Industry News

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today...

Google uploaded its Thanksgiving Doodle to the Google Search home page, google.com. It is a typical and expected cute Google Doodle - more on that later. But when you click on it, you are not taken to the Google search results page, instead you are taken directly into AI Mode.

Google's John Mueller made a joke about how next year, SEO companies will be offering GEO-Detox services as a billable line item after many of the SEO companies already billed their clients for GEO services.

Google Ads has supported adding WhatsApp Messenger for a while to your ad extensions. Now, it seems Google is also rolling out support for more messaging apps, including Facebook Messenger and Zalo, the Vietnamese instant messaging multi-platform service.

The Google local pack within the Google Search results changes, I think. When you click on the "More businesses" button at the bottom of the local pack, you aren't taken into Google Maps anymore; you are taken to the Google Places tab. And then when you scroll to see more, the pagination is broken.

Google Ads now lets you create up to five custom views on the Overview tab. The Overview now supports custom views and you can add up to five tabs and create Overview pages customised for your unique needs, Google wrote on the Google Ads console.

Google Ads is testing two new sections in the Overview tab. There is a new trends section and a new performance by stage section.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today...

OpenAI announced shopping research within ChatGPT, "a new experience in ChatGPT that does the research for you to help you find the right products," as OpenAI put it. This is clearly OpenAI's response to Google's AI Mode and Gemini 3 shopping experiences.

Google announced that it will be reinstating the suspended hotels in Hotel Center and removing the Suspended Hotels" tab in the "Properties" page of your Hotel Center account.