💪 Weekend Wrap-Up: Resolving Your Google Reviews

GM nerds,

Welcome back to the newsletter that’s here to bring the latest analysis of Forbes’ newest blatant site reputation abuse bold new SEO strategy:

→ Can Forbes Keeps Getting Away With It? 👀
→ Dealing With Google’s Review Incompetence 👀👀
→ March Core Update: What You Need To Know 👀👀👀
→ more, obviously 💬

But first…

​This Week's Video 🗣️🎙️​

In this week's video, I share my plan to build 500 directories to generate $20,000 per month. This project focuses on streamlining online citations for businesses, helping them boost their rankings. I aim to create a powerful directory network by offering affordable monthly plans and leveraging technology. I’m excited to refine this concept with community feedback and scale it into a valuable service for business owners. Tune in!

​YouTube​

What’s Going Down @ Google 📊

→ As of March 13, the March Core Update is officially rolling out. Here’s the obligatory Barry Schwartz breakdown. As for Google's verbal, they're saying the usual stuff about how it’s “a regular update designed to better surface relevant, satisfying content for searchers from all types of sites.” We’ll see what that means. Could take up to two weeks to roll out.

→ Glenn Gabe has been tracking surges and drops and says “some affiliate marketers are going to be very happy with the March core update if this keeps up.”

→ Many are asking “Why Is Google Highlighting 7-Year-Old Negative Reviews?” It’s a good question. As usual, the answer seems to be “no good reason” or “general incompetence.” But, by investigating it, Sterling Sky came up with some interesting takeaways: Google “favors negative reviews,” “updates occur only once every 1-2 years,” and “even for businesses with massive review counts… Google still highlights a review from 5 years ago.” One hot tip: if you can manage to get a review deleted, it seems to refresh the highlighted reviews.

→ After getting called out for repeatedly dropping the ball, Google decided to increase Ad Review Process transparency. Here’s the official “clarification” documentation. TLDR; "reviews use AI + human evaluation to assess ads, accounts, and destinations," and "Google considers multiple sources, including user complaints, regulatory warnings, and third-party data."

→ A few minor Google Analytics changes: "Percentage values in Google Analytics report tables," "missing session start notification," and "missing session start notification."

→ It brings me no pleasure to report that Forbes is once again doing the Forbes thing, and Google is once again doing the Google thing— aka letting Forbes “blatantly abuse its reputation by calling in a third-party named UK Web Media Ltd to run its Mobile Phones operation.”

AI Insight 🤖

→ Speaking of Google, Gemini with Personalization is rolling out: “With your permission, Gemini can now tailor its responses based on your past searches, saving you time and delivering more precise answers. In the coming months, Gemini will expand its ability to understand you by connecting with other Google apps and services, including Photos and YouTube.”

→ Android users can now set ChatGPT as their default assistant.

→ If you’re curious about the various legal challenges facing OpenAI, Meta, and other AI data harvesters, here’s the DL on where many of these cases are at.

→ Nate Hake wrote an angry letter to the government on behalf of small publishers in response to the White House’s AI Action Plan.

Social Media Round-up 📲

→ Here’s a Bannersnack case study giving you the step-by-step on using Facebook and Instagram ads to turn +350% ROI on a $2,500 ad spend. Along with offering placement-specific insights for Facebook desktop, Facebook app, and Instagram app ads, the study provides some more general takeaways, emphasizing benefit orientation: use benefit-oriented ad copy, emphasize the benefit at the start of the copy, and feature words that highlight the benefit in the ad image. More, too.

→ This breakdown of “Why moments matter more on TikTok” offers some insights on how marketers can maximize the potential of "tentpole events" in their campaigns. Here’s the original report by MAGNA featuring ad strategies for before, during, and after major events.

→ Speaking of TikTok— Oracle has emerged as the “leading contender” to help run TikTok.

→ TikTok was once again the most-downloaded app in February 2025, by the way. Don’t let the politics scare you off gain-maxxing on the platform.

→ LinkedIn’s new Predictive Audiences feature helps users reach audiences “most likely to take action,” using AI to “to analyze on-platform engagement data, like ad impressions and clicks, alongside your selected first-party or third-party data.”

→ Small update to Facebook’s Content Monetization Beta— stories have been added.

→ Google has announced some updates to YouTube BrandConnect, its “collection of tools and features which help brands connect with creators.”

​

Jacky Chou​
Founder of Indexsy
hello@indexsy.com
Let's Connect on Twitter👇

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