Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Google Ads launched new AI Mode retailer ads, integrated Veo 3 into Asset Studio and spoke about the future of ads. Google's UCP powered e-commerce checkout is now live in AI Mode. OpenAI wants advertisers to prompt to create ads in its ad platform, cutting out the agencies. Google AdSense added additional triggers for vignette ads. And Google released an early preview of WebMCP, for agentic interactions.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google Ads New AI Mode Shopping Ad & Veo 3 Is In Asset Studio
  Google announced a new ad unit for AI Mode for shopping ads which promotes retailers. Google also launched Veo 3 support in Google Ads Asset Studio. Plus Vidhya Srinivasan, VP/GM of Ads & Commerce at Google, published her annual letter to the industry on the Google blog.
• Google AI Mode Launches UCP-Powered Checkout
  Google is rolling out UCP, Universal Commerce Protocol, powered checkout in AI Mode. This launched as part of the Google Ads news from yesterday, and you can now see it in AI Mode for products from Etsy and Wayfair.
• OpenAI Wants Advertisers To Prompt To Create Ads & Skip Agencies
  Asad Awan, who is in charge of monetization at OpenAI was interviewed by his own company on "The Thinking Behind Ads in ChatGPT." It is a 25 minute interview and one part he discusses how he would like to see advertisers simply prompt to create ads and ad campaigns and not have to hire an agency or "performance marketers" to run ads on ChatGPT.
• Google AdSense Adds New Triggers For Vignette Ads
  Google AdSense has added additional triggers for vignette ads. There are now a total of six triggers, three old ones and three new ones. These new triggers took effect on February 9, 2026.
• Google Releases Early Preview Of WebMCP
  The Google Chrome team announced its early preview of WebMCP, "a standard way for exposing structured tools, ensuring AI agents can perform actions on your side with increased speed, reliability, and precision," André Cipriani Bandarra from Google wrote.
• Working In Google Logo
  Here are some people, probably Googlers, working inside the Google logo. This is in the lobby of the Google Dublin office. There are pads down in the logo to allow people to sit, lay or work in the logo.

Other Great Search Threads:

• A hidden homepage causing site-name & favicon problems in Search. This was a weird one. The site used HTTPS, however there was a server-default HTTP homepage remaining., John Mueller on Bluesky
• Did you know you can secure map pack placements on Microsoft ads just by setting up a location extension? Here's how:, Navah Hopkins on LinkedIn
• Ecommerce SEO: this online store was experiencing "out of stock" products at scale, but the products were actually in stock. This issue had a far-reaching impact on SEO, considering the product pages were no longer ranking highly a, Brodie Clark on X
• Looks like ChatGPT Shopping is now showing a new product display that is starting to resemble Google's AI Mode. Previously, the product items (based on feed data) would just show in a carousel; now they're also showing direct, SERP Alert on X
• We have been sharing and recording our frustration about AI Frankenstein recipes being default AI outputs for a while. @glenngabe and @gregfinn inspired us the other day. We decided to make a video to show just how damaging these, Inspired Taste on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Why video is the canonical source of truth for AI and your brand's best defense
• Generative Engine Optimization: The Patterns Behind AI Visibility
• Google previews WebMCP, a new protocol for AI agent interactions
• Google outlines AI-powered, agent-driven future for shopping and ads in 2026
• How AI-driven shopping discovery changes product page optimization
• OpenAI details how ads will work in ChatGPT
• Google Ads shows recommended experiments
• Google Ads simplifies product campaign tracking
• What 4 AI search experiments reveal about attribution and buying decisions
• How to reduce low-quality leads from Performance Max campaigns
• PPC mistakes that humble even experienced marketers

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• Something Big Is Happening, Matt Shumer
• Understanding AI search: A guide for modern marketers, Microsoft Advertising
• Why Everyone Prompts AI Differently (Even When They Want the Same Thing), SparkToro
• Google says hackers are abusing Gemini AI for all attacks stages, Bleeping Computer
• Grounding queries vs fan-out queries: The two hidden layers of AI visibility, SALT.agency
• Mustafa Suleyman plots AI 'self-sufficiency' as Microsoft loosens OpenAI ties, Financial Times (Sub)

Analytics

• Referral Exclusion vs. Cross-Domain Tracking in GA4: Which Do You Need?, KP Playbook

Industry & Business

• Anthropic executive on spending, ads, Claude Cowork market sell-off, CNBC
• How OpenAI got comfortable with the Pentagon using ChatGPT for war, Semafor
• OpenAI disbanded its mission alignment team, Platformer
• Opinion | I Left My Job at OpenAI. Putting Ads on ChatGPT Was the Last Straw., The New York Times
• Pentagon pushing AI companies to expand on classified networks, sources say, Reuters
• OpenAI's Biggest Challenge Is Turning Its A.I. Into a Cash Machine, New York Times

Links & Content Marketing

• 4 Essential White Hat Link Building Skills for SEO Success, The Upper Ranks
• 8 Simple Steps for User-Friendly Content Design, Content Marketing Institute

Local & Maps

• How Much Does a Google Business Profile Cost?, Igniting Business
• 5 Ways for SMBs to Strengthen Reviews in 2026, BrightLocal
• This Google Maps alternative doesn't get talked about much but it has some very useful features that might make you switch, Super Car Blondie

SEO

• 2 MB is a lot of HTML, Tame The Bots
• Anonymized Queries Make Up Nearly Half of Google Search Console Traffic, Ahrefs
• Black Hat SEO 2.0: How Manipulation Is Evolving for LLMs, Dagmar Marketing
• How to get data for our free SEO forecaster tool, Search Pilot
• On AI, SEO, and Why Shortcuts Don't Age Well, Cshel
• Updated the location of Google's IP ranges for common crawlers, special crawlers, and user-triggered fetchers, Google for Developers
• WebMCP, DEJAN
• Why Major Companies, like Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic/Claude are Hiring SEOs, Ann Smarty

PPC

• AI as the Ultimate Amplifier: Insights from APAC Leaders, Microsoft Advertising
• Is your campaign structure holding you back in the era of AI?, Google Blog
• Is your Search campaign structure holding back performance?, Google Ads On YouTube
• What are Dynamic Segments?, Smarter Ecommerce
• When to pause exact match and rely on broad match instead, Adalysis
• Updates to Financial products and services policy Indonesia (February 2026), Google Advertising Policies Help

Search Features

• Gemini 3 Effect: Fewer AI Overviews, More Answers Without Sources, SE Ranking
• How OpenAI Uses ChatGPT to Catch 'Leakers', The Information
• Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica triples sales of Meta AI glasses, CNBC

Other Search

• Apple's iOS 26.4 Siri Update Runs Into Snags in Internal Testing; iOS 26.5, 27, Bloomberg
• ChatGPT Has 12% of Google's Search Volume but Google Sends 190x More Traffic to Websites, Ahrefs

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News, add as a preferred source on Google and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or just contact us the old fashion way.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Bing officially rolled out a preview of the new AI performance reports in Bing Webmaster Tools. Google updated its Googlebot crawler file size docs once again. Google added "sign in to customize" the top stories section. Google Business short names are being removed from profiles. Google lets you remove your sensistive information, if you give it to them.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Bing Webmaster Tools Rolls Out AI Performance Report (With New Design)
  A couple of weeks ago I reported Bing was beta testing a new AI performance report within Bing Webmaster Tools. These reports are now available as a public preview for all to see. Plus, Bing Webmaster Tools has a whole new slick design.
• Google Sign In To Customize Top Stories - Preferred Sources
  Google added a new button to the top stories section of Google Search named "Sign in to customize." This leads users who are not logged into Google to sign in, so those users can configfure there preferred sources in Google Search.
• Google Clarifies Google's Crawler File Size Limits Doc Again
  Earlier this month, we reported that Google updated two of its help documents around Google's crawler file size limits. Well, Google made a clarification to one of those documents the other day after some confusion within the SEO industry.
• Google Business Short Names Being Removed From Business Profiles
  Google will stop showing the business short names on Google Business Profiles in Search and Google Maps. The short name will still work, if you have one, but going forward, the link in your Google Business Profile will no longer be displayed to you or searchers.
• Would You Give Google Your ID Numbers To Remove Results About You
  Google announced a number of updates to help people find and remove personal information and sensitive imagery about themselves from Google. But you would need to give Google this information first, so Google can find it and then remove it.
• Ceiling Clouds At Google Office Going Up
  Google is painting one of the ceilings and placing art to add clouds to one of the office ceilings. You can see the painter working and then some white cloud-like art objects hanging from the ceiling.

Other Great Search Threads:

• Here is what is missing... 82% - 99.68% of the data. 468 Clicks, 22,066 impressions, and $225.20 in ad spend. That exceeds any sort of logic to protect user privacy or because the terms did not meet minimum impression thresholds., Nate Louis on X
• ChatGPT Searches Google Shopping to Create its Recommendations -> "After running the experiment 100 times, we found that the top ChatGPT product was included in Google Shopping's first 3 results 75% of the time. There was also sub, Glenn Gabe on X
• I think some marketers forgot (or maybe didn't know in the first place?) that Google has specific guidance for how to write good reviews. This documentation originated from Google's Product Reviews updates - a specific ranking system, Lily Ray on X
• Wow... this site tried everything and got hit by the March '25 core update, June '25 core update, Aug Spam Update, Dec core update & recent Jan algo update. It has *over 3,000 self-promotional listicles,* incorrect/spammy/duplicate, Lily Ray on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google pushes AI Max tool with in-app ads
• Bing Webmaster Tools officially adds AI Performance report
• How to make automation work for lead gen PPC
• Why governance maturity is a competitive advantage for SEO
• Why PPC measurement feels broken (and why it isn't)
• How SEO leaders can explain agentic AI to ecommerce executives
• What repeated ChatGPT runs reveal about brand visibility

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• Chatbots Make Terrible Doctors, New Study Finds, 404 Media
• Introducing Model Council, Perplexity
• OpenAI's Deep Research now runs on GPT-5.2 and lets users search specific websites, The Decoder
• Updates to deep research, ChatGPT Release Notes

Analytics

• How B2B teams should use analytics to drive growth, Hallam

Industry & Business

• An update on the CMA's assessment of our mobile ecosystem., Google Blog
• Google Hits A Snag: European Publishers File An Antitrust Complaint, MediaPost
• Google secures EU antitrust approval for $32 billion Wiz acquisition, Reuters

Links & Content Marketing

• What Marketers Should Steal From Bookstagram, Content Marketing Institute

Local & Maps

• I'm not going back to Google Maps after I tried this, Make Use Of

SEO

• 8 Benefits In-House Teams Enjoy from Working with SEO Consultants, Bruce Clay
• CommonLID: Re-evaluating State-of-the-Art Language Identification Performance on Web Data, Common Crawl - Blog
• E-E-A-T Audit: 220+ Markers That Measure Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust, Ahrefs
• Google reduces its crawl limit to 2 MB: What this means, Seobility
• Google's 2MB Crawl Limit: What Service & eCommerce Sites Must Do, Jonathan Alonso
• Google's Still Rewarding Low-Quality Sites (What Gives?), WordStream
• How SXO Ties Into the Era of Zero-Click Searches, RicketyRoo
• How to measure and optimize your presence in AI search, Oncrawl
• Is Your Press Release News or Just Digital SEO Litter?, JumpFly
• It's Time To Invite Your SEO To The Adults Table, SEO for Lunch
• The New Rules of AI-Led International Search Discovery, International Search News

PPC

• Google Ads Displays AI Max Promotion in Campaign Settings, PPC News Feed
• How to Set Up Google Shopping Query Sculpting in 2026, ZATO PPC Marketing
• What AI Does Well in PPC & Where it Loudly Fails, PPC Live
• Why Google's AI Overviews Update Matters '" And What Brands Must Do Online Now, JXT Group

Search Features

• ChatGPT sends very few clicks: why Google is still 500 times more important for publishers, Merca 20
• How to remove your government ID numbers from Google Search, Google Blog
• How to request removal of non-consensual explicit images in Search, Google Blog

Other Search

• Here's how we're marking Safer Internet Day in the UK., Google Blog

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News, add as a preferred source on Google and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or just contact us the old fashion way.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

OpenAI's ChatGPT ads go live with user ad controls. We are also seeing the start of more Google ranking volatility. Google is testing citation icons at the bottom of the AI Mode results. Google Ads PMax A/B testing is rolling out. Grokipedia is seeing a big drop in its search visibility. Bing is testing dynamic search results count under the search box.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• OpenAI ChatGPT Ads Go Live With User Ad Controls
  OpenAI has officially launched ads in ChatGPT yesterday. The company announced, "Today, we're beginning to test ads in ChatGPT in the U.S. The test will be for logged-in adult users on the Free and Go subscription tiers. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Education tiers will not have ads."
• Google Search Ranking Volatility Gets Heated Again February 10th
  I am seeing some early signs of yet another unconfirmed Google Search ranking update with more volatility touching down today, February 10th. The chatter within the SEO community is starting to spike, and some of the third-party tracking tools are showing volatility.
• Grokipedia Seeing Decline In Google Search Visibility
  There are some reports coming out that Grokipedia, the AI-based Wikipedia, is now showing a decline in search visibility in both Google and even ChatGPT. This comes after both an indexing and ranking surge in Google Search.
• Google Ads Performance Max A/B Experiments In The Wild
  A month ago, we reported on a new help document on Google Ads for Performance Max optimization experiments: A/B testing assets beta. Well, now some are seeing this in the wild, where you can set up these A/B tests in a controlled environment.
• Google AI Mode Tests Citation Icons At Bottom Of Answers
  Google appears to be testing showing the citation favicon site icons at the bottom of the answer in AI Mode. This is in addition to where it normally shows those icons, at the top right of the card stack, on the side of the answer response.
• Bing Tests Dynamic Results Count Under Search Box
  Microsoft Bing is testing a dynamically loading results count under the search box. So when you enter your search phrase, the results count will dynamically count up from 0 to the number of results found.
• The Old Bing Bellevue Building 12 Man Sign For Seahawks
  Did you know that about a decade ago, the old Microsoft Bing office would make it so its building had a massive 12 sign so that Seattle Seahawks fans could see the 12 for miles and miles.

