Search Engine Land

3 days ago | searchengineland.com | Barry Schwartz

Google has revamped its search help documentation with revised guidelines for sites with explicit content. The new document covers how SafeSearch works, how Google handles sites with sexually explicit content and numerous best practices on the topic. Google also updated its ranking algorithms to target sites that host explicit videos but don’t allow Googlebot to fetch those videos. Google said these sites may see “a significant drop in ranking.”What Google said.

3 days ago | searchengineland.com | Danny Goodwin

Google isn’t picking between AI-powered search or AI assistants. The future of information retrieval isn’t either-or – Google intends to win at both, according to Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis. Why we care. Google is radically reshaping search with generative AI – through AI Overviews and the newly launched AI Mode. Google apparently views this as a moment to expand its dominance.

3 days ago | searchengineland.com | Barry Schwartz

In order for your site to show in the citations and links section of Google AI Mode and AI Overviews, your pages must be indexed by Google Search. At the same time, just because your site is indexed, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Google will show your page as a link n the citations section of the AI Mode and AI Overviews. What Google said. Google posted these details in its help documentation , on the topic of AI features and your website.

3 days ago | searchengineland.com | Claire Taylor

When you’re part of a small SEO team – or running solo – you don’t have the luxury of endless hours, duplicated effort, or constant rethinking. Every task matters. Every hour counts. When you’re spinning plates between audits, content, reporting, and client management, systems are the difference between growth and chaos. That’s why SOPs (standard operating procedures) are the not-so-secret weapon behind some of the most efficient (and profitable) small SEO operations I know.

4 days ago | searchengineland.com | Danny Goodwin

Agentic AI is reshaping search and generative engines – and soon could transform your SEO strategy. This was just one hot topic discussed in my interview with SMX Advanced keynote speaker Dave Davies, Head of SEO at Weights & Biases. Other topics covered in our conversation included:Why shortcuts with LLMs are hurting your content and how to do better. Weird new technical SEO issues. Why generative engines are the future of SEO. A preview of his upcoming keynote at SMX Advanced 2025 in Boston.