Link Building Strategies

I am seeing some signs of a Google Search ranking update and intense volatility that kicked in late yesterday. The SEO community started chattering about it over the past several hours and some of the tools are showing a spike in volatility with the Google search rankings.View the full article

Google Ads may be testing the ability to subscribe to support updates via WhatsApp. Google has rolled out a new option to get real-time support case updates directly on WhatsApp, at least some folks are seeing this.View the full article

Google is adding more AI features to Google Discover, specifically pushing people from articles in Google Discover into Google AI Mode. When you click on an article from Google Discover and then click on the three dots at the top right of the screen, you are given three options to go into AI Mode.View the full article

I know, we just reported the page indexing report within Google Search Console is very delayed, about two weeks. Well, it is still delayed two weeks, I thought it would catch up by now, but it only got three days of data and then stalled again. And the performance reports are now 32 hours behind, when it is normally just a few hours behind.View the full article

Microsoft is testing a new search bar with a more powerful tools menu button. This tools menu is larger, has a plus sign and gives you options to click search with your voice, search with an image and even make an image.View the full article

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

Back in May, Google said it will be giving advertisers more visibility into the search partner network with channel reporting for Performance Max campaigns. Well, now some are seeing it live in their accounts for some of the campaigns they manage.View the full article

Google has launched a new link on some search / sponsored ads named "Products at this location." Google confirmed this "relatively new feature" and can show up on listings for service businesses and other types of businesses.View the full article

Google is pushing even more ways directly into AI Mode from the main Google home page's search bar. Now when you select to upload an image or file, it will take you into AI Mode by default.View the full article

Google has been saying that no one uses the LLMs.txt file, that Google won't use it, that it can be useless, and you probably should noindex it if you do use it. Well, Google itself uploaded an LLMs.txt file for the Google Search Central portal.View the full article

Microsoft Advertising reportedly made two updates to its ad platform recently. One on how ad disapprovals work and the other on the time it takes to see a conversion be recorded in the ad reporting interfaces.View the full article

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

Today marks the 22nd anniversary of when I started this site, the Search Engine Roundtable. I was 23 years old when I started this site, compiling what the search community and search industry was talking about and...View the full article

It is already December, can you believe it and even crazier, I've been doing this for 22 years! Where does the time ago. In any event, we had some serious Google ranking volatility this month, especially over the Thanksgiving week/end.View the full article

Google's Gemini 3 and Nano Banana Pro is now available in AI Mode in 120 countries and territories in English. This expands it from Gemini 3 in AI Mode's initial launch just a couple of weeks ago.View the full article

Google's John Mueller said having a 100MB video file on your home page won't have a noticeable SEO effect. This was his response on a Reddit thread to the concern of having such a weighted-down file on your home page.View the full article

Back in October, we saw Google testing having the "Show more" button in the AI Overviews within Google Search jump you to AI Mode with follow-up questions. Well, Google's Robby Stein announced on X yesterday that this is being tested (after it was tested already) in the mobile search results.View the full article

Google Ads updated its gambling policy to disallow all promotion of online gambling-promoting content for horse racing targeting the United States. Google said this goes into effect as of December 1, 2025.View the full article

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

Google just posted its annual Seasonal Holidays Doodle, Google logo, for the 2025 holiday season. We have Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa coming up really soon now and since it is December 1, Google posted the Doodle.View the full article

Google is reportedly working on a new Gemini App user experience, which it is calling 2.0. The company is putting "huge investment" into this update of the Gemini user experience but we are not sure when this new look and experience will be released.View the full article

Google is testing a new widget at the top of the Google Discover feed. It is called "Top Searches," and it will randomly show some of the top searches across Google Search. And guess what, when you click on them, it takes you into AI Mode, not Google Search.View the full article

Google is testing using inline, hover-style links for citations in the AI Mode results. When you hover your mouse cursor over the link card, it will hover the link card sources over the answer. View the full article

Google Ads published new documentation on a tool called "Website Optimizer." Now, some of you OGs may remember Website Optimizer from 2008 or so. Well, it was renamed to Google Optimize and then sunset on September 30, 2023. Google Ads may be bringing it back or making something new within Google Ads named Website Optimizer.View the full article

As you know, Google finally launched custom annotations within the Google Search Console performance reports. Well, one issue we noticed is that it does not allow for adding annotations for data it does not have yet, like for today. Today, Google rolled out support for current/future dates.View the full article