Other Great Search Threads:

• Lily: really want to double crawl load? We'll crawl anyway to check similarity. Non-user versions (crawlable AJAX and like) are often neglected, broken. Humans eyes help fixing people and bot-viewed content. We like Schema in pages. AI makes us great at u, Fabrice Canel on Bluesky
• Another example of a site that started to lose rankings for many of its self-promoting "best" listicles in mid-January, and the downstream effect on ChatGPT citations for that domain at the same time (via @ahrefs Brand Radar) htt, Lily Ray on X
• Claude and Perplexity went toe-to-toe for most of 2025, with Perplexity usually ahead. Last month, Claude broke away., Similarweb on X
• TIP: Deleting a Google Business Profile, Local Search Forum

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Reddit says 80 million people now use its search weekly
• OpenAI starts testing ChatGPT ads
• Google AI Mode doesn't favor above-the-fold content: Study
• A preview of ChatGPT's ad controls just surfaced
• What Google and Microsoft patents teach us about GEO
• Why GA4 alone can't measure the real impact of AI SEO
• How to diagnose and fix the biggest blocker to PPC growth

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• Data Commons Hosted MCP: Zero-Install Public Data for AI, Google Developers Blog
• Google for Singapore 2026: Advancing our AI investments, Google Blog

Industry & Business

• Section 230 turns 30 as it faces its biggest tests yet, The Verge
• Anthropic closes in on $20B round, TechCrunch
• From Svedka to Anthropic, brands make bold plays with AI in Super Bowl ads, TechCrunch
• Google sued by Autodesk over AI-powered movie-making software, Reuters
• Google-Parent Alphabet Kicks Off Seven-Part US Bond Sale, Bloomberg
• Microsoft Sales Chief Responds to Potential Rivalry with OpenAI's New Agent Product, The Information
• Sam Altman touts ChatGPT growth as OpenAI nears $100 billion funding, CNBC

Links & Content Marketing

• 5 Content Marketing Ideas for March 2026, Practical Ecommerce
• Winning Brand Trust: How To Earn Attention One Room at a Time, Content Marketing Institute

Local & Maps

• Google Maps Rival Gets the Navigation Feature Google Will Never Launch, AutoEvolution
• Local Google Ads Optimization Strategies that Work In 2026, Hopskip Media
• Review Posting Blocks Are Surging: The Data & Patterns Behind Google's Crackdown, Sterling Sky

SEO

• Enterprise SEO vs Traditional SEO: What changes at scale?, Hallam
• How To Create FAQs At Scale With Screaming Frog + OpenAI API, Nectiv
• Log Files, AI Bots, and the Real Mechanics of AI Search | Metehan Yesilyurt, Advanced Web Ranking
• Markdown-only pages for AI crawlers are a waste of time. Here's why., SALT.agency
• Traffic Impact of Google Discover Update, Practical Ecommerce
• Answer engine optimization vs. traditional SEO: What marketers need to know, Hubspot

PPC

• Google Ads Updates YouTube Campaign Objective for Clarity, PPC News Feed
• In Graphic Detail: The scale of the challenge facing publishers, politicians eager to damage Google's adland dominance, Digiday
• OpenAI will reportedly start testing ads in ChatGPT today, The Verge
• Phishing Alert Targets Google Merchant Center Users, PPC News Feed
• The Art and Science of Google Ads: Becoming an Expert, Jyll Saskin Gales

Search Features

• Google Tests Personal Intelligence In NotebookLM, Find Articles

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News, add as a preferred source on Google and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or just contact us the old fashion way.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Google AI Overviews is testing new contextual overlay link cards. Google's John Mueller gave advice on if a new website can beat and old website in SEO. Google's preferred sources deeplink feature is broken. Google Ads API developer token applications are delayed. And Reddit spoke about AI citations from Google and ChatGPT in its earnings call.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google On If A Younger Web Site Can Beat An Older Website In Search
  A thread at Reddit asked if a one-year-old website can beat a four-year-old website in SEO and perform better in Google Search. John Mueller from Google answered with his classic "it depends."
• Google AI Overviews Tests Contextual Overlay Link Cards
  Over the past week or so, Google has been testing a new format for link cards in the AI Overviews within Google Search. When you place your mouse cursor over a link clip icon, a new overlay will show you the page/site cards that line of text is being sourced from.
• Google Preferred Sources Deeplink Button Is Broken
  The Google preferred sources deeplink button feature is broken and has been since at least last Wednesday. When you click on a button to make a site a preferred source, such as for this site, it does not pre-fill in the site's URL in the box, as it should. You can retype it in the box but it does not pre-fill it for you.
• Google Ads API Developer Token Access Applications Delayed
  Google announced on Friday that there is a delay with the Google Ads team reviewing and thus approving developer token access applications. This is because Google is "seeing significant interest in the developer community for Google Ads API access, and are receiving an increase in developer token access applications," the company said.
• Reddit On Google & ChatGPT AI Responses Citations & Lack Of Links
  On the Reddit Q4 2025 Earnings Call (see transcript here), Steve Huffman, the CEO of Reddit, was asked about how he feels about how Google and OpenAI link or use citations to link to Reddit's content. Overall, Steve made it sound like the interfaces are adapting quickly and he is hopeful they will drive traffic to the conversation (within Reddit) in the future.
• 1955 Ford F-100 At GooglePlex
  This 1955 Ford F-100, a classic pickup truck, was parked at the GooglePlex, the main Google headquarters in Mountain View, California. I am not sure what that sticker is on the windshield; it might be some sort of parking violation.

Other Great Search Threads:

• AI Search as the Personal OS: The Next Interface For Information with Robby Stein Of Google, Jordan Talks Everyday AI on X
• I'm sure Google is watching closely -> Reddit looks to AI search as its next big opportunity "Weekly active users for search over the past year grew 30% from 60 million users to 80 million users. Meanwhile, the weekly active users f, Glenn Gabe on X
• Yesterday afternoon we received several "your profile has been updated" emails from GBP, from different clients. All of the changes were for the name of the business., Lluc B. Penycate on X
• Gemini in January 2026: '' Surpassed the 2 billion visit benchmark for the first time. '' 19.21% month-over-month growth, +672.26% year-over-year growth., Similarweb on X
• Google Is Now Matching Just Random Number Sequences To Keywords!!!! LOL They Just Matched "347 222" To "Workers Comp Lawyers" Its Not A Workers Comp Code. Just A Random Sequence Of Numbers. Google Your Ai Is Broken, Or Is, Anthony Higman on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Amanda Farley talks broken pixels and calm leadership
• The latest jobs in search marketing
• Performance Max built-in A/B testing for creative assets spotted
• Google Ads adds a diagnostics hub for data connections
• Performance Max reporting for ecommerce: What Google is and isn't showing you
• Why content that ranks can still fail AI retrieval
• How PR teams can measure real impact with SEO, PPC, and GEO
• Why most B2B buying decisions happen on Day 1 '" and what video has to do with it

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• Goldman Sachs to tap Anthropic AI model to automate accounting, compliance, CNBC
• The Waymo World Model: A New Frontier For Autonomous Driving Simulation, Waymo
• The Classifier Layer: Spam, Safety, Intent, Trust Stand Between You and the Answer, Duane Forrester Decodes

Analytics

• Stop the Attribution Leak: How to List Unwanted Referrals in GA4, KRM Digital Marketing
• GA4 User Stickiness: Measuring Retention, KRM Digital Marketing
• Understanding the tech details report, KRM Digital Marketing
• Improved Website Event Data Collection via Tag Manager, PPC News Feed

Industry & Business

• Google, Microsoft pay creators $500,000 and more to promote AI, CNBC
• Publishers Strike Back Against Google in Infringement Suit, Publishers Weekly
• How Capex Ramp Up Will Squeeze Google, Amazon, Meta, The Information

Links & Content Marketing

• Global keyword research, backlink page types, and more (January 2026), Ahrefs
• How to Build AI Citations '" Whiteboard Friday, Moz

Local & Maps

• Apple Plans to Allow Outside Voice-Controlled AI Chatbots in CarPlay, Bloomberg
• Google Quietly Working on an Old Android Auto Feature It Never Launched, AutoEvolution
• How to Automate Google Business Profile Management with Semrush, Semrush
• We tested a transport app that cost the public <<£4m against Google Maps, BBC

SEO

• Google Wobbles, Zero-traffic Pages, And Why I'm Disappointed In SEOs, Nikki Pilkington
• January Volatility, Search Intent Mistakes, And The Heading Hierarchy Hardly Anyone Checks, Nikki Pilkington
• Should SEO budgets pay for LLM visibility?, Product Led SEO
• The Complete Guide To Ecommerce SEO in 2026, DebugBear

PPC

• Google Ads Unveils Data Source Diagnostics in Data Manager, PPC News Feed
• 8 PPC Reporting Tools (and What Each Is Actually Good For), Optmyzr
• Announcing iOS Google Mobile Ads SDK Version 13.0.0, Google Ads Developer Blog
• Google Ads Limits Ads for Rummy and Fantasy Sports in India, PPC News Feed

Search Features

• Microsoft Copilot Review: An Epic Assortment of AI Features, PCMag
• 'Gemini in Chrome' now available to Chromebook Plus laptops, 9to5Google

Other Search

• Bing blocked 1.5 million Neocities sites from search, Windows Central
• How to use Live Translation on FaceTime on iOS 26, AppleInsider
• Apple Readies iPhone 17e, New Siri, Entry-Level iPad, iPad Air and MacBook Pro, Bloomberg

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News, add as a preferred source on Google and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or just contact us the old fashion way.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Google unleashed its first core update of 2026, it was specific to Google Discover only and is in the US English only for now. Google AI Mode has follow up suggestions. Google Ads mixed campaign type experiments are live for some advertisers. Bing is unshipping its Frankenstein recipes. Google launched a redesign partner portal. ChatGPT and Perplexity treat structured data as text on a page. And I posted the weekly SEO video recap.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• February 2026 Google Discover Core Update Rolling Out - Local Impact
  Google has released its first core update of 2026, which is focused on just Google Discover. Google named it the February 2026 Discover core update. This one is rolling over the next two weeks or so just English language users in the US and at some point will roll out beyond that to all countries and languages.
• Bing Unshipping Frankenstein Recipes In Search
  We covered how horrific the AI-based Frankenstein recipes can be in Google Search, where it mashes up recipe steps from various publishers and acts like it is a real recipe from a source. Well, Bing had something similar but Jordi Ribas from Microsoft said they are "unshipping" the feature after the feedback was received.
• Google Ads Mixed Campaign Type Experiments Live For Some
  The Google Ads mixed campaign type experiment beta, which we covered the help document last month, seems to be going live for some advertisers. This feature allows advertisers to test multiple campaign types, budgets, and settings across campaigns in a single experiment.
• Google AI Mode Follow Up Search Suggestions
  We saw Google test follow up questions below the AI Mode responses back in July. Now Google is testing follow up search suggestions, not necessarily in question format, at the bottom of some AI Mode results.
• Google Partner Portal Gets A Redesign
  Last week, Google updated the design for the Google Partner Portal for advertisers. Google said the new look makes it "simpler to understand your goals and to track all your points activity."
• Report: ChatGPT & Perplexity Treat Structured Data As Text On A Page
  To fuel the debate in the SEO world of the topic of structured data and LLMs and AI engines, we are hearing that once again, AI engines like ChatGPT and Perplexity are not using structured data in any special way.
• Towel With A Google Briefcase Logo
  This is a weird one, I spotted this photo of a towel at the Google office in Dublin and on the towel is a Google super G logo on a briefcase.
• Video: Google Discover Core Update, Listicles Hit, Google Ads, ChatGPT Ads Ready & Microsoft Publisher Content Marketplace
  This week, we covered the first core update of 2026, the February 2026 Discover core update. Meanwhile, there is an ongoing super-heated and volatile Google search rankings. Google has nothing to share about the recent unconfirmed ranking updates.

Other Great Search Threads:

• First, the good part of the Anthropic ads: they are funny, and I laughed. But I wonder why Anthropic would go for something so clearly dishonest. Our most important principle for ads says that we won't do exactly this; we would ob, Sam Altman on X
• Team is looking at this., Fabrice Canel on X
• Thanks for flagging. This was a bug affecting book search results, and it's fixed now. Things should be back to normal., News from Google on X
• Google Small Business Bulletin Your February Checklist, Google Business Profile Community
• 11 years ago, I suggested & drove our epic Bing team-building project: lighting up the Bing building in Bellevue with a massive 12-man sign visible for miles. We've since moved buildings, but that 12th Man spirit lives on stron, Fabrice Canel on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google & Bing don't recommend seperate markdown pages for LLMs
• Your local rankings look fine. So why are calls disappearing?
• Google releases February 2026 Discover core update
• Google Ads no longer runs on keywords. It runs on intent.
• Google says AI search is driving an 'expansionary moment'
• How AI is reshaping local search and what enterprises must do now
• Why SEO teams need to ask 'should we use AI?' not just 'can we?'
• How first-party data drives better outcomes in AI-powered advertising

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• Evaluating Deep Research Performance in the Wild with the DRACO Benchmark, Perplexity
• Google & Apple CEOs offer seemingly contradictory AI details, AppleInsider
• Google's Gemini app has surpassed 750M monthly active users, TechCrunch
• Meta Memo: New Avocado Model 'Most Capable' to Date, The Information
• Anthropic Updates AI Model to Field More Complex Financial Research, Bloomberg
• Claude has been having a moment '" can it keep it up?, The Verge
• How to Choose the Best Prompts to Monitor Your AI Search Visibility, Ahrefs
• Introducing the Developer Knowledge API and MCP Server, Google Developers Blog
• OpenAI Frontier is a single platform to control your AI agents, The Verge
• Update on thinking time settings for GPT-5.2 Thinking in ChatGPT, ChatGPT Release Notes

Analytics

• 5 Google Analytics Reports PPC Marketers Should Actually Use, Search Engine Journal

Industry & Business

• Google could spend $3B building Botetourt data centers, Virginia Business
• Google suggests Gemini-powered Siri will run on Google's servers, 9to5Mac
• Google Leans Hard Into Its AI-Winner Status, Wall Street Journal
• No, Google didn't just admit that Siri will run on its servers, Macworld
• Officials rush to take legal action as Google data center drains major water source: 'Really bad effects down the line', The Cool Down

Links & Content Marketing

• Internal Links: SEO Best Practices for Internal Linking, Shopify
• Should Trending News Disrupt Content Plans? A 2-Question Test, Content Marketing Institute
• 15+ Tips For Editing AI Content, The SEO Community
• Framework for AI-Generated Content That Doesn't Suck, Advanced Web Rankings
• The content multiplier: How strategic SEO content turns a small team into a big impact engine, SALT.agency

Local & Maps

• The Google Business Review Extortion Scam: How to Fight Back, Sterling Sky
• Android Auto update may fix steering wheel, hints at new features, 9to5Google
• Local Pack Ads, Google Ka-Ching!, Claude Super Bowl Ads, AI Ankle-Biters, Near Media

SEO

• Add Loyalty and Membership Program data to qualify for search enhancem, Ilana Davis
• People Inc. Says Who Needs Google?, AdExchanger
• Tracking Clicks from AI Overviews in Google Search Console, JC Chouinard
• What Google's December 2025 core update tells us about quality, Raptive
• Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines and YMYL in the Age of AI Search, iIPullRank
• Measuring SEO Success in a Zero Click World, Visible Factors
• Naver SEO in 2026, International Search News
• Publishers say Google search traffic in 'managed decline', not dead, Press Gazette
• SEO Change, Product Grids, and What Actually Matters, Audiencekey

PPC

• Google Ads for B2B lead generation: What high-performing accounts do differently, Hallam
• Microsoft Ads Updates Dating'¯and Companionship Policy, PPC News Feed
• Mixed Campaign Type Experiments Enter Early Beta, PPC News Feed
• New Merchant Center Recommendations Focus on Product Descriptions, PPC News Feed
• Update to the Personalized ads policy (February 2026), Google Advertising Policies Help

Search Features

• Guide to AI Mode Follow-Up Questions and Multi-Turn Search, Hill Web Creations

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News, add as a preferred source on Google and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or just contact us the old fashion way.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Google Ads now offers multi-party approvals for enhanced security. Google AdSense added more reporting metrics. Microsoft Advertising is testing magazine answer card ad formats. Google Personal Intelligence uses fun icons. Google local hotel photos adds a "Good to know" label on photos. And Google reported earnings, it was big, big numbers.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google Ads Multi-Party Approval Aims To Stop Hijacking Ads Accounts
  Google has launched what it calls Multi-party approval for Google Ads. "Multi-party approval (MPA) is a security feature for Google Ads designed to protect your account from unauthorized activity by requiring a second account administrator to verify high-risk changes," Google wrote.
• Google Ad Revenue Up 14% - Google's Biggest Revenue & Ad Revenue Yet
  Google reported its earnings today, its Q4 2025 earnings report showed ad revenues up by 14% at $82.3 billion and overall revenue was up 17% at $113.8 billion. I specifically like to dig in as best as I can on the ad revenue side to see how Google Ads have performed.
• Google AI Overviews Bug Removes Links & Citations
  Google confirmed there is a bug with AI Overviews not showing links for some responses. The bug was spotted by Lily Ray, who posted some examples several hours ago. Rajan Patel, Google's VP, Engineering for Search, replied saying it is a bug and Google is working on fixing it.
• Google Local Hotel Photos "Good To Know" AI Labels
  Google is testing labeling some photos in the local hotel listings with "Good to Know" AI-generated descriptions of some of those photos. These labels seem to summarize what the photo and reviews say about the specific area of that hotel.
• Google AdSense Reports Gain Browser, Hosting App & Operating System
  Google AdSense seems to be rolling out new metrics for the AdSense reports in the console. These include Browser breakdown, Hosting App breakdown and Operating system breakdown metrics and data.
• Google Personal Intelligence Small App Icons In Responses
  Did you know that when Google AI Mode uses Personal Intelligence, Google will add icons of the various connected Google apps used to tailor your message. So you might see a Gmail icon, or Google Photos icon or Search or something else show up as a citation or source near the responses.
• Microsoft Advertising Tests Magazine Answer Card Ad Format
  Microsoft Advertising is testing a new ad format within its newish Answer Card format called a magazine layout. These load ads in the card formats you see at the top of some of the Bing search results.
• Googler Working In a Teacup
  Here is a photo from 10 years ago, one of those throwback photos, of a Googler working in a teacup. I doubt this is a tea cup at the Google office, but hey, who knows, I've seen stranger things at Google offices.

