Google AI Tests, Local Pack Quality Issues & Meta's Search Plans

SERoundtable's weekly recap covers Google's AI home page tests, quality concerns in AI-powered local results, and Meta's web crawling activity that may signal a new search engine project.

Google Adds Report Feature for Problematic Owner Responses

Google has launched a reporting feature allowing users to flag owner responses to reviews for violations like profanity, harassment, discrimination, or personal information disclosure.

Google amended its SerpApi lawsuit to focus on licensed content protection while expanding AI Overviews to local results and rolling out several Merchant Center updates.

Google AI Overviews Citing Low-Quality Listicles in Local

Google's AI Overviews for local results are frequently citing self-promotional listicles as primary sources instead of directing users to actual business websites.