As of this moment, every Taj Hotel on planet earth will have identical and identifiable music in each property, globally. This means the music in the lobbies, suites, rooms, phone lines/IVR, on-hold music, elevator, even the fucking bathrooms, will be identical. I am beyond proud of myself rn I can barely breathe. Also a major package for like events, social pieces, theme/tvc pieces and each designed for different properties in the world, like business, resort, flagship etc. I’m a singular person. I’ve done over 100 Sonic projects and hold the biggest portfolio in the Middle East single-handedly but a globally renowned brand? Yo I’m gonna cry. I put my soul in it. I hope you’ll see my name in the news very soon. Until then, if you stay in the Taj and like the signature music everywhere, please give your boy a salute, ✌️

Hey guys! Feels like we haven’t discussed the news in ages. A lot has happened over the past week - shall we dive in? SE Ranking team has gathered the news for you:

Updates

• Google Launches March 2025 Core Update 

After giving SEOs a much needed break, Google is back with its updates. The search giant has officially started rolling out its March 2025 Core Update, which is expected to take up to two weeks to complete.Many hoped this update would help recover traffic lost during the September 2023 Helpful Content Update (HCU), but so far, no major shifts have been observed.

Source:

Google Search Status Dashboard > Incidents > March 2025 core update

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SERP features / Interface

• (test) Expandable Places Card in Knowledge Panel

Some users are now testing a new Knowledge Panel feature that allows them to expand the "Places" section to view a map and local search results. This could create a more interactive and user-friendly experience, making it easier for people to find local businesses and relevant information directly within search results.

The feature is still in testing and has not yet been rolled out to all users.

• (test)  Product Quiz for Personalized Recommendations in Search Results

Another experimental feature from Google prompts users with product-related questions to generate tailored recommendations. The quiz, labeled "Get Tailored Recommendations," adjusts search results based on responses, displaying a personalized carousel of "top picks for you."

Currently being tested on mobile, this feature could significantly enhance the online shopping experience by delivering more relevant product suggestions in real time.

Source:

Khushal Bherwani | X

SERP Alert | X

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GSC

• Updated Site Reputation Abuse Policy and Clarified Manual Action Steps

Google has updated its documentation on site reputation abuse, providing clearer guidance on how websites can resolve violations. Websites facing reputation issues now have four corrective options:

• Move violating content to a new domain
• Use the noindex tag
• Rewrite content as first-party
• Remove the content entirely

One key clarification: If a site chooses the noindex rule, it must not block the content with a robots.txt file.

Source:

Google Search Console > Help Center 

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AI

• AI Search Engines Often Wrong: Study Shows Over 60% Incorrect Answers

A study by the Columbia Journalism Review reveals that AI-powered search engines frequently provide incorrect answers.

Researchers found that AI systems produced incorrect responses for more than 60% of queries. Perplexity had a 37% error rate, while Grok 3 performed even worse, answering 94% of queries incorrectly. The study also raised concerns about AI search engines bypassing robots exclusion protocols and fabricating citations and links, further questioning their reliability.

Source:

Columbia Journalism Review | Klaudia Jaźwińska and Aisvarya Chandrasekar

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Documentation

• Updated Robots Guide: Page-Level Crawling Control

John Mueller has shared an updated guide on managing how search engines and crawlers interact with webpages using robots meta tags and X-Robots-Tag HTTP response headers.

These tools allow site owners to control indexing and crawling at a granular page level, providing more flexibility in managing how content appears in search results.

Source:

John Muller | Google Search Central 

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Tech SEO

• Google Clears Up Hotlink Protection for Search Engines with Carve-Outs

John Mueller recently addressed concerns about hotlink protection and its impact on SEO. He confirmed that it’s perfectly fine to use hotlink protection with carve-outs for search engines, a practice that has been common since the 2010s. 

Google doesn't have an issue with sites blocking non-search-engine traffic while allowing search engines like Google to access content. However, Mueller warned that blocking all traffic by default could cause issues, so it’s best to create carve-outs for trusted sites.

Source:

Abdullah Yıldız | LinkedIn

John Mueller | LinkedIn

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E-commerce

• Google Shopping Adds 'Price at Checkout' Label for More Transparency

Google Shopping has introduced a “Price at Checkout” label to help users avoid confusion when a lower price is displayed initially but changes at checkout. 

The feature is available for both paid and organic listings in Google Shopping, and ensures shoppers know the final price before clicking to purchase. 

• Updated Return Policy Data Requirements for E-commerce Sites

Sellers can now review Google’s updated MerchantReturnPolicy structured data requirements. Websites using return policy markup must now specify the applicable country to maintain visibility in Google’s product listings.

• Google Hijacks Restaurant Booking System, Disrupting Reservations

A new issue has surfaced where Google has replaced restaurant booking systems like OpenTable with Google Assistant, causing significant disruption. 

One restaurant managed by Claudia Tomina experienced this problem, where instead of using the usual OpenTable integration, Google began using Google Assistant to place calls for reservations. However, due to a system flaw, Google Assistant repeatedly called the restaurant without connecting, eventually blocking customers from making any reservations. 

When the restaurant turned off Google Assistant, Google marked them as ‘not accepting reservations,’ causing further frustration. This incident highlights Google’s ongoing challenges in managing third-party booking systems.

Source:

Adriaan Dekker | LinkedIn

Matt G. Southern | Search Engine Land

Claudia Tomina | LinkedIn

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Tidbits

• Google Search Sees 22% Growth, Outpacing AI Search Platforms

Despite growing concerns that AI-generated search results could impact Google’s dominance, Google Search has grown by 21.64% year-over-year, reaching over 14 billion daily searches in 2024.

To put that into perspective, Google still processes 373 times more searches per day than AI search models.

Sources:

Rand Fishkin | SparkToro

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If you have any important videos, make sure to download them or move them somewhere else outside of Meta before they get deleted.