Other Great Search Threads:

• This more contextual AI Overviews may be rolling out now, Barry Schwartz on X
• Google is nuking the AI-generated content on Shopify's blog. Ecom website owners, more pages on your website does not necessarily mean better SEO or better GEO. The last time the traffic was at this level was in Jan 2022. That's despi, Harpreet on X
• US States are appealing the Google Search monopoly ruling remedies, Barry Schwartz on X
• But... with the latest volatility (which I believe was a reviews update), Wirecutter jumped up a bit. Hit hard by the December core update but moving up with the unconfirmed reviews update. Very interesting and backs up my theory th, Glenn Gabe on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google Ads adds a second set of eyes for high-risk account changes
• In Google Ads automation, everything is a signal in 2026
• Anthropic says Claude will remain ad-free as ChatGPT tests ads
• DOJ and states appeal Google search antitrust remedies ruling
• How Google Ads quality score really affects your CPCs
• Google may be cracking down on self-promotional 'best of' listicles
• What higher ed data shows about SEO visibility and AI search
• Google lists Googlebot file limits for crawling
• Why Google's Performance Max advice often fails new advertisers

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• AI Bots Are Now a Signifigant Source of Web Traffic, Wired
• Alexa+, Amazon's AI assistant, is now available to everyone in the U.S., TechCrunch
• Claude is a space to think, Anthropic
• Google AI announcements from January, Google Blog

Industry & Business

• Amazon Discusses Getting Special Access to OpenAI Tech, The Information
• Anthropic Takes Aim at OpenAI's ChatGPT in Super Bowl Ad Debut, Wall Street Journal
• Google hosts neighborhood open house in Haskell County ahead of data center plans, Yahoo
• Microsoft brings back Hayete Gallot to run security, new role for Bell, CNBC
• Microsoft's Pivotal AI Product Is Running Into Big Problems, Wall Street Journal
• Türkiye opens new antitrust probe into Google, Turkiye Today

Links & Content Marketing

• 30 Use Cases for B2B Influencer Marketing in 2026, TopRank Marketing
• Law Firms and Digital PR: Turning Expertise into Headlines, Blue Array

Local & Maps

• AI Answers Are Shockingly Easy to Manipulate for Local SEO, Reputation Arm
• Don't Update Google Maps if You Use Android Auto, As Widespread Bug Hits Users, AutoEvolution

SEO

• AI Visibility: Old-School SEO Metrics Don't Work, So What Do We Measure / Optimize For?, Ann Smarty
• Gemini Gems for SEO Efficiency: Stop Repeating Your Prompts, The SEO Community
• What is Google's Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP)?, Smarter Ecommerce
• What Marketers Should Know About AI in the Ecommerce & Advertising Landscape: Q1 2026, Seer Interactive

PPC

• The PPC Skills That Won't Be Replaced By Automation, Search Engine Journal
• Why Most Google Ads Strategies Fail at B2B Keywords, PPC Live

Search Features

• Gemini's next big feature could turn it into your personal travel guide, Android Authority
• Google is testing a cleaner Gemini overlay at the cost of some of its best features, Android Authority
• Update: AI Overviews Reduce Clicks by 58%, Ahrefs

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News, add as a preferred source on Google and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or just contact us the old fashion way.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Google's search rankings are highly volatile, and Google has not yet confirmed any official updates. Google seems to have targeted self-promotional listicles from showing up in the search results, at least many. Microsoft released the Publisher Content Marketplace to pay publishers to license its content for AI. Google commented about serving markdown pages to LLM crawlers. Google Ad Network was investigated for invalid clicks. Googlebot's limit for web pages is 15MB, 64MB for PDFs and 2MB for other file types.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google Search Ranking Volatility Heats Up Big Time Starting On February 2nd
  I was hoping, well, not really, that Google would calm down a bit since we had such a volatile January. But the Google Search results volatility is still very volatile, and the shuffling in those results is still shaking up.
• Google Hit Self-Promotional Listicles In Recent Unconfirmed Updates?
  Google may have hit those self-promotional and self-serving listicle articles in one of the more recent unconfirmed Google search ranking updates. Lily Ray dug into a pattern she spotted with these types of pieces of content, mostly in the SaaS space, being hit hard with the January Google updates.
• Microsoft Publisher Content Marketplace - Pay For AI To License Content
  Microsoft announced the expansion of the Microsoft Publisher Content Marketplace. This marketplace is designed to give publishers a new revenue stream, provides AI systems with scaled access to premium content, and deliver better responses for consumers. In short, it will pay for using your content in its AI.
• Google On Serving Markdown Pages To LLM Crawlers
  Google's John Mueller responded to a question on the pros and cons of serving raw markdown pages to LLM crawlers and bots. John didn't say much but he did list a number of concerns and things you should be on top of, if you do go down that avenue.
• Google Ad Network Invalid Clicks Report: Fraud vs Accidental
  Mike Ryan posted data on the percentage of invalid clicks on the Google Ad Network, broken down by fraudulent clicks or likely accidental clicks. It shows the Google Display Network has the most invalid clicks, but search partners have the most fraudulent invalid clicks.
• Googlebot File Limit Is 15MB But 64MB For PDF & 2MB For Other File Types
  We have known for a long time that Google can crawl web pages up to the first 15MB but now Google updated some of its help documentation to clarify that it will crawl the first 64MB of a PDF file and the first 2MB of other supported file types.
• Google's First 2026 Winter Olympics Doodle: Curling
  Google posted its first Winter Olympics Doodle, special logo, for the 2026 Winter Olympics. The first sport Google covered is curling. The Doodle is an animated GIF of an Olympian pushing the curling stone down the ice.
• Google Founder Sergey Brin Visits Miami Office
  Here is a photo from several weeks ago where Google's co-founder, Sergey Brin, stopped by the Google Miami office for a visit. He "had an impromptu Q&A with us, and kindly agreed to take several group," was posted on Instagram.

Other Great Search Threads:

• #showerthought LLMs rarely reply with "I don't know" to a prompt because we, humans, rarely ever admit online that we don't know something., Gary Illyes on Bluesky
• A small interface change to "Tailor your feed" on the discover feed, with a search field that still opens the same menu at the bottom of the screen, however., Damien (andell) on X
• ChatGPT vs. Gemini website visit growth chart, including January 2026. Preliminary data indicates that Gemini topped 2 billion monthly visits for the first time, while ChatGPT, though not recovering to its October 2025 peak, grew af, Similarweb on X
• Generative AI was the fastest-growing online industry in 2025, jumping from 4.401 billion to 8.017 billion monthly visits., Similarweb on X
• Scientific citations getting a boost in @GeminiApp! When you ask Gemini to include scientific sources, you will now see proper APA-style inline citations and detailed reference sections, which should help students and researchers, Josh Woodward on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Microsoft launches Publisher Content Marketplace for AI licensing
• Inspiring examples of responsible and realistic vibe coding for SEO
• LinkedIn: AI-powered search cut traffic by up to 60%
• Are we ready for the agentic web?
• 7 digital PR secrets behind strong SEO performance
• Google: 75% of crawling issues come from two common URL mistakes
• Microsoft rolls out multi-turn search in Bing
• Why most SEO failures are organizational, not technical

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• Gemini Tools menu adds Labs section, Personal Intelligence toggle, 9to5Google
• How ChatGPT Sources the Web, Profound
• Learn how to easily finetune FunctionGemma, a small language model, using the JAX-based Tunix library on Google TPUs for fast and cost-effective agent development., Google Developers Blog
• Why Hybrid Graph-Vector RAG Is the Future of Enterprise AI, Schema App

Analytics

• How Cookieless Tracking Actually Works | Analytics Playbook, KP Playbook

Industry & Business

• Alphabet Plots Big Expansion in India as US Restricts Visas, Bloomberg
• Google Search Ruling to be Appealed by DOJ, States, Bloomberg
• Google Sued by NovaCloud Over Cloud, Advertising Tech Patents, Bloomberg
• In Google earnings, analysts want answers on Apple's Siri-Gemini deal, CNBC
• New Data: OpenAI's Lead Is Contracting as AI Competition Intensifies, Big Technology
• OpenAI Fills Safety Job Listed at $555,000 With Anthropic Hire, Bloomberg
• Sam Altman Explains The Future, OpenAI's New Device And His Musk Feud, Forbes
• US files appeal in Google search case, court filing shows, Reuters

Links & Content Marketing

• How Dashboards Mislead Marketing (And AI Prep Tips), Content Marketing Institute

Local & Maps

• Google Erroneously Removed Biz Profile, Colo. Law Firm Says, Law360
• Google Maps may bring Gemini to the last place you expected, Android Police

SEO

• 6 Ways to Build a Search Everywhere Optimization Strategy for 2026, Semrush
• Baidu SEO in 2026 is not what it used to be, International Search News
• Compromise: The Lost SEO Skillset, SEO for Lunch
• How to Do Prompt Research for AI SEO, Semrush
• Is boilerplate content ok for SEO, Ilana Davis
• Schema Markup for AI: Types, Benefits, & How to Set It Up, WordStream

PPC

• High-Spending B2B Account? The Third Problem I See., Group Twenty Seven
• From Keywords to Context: How PPC Shifted from Search Terms to Understanding People, JumpFly

Search Features

• Will Siri's speech get any better or more natural?, AppleInsider

Other Search

• Experience Jitish Kallat's work on Google Arts & Culture, Google Blog

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News, add as a preferred source on Google and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or just contact us the old fashion way.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Google says search algorithms, spam detection, spam policies etc have not fundamentally changed with AI Search. Bing rolled out its multi-turn search feature. OpenAI ChatGPT now has top stories and more visual knowledge panels. Google shared the biggest crawling challenges of 2025. Google says don't spend too much time on redirect analysis for SEO purposes.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google: Search Algorithms, Spam Detections & Policies Don't Fundamentally Change With AI Search
  Google's John Mueller said that when it comes to AI Search and the changes that come with that, Google's core search algorithms, spam detection methods, spam policies, and other search systems do not fundamentally change.
• Google's Top Crawling Challenges In 2025
  Gary Illyes, along with Martin Splitt, of Google posted a podcast explaining the top crawling challenges Google noticed amongst its 2025 year of crawling. The top challenges Google had with crawling included faceted navigation, action parameters, irrelevant parameters, calendar parameters and other "weird" parameters.
• Google: Don't Spend Too Much Time On Redirects Analysis For SEO
  Google's John Mueller said he would "caution against assuming that you need to do this level of analysis for all URLs on a website in order to achieve optimal SEO" when it comes to reviewing bad redirects or CSP settings. Why, because bad redirects or CSP settings are often simply visible when doing normal browsing, and if you see it, then that is enough.
• Bing Multi-Turn Search Rolls Out Worldwide
  Bing Search has rolled out what it calls multi-turn search in Bing globally. This is something we saw Microsoft Bing test back in June, when we saw a floating Copilot follow up search box at the footer of the Bing search results page show up as you scroll. It is now globally live for all to use.
• ChatGPT With Top Stories & More Visual Knowledge Panels
  OpenAI seems to be jazzing up its ChatGPT responses by showing more visual responses, like Google's knowledge panels and top stories. This goes across people, places, products, and ideas, OpenAI said.
• Rainy & Foggy Google London Rooftop Patio
  Here is another photo from the Google office in London. This shows off the typical weather there, which is foggy and rainy. This photo is from one of the rooftop patios.

Other Great Search Threads:

• Another useful tidbit about Google Discover's "Tailor Your Feed." I tested it by requesting "fewer X posts" and analyzing the "resulting from natural language tuning." We can see that Google has replaced the Discover X (Twitter, Damien (andell) on X
• Everyone loves a hidden gem and my Microsoft Advertising hidden gem will always be ad group level settings. Here's why:, Navah Hopkins on LinkedIn
• Gender demographic traffic split to leading Gen AI websites, Similarweb on X
• Google: Fire your entire account rep team. Their reputation w top agencies is awful., Mike Rome on LinkedIn
• I am seeing the /blog/ sections for various large companies dropping in the last week or two. The blogs seem to be full of tons of explainer content for basic concepts within their niche, like "what is ____" or "how to use ____", Lily Ray on X
• The only constant is change! (And some form of neutrality, given the current GEO. Or is that a red flag? Or is the flag a big plus?), John Mueller on Bluesky
• How to add llms.txt (LLM file) in Wix? Any workaround?, Reddit

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google Ads API update cracks open Performance Max by channel
• How to build a modern Google Ads targeting strategy like a pro
• OpenAI quietly lays groundwork for ads in ChatGPT
• Human experience optimization: Why experience now shapes search visibility
• Ads in ChatGPT: Why behavior matters more than targeting
• Advanced ways to use competitive research in SEO and AEO
• The in-house vs. agency debate misses the real paid media problem

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• 'Moltbook' social media site for AI agents had big security hole, cyber firm Wiz says, Reuters
• Game Arena: Poker and Werewolf, and Gemini 3 tops chess, Google Blog
• How to plan your 2026 budget with Gemini and Google Sheets, Google Blog
• Introducing the Codex app, OpenAI
• Using AI to preserve the genetic code of endangered species, Google Blog

Analytics

• Marketing Attribution Basics: GA4, UTMs, and CRM Tracking Without Headaches, Brand Vision

Industry & Business

• Google Joins Singapore's Green Fuel Tests Ahead of Flight Levy, Bloomberg
• Nvidia CEO Confirms New Investment in OpenAI, 'Probably the Largest We Have Ever Made', The Information
• Snowflake lands $200M OpenAI partnership, The Deep View
• A list of the publisher lawsuits targeting Google's ad tech practices, Digiday
• Google Is Spending Big to Build a Lead in the AI Energy Race, Wall Street Journal
• OpenAI's ChatGPT push triggers senior staff exits, Financial Times (Sub)

Links & Content Marketing

• How to Find the Best Content Agency for Your Ecommerce Brand, Intergrowth
• Winning Brand Trust: Why 2026 Demands a Plural Brand Strategy, Content Marketing Institute
• 10 Ecommerce Link-Building Strategies: Boost Traffic, Rankings & Sales in 2026, Collaborator

Local & Maps

• Google Maps SEO: 5 Proven Strategies to Rank Higher, Ahrefs
• Google's Latest AI Search Features Look Like a Personalized Travel Concierge, Skift
• Google Maps community edits could get a major Gemini makeover, Android Authority

SEO

• 5 quick news SEO wins every editor can get right now, SEO For Journalism
• Can I Use My YouTube Transcripts as Real Estate Blog Posts?, SEO Savvy Agent
• How Growing In-house Marketing Teams Outgrow DIY SEO, Level343
• Information Retrieval Part 2: How to Get Into Model Training Data, Leadership SEO
• What Brand-Led SEO Looks Like Today | Miracle Inameti-Archibong, Advanced Web Ranking
• DMGT reports revenue dip as Google changes hit traffic for Mail publisher, Press Gazette
• Google is killing authentic websites & I made it worse, Louis Rossmann on YouTube

PPC

• AI in Online Advertising: 5 Key Trends from January 2026, JumpFly
• Amazon Ads Opens A Beta Test For Its New MCP Server, AdExchanger
• Google Stops Preselecting PMAX in Shopping Setup, PPC News Feed
• How to Find and Exclude Ad Placements in Google Ads, Jyll Saskin Gales
• Malicious 'Mac Cleaner' Ads On Google Redirect Users To Phishing Nightmares, CyberPress
• SERPs with Ads + AI Overviews Grew by Over 394% in 2025, Semrush

Search Features

• DOJ Opposes Google's Bid For Partial Search Remedy Pause, Law360
• Gemini Live rolling out floating pill redesign on Android, 9to5Google
• Tune into the 2026 Winter Olympics with Google, Google Blog

Other Search

• What is NLWeb (Natural Language Web)?, Yoast

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News, add as a preferred source on Google and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or just contact us the old fashion way.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Google said it had nothing to share on the recent Google search ranking volatility. Google hinted that AI visibility reports may be coming to Search Console. Google Local Pack ads are skyrocketing in the search results. Google Ads is replacing the support form with AI agents. I posted the monthly Google webmaster report today. We see ad references now in OpenAI's ChatGPT responses.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google On Recent Google Search Ranking Volatility - No Insights To Share
  As you know, January was an incredibly intense month of Google Search ranking volatility. It surprised me that Google has still not confirmed that a Google search ranking update took place. Now, John Mueller of Google was asked about it and said, "Unfortunately, I don't have any insights / updates to share."
• Google Search Console Adding AI Visibility Reporting?
  John Mueller from Google dropped a very John-like hint that maybe, just maybe, Google Search Console will add AI visibility reporting. John was asked about it again and responded, saying, "While I have nothing to announce, I can say for sure that very few things online are permanent."
• OpenAI Prepares ChatGPT Code To Allow Ads?
  If you look at the source code in some of the responses OpenAI's ChatGPT gives you, you may now see references to ads. The response in the source code says, "InReply to user query using the following additional context of ads shown to the user."
• Google Vastly Increases Local Pack Ads Placement
  Google seems to be showing more and more ads in the local pack, aka Local Pack Ads. Just a couple of months ago, Google had ads on the local pack for less than 3% of tracked keywords; now it's up to about 22% of tracked keywords.
• February 2026 Google Webmaster Report
  Welcome to the Google Webmaster report, where I sum up all the more important Google organic search topics that occurred over the past month - just in case you (or I) missed it. January was an incredibly volatile month regarding unconfirmed Google search ranking movement. I posted about it several times.
• Google Ads Replacing Support Form With AI Agent
  Google seems to be replacing its Google Ads support form with an AI agent, maybe from its Ads Advisor system. When you go to support.google.com/google-ads/gethelp you are redirected to the chat experience now. I am not sure if this is global, but I am seeing this myself across two Google Ads accounts I have access to.
• Google Major Tom Conference Room Sign
  At the Google office in London, the company has this neon light up sign that says "Major Tom." I found it weird, so I Googled it and discovered there is a large conference room at that office named Major Tom.

