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’s local pack dropped the ability to see more results, for 16+ hours. Google Search’s travel/hotel listings are being hijacked in the EU regions. Google Analytics 4 now has a new default Google Ads report. Google Ads now color codes the limited by budget status. Microsoft wanted to sell Bing Search to Apple but Apple said it had quality issues, Google said.
Google Drops Link To See More Local Results From Search Results
Google has dropped the “more places,” “view all” and links to see more local results from the local pack, the places box, in the Google Search results. This happened last night around 5 pm ET, and I thought it was a bug, but so far, Google has not yet fixed the issue.
Google Europe Search Hijacking Bug With TripAdvisor, Booking, Hotel.com & More
Google Search may have a bug in the European regions with hotel listings being hijacked by spammy sites. Google will show TripAdvisor, Hotels.com, Booking.com and other legit sites in its search results but when you click on those listings, you’re taken to a different site, a spammy site.
Report: Microsoft Tried Selling Bing To Apple But Search Quality Issues Held It Back
According to a court filing by Google, Microsoft tried to sell Bing, its search engine, to Apple but Apple did not want it because of search quality issues and lack of investment. Plus, Microsoft pitched Apple to make Bing the default search engine but that was rejected as well.
Google Analytics Adds New Default Google Ads Report
Google Analytics seems to have added a new default Google Ads report to the performance reporting section. This is if you have linked your Google Analytics 4 profile with your Google Ads account.
Google Ads Limited By Budget Status Now Color Coded
Google Ads now will use colors, like yellow and red background highlights, for the “limited by budget” status column. I assume a yellow indicator color is not as limited as a red indicator color.
Here is an old photo I just recently found on Instagram but is from way back in 2015. It is of a fancy looking waffle in a Google Photos box, it looks delicious but by now I am sure it is pretty hard to eat.
Hi All, This is a bug (and it was thought to be a non-brand query) — a fix is underway., AdsLiaison on X
The irony of irrelevant, old Reddit posts outranking Google’s official announcement here, Lily Ray on X
Yes, it was an edge case that affected this query., AdsLiaison on X
Analytics
Industry & Business
Links & Content Marketing
Local & Maps
Mobile & Voice
SEO
10 of the Best SEO APIs for Enterprises, seoClarity
INP (Interaction to Next Paint): The New Core Web Vitals Metric SEOs Should Know, Lumar
SEO in 2023: Winners, Losers, and Overall Trends, Amsive
SEO is not DEAD, HackerNoon
SEOs, Are You Using These 6 Mental Models?, Ahrefs
Find Your Difficulty Benchmark – Next Level, Moz
SEO Framework – the Execution (EP8), Compass Digital Strategies
PPC
Search Features
Other Search
Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or just contact us the old fashion way.