Kippur. I am not scheduling any stories on Yom Kippur...View the full article

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

Microsoft is testing using really large images in the Bing Search Copilot ads. I don't believe I've seen such large ads in this ad unit before, so it seems new to me.View the full article

Google has rolled out the new, more compact, menu bar for Google Merchant Center Next. This was part of a slew of user interface updates that Google has been slowly rolling out for Merchant Center Next over the past several months.View the full article

Google is testing another variation to the title links in the Google Search results - a light gray effect. So when you hover your mouse cursor over the snippet, the title link turns grayed and washed out.View the full article

Did you know Google can label some of the reviews in the product reviews section as "incentivized"? I am not sure I've seen this before, have you?View the full article

Barry Pollard from Google did a long explanation on Bluesky on why Google Search Console says an LCP is bad but the individual URLs are fine. I don't want to mess it up, so I will copy what Barry wrote.View the full article

This week we covered the Google AI Mode news that it is more visual for many queries, including shopping queries. Google AI Mode agentic capabilities can now be opted into. Google AI Overviews...View the full article

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

Google has confirmed a Google Search serving issue that is currently ongoing and impacting serving "some pages in some locales." This is a large enough issue that Google posted about it on its Google Search Status Dashboard. View the full article

A year ago, we learned that Google would transition from Google call ads, call-only ads, to using call assets within responsive search ads (RSAs) but we didn't know the dates. Now, Google said this will happen in two phases: February 2026 and February 2027.View the full article

Microsoft will be shutting down its Microsoft Advertising Ads for Social Impact ad grant program. It will officially be discontinued in December 2025.View the full article

Google was previously testing placing AI-generated snippet summaries below each search result snippet. Now, Google is testing replacing the search result snippet's description with its own AI-generated description. View the full article

As we reported earlier, Microsoft said a new Bing Places update is coming soon. Well, now it is rolling out to businesses in Bing Places for Business.View the full article

Google is testing having the "Show More" button within AI Overviews jump you directly into AI Mode as opposed to loading more of the AI Overview beneath it. This appears to be a test, as I am unable to replicate it.View the full article

If you search for [events near me], Google may not show you any events near you. It seems like Google is not serving that events carousel right now. I suspect it is a bug and I wonder if this is related to the serving bug from Friday afternoon?View the full article

This is a programming note that Tuesday and Wednesday are Sukkot and I will be offline the next two days. I will be offline on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 7th and October 8th.View the full article

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

Google updated the wording in the title documentation for Merchant Center, now suggesting you can use your own brand or company name in the short title of your products. That is, if you manufacture your own products.View the full article

Google Search is testing a new carousel to promote AI Mode named "Ask AI Mode anything." It gives you ideas on how to "Explore" new or related topics in AI Mode.View the full article

Google had a bug in Google Discover that showed the publisher's name and logo twice on a story. The publisher's name showed once at the top and once at the bottom of the article card in the Google Discover feed.View the full article

Microsoft is testing a new and updated layout for its Copilot product box/section within the Bing search results. It looks like they just swap the answer and product listing sections from one side to the other.View the full article

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

Google is testing using the italic font type for the links in AI Mode. So the links have a bit of a slant to them, compared to the other text in the AI Mode response.View the full article

Google is testing a new, more publisher-friendly version of the AI Overviews for recipe results. The new design has the recipe cards at the top, citations at the bottom and a shorter AI response.View the full article