Other Great Search Threads:

• Bloomberg's @markgurman says that even though Apple partnered with Google Gemini for Siri, they actually run their business on Anthropic. "Apple runs on Anthropic at this point. Anthropic is powering a lot of the stuff Apple's doing inter, TBPN on X
• Changing default languages on ccTLD - Opinion?, Reddit
• We analyzed 10M+ keywords to see how Google's AI Overviews are reshaping search. AI Overviews are no longer rare. They peaked at nearly 25% of queries mid-year and now appear on about 16%, including more commercial and navigational s, Semrush on X
• We cannot have a fair market for AI when Google leverages their search monopoly to see 3.2x as much of the web as OpenAI, 4.8x as much as Microsoft, and more than 6x as much as nearly everyone else. Most data wins in AI. Go, Matthew Prince on X
• Did you know that Reading Mode in Chrome desktop has a remove links button? Well, that is coming to Android soon. Not sure how many people use Reading Mode, but I hope very little., Glenn Gabe on X
• If you search for this every day, then you've seen how these things change over time :-)., John Mueller on Bluesky
• Google traffic from Grokipedia has grown significantly in January., Similarweb on X
• oogle is promoting the 4th season of Bridgerton with a little help from Google AI Mode. Here's how it works: 1) Search 'Bridgerton' on Google Search. 2) Tap on the bottom right button to reveal the characters, Radu Oncescu on X
• Yahoo! released Scout, its new AI search engine, a few days ago, and it has, hands down, the most 'open web' friendly interface compared to ChatGPT or AI Mode'... and honestly, the best interface overall, Aleyda Solis on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Kirk Williams discusses why client fit is very important
• The latest jobs in search marketing
• Google tests third-party endorsements in search ads
• What 2 million LLM sessions reveal about AI discovery
• 7 custom GPT ideas to automate SEO workflows
• Is SEO a brand channel or a performance channel? Now it's both

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• Anthropic brings agentic plugins to Cowork, TechCrunch
• Visual Fan-Out: Make Your Products Discoverable in AI Mode, WordLift Blog
• Inside OpenAI's in-house data agent, OpenAI
• Apple's Record Quarter and AI Changes; MacBook Pro Update; Clamshell iPhone Fold, Bloomberg
• ChatGPT isn't the only chatbot pulling answers from Elon Musk's Grokipedia, The Verge
• Google will make it easier to import conversations to Gemini, Testing Catalog
• Leaders, gainers and unexpected winners in the Enterprise AI arms race, Andreessen Horowitz

Analytics

• Google Analytics To Become A Growth Engine For Business, Search Engine Journal
• Google Tag Gateway Now Supports Akamai Integration, PPC News Feed

Industry & Business

• Apple chose Gemini over Claude for its Siri upgrade over astronomical pricing, AppleInsider
• Apple Faces AI Talent Exodus as Top Siri Leader Joins Google DeepMind, Bloomberg
• Google Threat Intelligence Group shuts down IPIDEA proxy network, Google Blog
• Google Hit With TM Suit Over 'Gemini' AI Speaker Plans, Law360
• Anthropic Is at War With Itself, The Atlantic

Links & Content Marketing

• Content Consumption: How to Measure If Visitors Actually Read Your Content, KP Playbook

Local & Maps

• EP 241 - AI Isn't Replacing Local Search, But It's Rewiring How People Choose - with Crystal Carter, Near Media
• Google Business Profile Performance Report: Is It Accurate?, Igniting Business

SEO

• Do your AI Search & SEO KPIs need a 2026 upgrade? Yup., Seer Interactive
• SEO Is Binary: Below the Fold Is the New Page 2, SEO dot co
• SEO Myths in 2026: 15 Things People Believed That Still Waste Time Today, Peaklora
• The SEO Search Intent Problem Hiding In Your Website Copy, Nikki Pilkington
• Why Your Website Headings Are Confusing Google (and How To Fix Them), Nikki Pilkington

PPC

• January 2026 Microsoft Ads Feature Updates, PPC News Feed
• What Google's UCP Update Means for PPC, Koozai
• Google Shares Guide to Merchant Center for Agencies, PPC News Feed
• 4 Ways to See Google Ads in Other Countries, PPC News Feed
• Announcing the Google Mobile Ads Next-Gen SDK for Android, Google Ads Developer Blog
• Campaign Manager 360 API v4 Sunset Reminder, Google Ads Developer Blog
• Introducing Channel-Level Reporting for Performance Max campaigns, Google Ads Developer Blog
• OpenAI Confirms $200,000 Minimum Commitment for ChatGPT Ads, AdWeek

Search Features

• I Let Google's 'Auto Browse' AI Agent Take Over Chrome. It Didn't Quite Click, Wired
• More visual responses, ChatGPT Release Notes
• Google's new features for Black History Month, Google Blog

Other Search

• How Search Drove Generative AI '" A Passage from 'The Search', John Battelle's Search Blog

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News, add as a preferred source on Google and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or just contact us the old fashion way.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

I am seeing some really heated Google search ranking volatility over the past 24-hours again. Google is testing third-party endorsement content on search ads. Google added a preferred sources help document. Google Business Profile review appeals are no longer delayed. Google Ads PMax has new one click ad previews. And I posted the weekly SEO video recap.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google Search Ranking Volatility Super Heated January 29 & 30
  January has been an insane month with Google Search ranking volatility, and I guess it is no surprise to see the most heated time right now, as we end the month. I am seeing a significant spike in SEO chatter and many of the tools are showing very heated Google search ranking volatility over the past 24 hours or so.
• Google Ads Tests Third-Party Endorsement Content On Search Ads
  Google is testing showing third-party endorsement content on Search ads, a Google Ads spokesperson confirmed. This "third-party endorsement content" may include content from third-party websites under the ad description, including the site's name, logo, and a short endorsement from that site.
• Google Business Profiles Review Appeals No Longer Delayed
  Before the December holidays, Google posted a notice that review appeals for Google Business Profiles were delayed. Well, Google just removed the notice, which likely means the extended delays for review appeals are no longer an issue.
• One Click Google Ads Performance Max Ad Previews
  Google Ads has this new way to preview your Performance Max campaign ads, with one click. Now you can easily preview your PMax asset group ads from the table by clicking on the images.
• Google Search Adds Preferred Sources Help Docs
  Several weeks after Google rolled out support for Preferred Sources globally, Google added official help documentation for site owners to use to help them understand what it is all about and how to encourage their readers to subscribe to your site as a preferred source.
• Chrome-kie (Chrome Cookie)
  Who doesn't like cookies? Well, here is a Chrome-kie or a Chrome Cookie. I found this on Instagram at the Google Washington D.C. office for some event.
• Video: Google Rank Volatility Heated, AI Overviews To Send Less Traffic, Opt Out Of It, Yahoo Scouts & Bing AI Performance Report
  This week, we covered more ongoing Google search ranking volatility - January was a heated month. Google AI Overviews show more button officially flows to AI Mode, which is not good for publishers. Gemini 3 is powering AI Overviews globally now. Google is being forced...

Other Great Search Threads:

• Auto Browse in Chrome arrived this morning. It wasn't active yesterday even when the new Gemini sidebar showed up. Auto Browse works with any Gemini model btw. So I gave my new agent a task and asked it to check some of the Google volati, Glenn Gabe on X
• If the current run rate continues, Gemini is expected to surpass the 2 billion website visit benchmark for the first time ever in January., Similarweb on X
• OpenAI relies on an independent web index for this -> Keeping your data safe when an AI agent clicks a link "To operationalize that, we rely on an independent web index (a crawler) that discovers and records public URLs without any, Glenn Gabe on X
• The great paid ads pullback of 2026 is here. We surveyed 50 mid-market B2B marketing leaders with Wynter. The data is violent. 72% are actively slashing budgets for paid ads, content syndication, or agencies. This isn't a "hot take.", Pe:p Laja on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• How to optimize for AI search: 12 proven LLM visibility tactics
• 1/3rd of publishers say they will block Google Search AI-generative features like AI Overviews
• Google Ads API v23 brings PMax data, richer invoicing, scheduling
• When search performance improves but pipeline doesn't
• How to find great writers (and other content marketing struggles)
• Why AI makes agency-client relationships matter more than ever

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• Can we control AI? Google DeepMind's plan for responsible AI, CNBC
• Dow to Cut 4,500 Employees in AI Overhaul, Wall Street Journal
• Grounding in Truth - What are The Surfaces that Matter to LLMs?, SearchEngineWorld
• Keeping your data safe when an AI agent clicks a link, OpenAI
• OpenAI's Sora app is struggling after its stellar launch, TechCrunch
• Project Genie: AI world model now available for Ultra users in U.S., Google Blog
• Retiring GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini, and OpenAI o4-mini in ChatGPT, OpenAI
• YouTube wiped 4.7 billion+ views worth of AI brainrot, Android Police
• Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis on AI's Next Breakthroughs, What Counts As AGI, And Google's AI Glasses Bet, Big Technology
• India is teaching Google how AI in education can scale, TechCrunch

Analytics

• Google Search Console vs Google Analytics vs SEOTesting, SEOTesting
• Conversational Analytics in BigQuery is in preview, Google Cloud Blog

Industry & Business

• Amazon in Talks to Invest Up to $50 Billion in OpenAI, Wall Street Journal
• Apple isn't changing its privacy rules with Google Gemini deal, AppleInsider
• Ex-Google Worker Guilty of Stealing AI Tech for Chinese Firm, Bloomberg
• OpenAI Plans Fourth Quarter IPO in Race to Beat Anthropic to Market, Wall Street Journal
• Perplexity Inks Microsoft AI Cloud Deal Amid Dispute With Amazon, Bloomberg
• UMG sues Anthropic for $3bn over 'brazen' copyright infringement of 20,000+ songs, Music Business Worldwide
• Apple Dodges Users' Deposition In Google Antitrust Case, Law360

Links & Content Marketing

• How To Use Agentic AI To Create Marketing Workflows, Content Marketing Institute
• In Defence of the em dash: What the AI writing debate gets wrong, SALT agency
• Why Experiential Content Builds B2B Buyer Trust, DesignRush

Local & Maps

• Gemini in navigation is now available for walking and cycling in Google Maps, Google Blog

SEO

• Despite 90% Traffic Loss, Review Platforms Top AI Overview Citations, SE Ranking
• Digital Sleuthing: How to Find and Decipher Google's Patents, Leaks, and PR, iPullRank
• How Schema Markup Helps Enterprises With Their AI Journey, Schema App
• Keyword Research Insights SEOs Need in 2026, seoClarity
• Let's talk about GEO, AIO, AEO, SEO, etc., Momentic
• New<< to Yoast SEO for Shopify:<< Enhanced pricing visibility in product schema<< , Yoast
• SEO is dead! Via'... :checks notes: LLMO?, Not A Robot
• AEO: Optimize for the follow up, Product Led SEO
• Generative Engine Optimization Is the New SEO for AI Chatbot Influence, Wall Street Journal
• How to Write Engineering Tickets for SEO Work, Gray Dot Co
• Your SEO backlog is costing you revenue. Here's why marketing needs to own it., SALT agency

PPC

• Google's Support Form Now Auto-Fills Details From Past Cases, PPC News Feed
• What's Next For ChatGPT Ads: The Facts And The Theories, AdExchanger
• ChatGPT Ads Are Here: What Marketers Need to Know, JumpFly
• Google Ads Double Serving: Top vs. Other Auctions, Jyll Saskin Gales
• Google Ads Hints at Bulk Management for Callout & Snippet Assets, PPC News Feed
• Google Ads Introduces Channel-Level Reporting, PPC News Feed

Other Search

• iPhone 16 World's Best-selling Smartphone in 2025; Apple Takes 7 Spots in Top 10 Models, Counterpoint Research

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News, add as a preferred source on Google and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or just contact us the old fashion way.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Only 33% of you said you would block your site from Google using it for AI Overviews and AI Mode. Microsoft announced earnings and search ad revenue may be growing a bit slower. Google is testing 10 sitelinks for some search snippets. Google Personal Intelligence does the Frankstein AI recipes too. Google Ads API version 23 is out. Google Ads advertiser verification page is changing.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Poll: 33% Will Block Google AI Search Experience: AI Mode & AI Overviews
  I ran a poll yesterday on X asking Would you block Google from using your content for AI Overviews and AI Mode. About 33% of the over 350 responses said they would block Google from using and showing their content in the AI search experiences. 42% said they would not block Google and 25% are not sure yet.
• Google Personal Intelligence Creates AI Frankenstein Recipes
  We covered the topic of Google's AI Frankenstein recipes and how bad it is for recipe bloggers and publishers. But when you have Google's Personal Intelligence serve up these Frankenstein chunks of content, it makes it so much worse.
• Google Ads API Version 23 Now Available
  Google has released version 23 of the Google Ads API, this is a major release with dozens of updates. Updates include Performance Max reporting data with Ad Network type breakdown, more incentives, reporting and conversion controls - plus much more.
• Bing Ads Revenue Up 10% - Is Growth Slowing?
  Microsoft reported its second quarter 2026 earnings and it showed that its search and advertising revenue was up for 10% but growth is down over the past two quarters. The previous quarter it was up 16% and the one before that was 21% and this quarter, it is only up 10%.
• Google Ads Advertiser Verification Page Moving
  Google is moving the Google Ads verification page to a new section within the Google Ads console. It is moving to the Admin, then Policy and Account section.
• Google Tests 10 Sitelinks On Some Search Result Snippets
  Google seems to be testing showing up to 10 sitelinks on some of the search result snippets. Normally, Google will show about 4 sitelinks, but here Google is showing 6 more.
• Photos From Google Restaurant Influencer Summit
  Krystal Taing shared some photos from a Google Restaurant Influencer summit that happened several weeks ago. She posted these photos on LinkedIn and it looks like some good eats.

