Unlocking Google’s Secrets: How Spam Updates and AI Mode Could Revolutionize Your SEO Strategy

Ever wonder why Google suddenly cares so much about what gets indexed and what doesn’t—especially when it comes to those user-created pages that are meant more for sharing than for actually showing up in search results? This week’s SEO Pulse dives into some intriguing updates that got me scratching my head—and sharing a smirk or two. From Google’s newly minted advice in their spam guide about noindexing shareable pages, to restaurants finally getting the power to nix unwanted ordering links directly from their Business Profiles—these changes are shaking up how we think about control on the web. Oh, and if you’ve been fretting over stale indexing reports, John Mueller’s latest remarks might just help you chill a bit. Plus, with fresh AI citation data and Alphabet’s latest earnings thrown into the mix, there’s a lot to unpack. Buckle up, because what you decide to finally do with these tweaks? Well, that’s completely on you—like the check at dinner, the tab is yours to run. LEARN MORE.

Welcome to the week’s Pulse: updates have an impact on which user-created pages are meant for Search, who is able to turn off ordering links on restaurant profiles, and just how much to read into a page-indexing report that appears to no longer update.

Google added information about indexing shareable pages to its spam guide and provided restaurants with direct control over ordering providers. In response to a user’s report that their page-indexing data was no longer updating, John Mueller at Google referred to the date on the reports. New citation data and Alphabet’s earnings round out the week.

Here’s what matters for you and your work.

Google’s Spam Guide Adds Indexing Advice For Shareable Pages

In a section added Oct. 26, Google’s guide to preventing user-generated spam now recommends that platforms, by default, apply noindex or block crawling on pages created for direct sharing.

Key facts:

The new part, “Only index content meant for Search,” is concerned with webpages that were designed “for direct sharing, collaboration, or utility rather than public search discovery.” There are two options for this type of webpage; using the noindex (via a robots meta tag or an X-Robots-Tag HTTP header), or adding a crawl-block in your robots.txt file. Google now recommends you confirm your website in Search Console to receive notifications of manual actions and security issues, and also check your Page Indexing and Search performance reports to see if there have been “unexpected spikes.” Neither the guide nor the changelog mentions any changes in how Google will enforce these guidelines.

Why This Matters

Robots.txt will stop Google from crawling the pages it blocks, however according to Google’s introduction to robots.txt, the file “is not a mechanism for keeping a web page out of Google.” Even though a URL has been disallowed in robots.txt, that does not mean Google cannot find it; as long as another site links to your URL it may appear in search results. A noindex rule will prevent share link URLs or generated page URLs you wish to remove from appearing in search engine results only if Googlebot can crawl and read them.

Read our full coverage: Google Updates Spam Guide For Shared Pages, Generated Content & Apps and Google Signals A Wider Crackdown On SEO Spam

Restaurants Can Now Turn Off Ordering Providers In Business Profile

Restaurants can now turn off specific third-party ordering providers directly from their Google Business Profile dashboard, Google’s Lisa Landsman wrote on LinkedIn on Oct. 28.

Key facts:

The post included a screenshot of the individual pickup and delivery buttons under “Show provider to customers.” When asked about which countries allow the feature, product manager at Google, Michael G. stated that all do. Prior to this, restaurants were able to submit a removal request on a provider through their Business Profile; however, the provider was required to complete the action, and Google’s help page gives providers up to 5 business days after a request to remove the link.

Why This Matters

Google’s policy page for ordering providers says “All partner integrations are enabled by default.” It’s worth checking the ordering list on each restaurant profile you manage to make sure it doesn’t include providers the restaurant doesn’t use.

Read our full coverage: Google Gives Restaurants Direct Control Over Ordering Providers

Mueller Points To Report Dates When Asked About Stale Indexing Data

A user on a social media site, Reddit, stated they had not received an update of their Page indexing report since Oct. 16 and questioned if this was due to some type of stall in the data pipeline. In response to this question, John Mueller from Google said, “I don’t think it makes sense for me / us to comment on the data freshness for all reports all the time, this is why we put dates in there.”

Key facts:

Mueller stated that this user’s website appeared to be fairly recent and had steady numbers; he added “Indexing doesn’t change quickly, and when it does, you see that reflected in the performance reports first.” Mueller told the user to “save your energy,” and that Google focuses on faster updates “where we think it’s actually useful for folks.” Mueller did not indicate if the report was late. On Oct. 29, I checked SEJ’s property in the page indexing report, which indicated the most recent data update was Oct. 22.

Why This Matters

Before interpreting a drop or rise in indexed pages, it’s worth checking the Page indexing report’s last-update date, as the chart may lag behind what’s happening on your site. Mueller’s reply points to the Performance report as the first place to look for indexing changes.

Read our full coverage: Google Responds To Concern Over Search Console Indexing Reports

AI-Cited Pages More Often Opened With A Direct Answer, Agency Data Shows

TJ Robertson analyzed 193,507 AI answers from ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, and AI Overviews. In two rounds of blind ratings, the analysis found that cited pages more often opened with a direct answer to the question than the comparison pages did.

Key facts:

In comparison to pages that came up for the same answer to users’ questions but were not cited, cited pages directly answered user queries in their opening lines in 23%, while the uncited pages did so in 14%. In comparison to Google’s top 10 results that the AI never pulled up, the split was 20% for cited pages versus 5% for those top 10 pages on all 195 rated pairs. These statistics were taken from questions tracked by Robertson’s agency TJ Digital for their clients, and TJ Digital sells both SEO and generative engine optimization services. Robertson states that he has identified association (not causation), not proof that a particular feature of a webpage causes it to be referenced.

Why This Matters

When the pages that were not referenced had also come up in the AI’s search, this gap in opening answers given on a page (both for reference and non-reference pages) was smaller. Seeing if the key pages answer the question in the first line will give you a good fast check, and you can compare these patterns with those of the questions you are tracking.

Read our full coverage: AI-Cited Pages More Often Got Straight To The Answer

Google Says Lower AI Mode Monetization Weighed On Search Growth

Alphabet’s third-quarter results show Google Search & other revenue rising 12% year over year to $63.35 billion, following growth of 19% in Q1 and 17% in Q2.

Key facts:

Asked on the earnings call whether fewer ads in AI Overviews and AI Mode explained slower Search growth, Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler named currency as the biggest factor in the slowdown from Q2, then developments in retail and media. He then said “the strong growth in AI Mode queries had an impact because of the lower monetization we were seeing in AI Mode,” and added, “To be clear, we feel very good about our trajectory here.” The same day, Google expanded ads in AI Mode to 10 more countries and said it’s launching multiturn ads in the U.S.

Why This Matters

Schindler didn’t say what AI Mode monetization was lower than, or by how much. Neither Pichai’s published Q3 remarks nor the call included a figure for clicks sent to websites, which he gave in Q2, so the quarter adds detail on AI Mode revenue and none on that traffic.

Read our full coverage: Google Says Lower AI Mode Monetization Weighed On Search Growth

Theme Of The Week: The Check Is Yours To Run

This week’s updates include defaults, date stamps, and caveats. Defaults shape what people see until someone chooses to change them, from the indexing setting on a share page to the ordering providers on a restaurant profile. The date stamps and caveats, on a Search Console report, a set of citation data and Alphabet’s earnings, mark the limit of what each source told you. What happened on your own sites is the check left for you to run.

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