We hope you are in good health. Here are some of the major SEO news updates of the week that you need to know:
Search Related News and Updates from Major Search Engine
Google Showed New Year’s Eve doodle on New Year’s Day
Google.com was still displaying the December 31 New Year’s Eve doodle (linking to a New Year’s Eve search) across multiple devices, even hours into New Year’s Day. Google later corrected it around 9:45am ET after acknowledging the doodle had been scheduled for a 6am Pacific release instead of midnight.
Google Business Profile adds official help page for review-request links & QR codes
Google has published a new help page explaining how businesses can generate and share a review-request link or QR code from their Business Profile, a feature that first appeared months earlier. The guidance suggests placements like receipts, thank-you emails, chats, and in-store displays, while reiterating that incentivized reviews are prohibited.
Bing tests “People Also Ask” that expands with more questions and result cards
Microsoft Bing is testing a People Also Ask experience where clicking a question can load additional related questions beneath it—similar to how Google’s PAA expands. The test also shows a card-style preview for the referenced site as the PAA list grows.
Google Maps hotel results test hides “Visit website” behind “Check availability”
Google is testing a change in Google Maps hotel listings where the “Visit website” button no longer appears on the first screen. Users must first click “Check availability” to reach the page where the hotel’s website link is shown, which could reduce direct traffic to official hotel sites.
Google’s John Mueller questions whether ccTLDs are necessary for international SEO
John Mueller pushed back on the idea that companies need separate ccTLDs (like .fr, .it, .co.uk) to go international, noting it can make things harder for both site owners and search engines because each domain becomes a separate site. Google’s own international SEO guidance outlines multiple alternatives—like subdomains, subdirectories, or URL parameters—for regional targeting without splitting across many domains.
PPC Related News and Updates from Major Search Engine
Google Ads Search Terms report shows new quick filters even when features aren’t enabled
Google Ads’ Search terms report is now showing a quick dropdown filter with options like “search terms and landing pages from AI Max” and Dynamic Search Ads variants. Advertisers are seeing these filter options even in accounts that aren’t using AI Max/DSA, suggesting the UI is being rolled out broadly by default.
Microsoft Advertising has added the ability to create custom columns in the UI to support more advanced reporting and column customization. However, advertisers note that not all metrics are available yet—most notably “segment by conversion action” is still missing—while Microsoft says it’s continuing to improve the modify-columns functionality.
