SEO News Digest: AIOs-like result in Google Shopping, Massive drop for big brand affiliates, Multiple updates in the Google Merchant Center, and more
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The update was rolled out on September 25, but since we didn’t publish any digests around that time, it’s worth covering now.
But first, let’s go back another week when Lars Lofgren published an investigation into how affiliates from the Forbes Marketplace network (Forbes Advisor, Forbes Health, etc.)—which operate under the forbes.com domain but are not legally Forbes—completely took over the search results, are making a ton of money there, and everyone just turned a blind eye.
It’s hard to say whether this investigation was the main reason or just a coincidence, but soon after this article came out, Google updated its Site reputation abuse spam policy (also known as the Parasite SEO spam policy).
Shortly after, these Forbes-affiliated sites dropped in rankings, and similar affiliate sites followed suit .
AIOs
An AIOs equivalent, but for Google Shopping.
SERP Features
Interface
Why controversial? Because Google pulls content from sites, slightly formats it, and shows it as an overlay directly in the search results. Ultimately, this keeps users on the search page instead of leading them to visit the site. That said, the option to visit the site is still available (for now).
After this issue gained traction, Google posted a defensive tweet claiming that this was just an experiment with a select group of creators and that everything was agreed upon. However, the details of the experiment remain shady and unclear, as Google claims they “can’t disclose” them.
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Shopping
In addition to the "Researched with AI" snippet, new Merchant Center updates have rolled out:
Tidbits
What is proposed is not just a breakup which would split off Chrome, Android and "many other things," but also:
At this point, these are just proposals. The final list of sanctions is expected to be created by August 2025, but they could be tied up in appeals for years afterward.
As expected, Google publicly responded that these demands are excessive and would destroy the search industry.
*IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) is the organization responsible for creating and delegating domains.
While .io is often associated with startup websites, it's technically the local top-level domain (TLD) for the British Indian Ocean Territory (like .au for Australia).
Britain is preparing to sign an agreement that would dissolve this territory, transferring the islands to Mauritius.
As a result, ISO will cancel the IO country code, and IANA strictly follows ISO standards.
Once IO is removed, the IANA will refuse to allow any new registrations with a .io domain. It will also automatically begin the process of retiring existing ones.
So, if you have .io domains, be on the lookout!