Other Great Search Threads:

• I get that some kinds of sites wouldn't want to disclose their non-efforts, but there are at least some that are keen on being transparent about their use of AI. Personally, it makes me kinda trust a site/business more, when they're transparent about thei, John Mueller on Bluesky
• Local Falcon as switched their AI Overviews tracking to mobile so that it can now track AI local packs (which are currently only on mobile in the USA). The list of sources it gives you is very helpful. Also, while these grids aren', Joy Hawkins on X
• Oh, I'm sure publishers will mark up the AI portions.... LOL -> Google might mark up parts of pages created via AI (but it's based on html markup by the author) "Enables authors to declare the degree of AI involvement in any HTML el, Glenn Gabe on X
• OpenAI's announcement that it "plans to start testing (ads) in the coming weeks for logged in adults in the U.S. on the free and Go tiers" generated a spike in search interest for ChatGPT Ads., Similarweb on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• AI local visibility is up to 30x harder than ranking in Google: Report
• Meta tests paid subscriptions
• AI recommendation lists repeat less than 1% of the time: Study
• The future of search visibility: What 6 SEO leaders predict for 2026
• Google adds one-click ad previews to PMax
• Google searches per U.S. user fell nearly 20% YoY: Report
• How to optimize video for AI-powered search
• Inside Meta's AI-driven advertising system: How Andromeda and GEM work together

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• LiteRT: The Universal Framework for On-Device AI, Google Developers Blog
• Research: AIs are highly inconsistent when recommending brands or products; marketers should take care when tracking AI visibility, SparkToro
• Smokejumpers: the team behind Google's AI infrastructure, Google Blog
• To avoid accusations of AI cheating, college students turn to AI, NBC News
• AI Brand Visibility: Why Tracking Across Multiple LLMs Matters, Yoast
• How shopping chatbots might transform retail, Financial Times (Sub)

Analytics

• Is Consent Mode V2 Mandatory in 2026?, Measure Minds Group
• The first episode of the Ads Decoded podcast dives into how marketers can leverage analytics and AI for better results., Google Blog

Industry & Business

• Former Google engineer challenges claims of stealing AI trade secrets, Courthouse News Service
• Google Aims Knockout Blow at Chinese Company Linked to Massive Cyber Weapon, Wall Street Journal
• Google updates Mayors AI playbook for smarter cities, Axios
• Google's Allegedly Stolen AI Secrets Not Valuable, Jury Told, Law360 UK
• OpenAI One-Ups Anthropic with New Whistleblower Policy, The Information
• Google to pay $135 million to settle Android data transfer lawsuit, Reuters
• Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon in Talks to Invest Up to $60 Billion in OpenAI, The Information

Links & Content Marketing

• Better Content Writing: Follow This System (With or Without AI), Content Marketing Institute
• PR bodies launch campaign against fake experts after Press Gazette investigation, Press Gazette

Local & Maps

• Google Ads Just Killed Local SEO? What You Need to Know in 2026, Sterling Sky
• Google Maps Needs It: This Is Google's New Feature for the World's Top Navigation App, AutoEvolution
• Local AI Study, AI Mode Onramp, G-Queries Down, Squandered Tech Trust, Near Media

SEO

• 10 Important SEO Metrics to Track in 2026, Backlinko
• 2026 Hugo SEO benchmark data: What high performance sites get right, SALT agency
• 5 key SEO tactics to adapt for AI search, STAT Search Analytics
• How Do People Search in Some of the Most Censored Countries?, BruceClay
• IndexWatch 2025: Visibility Losers in Google UK Search, SISTRIX
• Let's Talk "Impressions": 2026s Biggest Hoax, SEO for Lunch
• News/Media Alliance is 'cautiously optimistic' about Google's AI mode opt-out announcement, Editor and Publisher
• SEO didn't die. It learned to speak AI, Meer
• SEO vs GEO vs AEO + Optimizing for All, According to Microsoft, Ann Smarty

PPC

• High-Spending B2B Account? The Second Problem I See, Group Twenty Seven
• How to run Google Shopping alongside Performance Max in 2026, Smarter Ecommerce
• How to Use Seasonality Adjustments in Google Ads for Better Year-Round Performance, WordStream
• The Ads Decoded podcast is here, Google Blog
• Top 4 PPC Platforms That Enable True Profit-on-Ad-Spend (POAS) Bidding, Smarter Ecommerce
• Universal Commerce Protocol: How Google Ads are changing in 2026, Smarter Ecommerce
• Your PPC Client Isn't 'Non-Technical' They're Decision-Overloaded, PPC Live

Search Features

• Chrome gets new Gemini 3 features, including auto browse, Google Blog
• New AI Tools to Support India's Next Generation, Google Blog
• The Power of Personal Intelligence in Google Gemini and AI Mode '" Another big step towards Jarvis, the impact to SEO and AI Search, and the inherent tracking challenge, GSQI

Other Search

• Android desktop interface leaks: Status bar, Chrome Extensions, 9to5Google
• Our first look at Google's Android desktop makes its Chrome OS replacement feel real, Android Central
• Snapchat builds a whole company around smart glasses efforts, 9to5Google

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News, add as a preferred source on Google and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or just contact us the old fashion way.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Google is exploring ways to let us block our content from being used in AI search, like AI Mode and AI Overviews. Yahoo is back in Search with its release of Yahoo! Scout. Google AI Overviews now jump you into AI Mode and hide the citations - it is not good. Google AI Overviews are powered by Gemini 3 globally now. Bing Webmaster Tools is testing new AI Performance reporting. Google Search tests adding color to the top of the search results page.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Bad News: Google AI Overviews Follow-Up Questions Go Directly To AI Mode
  Google made it official, now Google Search AI Overviews will let you do a follow up question after clicking on the "Show more" button and that follow up question will take you directly into AI Mode. This will no doubt lead to less clicks to your website and more traffic into Google AI Mode.
• Google Exploring Ways To Allow Sites To Opt Out Of AI Overviews & AI Mode
  Google just announced it is looking into ways to allow websites to specifically opt out of Google using its content in the Search generative AI features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode. This comes based on UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) new requirements for Google Search.
• Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance Report Beta
  Bing is testing a new report within Bing Webmaster Tools named AI Performance. AI Performance shows you how many citations you are getting from Microsoft Copilot and partners. But while it shows you citations (i.e. impressions), it does not show you clicks from those Bing AI experiences.
• Yahoo! Scout - Yahoo's Official Return To Search With AI
  After three years of Yahoo dropping hints at its return to search, Yahoo has announced Yahoo! Scout - its new AI search engine feature that is embedded within Yahoo Search, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports and so on - as well as at scout.yahoo.com.
• Gemini 3 Powering Google AI Overviews Globally
  Google AI Overviews are now being powered by Gemini 3 globally, by default. Robby Stein, VP of Product, Google Search announced, "We're making Gemini 3 the new default model for AI Overviews globally, so you get a best-in-class AI response right on the search results page, for questions where it's helpful."
• Google Search - Add Splash Of Color With Color Picker
  Google is testing the ability to add color to your search results page with a color palette picker. There is this palette icon at the top of the results that when clicked on says "Add a splash of color to the top of Search," and "Pick color."
• Escape the Office - Google Escape Rooms
  In nine Google offices worldwide, Google has these escape room games named Escape the Office where "Volunteers turn everyday office items into puzzle challenges, giving Googlers a fun way to meet new teammates and collaborate in unexpected ways," Google wrote on X.

Other Great Search Threads:

• "Tailor Your Feed" Update on Google Discover: I couldn't see if a Discover feed had been impacted by the prompt and request sent in "Tailor Your Feed," or at least it wasn't clear. Since January 13th, Google has added an attrib, Damien (andell) on X
• An interesting fact about Google Discover and the "follow" function. When you follow a publisher and your Discover feed refreshes or you get a new feed, and Google suggests a card related to that publisher, Google will categori, Damien (andell) on X
• EVENT: Come join our v23 "Google Ads API Release Highlights" event!, Cory Liseno on LinkedIn
• In Google Discover, you can manage the languages ''that appear in your feed, including multilingual options, directly in Settings under Language & Region. You can also view blocked languages. Here's an example with a "Block, Damien (andell) on X
• Percentage of Google visitors who also visited ChatGPT since its launch (no data for May 2024 due to ChatGPT's URL change), and vice versa., Similarweb on X
• Testing the "Tailor your feed" feature in Discover (it's in labs). Sort of weird that I have to access that within the overflow menu for a listing and not top-level somehow, but it does work... When prompting Discover for something, Glenn Gabe on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google may give sites a way to opt out of AI search generative features
• Bing Webmaster Tools testing new AI Performance report
• Google AI Overviews follow up questions jump you directly to AI Mode
• Yahoo debuts Scout, an AI search and companion experience
• Is your account ready for Google AI Max? A pre-test checklist
• 4 Facebook ad templates that still work in 2026 (with real examples)
• Why Search and Shopping ads stop scaling without demand
• EU puts Google's AI and search data under DMA spotlight

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• Identifying Signal from Noise: 6 Ways to Leverage Query Fan Outs for AI Search Strategy, Seer Interactive
• Introducing Agentic Vision in Gemini 3 Flash, Google Blog
• OpenAI's latest product lets you vibe code science, MIT Technology Review
• UK announces Meta-backed AI team to upgrade public services, Reuters

Analytics

• Data Pipelines Don't Fail Quietly: A Practical Guide to Monitoring & Alerting, Analytics Ninja
• New Tool From AirOps Looks At Search Performance From Every Angle, AdExchanger

Industry & Business

• Anthropic 'destructively' scanned millions of books to build Claude, The Washington Post
• Anthropic doubles VC fundraising to $20bn on surging investor demand, Financial Times (Sub)
• EU Gives Tech Giant Google Six-Month Deadline to Comply with DMA, Ribera Says, Bloomberg
• Google AI Plus expands to 35 new countries and territories including the US, Google Blog
• Meta Announces Up to $6 Billion Agreement With Corning to Support US Manufacturing, Facebook
• SoftBank in Talks to Invest Up to $30 Billion More in OpenAI, Wall Street Journal
• YouTubers sue Snap for alleged copyright infringement in training its AI model, TechCrunch
• Anthropic Hikes 2026 Revenue Forecast 20% but Delays When It Will Go Cash Flow Positive, The Information

Links & Content Marketing

• Experiential Content: How Interaction Builds Confidence in B2B Decisions, TopRank Marketing
• Master Content Operations and Keep Your Team Moving Forward, Content Marketing Institute

Local & Maps

• This simple Apple Maps setting solved a key problem for me '" I can't believe no one's talking about it, TechRadar
• Local SEO Strategy for Google Maps Ask A Question, Whitespark

SEO

• 22 Best SEO Software Tools for Enterprise Teams, SEOTesting
• Outranking competitors product pages, Ilana Davis
• The 30-day SEO transformation playbook: Week 1, Oncrawl
• The Boring Win for Core Web Vitals: Protocol Update, Grumpy Old SEO
• 15 Best Practices for URLs and When to Optimize Them, JumpFly
• Estimating Potential Revenue Loss from Zero-Click Search: A Method for Using Secondary Data, Luca Tagliaferro
• Google vs. AI Content: The Case of Grokipedia, SISTRIX

PPC

• ChatGPT Ads Are Coming: What PPC Marketers Need to Know Before Everyone Else, PPC Hero
• Performance Max Gets One-Click Ad Preview, PPC News Feed
• The future of demand gen is small teams with big AI capabilities, SALT agency
• Why your paid ads aren't scaling: 4 challenges that have nothing to do with your ads, PPC Hero
• ChatGPT Ads: What Google & Meta Advertisers Need to Know, Jyll Saskin Gales
• Faulty Image Cropping Detected in Google's Discover Ads, PPC News Feed

Other Search

• Launching Profound Data Nodes for Agent Workflows, Profound
• Google just leaked a first look at Android for PC in action, The Verge

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News, add as a preferred source on Google and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or just contact us the old fashion way.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Google search ranking volatility is still heated. Google posted new tips on how to write better review responses in local. Google Ads data exclusions for PMax is rolling out. Google Ads experiment center help documentation is new. Microsoft Advertising has a new ad preview hub.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google Search Ranking Volatility Remains Super Heated
  The Google Search rankings continue to be super volatile and heated even through today. This started back throughout most of January and it has really heated up even more so since January 21st or so.
• Google Posts Tips To Write Better Review Replies
  Google has updated its tips to get more reviews help documentation with a new section on tips to write better review replies. This section includes how to make your replies positive and relevant and a section on giving helpful responses to negative reviews.
• Google Ads Data Exclusions For PMax Campaigns Rolling Out
  Back in October, we saw signs of the ability to use data exclusions on Google Ads Performance Max (PMax) campaigns. Well, now it seems to be rolling out to many advertisers on Google Ads.
• Google Ads Experiment Center Help Doc
  Google has posted a new Google Ads help document named About the Google Ads Experiment Center. This document "is a unified hub for validating strategies and continuously improving campaign performance," Google wrote.
• Microsoft Advertising Launches Ad Preview Hub
  Microsoft Advertising has fully released the Microsoft Advertising Ad Preview Hub to all users. "I am beyond excited about Microsoft Advertising's new Ad Preview Hub! This is GA and should be live in your accounts in all markets," Navah Hopkins, the Microsoft Ads Liaison, wrote on LinkedIn.
• Google DeepMind Office A Sims Game
  Google has dressed up the Google DeepMind offices into The Sims game. Paige Bailey from the Google DeepMind team posted this on X and wrote, "the entirety of GDM campus in Mountain View has been turned into a Sims game and my 13yo self is ecstatic."

Other Great Search Threads:

• Another week another AI spam portal in Google Discover. (there are much more but I am not going to report all of them)., Valentin Pletzer on X
• I expect the exact UI look & feel will (probably has?) change over time (like all features), but like I mentioned, the tracking for Search Console is generally stable & equivalent across mobile/desktop. That said, I'll check and update here if I hear othe, John Mueller on Bluesky
• maybe a new domain will fix me, Travis Street on Bluesky
• OpenAI sends me an email to use ChatGPT - really?, Barry Schwartz on X
• The .ai TLD is also quite expensive, good on them. FWIW it's on the list at developers.google.com/search/docs/... as a "Generic Country Code Top Level Domain", so it's not specific to the country., John Mueller on Bluesky

Search Engine Land Stories:

• ChatGPT ads come with premium prices '" and limited data
• Google research points to a post-query future for search intent
• From searching to delegating: Adapting to AI-first search behavior
• Google Ads debuts centralized Experiment Center
• Why Performance Max looks different for B2B in 2026
• Why first-touch analytics matters more than ever for SEO in 2026

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• AI Job Cuts Are Landing Hardest in Britain, Morgan Stanley, Bloomberg
• ChatGPT can analyze Apple Watch health data. Here's how a doctor views it., The Washington Post
• ChatGPT Changed Their Algorithm 46 Days Before Announcing Ads, Seer Interactive
• How to Choose Which Prompts to Track In AI Search, seoClarity
• Maia 200: The AI accelerator built for inference, The Official Microsoft Blog
• OpenAI wants to be a scientific research partner, Axios
• Trump DOT Plans to Use Google Gemini AI to Write Regulations, ProPublica
• Inside OpenAI's big play for science, MIT Technology Review

Analytics

• 5 Google Analytics Reports PPC Marketers Should Actually Use, Search Engine Journal
• Marketing Measurement in 2026: Questions Every CFO Should Ask, Measured

Industry & Business

• Google settles Google Assistant privacy lawsuit for $68 million, Reuters
• Google Targets Publishers' Ad Tech Claims, Law360
• Google'"Apple Gemini Deal Underscores Tech's Antitrust Catch-22, Bloomberg
• Organizations accelerate scientific discovery with AI, Google Blog
• Search Central Live is coming back to South America, Google Search Central Blog
• The SEO Community Jobs Panel, LinkedIn
• Google Android Told by EU to Open Up to Rival AI Systems, Bloomberg

Links & Content Marketing

• Agentic AI in Marketing: How to Build an Authority Ladder, Content Marketing Institute
• How To Build Site Authority and Multi-Channel Relevance in the Age of AI, Moz

