Google had a busy week, from reducing AI Overviews responses for hard news topics, launching a new recommendation feature to help site owners with SEO, and Implementing an automated AI photo selection for local service ads to being found guilty by a US judge of running an illegal search monopoly.
From around the web, Matt G. Southern reports how Googlebot works regarding links (spoiler alert-it doesn’t follow them), and Barry Schwartz writes about Google’s crawling budget and how it doesn’t track expenses.
SEO News (Week in-Review)
Google Reduces AI Overviews Responses In Search To New Low
A NewsDash study reveals how Google’s AI Overviews appearance in search results has drastically reduced, dropping from 84% to 3.9% in three months.
The study examined thousands of trending keywords to see how often AI Overviews appeared for the most popular stories. It found that visibility fluctuated across searches, and 96.1% of keywords didn’t trigger an Overviews response.
NewsDash says the drop fits with Google’s pledge to reduce inaccuracies in AI overviews when summarizing sensitive news topics where accuracy is essential.
Key takeaways:
- AI Overviews percentage appearance fluctuates across all searches.
- Google’s AI Overviews now appear in only 3.9% of trending news searches.
- 96.1% of keywords did not trigger any AI Overviews response.
- Google continues to reduce the appearance of AI overviews on hard news topics.
Google Launches New Recommendations In Search
Console
Google’s new Search Console Recommendations feature gives site owners tools and tips for optimizing their SEO and enhancing their visibility in Search.
Google says recommendations will help SEO professionals and site owners by focusing on internal issues, external opportunities, and configuration.
Key takeaways:
- Google’s new feature creates tips and recommendations for websites to help improve indexing, crawling, and serving issues.
- Google’s update ensures that essential SEO data is available to website owners.
- Recommendations focuses on three key areas to help site owners with SEO.
- The feature is experimental and only available in specific locations.
Google AI Auto-selects Photos For Local Services Ads
Google rolled out its new automated AI photo selection for local service ads, creating some waves with advertisers.
Google says the update will benefit advertisers by allowing them to choose ad images they believe will most likely increase engagement rates.
Advertisers now have less control over which marketing images they display and must monitor the performance of their automated ads in real time.
Key takeaways:
- Google says its AI Auto-select feature will improve ad engagements by choosing advertising photos it believes will convert.
- The automated AI photo selection will select photos for ads from the advertiser’s LSA profiles.
- Google says all photos must be original and comply with its quality guidelines.
- Google gives advertisers no guarantee their photos will show, saying it chooses them based on internal factors and the user’s query.
Judge Finds Google Guilty of Illegal Search Monopoly
In a landmark ruling, a U.S. judge found Google guilty of violating antitrust laws by creating a search monopoly.
Judge Metha heard Google paid billions to several smartphone makers to make it their default browser. Metha said, “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,”
The decision could change how Big Tech operates and how we search for online information.
Key takeaways:
- U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta says: “Google is a monopolist.”
- Judge says Goggle’s exclusive default search agreement on iPads, iPhones, and smartphones gave it an unfair advantage.
- Plaintiffs also said, “Google’s ad pricing was above what should exist within a free market.”
- The judge could order Google to sell a percentage of the company.
From Around The Web
“Google’s Mixed Messages: Does Googlebot Really “Follow” Links?”
Search Engine Journal writer Matt G. Southern reports on Google’s Gary Illye’s revelation that Googlebot doesn’t follow links but collects them, contradicting Google’s official documentation.
Illyes’s revelation also dispels the myth that Googlebot follows links in real-time when navigating websites, saying Googlebot doesn’t work linearly; instead, it gathers the links and processes them later.
Key takeaways:
- Google search team analyst contradicts Google’s documentation about crawler behavior.
- Googlebot doesn’t follow links in real-time; it collects them and then goes back to them later.
“Google: We Don’t Track How Expensive It Is To Crawl, Render, Index & Serve Pages”
Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Journal clarifies how Google treats pages that cost more for Google Search to crawl, render, index, and serve.
Schwartz reveals Google will crawl more expensive web pages.
And Google says websites have a crawling budget but not a financial one; it comes down to resources, and its goal is to provide relevant results.
Key takeaways:
- Google doesn’t care about cost; its goal is to display the most relevant search results.
- Google says it does many complicated and expensive things to keep Search running 24/7; JavaScript is only a tiny part of that.
Martin Splitt of Google says, “We don’t keep track of how expensive this page was for us?” Adding, “You don’t need to worry about the fact that rendering is expensive; we got you covered.”
