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

We had more of the same Google ranking volatility but this time...

Google announced a bunch of new AI Search features including search ads finally rolling out to AI Overviews, the new link format rolling out, AI-organized search results, new AI shopping features, Google Lens and more.

Microsoft is testing placing a Bing button on the Bing Search home page. This is both under the search box and then as you start to type, it is in the bottom of the expanded autocomplete drop-down box.

Google Ads is testing variations of its Click-To WhatsApp Messages feature. This feature is only available in select regions, but it allows you to enable searchers to click on a "send message on WhatsApp" button. Google is testing various styles of that button.

Google is reportedly testing showing Local Service Ads (LSAs) without a photo of an attorney or attornies. Instead, Google can show a photo from its business profile or law firm and not of its attornies.

Google is testing another variation of "from the web" sections in its search results. This one is more for local queries, where Google shows a carousel of cards snippets titled "From the web." They can come up for [near me] types of queries but I am not able to replicate this.

Google seems to be testing showing videos, videos from YouTube, in the image carousels within the knowledge panels. Generally, Google will only show images in this carousel but now Google is showing playable videos from YouTube.

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

Surprise, surprise, the heated Google Search ranking volatility has continued into October. This is the longest ongoing period of heated Google Search ranking volatility we had ever recorded according to data provided by me from Semrush and it continues on through October 2nd.

Microsoft announced a new streamlined experience below Copilot's organic response and two new capabilities, diagnostics and performance snapshot. Microsoft sent a low resolution screenshot of how the ads in the Copilot results will appear.

Google is testing replacing the "People also search for" box with a "Search instead for" box. I think this is just a title change because the functionality looks equivalent to the previous version.

Google's John Mueller said that SEOs are in a great place because they understand how crawlers work, how the controls work, and they can help their clients decide on their AI policies and decisions as they navigate this new era of AI bots.

Google is testing an ad format for Google Ads where you swipe over a carousel of images, eventually leading to a map. When you click on the map, it takes you to the Google Business Profile in Google Maps.

Fabrice Canel from Microsoft posted on X this week that BingBot turned 14 years old. Yea, 14 years of crawling the web. Fabrice wrote, "Happy 14th Birthday, BingBot! You've been crawling ð·ï' the web and bringing us the best search results for over a decade. Next year promises even more innovation and excellence! Time to graduate and maximize crawl efficiency."