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 Search is testing AI audio overviews, for those too lazy to read the AI Overviews. Google Ads has some new charting interfaces. Google Merchant Center moved things around in their user interface. Microsoft is testing removing the name Microsoft name from its search box. ChatGPT released some quality search improvements and also added the ability to track clicks better.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
-
Google Search Tests Audio Overview
Tired of all that reading in the Google Search results, is it too hard to read the AI Overviews? Well, Google has a solution for you, they are called "Audio Overviews." Google will generate an audio version of an AI Overview type of response, that sounds a lot like its NotebookLM technology. -
Google Merchant Center Updates Some User Interface Elements
Google has made some more minor changes to the Google Merchant Center user interface. Specifically, Google moved where the merchants access settings section is and also updated the sidebar with collapsible menu items. -
Bing Tests Dropping Microsoft Name From Bing Search Box
Microsoft is testing removing its own name from the Bing search results box at the top left of the page. So it just says Bing, with the Microsoft logo next to it, when it normally says Microsoft Bing with the Microsoft logo next to it. -
Google Ads Tests New Charts Interface For Campaigns
Google Ads seems to be testing a new charts and graphing user interface with larger boxes and visuals in the campaign tab. It also seems to give you new ways to layout the data and visualize the data in these charts. -
ChatGPT Updates To Improve Tracking In Analytics With More UTM Parameters
OpenAI has updated the ChatGPT interface to add additional UTM parameters to help with tracking more clicks from ChatGPT to your website. Now, under the "more" section, those links contain these UTM parameters, before they did not. -
OpenAI Improves ChatGPT Search Quality
OpenAI announced it has released several improvements to the ChatGPT search response quality. These improvements include "more comprehensive, up-to-date responses," according to the AI company. -
Google NYC Rooftop Partner Yoga
Here is a video of a couple doing some form of yoga on the rooftop of the Google New York City office. I found the video on Instagram and embedded it below.
Other Great Search Threads:
- If you have the BigQuery data export from Search Console set up, you can see when the exports happen (and how it fills missing days) by looking at the "ExportLog" table. #seo, John Mueller on Bluesky
- If you received one of these on the left, you can do a test and verify your GSC bulk exports are still working. This message is just a byproduct from GCP outage yesterday., Pedro Dias on Bluesky
- Ping probe from Anthropic IP, WebmasterWorld
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Google tests Audio Overviews for Search results
- How AI is reshaping SEO: Challenges, opportunities, and brand strategies for 2025
- Stop sabotaging your PPC success: 13 traps that kill growth
- Google AI Mode finally rolling out to all users in the U.S.
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Data Enrichment and Data Activation using HubSpot and Server GTM, Analytics Ninja
- IP Addresses in GA4, KRM Digital Marketing
Industry & Business
- Exclusive: Google, Scale AI's largest customer, plans split after Meta deal, sources say, Reuters
- Google's $32 billion deal for Wiz gets antitrust review, Bloomberg News reports, Reuters
Links & Content Marketing
Local & Maps
Mobile & Voice
SEO
- Answer Engine Optimization (AEO): Evolving Your SEO Strategy for AI Search, Amsive
- Semantic Query-to-Label Matching: Generalist Classification for Arbitrary Label Sets, DEJAN
- Late May 2025 - Google Indexing Issues, Gagan Ghotra
- 3 examples of product-led SEO, Kevin Indig
- Chunked, Retrieved, Synthesized - Not Crawled, Indexed, Ranked, Duane Forrester Decodes
- Future-Proofing SEO: How to Stay Ahead Amid AI Disruption, Sitebulb
- How Vercel's adapting SEO for LLMs and AI search, Vercel
- Inside our AEO strategy: How we’re optimizing for AI search at Webflow, Webflow
- Old Hat SEO is Finally Dead. The Bar Has Been Risen For The Next Generation., SEO for Lunch
- RegEx for SEO: ready-to-implement use cases, Women in Tech SEO
PPC
- Here's Why the New PMax Channel Reporting Rocks, ZATO Marketing
- How to Run a Seasonality Analysis of Your PPC Data Using ChatGPT, Optmyzr
Search Features
- Gemini Code Assist updates: Gemini 2.5, enhanced chat and more, Google Blog
- Google AI Overviews Mistakes: Air India crash hallucinations, BGR
- What Is Google AI Mode: Everything To Know, Foundation Inc
- Google Discovery Engine Demo for AIO and AI Mode: A Hands-On SEO Playground, Metehan
Other Search
- Google's AI Is Actively Destroying the News Media, Futurism
- They Asked ChatGPT Questions. The Answers Sent Them Spiraling., New York Times
Feedback:
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.