Local & Maps

• Google Anonymous Reviews Reshape Visibility, Street Fight
• Apple Maps to Add Improved Tesla NACS Support, Not A Tesla App
• Strava and Komoot finally bring offline maps to Apple Watch, The Verge
• The secret swipes that make Google Maps more usable while driving, Android Police

SEO

• How SEOs Are Using Common Crawl's Web Graph Data for AI Ranking Signals, Common Crawl Blog
• How to Connect Wix Websites to Bing: A Guide by the Wix SEO Hub, Wix SEO Hub
• How to Supercharge AI Visibility for Financial Services, Amsive
• How to Track AI Overviews: Mentions, Citations, Click Loss, and the Traffic Google Won't Show You, Ahrefs
• Information Retrieval Part 1: Disambiguation, Leadership SEO
• Semantic Search Is the Only Search That Matters Now (For SEO and AI Visibility), Ahrefs
• SEO KPIs that actually matter for B2B marketing teams, Hallam
• Understand Your Tech Stack to Find and Fix Render-Blocking JS and CSS, The SEO Community
• Unlearning Old SEO Content Strategies to Improve Brand Visibility, Himani Kankaria
• What if user satisfaction is the most important factor in SEO?, Marie Haynes
• What Personal Intelligence means for organic marketers and executive leadership, SALT agency
• Winter Olympics 2026 - SEO Winners, Insights & Trends, NewzDash

PPC

• Journey Aware Bidding Explained for Advertisers, Hopskip Media
• OpenAI Seeks Premium Prices in Early Ads Push, The Information
• How to Use LinkedIn Targeting in Microsoft Ads (Without Paying LinkedIn CPCs), Optmyzr
• Why Your Paid Search Ads Aren't Converting Like They Used To, JumpFly
• YouTube Promotions vs. Google Ads: A Cost-Saving Guide, Jyll Saskin Gales

Search Features

• Improvements to search response quality in Voice, ChatGPT Release Notes

Other Search

• Architecting Security for Agentic Capabilities in Chrome, Google Online Security Blog
• The iOS 26 Adoption Rate Is Not Bizarrely Low Compared to Previous Years, Daring Fireball
• Google TV update quietly fixes some long-standing interface issues, Android Authority

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News, add as a preferred source on Google and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or just contact us the old fashion way.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Google Ads launched a new billing report. Google AI Mode product images are showing price lables. Google Ads has a new campaign mix experiments beta help document. Google Ads product campaign view report is new also. And Google Ads is updating its gambling and game certification eligibility policy

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google Ads New Billing Report
  Google is rolling out a new billing report within Google Ads. The new billing report gives you line-by-line view of your Google Ads invoices.
• Google AI Mode Tests Product Images With Price Labels
  Google is testing adding price labels on top of the product images within AI Mode results. I tried to replicate this but I was not able to, so it seems like a test.
• Google Ads Campaign Mix Experiments In Beta
  Google Ads has a new help document named Campaign Mix Experiments (Beta). This describes how advertisers can test multiple campaign types, budgets, and settings across campaigns in a single experiment.
• Google Ads Product Campaign View Report Is Useful
  Google Ads lets you see how your product ads are performing across all your campaigns in a single view. Some advertisers are saying this is a new report, so I figured I'd share what they're noticing.
• Google Ads Gambling & Games Certification Eligibility: Good Health
  On March 23, 2026, Google will update its Google Ads Gambling and games policy to say that your overall account must demonstrate good policy health to be eligible for gambling and games certification. Meaning, you need to have a good account history and have a number of violations on your account.
• Long Google Staircase
  Here is a photo from the Google offices in London. You can see this super long staircase. It just looks weird, maybe at this angle. I always found this building to be interesting looking.

Other Great Search Threads:

• I'd generally refer to support.google.com/webmasters/a... where we document a lot of these details. Do you think we need to update something there? We don't update that often, because usually things just stay the same., John Mueller on Bluesky
• A new 'Step by Step' Custom Command is now available in the Google Ads API Developer Assistant!, Cory Liseno on LinkedIn
• Google Discover AI Overview Video Bug?! Currently, on Discover feeds, you can see AI Overview cards with YouTube videos that have no video player, no image, and no thumbnail, only the title and then the favicon with the publish, Damien (andell) on X
• Got cc'd into an email with 27 other recipients - basically everyone in that MCC. Not only is this absolute overkill (I haven't worked on that account in years, it's also a privacy nightmare and Google needs to make it fucking st, Boris Beceric on X
• Great visual showing a company's AI slop created to rank in AI Search is not helping them Google-wise. As AI listicles surge on the site (thousands of them), you can see the initial surge in Google but now pages keep going up while, Glenn Gabe on X
• Just a reminder that ads have been serving in Copilot since 2024 and they always take a back seat to linking out to organic options., Microsoft Ads Buddy on X
• ChatGPT now testing out a product display that is more similar to AI Mode and features more products., SERP Alert on X
• ChatGPT website traffic in its first full three years, Similarweb on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Apple Ads adds more ad slots to App Store search results
• The URL mistake that killed Black Friday ft Nick Handley
• Google Ads bug removes notes option for some advertisers
• The latest jobs in search marketing
• Google Ads bug blocks edits to Performance Max asset groups
• TikTok's U.S. joint venture could reduce long-term uncertainty for brands
• A smarter way to approach AI prompting
• Agentic AI and vibe coding: The next evolution of PPC management

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• How Playing Pokémon Became the Ultimate Test of AI's Intelligence, Wall Street Journal
• Keeping Authenticity in the Time of AI, BrightLocal
• Latest ChatGPT model uses Elon Musk's Grokipedia as source, tests reveal, The Guardian
• Adam Gallagher of food blog Inspired Taste discusses the dangers of AI-recipe slop, NPR
• Frequent Use of AI in the Workplace Continued to Rise in Q4, Gallup
• Science Is Drowning in AI Slop, The Atlantic

Analytics

• GA4 Monetization Reports: The Essential Guide for Marketers, KRM Digital Marketing

Industry & Business

• Google confirmed as company behind 500,000 sq ft data center in Scioto County, Ohio, Data Center Dynamics
• Exclusive: Google Acquires 3D Image Generator Startup, The Information
• Judge Sides Against Google In Search Users' Antitrust Suit, MediaPost
• OpenAI Aims to Lure Businesses From Anthropic, The Information
• Inside Apple's AI Shake-Up, AI Safari and Plans for New Siri in iOS 26.4, iOS 27, Bloomberg

Links & Content Marketing

• The New Content Failure Mode: People Love It, Models Ignore It, Duane Forrester Decodes

Local & Maps

• Whitespark's Guide to Local Business Reputation Management, Whitespark
• Explore public datasets with Apache Iceberg & BigLake, Google Open Source Blog
• How to use Maps in iOS 26, AppleInsider
• Maybe It's Time To Abandon Google Maps? Top Alternative Gets Another Big Update, AutoEvolution

SEO

• SEO isn't dead. But AI chat adoption is faster than most teams realize., ReadWrite
• Twitter SEO: Boost Your Discoverability, Sprout Social
• Wayfair's Framework for Picking SEO Tests, Search Pilot
• Does Real Estate Blogging Work for SEO in 2026? (CASE STUDY), SEO Savvy Agent
• When SEOs Add GEO To Their Headlines, They Become Part Of The Problem, Nikki Pilkington
• Advanced SEO Tracking for Zero-Click & AI Visibility, SEODepths
• Guide to Generative AI, Advanced Web Ranking

PPC

• Text Guidelines Now Support All Languages in Google Ads, PPC News Feed
• Update to Gambling and Games Policy: Ethiopia (January 2026), Google Advertising Policies Help
• Google Moves Logo Settings in Merchant Center, PPC News Feed
• Performance Max Gets Smarter With Data Exclusions, PPC News Feed

Search Features

• Google won't stop replacing our news headlines with terrible AI, The Verge
• Is the improved Siri coming soon?, AppleInsider

Other Search

• Google Home is finally making devices easier to add, Android Central
• Vibes Meet Facts: Write Like the Smart Human You Are, Not the LLM Making Stuff Up Again, SparkToro
• ChatGPT is pulling answers from Elon Musk's Grokipedia, TechCrunch
• There are now more than 1 million '.ai' websites, contributing an estimated $70 million to Anguilla's government revenue last year, Sherwood News

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News, add as a preferred source on Google and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or just contact us the old fashion way.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Google launched Personal Intelligence in AI Mode within Google Search. Google will fallback to featured snippets when AI Overviews cannot be generated. Google Ads for PMax has a bug with editing asset groups in the web interface. Gemini local results can show you what Google thinks of a local business. Also, there are some details on how to secure your Google Ads account, which is especially important today. And I posted the weekly SEO video recap.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google Search Gains Personal Intelligence In AI Mode
  As expected, but sooner than I thought, Google has brought Personal Intelligence to Google Search within AI Mode. This first launched last week in the Gemini app and is now rolling out to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers in English in the U.S.
• Google Falls Back To Featured Snippets When AI Overviews Don't Generate
  Google will sometimes fall back to showing featured snippets when it is unable to generate AI Overviews for a query. And when that happens, it sometimes looks like an AI Overview, but it is not an AI Overview, it is a featured snippet.
• Google Ads PMax Asset Group Editing Bug
  Google Ads currently has a bug where if you try to edit your asset groups within your Performance Max campaigns in the web user interface, it simply won't work. Google is reportedly aware of the issue and is telling advertisers to use Google Ads Editor or the API as a workaround for now.
• Gemini Local Results Insights Into How Google Interprets Your Business
  Google's Gemini may be rolling out new local results, it may be new, I am not sure. But the details it shows may give you insight into how Google understands and interprets your business. Gemini gives new headlines and sections about your business based on what it thinks it knows about it.
• Secure Your Google Ads Account Against The Rise In Hijackings
  For the past year or so, I've seen a growing number of complaints about Google Ads accounts being hijacked. It seems to be getting worse, even after we covered the Google Ads account hijacks last November. So how do you reduce the chances of your Google Ads account being hijacked?
• Google Robot Massage
  Did you know that Google offers massages by robots? I found this video of a robot massage on Instagram. The video was taken at the Google Mountain View, California office.
• Video: Google Search Double Heated, Personal Intelligence in AI Mode, ChatGPT Ads & Apple Siri Updates Coming
  This week, we covered the doubly heated Google Search ranking volatility, but nothing was confirmed by Google. OpenAI will soon test ads in ChatGPT responses and they will charge on an impression basis, not click basis. Google released Personal Intelligence for Google Search within AI Mode. Google AI Overviews...

Other Great Search Threads:

• A while back, we compiled a list of social networks that were expected to appear on Google profile pages. A quick reminder of what profile pages are: https://t.co/RXojdHF4xK The list of social networks at the time:, Damien (andell) on X
• Did anyone I know experience difficulties with meta data in a nextjs application? Ping me (:, Martin Splitt on Bluesky
• Helpful update for students, you can now take full practice SATs for free in the @GeminiApp. It uses vetted content from @ThePrincetonRev and gives you feedback straight away. Starting with the SAT today, but more tests are on th, Sundar Pichai on X
• Important update for Google Programmable Search Engine: Key changes: New engines: Use a Sites to search. Existing 'Search the entire web' users (>50 domains): Must transition to the new Full Web Search solution, Vijay Chauhan on X
• For Some Reason I Don't Think That This Ad Is The "Official Microsoft Ads"/ "Bing Ads" Site! LOL Also Microsoft Ads, UP YOUR BIDS YO!!!!! GOT TO PROTECT YOUR BRAND!, Anthony Higman on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google: Forced syndication would permanently expose its ad systems
• Google outlines risks of exposing its search index, rankings, and live results
• Google Ads adds cross-campaign testing with new Mix Experiments beta
• Google's Demand Gen gets more shoppable '" and more measurable
• Google brings Personal Intelligence to AI Mode in Google Search
• What 75 SEO thought leaders reveal about volatility in the GEO debate [Research]
• How to explain flat traffic when SEO is actually working
• Why Demand Gen works best alongside Performance Max for ecommerce

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• Apple's Siri Chatbot May Run on Google Servers, MacRumors
• CEOs Say AI Is Making Work More Efficient. Employees Tell a Different Story., Wall Street Journal
• ChatGPT Checkouts to Take 4% Cut of Shopify Merchant Sales, The Information
• D4RT: Unified, Fast 4D Scene Reconstruction & Tracking, deepmind.google
• GraphRAG for Production Engineer Agent Memory, Decoding AI
• How AI Weather Models Are Making Better Forecasts, Bloomberg
• OpenAI<< is coming for those sweet enterprise dollars in 2026, TechCrunch
• Small models, big results: Achieving superior intent extraction through decomposition, Google Research Blog
• With Google Deal, Apple's Craig Federighi Plots a Cautious Course in AI, The Information

Analytics

• Google Tag Gateway Explained: Why It's Essential for 2026, Brainlabs
• Prove AI Overview Traffic Value: The GA4 ROI Framework, KP Playbook

Industry & Business

• Google Likely Stuck With $425M Loss, But Bid For $3B Flops, www.law360.com
• Google Must Face Another Search Antitrust Case From Consumers, Bloomberg
• Judge approves oversight committee for remedies to Google's internet search monopoly, Courthouse News Service
• OpenAI's Altman Meets Mideast Investors for $50 Billion Round, Bloomberg
• Anthropic Lowers Gross Margin Projection as Revenue Skyrockets, The Information
• FTC Cites 'Serious Concerns' With Epic-Google Play Deal, Law360
• Google Acquires Top Talent From AI Voice Startup Hume AI in Licensing Deal, Wired
• Google Antitrust Accord Over Its App Store Meets Skeptical Judge, Bloomberg
• Google Can't Duck Case Over Paid Search, Privacy Claims, Law360
• Google Keeps Its Victory Over Owner of Web-Conferencing Patent, Bloomberg
• Google Moves To Toss Privacy Suit Alleging AI Spying, Law360
• House Seeks More Say in AI Chip Exports After Nvidia's China Win, Bloomberg
• South Korea launches landmark laws to regulate AI, startups warn of compliance burdens, Reuters
• Ex-OpenAI VP Calls Google's Comeback 'OpenAI's Fumble', Business Insider
• Google Invests in Sakana AI to Boost Gemini's Presence in Japan, Bloomberg
• OpenAI Pulled in $1 Billion From Something Other Than ChatGPT, Business Insider

Links & Content Marketing

• 2026 MarketFully Report: Multilingual Content Spending Is Exploding, Bill Hartzer
• What CMOs Want Marketing Teams To Know for 2026 Success, Content Marketing Institute

Local & Maps

• Incident report regrets? Google Maps prepares a much-needed fix, Android Authority
• Waze rolling out 'new' features including speed bump warnings, 9to5Google

SEO

• 1 in 7 top-ranking pages vanished from Google, Content Caffeine #59
• How to find the Google Knowledge Graph ID of any online media outlet or journalist, and how to use it to optimize Google Discover, DiscoverSnoop
• RLM-on-KG: Recursive Language Models and the Future of SEO, WordLift Blog
• Shopify SEO Limits: Flat Taxonomy and the Visibility Ceiling, Audience Key
• User Data is Important in Google's Ranking Systems. What We Learned from Liz Reid's Appeal Declaration., Marie Haynes
• Zero SEO Traffic, Maximum Value - Two Pages I'll Never Delete, Nikki Pilkington
• Eight in ten of world's biggest news websites now block AI training bots, Press Gazette
• If You've Been Investing in SEO, You're on the Right Track With GEO: An AMA With Lily Ray, Moz

PPC

• High-Spending B2B Account? The First Problem I See., Group Twenty Seven
• Everything You Need To Know About Content Targeting, Jyll Saskin Gales
• How to track pipeline, not just traffic, Hallam

Search Features

• Google Makes Subtle Change in Nod to Famous Curt Cignetti Quote, Sports Illustrated
• 5.2 Personality System Prompt Update, ChatGPT Release Notes

Other Search

• ChatGPT Atlas Gains Tab Groups, Auto Google/AI Search Switching, MacRumors
• Why conversational search can be 'huge opportunity' for publishers, Press Gazette
• How Wikipedia Will Survive in the Age of AI (With Wikipedia's CTO Selena Deckelmann), 404 Media

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News, add as a preferred source on Google and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or just contact us the old fashion way.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Apple to have two different releases of Siri and Apple Intelligence, powered by Google Gemini. OpenAI to charge on an impression basis for ChatGPT ads, not a CPC basis. Google Ads updated its call and messaging ad terms, again. Google has a new Googlebot named Google Messages. And Google may have made the recipe results more publisher-friendly - maybe...

