Home / Search Forum Recap / Daily Search Forum Recap: September 18, 2025

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 called the new Search Console impressions dip, “real impressions.” Google was hiring an anti-scraper but then closed the job after 6 days. Google AI Mode has this dialog overlay named ask about any item. Google re-announced the top quality store website badges. Google Discover officially rolls out the follow feature and more creator content in Discover.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google Kinda Comments On Search Console Impressions Dip John Mueller from Google somewhat/kinda made a comment, finally on the impression decreasing with the average position increasing within the Search Console reports. This came after Google dropped the 100 results per page function, resulting in the third-party tools totally becoming a mess.
• Google Search Anti-Scraper Job Now Closed A week ago, Google posted a new job named Senior Engineering Analyst, Search, Anti-scraper and within the week it has already been closed out. The LinkedIn page says 49 people applied (through LinkedIn) - so it is weird to me Google closed it so quickly.
• Google AI Mode Ask About Any Item Previously, we noted a Google AI Mode feature to be able to compare items by checking them off, both for products and local results. Well, Google now has this dialog demonstrating how it works and it is titled “Ask about any item.”
• Google Announces Top Quality & Store Widget Again Google “announced” the store widget on its Search Central blog but the weird thing to me is that this store widget is not new, it has been around at least since last year, but is now being re-announced. The feature lets you embed a Google Store rating widget or generic store widget on your website, to drive confidence for your shoppers.
• Official: Google Discover Rolling Out Follow Feature & Creator Content Google has made it official and announced updates to Google Discover. That follow feature we covered a few weeks ago is now rolling out officially to all and Google confirmed it is showing more creator content from X, Instagram and YouTube Shorts within your Discover feed.
• Stairwell At Google Here is a very Google-like stairwell. And you guessed it, this stairwell is at a Google office, the London office.

Other Great Search Threads:

• @rustybrick covered this ongoing sitelinks-testing already in April 2024, but now I am seeing a test, where one indented sitelink points to a subdomain... anyone seens this before?, Nicolas Sacotte on X
• FYI, crawling seems to be surging back for some sites that saw a drop around 8/22. Google fixed a problem for sites that saw a big drop around 8/8, but then more dropped on 8/22. Just a heads-up for anyone that saw crawling drop off, Glenn Gabe on X
• Just An Fyi For Anyone Getting The Eu Political Ad Emails This Morning. To Complete At The Account Level The Form Is In The Advertiser Verification Section. This Is Under The Billing Tab, Then Advertiser Verification And This Fo, Anthony Higman on X
• LCP and INP are part of Interop 2025 so hopefully coming to Firefox and Safari this year!, Barry Pollard on Bluesky
• No, if it’s the same URL, then it doesn’t do anything. You need unique URLs per locale, and they need to be crawlable from anywhere (Googlebot generally crawls from one location; it wouldn’t notice if you changed content dynamically, and would not be able, John Mueller on Mastodon
• Since we index the video as “one blob” (is that a technical term? idk), we’d just index the web page with the content & the video embed. I’m not sure how paywall markup would fit into that., John Mueller on Mastodon
• An Update on YouTube View Counts and Restricted Mode, YouTube Community
• FAQ: Player for Education, YouTube Community

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Reddit, Google in talks to deepen AI partnership: Report
• Trump gives TikTok until Dec. 16 to secure U.S. buyer
• Google doubles down on AI Max pitch to wary advertisers
• Amazon Ads launches AI tool that builds professional-quality ads
• Google Discover adds follow feature and more social posts from creators and publishers
• Google Ads placements: Your guide to targeting websites, apps, and YouTube
• Why local SEO is thriving in the AI-first search era

Other Great Search Stories:

Industry & Business

• DOJ & Google Going To Trial, Again, On Ad Tech Remedies, Law360

• Mountain View fines Google for cutting down 800-plus trees, San José Spotlight

• Reddit Seeks to Strike Next AI Content Pact With Google, OpenAI, Bloomberg

• China drops Google antitrust probe amid trade talks with US: report, Seeking Alpha

• What does the Google antitrust ruling mean for the future of AI?, NPR Links & Content Marketing

• Great Interviews Lead to Remarkable Content: 5 Tactics, Content Marketing Institute

• 8 Ways to Rebuild Trust Signals in the Age of AI Search, JumpFly Digital Marketing Blog Local & Maps

• Google Maps for Android getting some M3 Expressive tweaks , 9to5Google

• Here’s everything new for CarPlay in iOS 26, 9to5Mac

• This new iOS 26 Apple Maps feature is like Spotify Wrapped for your travels – and I can’t wait to try it, TechRadar

• Yes, Google Maps Driving Mode Was Discontinued - Here’s Why, SlashGear Mobile & Voice

• Athletic Intelligence Is Here, Meet Oakley Meta Vanguard, Meta

• Meta launches Hyperscape, technology to turn real-world spaces into VR, TechCrunch

• Meta Ray-Ban Display: AI Glasses With an EMG Wristband, Meta

• Meta unveils its new Oakley Meta Vanguard smart glasses for athletes, TechCrunch

• Meta’s new Ray-Ban smart glasses have twice the battery life, The Verge

• New versions of Apple’s software platforms are available today, Apple

• Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 2) Now With Up to 2X the Battery Life and Better Video Capture, Meta SEO

• Does Schema Markup Increase Generative Search Visibility?, AccuraCast

• More work, new chances: How Google’s update changes SERP measurements, SISTRIX

• Prompt Volumes: See What Your Audience Asks Answer Engines, Profound

• AI referral traffic ‘not making up for search losses’, Press Gazette

• Enterprise SEO Strategy: Winning with Internal Alignment, Women in Tech SEO

• How Googlebot crawl behavior can reflect site health, SALT.agency

• How to Tell If Your SEO Company Is Working (Real Signs & Metrics), SEOSLY PPC

• Amazon Aims to Grow Ad Sales Further by Automating Creation, Wall Street Journal

• Launching Structured Data Files v9.1, Google Ads Developer Blog

• New Bing Ads Push Edge When Users Search for Chrome, Yahoo

• Stop Copy-Pasting Your PPC Strategy Across Platforms: It’s Not Going to Work, SearchLab Digital

• Your 30-day holiday campaign sprint, Microsoft Advertising Search Features

• Google and StopNCII partner to protect people from harmful content, Google Blog Other Search

• Gemini AI solves coding problem that stumped 139 human teams at ICPC World Finals, Ars Technica

• OpenAI outperforms humans and Google at the world’s top collegiate programming contest, The Decoder

• How Americans View AI and Its Impact on Human Abilities, Society, Pew Research Center

Feedback:

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