Stories, page 7
- Google results are moving and an update may be underway
Two people who track Google rankings say something is moving, but nobody has confirmed what it is.
- That scary homepage warning in Google was just a bug
Search Console briefly told site owners their homepage was not in Google. It was wrong.
- AI answers may skip brands that plant their own praise
One SEO watched ChatGPT drop his brand from a citation after it spotted a self-recommendation.
- Buying cheap backlinks can quietly sink your site
A new marketplace sells links for pennies, and several well known SEOs say the sites buying them will pay for it later.
- Google's AI search briefly stopped linking to websites
A new Gemini model went live in AI Mode with almost no citations, and Google called it a bug.
- Google is building simple free tools into its answers
A working character counter now appears inside Google's AI answer box, and SEOs say any simple tool site could be next.
- Google puts comparison sites above hotels in Europe
Hotels, airlines and restaurants get pushed below three comparison engines in EU results, and Google says quality drops because of it.
- Google can lose faith in a site for months over bulk pages
Three SEOs are now showing sites that dropped after publishing pages at scale, and Google has put the reason in writing.
- Google is deleting AI-sounding replies to your reviews
Stock phrases like "thrilled to hear" are getting business replies wiped before customers ever see them.
- Two Google reports are stuck, and it is not your site
Barry Schwartz flagged both gaps, and Glenn Gabe says the lag is nothing new.