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• OpenAI To Charge Based On Ad View Impressions, Not Clicks
  As you know, OpenAI will soon show ads on ChatGPT, but now we are hearing that those ads will be charged on a pay-per-view, impression-based model, not a click-based, cost-per-click model.
• Apple Releasing Two New Siri; iOS 26.4 & iOS 27 (Campos, Rave & Fizz)
  Apple will reportedly release two new Siri versions, one this year with iOS 26.4 and one next year with iOS 27. Plus, Apple may release an AI pin wearable device in 2027.
• Google Search Makes Recipe Results More Publisher Friendly
  A few weeks ago, we covered how damaging the Google Search results were for recipe publishers and bloggers. It was nicknamed Frankenstein recipes because it would take pieces of these recipes from bloggers, mash them together and ruin them, all while also mentioning the brand name - hurting the brand.
• New GoogleBot: Google Messages
  Google added a new crawler, robot, to its list of user-triggered fetchers in the Google crawlers documentation. This specific bot is named Google Messages and it is a fetcher "used to generate link previews for URLs sent in chat messages," Google wrote.
• Google Ads Posts New Call & Messaging Ads Terms
  Google Ads has posted new call and messaging ads terms that advertisers need to agree to in order to use those ad products. Anthony Higman posted about it on X and said, "There are some important new updates here."
• Google Android Party Figurine
  Here is a photo from the Google Mexico office of an Android figurine/statue that is dressed up to party. It is also holding a Google balloon of sorts.

Other Great Search Threads:

• I think I'll coin this "Mt. AI". Yet another example of a site publishing a ton of AI-generated content that surged... and ultimately came crashing down. I'm sure the site owners were saying, "AI content is amazing! Look at our tren, Glenn Gabe on X
• The address will not appear with their Local Services Ads when an advertiser checks "No" on the "Is this a location that customers can visit, like a store or an office" setting (under Business details) in, AdsLiaison on X
• Welcome to Ads Decoded (officially!), Ginny Marvin on LinkedIn

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Nick LeRoy turns SEO consulting into fundraiser for Minnesota immigrant support
• Meta expands Threads ads to all users globally
• Same URL in AI Overviews and blue links counts as one Google Search Console impression
• OpenAI moves on ChatGPT ads with impression-based launch
• Google rules out ads in Gemini '" for now
• 75% of ChatGPT users rely on 'keywords' for local services: New data
• The local SEO gatekeeper: How Google defines your entity
• International SEO in 2026: What still works, what no longer does, and why

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• Apple Developing AI Wearable Pin, The Information
• Has Gemini surpassed ChatGPT? We put the AI models to the test., Ars Technica
• Inside Enchanté, Apple's AI chatbot for employee productivity, Macworld
• YouTube CEO Neal Mohan Addresses AI Slop in 2026 Letter to Creators, Hollywood Reporter

Analytics

• Assisted Conversions in GA4, KRM Digital Marketing

Industry & Business

• Anthropic's Revenue Run Rate Tops $9 Billion as VCs Pile In, Bloomberg
• Google Users Unlikely to Win $2.3 Billion in Privacy Switch Case, Bloomberg
• iOS 27: Apple to Revamp Siri as Built-In iPhone, Mac Chatbot, Bloomberg
• Nvidia CEO Says AI Needs More Investment in Defiance of Bubble Fears, Wall Street Journal
• OpenEvidence, 'ChatGPT for doctors,' doubles valuation to $12 billion, CNBC
• Yelp Accelerates Strategy with Acquisition of AI Lead Management Platform Hatch, Yelp
• YouTube CEO Neal Mohan's annual letter for 2026, Google Blog

Links & Content Marketing

• The Blurring Lines Between PR, Content and Influencer Marketing, Agency Reporter

Local & Maps

• Delhi Traffic Police partners with Google Maps and Mappls to manage Republic Day visitor traffic, The Times of India

SEO

• Google Discover : an article recommendation algorithm driven by user interactions, Damien Andell on LinkedIn
• How Recommender Systems Like Google Discover May Work, Search Engine Journal
• Negative GEO experiment - AI competitor sabotage test, Reboot
• When Did Your SEO Last Experiment With Something New?, Nikki Pilkington
• When Everyone Loses Traffic, Here's How You Can Grow It with Digital PR Done Right [Case Study], Ann Smarty

PPC

• "Subscribe and Save" Now Live in Google Merchant Center, PPC News Feed
• Campaign and Insertion Order targeting will sunset in Display & Video 360 API and Structured Data Files on February 23, 2026, Google Ads Developer Blog
• OpenAI Asks Advertisers to Spend Less Than $1 Million in Trial, The Information

Search Features

• Google Search tests basic 'Color your Search' theming, 9to5Google
• Introducing AI Glasses Impact Grants to Advance Wearable Technology for Good, Facebook

Other Search

• Apple is testing two new chatbots internally, AppleInsider

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News, add as a preferred source on Google and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or just contact us the old fashion way.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Google is brewing again - we got more search volatility kicking into gear. Some more legal docs disclose maybe more details about Google's search signals. Gemini has a new "answer now" button to skip the wait. Ads are not coming to the Gemini app, despite ChatGPT ads. Google is testing adding to the verification section of the Local Service Ads detail screen various details and qualifiers.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google Search Ranking Volatility Heated Again January 21
  Last week,I reported on January 15th of a Google Search ranking update with a lot of heated volatility. Truth is, it went through the weekend, but now it is spiking back up again as of yesterday and today - January 20th and 21st.
• Google Search Monopoly Appeal Legal Docs Mention Search Signals
  As you know, Google has appealed its search monopoly ruling and with that, filed a number of new documents with the court. One is an affidavit of Elizabeth Reid, Google's Vice President and Head of Search. The other is of Jesse Adkins Director of Product Management for Search Syndication and Search Ads Syndication.
• Google Ads Still Not Coming To Gemini (Post ChatGPT Ads Announcement)
  Demis Hassabis, Google DeepMind CEO, said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that Google does not have "any plans" to bring ads to Gemini. This comes even after OpenAI announced ads are coming to ChatGPT.
• Google Local Service Ads Verified Section Details
  Google is testing adding to the verification section of the Local Service Ads detail screen various details and qualifiers. These details and qualifiers include attributes such as Passed License Check" , "Number Of Recent Bookings", "Passed Background Check" And "Has Business Insurance."
• Google Adds "Answer Now" Button To Gemini App - If You Can't Wait...
  Google added an "Answer now" link or button to the Gemini app. Clicking "Answer now" will stop Google's Gemini from thinking and then give you an answer right away using Gemini 3 Flash model.
• Google Construction Worker Gear
  Here is a photo of construction worker gear at the Google office in Mexico. You can see the orange jacket and yellow hard hat. I found this on Instagram.

Other Great Search Threads:

• Will you be using agentic commerce solutions like Copilot Checkout?, Navah Hopkins on LinkedIn
• Demis Hassabis CEO of Google DeepMind at Davos: "We are on the cusp of a breakthrough moment in physical intelligence [...] I think the foundation models like Gemini show the way forward. From the beginning we made Gemini multimodal, Lisan al Gaib on X
• Hey @adsliaison yesterday, on MLK day, was the 3rd holiday of the past 4, where I had a Gads rep call me wanting to talk about an acct. I said it was a US holiday, their response was "Well it's a working day here". Can the SMB team be, Jon Kagan on X
• I've seen the notification before about Gemini powering my home devices... but it's finally working. I know have Gemini across my Google home devices (mini, max, original, etc.) So far, it's a big upgrade. Will be testing more soon. E.g., Glenn Gabe on X
• Pleasantly surprised with @Google Scholar Labs, which analyzes your question to identify key topics, aspects and relationships, then searches all of them on Scholar. (using Gemini!), Paige Bailey on X
• Really wild to see authoritative health publishers who have dominated in SEO for many years get hit so hard by this last core update, across various media networks Wondering if there is some cycle where content is now being answer, Lily Ray on X
• We're rolling out age prediction on ChatGPT to help determine when an account likely belongs to someone under 18, so we can apply the right experience and safeguards for teens. Adults who are incorrectly placed in the teen experience can c, OpenAI on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• How digital marketing agencies are adapting to AI search
• Organic search traffic is down 2.5% YoY, new data shows
• Google Shopping API cutoff looms, putting ad delivery at risk
• Does llms.txt matter? We tracked 10 sites to find out
• 7 real-world AI failures that show why adoption keeps going wrong
• Why LLM-only pages aren't the answer to AI search
• SEO in 2026: What will stay the same
• Yext's Visibility Brief: Your guide to brand visibility in AI search

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• Agentic AI in Marketing: Separating Real Value From AI Theater, Content Marketing Institute
• An A.I. Start-Up Says It Wants to Empower Workers, Not Replace Them, New York Times
• DeepMind CEO Says Chinese AI Firms Are 6 Months Behind the West, Bloomberg
• No one noticed that Google has fixed Gemini's stupidest calendar limitation, Android Authority
• Our approach to age prediction, OpenAI
• The mundane absurdity of telling Gemini about your life, 9to5Google
• Watch Robotics Nearing Physical AI Breakthrough, Google DeepMind CEO Says, Bloomberg
• BETT 2026: Khan Academy and Google Gemini partnership, Google Blog
• Transform teaching and learning with updates to Gemini and Google Classroom, Google Blog

Analytics

• Measure Marketing's ROI Right: Incremental Net Profit ROI!, Avinash Kaushik

Industry & Business

• 5th Circ. Urged Not To Transfer Google Antitrust Case, Law360
• Building a community-led future for AI in film with Sundance Institute, Google Blog
• Google-backed Isomorphic Labs delays clinical trial timeline, Reuters
• New retailers joining Google's Commerce Media Suite, Google Blog
• OpenAI and ServiceNow Strike Deal to Put AI Agents in Business Software, Wall Street Journal
• OpenAI CFO Says Revenue Has Grown With Compute, The Information
• Google's quiet GAM changes face fresh EU scrutiny, Digiday
• OpenAI Says It Will Pay for Energy Upgrades at Stargate Sites, Bloomberg

Links & Content Marketing

• Does informational content still matter for SEO?, Blue Array SEO
• Enterprise Content and Marketing Trends: Insights for 2026, Content Marketing Institute

Local & Maps

• Apple services outage hits Apple TV, Maps, & App Store, AppleInsider
• EP 240 - Inside Google Local Rankings and the Review Purge, Near Media
• Every Google Maps user should change these settings now, How To Geek

SEO

• 8 SEO Services to Avoid (Before They Hurt Your Site), The Upper Ranks
• A Reflection on SEO, GEO & AI Search in 2025, Lily Ray
• How Google vs SerpAI could set web scraping precedent, Not A Robot
• How to Do Enterprise SEO, Sara Taher
• How to Rank in AI Overviews: What Actually Works (Based on Data, Not Speculation), Ahrefs
• How to Use Accessibility as an SEO Advantage, JumpFly
• How Zurich Insurance UK monitors AI search with Oncrawl, Oncrawl
• SEO Ethics. I'll Lead This One (SEO > ICE), SEO for Lunch
• The Universal Commerce Protocol: When Structured Data Gets a Rebrand, The Inference
• Adding more supported query types to South African carousel documentation, Latest Google Search Documentation
• How to Make Every Click Count with Search Experience Optimization, Moz
• IndexWatch 2025: Visibility Winners in Google, SISTRIX
• The Death of Using Reviews to Rank and the Rise of 'Chunked' Business Content, Reputation Arm
• What AI Means for SEO, Ahrefs

PPC

• Another Shake-Up: How E-Commerce Brands Can Stay Visible as Google Volatility Continues into Q4, JXT Group
• Burnout Is Costing You Clients: The 900% PPC Search Surge, PPC Live
• OpenAI Lines Up Advertisers, Reveals Key Details Ahead of Ads Launch, The Information
• The Era of the Cyborg Architect: Why the Best PPC Ads Still Need a Human Touch, JumpFly
• The Future of AI Ad Placements, Koozai
• The PPC Performance Question to Ask: Is This a Seasonal Dip or a True Decline?, Optmyzr

Search Features

• ChatGPT Searches Google Shopping to Create its Recommendations, Semrush
• Google Scholar Labs helps you answer research questions with AI, Google Blog
• Voice Updates, ChatGPT Release Notes

Other Search

• Debunking The Myth That Search Is Dying, Graphite

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News, add as a preferred source on Google and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or just contact us the old fashion way.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Google does not endorse LLMs.txt files for Google Search. Google AI Mode is testing lighter font colors for product pricing and inventory. Google AI Mode prompts for query fan out is live. Google AI Overviews can show answers with strikethroughs. And more advertiser may be trying out Microsoft Advertising this year.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google Search Team Does Not Endorse LLMs.txt Files
  Yep, back on comments from Google on the LLMs.txt file. Another question came up on Bluesky asking if the fact that some Google properties still have the LLMs.txt files up, if that is some sort of endorsement from Google. John Mueller from Google said, simply, "no," it is not an endorsement.
• Google AI Mode Fan-Out Prompts To Narrow Your Query
  Back in May, Google announced updates to shopping in AI Mode. One of those announcements is to help you narrow down your AI Mode results for shopping queries using query fan-out. Well, here is an example of that where Google AI Mode is prompting you to narrow down the options.
• Poll: More Advertisers To Add Microsoft Advertising To Marketing Mix?
  Navah Hopkins, the Microsoft Advertiser Ads Liaison, asked on LinkedIn if you will be adding Microsoft Advertising part of your marketing mix in 2026? The poll had over 200 responses, with most saying it is already included in that mix but 36% saying they will be adding it to the mix.
• Google AI Mode Shows Product Inventory & Pricing In Light Font Color
  Google AI Mode is showing really light colored fonts for product pricing and inventory when you click on a product. This differs from the normal font type in the main Google Search results interface.
• Google AI Overviews With Font Strikethroughs
  Here is a weird one - one person named Kunjal Chawhan spotted a Google AI Overview that had an HTML font strikethrough in the text. So it looks like Google is offering an answer, but it's struck through as a false answer...
• Google Partners Neon Light Up Signage
  Anthony Higman got some new Google Partners swag, this is a Google Partners neon light up sign. Anthony wrote, "it was on back order from our last Google swag shopping spree. It's super dope actually!!"

