October 2024 SEO News Roundup
October didn’t hold back. Google rolled out updates that touched everything from AI and search features to penalties and spam policies. If you work in SEO, content, or digital publishing, here’s what was worth paying attention to.
Google Flags Fake Reviews on Business Profiles
In October, Google began labeling suspicious reviews on Google Maps/Business Profile listings with warnings. Users reported seeing notices on certain reviews calling them out as “potentially fake” 1. Around the same time, Google updated its policies to restrict businesses that violate the Fake Engagement rules, even threatening to suspend profiles with incentivized or bogus reviews.
Why it matters: This two-pronged effort (policy enforcement + UI warnings) is meant to rebuild trust in online reviews. Local businesses and SEOs working in local search need to make sure all reviews are authentic. Fake review schemes can now trigger public warnings and impact rankings, which affects both visibility in local search and how much consumers trust your brand.
“Cache:” Search Operator Removed (Hello, Wayback Machine)
Google quietly killed off the cache operator in October, meaning the cache: query no longer returns a saved page snapshot 1. Instead, Google began integrating links to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine directly in search result snippets. For example, clicking a page’s three-dot menu may offer an archive link if the Google cache is unavailable.
Why it matters: Google’s own cached version of pages has long been a tool for SEOs to check what Google captured, and spot rendering or indexing issues.
AI Search Expands Globally with Multilingual Support
Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE), which provides AI-generated overview answers, rolled out to 100+ countries by late October 2. This expansion, along with new language support, means users around the world began seeing AI summaries atop search results. Google noted over 1 billion people now have access.
Why it matters: SGE’s global expansion opens the AI overview to non-English queries, affecting how content is discovered. Publishers in all regions should be aware that Google’s AI may summarize their pages. Google has added prominent source links in these AI overviews to “connect to the best of the web”, which can drive traffic, a claim not all SEOs and publishers agree with.
New AI-Powered Search Features Unveiled
At its fall Search event, Google announced novel ways to search using AI. Users can now “search by video”. For instance, pointing Google to a video and asking questions about what’s happening in it 3. They also introduced improved multi search with Google Lens (you can shop what you see in images) and the ability to ask questions about moving objects in videos.
Why it matters: These updates blur the line between traditional search and visual discovery. SEOs may need to start thinking beyond just text and pay closer attention to how videos and images are interpreted by AI. With Google putting more weight behind AI-driven search experiences, it’s a good time for businesses to broaden their SEO strategies to include image and video optimization. Search isn’t just about typed keywords anymore. People are interacting with content in more visual and dynamic ways.
Google to Label AI-Generated Images in Search
Google announced plans to flag AI-generated images in search results with special labels. In a late September update, Google’s VP of Trust & Safety said an “About this image” feature will soon tell users if an image was created by AI, edited, or is an original photo 4. The labels use metadata and other signals (as part of the C2PA standard) to identify AI content.
Why it matters: As AI-generated visuals become more common, Google is pushing for greater transparency. For SEOs and webmasters, this means images on your site that are AI-created or heavily edited might be clearly labeled in Google Images or search results. That could affect click-through rates if users lean toward authentic photos. Make sure your images have the right metadata, and be ready for more attention on how real or edited your visual content appears in SEO.
Forbes Advisor Penalized for “Parasite” SEO Tactics
In a high-profile case, Google appeared to hit Forbes Advisor with a manual penalty. The financial affiliate site, hosted under Forbes’ domain, lost significant rankings virtually overnight. Google’s spam policy against “site reputation abuse” was likely the trigger. Forbes had lent its trusted domain to an unrelated company to publish SEO-driven content 5.
Why it matters: This penalty (unconfirmed by Google but widely observed) sent shockwaves through the SEO world. Tactics like piggybacking off a reputable domain to rank thin affiliate content are squarely in Google’s crosshairs. It’s a case study showing that even big names aren’t immune if they violate quality guidelines. Publishers must ensure partnerships or subdomains uphold the same content standards or risk severe ranking losses.
That’s the snapshot from October. Some of these updates are already changing how sites perform in search, and others are signs of what’s coming next. Either way, staying across them isn’t optional.
