Google news and updates: What you need to know

Recent Google shake ups, updates to AI and what we learned at our fall community call

Oct 21, 2024

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Hello, and welcome back. Jessie and Shelby here, back from what can only be described as the perfect fall weekend. Jessie spent Sunday in New York City, walking through Governor’s Island and to various book stores. It’s all bonus Big Apple time before hanging out with the full Guardian US audience team this week. Meanwhile, Shelby had a busy weekend getting her corgi puppy, Yoshi, back from board and train (he’s a genius!), while simultaneously getting so angry at the delay on the GO Train that she impromptu bought her first car! Let’s all congratulate her on the money flying out of her savings account.

This week: Google news and updates. It’s been a busy few months for the search giant and the industry. We cover some recent shake ups and what we learned in our final community call of 2024.

Watch our fall community call

Let’s get it.

In this issue:

The evolution of AI
Search Engine Land acquisition
Leadership changes at Google
Lessons from our community call

THE NEWS

AI Overviews updates

Google has made several significant updates to AI Overviews in the last few months, including ads in the search feature, AI in Google Lens and organizing search results with AI.

Ads in AI Overviews: After several months of testing, ads in AI Overviews officially rolled out for mobile users in the U.S. In the release, Google says AIO has been “helpful” for users because they can “quickly connect with relevant businesses, products and services to take the next step.”

Google also said they have found that people who engage with AIO are “more satisfied with their results” and find ads appearing in AIO “useful.”

Search and shopping ads will appear in AI Overviews when relevant to both the query and the response, Google says, helping users make “informed decisions.”

AI in Google Lens: This feature was introduced earlier this year, but now includes more capabilities, including video understanding, voice questions and shopping capabilities. All of these are enabled by Google’s AI models, and will surface an AI Overview and “helpful resources” from across the web.”

Google says Lens searches are one of the “fastest growing queries” on the platform, especially with the 18-24 age demographic.

AI organized search results: Early in 2024, Google began testing how AI would be used on open-ended queries such as, “vegetarian appetizer ideas.” Now, they are rolling out results that are organized with AI in the U.S., beginning with recipes and meal inspiration on mobile. Google hopes this brings “more diverse content formats and sizes, creating even more opportunities for content to be discovered.” In the example used in the release, Google’s AI categorizes the results by recipes, recipe guides, explanations of different types of foods and the ability to learn more about specific ingredients.

AI Overviews: Even as AIO is surfaced more often, Lily Ray has found the majority of the responses include LinkedIn Pulse posts — where anyone can submit information — as well as affiliate links and few citations to other content formats. The accuracy of these AI Overviews is still in question, with over 43 per cent of finance-related searches being misleading.

Search Engine Land acquired by Semrush

Long-running industry publication Search Engine Land, owned by Third Door Media, has been acquired by content marketing platform Semrush. It’s the latest Semrush acquisition, after taking over Exploding Topics in August 2024.

Semrush will also acquire all of Third Door Media’s properties, which include Search Engine Land; MarTech.org and the MarTech Conference; SMX (Search Marketing Expo); and Digital Marketing Depot.

Some folks in the industry expressed concern, worry and frustration about the acquisition, accusing Semrush of attempting to stave off negative coverage of its tool. Others suggest the editorial standards of SEL would shift, or the publication’s writers would be less critical of Semrush.

Some people see this as a smart strategy by the company, albeit concerning for the industry. Garrett Sussman, director of marketing at iPullRank, mentioned the ability for Semrush to now “control the story” and be able to insert themselves into coverage.

Meanwhile, Jenise Uehara, the CEO of Search Engine Journal and a competitor of SEL, published an open letter after the news. “No one pulls SEJ’s strings, controls our backlinks, our coverage, or our messaging.”

It’s “business as usual here at SEJ,” she says.

While ownership does sometimes — implicitly or explicitly — influence content produced by a publication, there’s nothing to suggest that’s the case here — yet. SEL will continue to publish with insights from Danny Goodwin (the publication’s editorial director) and Barry Schwartz (the longtime, prolific writer).

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Google’s Search chief out (and other leadership changes)

Google announced a major leadership change this week in the company’s Knowledge and Information division: Prabhakar Raghavan will be replaced by Nick Fox as the head of search.

Fox, a Google staffer since 2003, will also take charge of the company’s ads, geo and commerce divisions. He previously helped build the company’s ad business. Raghavan will move into a newly created role as chief technologist.

Google is also shuffling around some other teams. The Gemini team (which works on consumer-facing products) and the Assistant teams are joining the AI unit, Google DeepMind.

In his note to the company, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said this move will help “fast deployment of our new models in the Gemini app.”

Zooming out, this change comes after months of complaints from SEOs in many industries — much of it valid — about the quality of search results and declining Google traffic.

This also comes on the heels of the August ruling that found Google has an illegal monopoly on search and advertising, along with another antitrust trial looming.

The new head of search has a lot of work to do. As The Verge notes, these moves come as Google is still trying to establish itself as a major AI player. The company was beaten out of the gate by the likes of ChatGPT/OpenAI and now believes it needs to catch up.

It’s possible the leadership shakeup will enable a faster rollout of even more AI in search and ads (in addition to the recent changes), or fundamental changes to Google’s biggest cash cow (search).

Here’s what we learned in the fall: WTF is SEO? community call

Last week, the WTF is SEO? community came together for our final call of 2024. The topic, how to deal with algorithm updates, has been on the minds of almost every news SEO lately, and the call had plenty of takeaways.

Here’s three things we chatted about (find the full recording here).

Something is always happening in the Google ecosystem. Whether an algorithm update, the rollout of a new feature or (low key) chaos on the SERPs, change is always underfoot. Google has all but said algorithm updates will now roll out every three months. As news SEOs, we need to keep pace and communicate key changes to leadership. No executive enjoys being caught off guard with changes in a major acquisition channel. That’s why consistent internal reporting is key. An internal update — at the top of a news meeting or by regular email report — can communicate what Google changes are imminent/underway and their potential impact.

Algorithm analysis: After a confirmed algo update finishes rolling out — and you have concrete data — take the time to do analysis. Note what Google said the update accomplishes and changes you’re seeing (sections or keywords that have fluctuated), then do competitive analysis to see how your niche has been affected.

The winner/losers framework is also helpful: Focus on what’s gaining traction (and how to double down on that area), and what’s losing (is it important, can you improve that content or is this a moment to redirect your strategy?). Changing strategy might mean moving something from a “search play” to something that’s intended for Apple News, Reddit, newsletters or social audiences.

Go back to the basics: Also raised during the call was the value in using algorithm updates as an opportunity to go back to the foundation of all good SEO. Focus on good technical SEO, making sure your site has the best possible user experience. Reiterating editorial best practices also came up, as editors discussed the value of reminding the newsroom about content SEO best practices. Finally, focus on key metrics/KPIs, and use meaningful measurements to track your progress. If an update impacts your site, having rock solid technical SEO, strict adherence to content best practices and meaningful metrics will make it much, much easier to isolate the why behind changes.

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