Other Great Search Threads:

• Grounding via Search can have a huge impact for AI Search platforms... Here's a great example of ChatGPT providing the WRONG answer (or mostly wrong) when not using web search to ground the response. Then when I selected web search,, Glenn Gabe on X
• The audience overlap between ChatGPT and Gemini throughout 2025 showed a growing trend of ChatGPT users also visiting Gemini, especially after the release of Nano Banana at the end of August., Similarweb on X
• Always interesting to see how links are handled by browsers. That can definitely impact downstream traffic. Well, Firefox just launched link preview in the stable version of the browser. Long-press a link and you see a popup with mo, Glenn Gabe on X
• Is it okay to have meta tags in body?, Reddit

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Some Google AI Overviews now use Gemini 3 Pro
• Inside SearchGuard: How Google detects bots and what the SerpAPI lawsuit reveals
• GEO myths: This article may contain lies
• 10 salary negotiation tips for search marketers
• Peter Drucker warned us. Positionless Marketing is the answer

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• Download: Product Rewrite Guide for AI Platform Optimization (PDF), Duane Forrester Decodes
• Gemini app rolls out 'Answer now' to skip 'in-depth thinking', 9to5Google
• OpenAI aims to debut first device in 2026, exec tells Axios, Axios

Analytics

• How to Track Backlinks in GA4 (And Why You Should), KRM Digital Marketing
• How to Import Google Analytics 4 (GA4) Data into Ahrefs Web Analytics, Igniting Business

Industry & Business

• Andreessen Horowitz Makes a $3 Billion Bet Against the AI Bubble, Bloomberg
• Apple's Use of Google Gemini Shows iPhone's Lack of AI Advantage, Bloomberg
• Five US publishers sue Google over 'deceptive and manipulative' adtech practices, Editor and Publisher
• Google's Gemini Sees Skyrocketing Business Sales, The Information
• IMF warns global economic resilience at risk if AI falters, Financial Times (Sub)
• Why Google Is Winning the Race for Data Center Power, The Information

Links & Content Marketing

• Advanced Filters available across Site Explorer, Majestic
• Two content models emerging in the AI-driven web economy, MarTech
• What 10 B2B Marketing Leaders Will Change About Content in 2026, CMSWire
• Starting today anyone can analyze any (describable) audience in SparkToro, SparkToro

Local & Maps

• I ditched Google Maps for a free alternative that doesn't track me (or drain my phone battery), ZDNET

SEO

• AI Crawlability: What SEOs Need to Know to Stay Visible in AI Search, Women in Tech SEO
• AI Visibility Tracking for News Publishers: The 3 Layers That Matter, Newzdash
• An A-Z Of SEO Weaknesses, Nikki Pilkington
• Google December 2025 Core Update: 15% of TOP 10 Pages Gone, SE Ranking
• Google Merchant Center Logo Update '" New Branding Location in 2026, FeedArmy
• Google's Core Updates, Explained, Practical Ecommerce
• How to Analyse Google Discover, Leadership SEO
• Learning SEO Skills Again: Why Veteran Marketers Should Retrain, Level343

PPC

• Google Ads Automation for Small Business: 2026 Guide, Hopskip Media
• 3 Truths About Google Ads Algorithms That Will Save You Money, Jyll Saskin Gales
• Google Shopping API Migration Deadline Coming Soon, PPC News Feed
• How to Protect Your Best-Selling Products From Being Overlooked in Google Shopping, Optmyzr
• Threat Actors Leverage Google Ads to Promote PDF Editor Weaponized With TamperedChef, CyberPress

Search Features

• Google app finally redesigns voice search<< on Android, 9to5Google

Other Search

• ChatGPT Gets Googled More Than YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, Ahrefs

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News, add as a preferred source on Google and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or just contact us the old fashion way.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

OpenAI will be testing ads in ChatGPT very soon. Google's Gemini 3 Pro now powers some AI Overviews. Surprise, surprise, Google is appealing the search monopoly ruling. Google warns that using free subdomian hosts is not a good idea. Google also said that comment link spam won't help or hurt your site.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• OpenAI Will Soon Test Ads On ChatGPT
  OpenAI announced on Friday it will begin testing ads in the ChatGPT responses in the coming weeks. The ads will show on the free product and low-cost subscription tier, ChatGPT Go. The ads will show under the main response and not influence the answers ChatGPT gives you. Advertisers will not get conversations with ChatGPT. The ads will be clearly labeled as ads.
• Google AI Overviews Powered By Gemini 3 Pro For Complex Queries
  Google announced late on Friday that Gemini 3 Pro is now powered Google AI Overviews for complex queries. Google actually said this last November, but then edited its story to say it was just AI Mode that was powered by Gemini 3 Pro and not AI Overviews. Now both AI Overviews and AI Mode can use Gemini 3 Pro.
• Google Is Appealing Its Search Monopoly Ruling & Asks To Pause Remedies
  Google is appealing the ruling that it is an illegal search monopoly - which surprises no one. Plus, Google asked the court to pause the remedies during the appeal phase.
• Google Warns On Hosting With Free Subdomain Hosts
  Google's John Mueller once again warned about hosting your website on free subdomain hosting service because they are magnets for a "lot of spam & low-effort content."
• Google: Comments Link Spam Has No Effect On SEO/Search
  Google's John Mueller said that link spam left in the comments section have no effect on Google Search or SEO, (and maybe even your website's performance in Google Search?). He wrote on Bluesky, "These links all have no effect - they're from spammers dropping links into comments. These would not have any effect, positive nor negative, on your site."
• Google Student Ambassador ID In Korea
  Here is a photo that caught my eye from the Google offices in Korea. It is of a student ambassador ID, certificate and some program Google has at that office.

Other Great Search Threads:

• I was asked recently to share perspectives who are "must follows" for Microsoft Advertising who don't work for Microsoft. I'm going to cheat and give you both non-employees and employees:, Navah Hopkins on LinkedIn
• Last year we got 5x more signups from Google than from ChatGPT. See the graph with insights from ~250K self-attributed signups '" a 'small' subset of our total annual signups. There's a lot of fearmongering about, Tim Soulo on X
• The 2025 Web Almanac by HTTP Archive has been officially released!, HTTP Archive on Bluesky
• Do backlinks still matter for White Hat SEO?, BlackHatWorld
• Enjoyed presenting for Pubcon Pro SEO & AI Search conference and thanks to those who attended my session. Here is my deck, Dawn Anderson on Bluesky
• We update the guidelines when things change, so if "others are saying" something different, then that's usually a sign that it's not compliant with the guidelines. If you think we need to make something clearer, please submit feedback in the docs!, John Mueller on Bluesky

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google search ad clicks hit five-year high as Q4 spend rises 13% '" Report
• Amy Hebdon discusses the PPC decision that cost her a good client relationship
• The latest jobs in search marketing
• Google Ads tests A/B experiments for Shopping ad product data
• OpenAI will begin testing ChatGPT ads in the U.S.
• Google Ads makes Manual CPC easier to find
• Google AI Overviews cite YouTube most often for health topics: Study
• Discoverability in 2026: How digital PR and social search work together
• AI for video advertising: 5 best practices for PPC campaigns

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• A Guide to Fine-Tuning FunctionGemma, Google Developers Blog
• Announcing the winner of the Global AI Film Award, Google Blog
• OpenAI's Hardware Transformation: RFP Signals Shift from Software Company to Vertically Integrated AI Manufacturer, WinBuzzer
• Google Ipsos poll says Americans wary of AI, Axios
• There's a Hit Movie Set Deep Inside an AI Lab'"and It Will Give You Goosebumps, Wall Street Journal
• Agents & The New Internet (3/5), James W. LePage

Analytics

• Cross-channel budgeting (Beta), Google Analytics Help
• A Complete Guide to Demographic Data in GA4, KRM Digital Marketing
• How to Add & Use Google Tag Manager on a Next.js Website, MeasureMinds

Industry & Business

• Five US publishers sue Google over 'manipulative' adtech practices, Press Gazette
• Google taps Sen. Todd Young chief for top government affairs role, Axios
• Has Airbnb really revealed that the Apple Car was real?, AppleInsider
• Italy's privacy watchdog, scourge of US big tech, hit by corruption probe, Reuters
• McClatchy sues Google in NY alleging online ad monopoly, Miami Herald
• Publishers Hachette and Cengage 'unite with authors' to join Google AI copyright lawsuit, The Bookseller
• The truth Elon left out, OpenAI
• Court Won't Revive RNC Suit Against Google Over Spam Filters, MediaPost
• Musk Seeks Up to $134 Billion Damages From OpenAI, Microsoft, Bloomberg
• Former OpenAI policy chief debuts institute, calls for independent AI safety audits, Fortune

Links & Content Marketing

• How We Built a Content Optimization Tool for AI Search [Study], Semrush
• Our Top 5 Blog Posts of 2025 (And What Made Them Work), Ahrefs

Local & Maps

• Google Maps vs. Waze: I compared the two best navigation apps, and this one wins easily, ZDNET
• 6 brilliant Google Maps gestures most people overlook, Android Police
• Google Maps Suggesting Toll Routes When "Avoid Tolls" Is Enabled? Here's What Happens, AutoEvolution

SEO

• Vibe Coding Your Own SEO Tools '" Whiteboard Friday, Moz
• Can a Categories Accordion Boost Organic Traffic?, Search Pilot
• Making Sense of Next.js Caching for Developers and SEOs, Will Kennard
• SEO | 2025, The Web Almanac by HTTP Archive
• How to Enable UCP Payments in Google Merchant Center: A Step-by-Step Guide, FeedArmy

PPC

• 10 Remarketing Lists To Boost PPC Performance, Search Engine Journal

Search Features

• The Google-powered future of retail is here, Retail Brew
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2026 Doodle, Google Doodles

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News, add as a preferred source on Google and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or just contact us the old fashion way.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

More Google search ranking volatility kicks in. Google to adjust its search ranking algorithm to stop prediction content from showing up in the news and stories areas. Google's AI Overviews are also killing local packs and Google Business Profiles. Google Ads campaign total budget is now global. Google Ads tests manual CPC bidding buttons and new A/B testing for shopping campaigns. Microsoft announced a huge number of Microsoft Advertising features. And I posted the weekly SEO video recap.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google To Prioritize Removing Prediction News Content From Search & News
  Rajan Patel, the VP of Engineering for Search, said on X that Google is making "changes to ranking" to remove prediction content from showing up in the Google Search top stories and news sections. This comes after some sites are posting "prediction" content, predicting that some sports trades may happen, that have not happened yet, and those "stories" show up in the news section as actually having occurred.
• Google Search Ranking Volatility Hits January 15-16
  I am seeing new signs of yet more Google Search ranking volatility and a possible tweak to the ranking search algorithm. Something kicked off yesterday, January 15th, that the third-party tools picked up on. With this update, there is limited chatter, unlike the previous unconfirmed Google Search ranking update.
• Google AI Overview Local Pack Leading To Huge Drops In Visibility
  Over the past few weeks, Google has been showing AI Overviews for local packs, leading some businesses to see huge drops in visibility for their Google Business Profile and local listings. Some businesses are seeing 50% declines or more because of the local pack change.
• Microsoft Advertising Adds Share Of Voice Metrics, Asset Group-Level URL Options, Customer Acquisition Goals...
  Microsoft Advertising announced a slew of new features including new customer acquisition goals as an open beta, Share of voice (SOV) metrics, Asset group-level URL options and tracking templates, increased Search Theme limit, enhanced asset group import, Content Targeting now generally available, Location targeting improvements and Autogenerated assets in Responsive Search ads.
• Google Ads Campaign Total Budgets Live As An Open Beta
  Google Ads has made the Campaign total budgets officially live as an open beta for any advertiser to sign up and use. Campaign total budgets are now available in Search, Performance Max and Shopping campaigns within Google Ads.
• Google Ads Manual CPC Bid Selection Streamlined
  Google Ads has reportedly streamlined the selection capability of Manual CPC bidding during the campaign setup. Now the option can be found under the "Conversions" goal, labeled as "Manually set bids."
• Google Ads A/B Tests Product Titles & Images For Shopping Ads
  Google Ads is doing a limited test with some advertisers to allow them to run A/B tests with different product titles and images in Shopping Ads. Ginny Marvin, the Google Ads Liaison, said it is "currently being tested with a small number of merchants."
• Google Jail Looking Stairwell
  Here is a photo from the Google offices in Washington, D.C. At first I thought it was some sort of Google jail cell but it is a stairwell with barricades so no one falls off and hurts themselves.
• Video: Google Personal Intelligence, Universal Commerce Protocol, Apple Picks Gemini & Ongoing Search Volatility
  It is another week and more Google Search ranking volatility but this was a weird one. Google launched Personal Intelligence in the Gemini app and it is coming to AI Mode in Google Search. Google AI Mode new ad format called Direct Offer ads and...

Other Great Search Threads:

• Gemini did not have a red month in website traffic in 2025., Similarweb on X
• I have the honor of testing the new Google Trends API (v1alpha), Svetoslav Petkov on LinkedIn
• The traffic share of ChatGPT took a fairly noticeable dip in December: 0.25% '' 0.21%. ^ This is based on our panel of 75k+ websites. A few caveats: December is a slow month overall. So hopefully people were just enjoy, Tim Soulo on X
• January Small Business Bulletin - 5 Tips For Success in 2026, Google Business Profile Community

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google introduces total campaign budgets for Search
• Google Ads rolls out account-level placement exclusions
• AdSense publishers report sudden revenue plunge '" again
• YouTube gives creators smarter ad targeting
• Microsoft adds new customer acquisition goals and deeper visibility to PMax
• The social-to-search halo effect: Why social content drives branded search

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• Google's Our Life with AI survey: AI and learning, education, Google Blog
• How Nano Banana got its name, Google Blog
• Rich countries' greater use of AI risks deepening inequality, Anthropic warns, Financial Times (Sub)
• TranslateGemma: A new family of open translation models, Google Blog
• Your Gemini history is getting more manageable with this 'My Stuff' update, Android Authority
• ChatGPT, Anthropic, Google: AI Healthcare Push Has a Fatal Flaw, Bloomberg

Analytics

• The best GA4 alternative is Fathom Analytics, Coywolf

Industry & Business

• Apple Picking Google Gemini to Power Siri Was About Buying Time, CNET
• Apple will pay billions for Gemini after OpenAI declined, 9to5Mac
• Apple's Google Gemini Deal Could Be Worth $5 Billion, MacRumors
• Demis Hassabis: An interview with the man behind Google's AI machine, CNBC
• Google Mexico Appoints Sebastián Valverde as New General Director, Mexico Business
• Google to pay $8.25 million to settle lawsuit alleging children's privacy violations, The Record
• Merge Labs Raises $252 Million for Brain-Computer Interface Devices, Bloomberg
• OpenAI Hires Three AI Researchers From Murati's Thinking Machines Lab, The Information
• OpenAI Seeks US-Based Suppliers for Planned Robotics, AI Device Push, Bloomberg
• Overit Acquires Web Traffic Advisors to Lead In the AI Marketing Era, EIN Presswire
• Publishers Seek to Join Class Action Against Google, Publishers Weekly
• Publishers seek to join<< lawsuit against Google over AI training, Reuters

Links & Content Marketing

• Beyond Cosine Similarity: Testing Advanced Algorithms for SEO Content Analysis, Sitebulb
• The Marketing Skill That Will Eclipse Technical Expertise in 2026, Content Marketing Institute

Local & Maps

• Microsoft Launches AI Powered Brand Agents for Shopify E-commerce Stores, Igniting Business
• What B2B Sales Reps Really Think About Content, Content Marketing Institute
• Whitepaper: What 50 Million Search Results Reveal About Ranking in the Local 3-Pack, Local Falcon
• One person fed up with Google Maps and Waze builds his own app with a really smart feature that no one else is doing, Super Car Blondie

SEO

• "Really Demystified So Much Of How Google Ranks", Nikki Pilkington
• 2026 SEO & AEO Strategies for Enterprises, seoClarity
• AI Search Unpacked: AMA with Emina Demiri-Watson, Women in Tech SEO
• Google's December 2025 Core Update: Winners, Losers & Analysis, Amsive
• Moving from a Google-shaped Web to an Agent-shaped Web: A Refutation of Misinformation about Chunking, iPullRank
• What Google PageSpeed Insights Scores Mean And Why 100 Doesn't Matter, Nikki Pilkington
• Mastering AI Search: Insights from Aleyda Solís on SEO, Humans of Martech
• Reddit SEO Tips for Marketers, Sprout Social
• SEO Brand Marketing: Create a Brand Guide That Drives Search Visibility, Ahrefs

PPC

• Google Ads Adds Account-Level Placement Exclusions, PPC News Feed
• Here comes the advertising in AI chatbots, Washington Post
• What to Include in a Year-End PPC Lead Gen Report, Cypress North
• Broad vs. Exact Match: A B2B Advertiser's Guide, Jyll Saskin Gales
• Google Merchant Center Migrating from Content API to Merchant API '" What You Need to Know, FeedArmy
• Google still advertised pill press machines for sale despite company ban, Mass Live
• The EC further pushes to rein-in Google's ad tech monopoly, Digiday
• Update to Cannabis-Related Content Policy in Canada (January 2026), Google Advertising Policies Help

Search Features

• Improved memory for finding details from past chats (Plus & Pro), ChatGPT Release Notes

Other Search

• Wikipedia turns 25 and shares a glimpse into the lives of its volunteer editors, The Verge
• Meta has discontinued its metaverse for work, too, The Verge
• Wikipedia may be the largest compendium of human knowledge ever created, but can it survive?, Financial Times (Sub)

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News, add as a preferred source on Google and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or just contact us the old fashion way.