Search FeaturesCovered by 2 sources
- Google has globally released new AI performance reports and search generative AI controls within Search Console.
- The new AI report tracks impressions, pages, and device data specifically for AI Overviews and AI Mode, though it currently lacks click data.
- A new toggle allows site owners to opt out of having their content used to ground responses in Google’s generative AI features.
- Opting out of AI features will not negatively impact a website's rankings in standard core web search results.
Marketers can now finally measure their visibility in AI Overviews and choose to block their content from AI training without hurting their traditional search rankings.
Industry NewsCovered by 2 sources
- The European Commission officially designated ChatGPT as a Very Large Online Search Engine (VLOSE) under the Digital Services Act.
- OpenAI reported 159.1 million monthly active recipients in the EU for ChatGPT's search functionality, far exceeding the 45 million regulatory threshold.
- OpenAI must now comply with strict risk management, transparency, and independent auditing requirements by January 2027.
- The EU clarified that AI assistants are considered search engines based on their ability to retrieve web information, regardless of their interface.
The formal classification of AI as a search engine increases regulatory pressure on OpenAI for transparency, though it does not yet mandate specific ranking disclosures or publisher compensation.
AI SearchCovered by 2 sources
- OpenAI reported that ChatGPT has surpassed 159 million average monthly search users in the European Union.
- This milestone officially classifies ChatGPT as a Very Large Online Search Engine (VLOSE) under the Digital Services Act.
- The new status requires OpenAI to meet stricter transparency, risk management, and algorithmic accountability standards.
OpenAI will now face intense regulatory scrutiny and must provide more transparency into how their search algorithms function, potentially leveling the playing field with Google.
AI Search
- Prompt mapping extends keyword research by organizing the conversational questions users ask AI platforms by persona, intent, and stage.
- Categorizing AI prompts into Awareness, Consideration, Evaluation, and Decision stages reveals where a brand's visibility drops off in the buyer journey.
- Measuring AI performance requires tracking how brand presence changes as users add specific criteria like company size, tech stack, or integrations.
Marketers must shift from tracking simple keywords to mapping complex, conversational prompts to ensure their brand remains visible as AI search narrows down user shortlists.
AI Search
- Google is testing fully expanded AI Overviews that push traditional search results further down the page.
- Google confirmed its search spam team remains well-resourced following recent spam algorithm updates.
- Shopping ads are now appearing in carousel and singular formats within Google's AI Mode results.
- Microsoft Advertising is previewing a major platform redesign to improve navigation and campaign management.
The shift toward auto-expanded AI Overviews will likely decrease organic click-through rates for top-ranking traditional search results.
Search Features
- Digital PR campaigns focusing on data-driven storytelling can earn high-authority backlinks at scale.
- Journalists prioritize original research and localized data when selecting stories to cover.
- High-quality earned citations are becoming a critical factor for securing visibility in AI Overviews.
Marketers should pivot toward original data studies to improve both traditional search rankings and inclusion in AI-generated search results.
Search Features
- Identify a specific 'territory of authority' where brand expertise meets audience needs to avoid being flagged as spam.
- Audit current brand visibility across Google and AI search tools to establish a baseline for sentiment and mentions.
- Use Reddit insights to improve owned content, filling knowledge gaps that keywords alone might miss.
- Prioritize subreddits that allow corporate participation and focus on providing direct, transparent value over promotion.
As Google and AI models increasingly prioritize Reddit data, brands must transition from keyword-focused SEO to community-driven authority to maintain search visibility.
Industry News
- The FTC and 22 states have filed a lawsuit against Amazon regarding its advertising auction practices.
- The lawsuit alleges that Amazon implemented an 'advertising surcharge' scheme that overcharged sellers.
- Regulators claim these practices resulted in over $20 billion in excess costs for advertisers.
Marketers using Amazon should monitor this case as it could lead to forced changes in ad pricing structures and increased transparency in e-commerce marketplaces.
Industry News
- Google updated its program to share search data with competing search engines and AI chatbots to comply with the EU's Digital Markets Act.
- The dataset includes anonymized ranking, query, click, and view data generated by users within the European Economic Area.
- Eligible recipients must be established search providers or well-funded startups that meet strict security and residency requirements.
- Data access is provided under fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory pricing terms focused on cost recovery.
Smaller search engines and AI tools in Europe will gain access to Google's proprietary search signals, potentially improving the quality of Google's competitors.
Local SEO
- Google Business Profile data shows a significant shift where calls and website clicks are decreasing while direction requests are rising.
- AI-powered local packs and Gemini are surfacing fewer unique businesses and prioritizing structured review data to answer queries without clicks.
- The trend suggests Google Maps is becoming a final destination for users rather than a bridge to a business's website.
- U.S. mobile search impressions fell over 20%, while desktop Maps impressions saw a slight recovery in the second quarter.
Marketers must shift reporting focus from clicks and calls to direction requests and review sentiment, as Google increasingly fulfills user intent within the Maps interface.
Industry NewsCovered by 2 sources
- Google's John Mueller confirmed that sites are not penalized for old outbound links pointing to domains that have since become 'shady'.
- Maintaining fresh content and links is recommended, but the occasional link to a hijacked or expired domain won't sink rankings.
- A site's overall quality and value are far more important to Google than a handful of outdated external links.
Marketers do not need to panic over old outbound links to defunct sites, though regular link audits remain a best practice for user experience.
Google AdsCovered by 2 sources
- Microsoft Advertising is previewing a major design update for its ad management platform.
- The refresh features a redesigned navigation system aimed at improving clarity and consistency.
- Enhanced data tables and layouts have been introduced to make campaign management more efficient.
- Advertisers currently have the option to toggle between the new preview and the classic interface.
Marketers using Microsoft Advertising should test the new interface now to ensure their reporting workflows remain efficient before the classic view is eventually retired.
Google AdsCovered by 2 sources
- Microsoft is rolling out a redesigned advertising console focused on intuitive navigation and enhanced data tables.
- The update aims to improve clarity and consistency for users managing campaigns.
- Advertisers can currently toggle between the new preview interface and the classic experience.
The redesigned interface may improve workflow efficiency and save time for marketers managing Microsoft Advertising campaigns.
Technical SEOCovered by 2 sources
- Google's John Mueller confirmed that sites are not penalized for old outbound links pointing to domains that have since expired or changed to shady content.
- Google views these outdated links as 'link cruft' and generally ignores them rather than applying manual or algorithmic demotions.
- Mueller advised that while keeping content fresh is ideal, the search engine understands that the web naturally changes over time.
- A site's overall value is not compromised by a few broken or redirected outbound links unless the entire site has become obsolete.
Marketers do not need to panic or urgently disavow old outbound links if the destination sites change ownership, as Google is designed to ignore these natural changes in the web landscape.
Industry News
- ChatGPT experienced a major global outage affecting both web and mobile users.
- The service disruption locked ChatGPT Plus subscribers out of their accounts and workflows.
- OpenAI engineers identified the issue and are currently implementing mitigation measures.
Marketers relying on AI for content production or data analysis need redundant tools or manual workflows to prevent productivity losses during service outages.
Search Features
- Search operators like site:, intitle:, and inurl: remain efficient tools for quick archive searches and competitor research.
- Exact-match quotation marks and the minus sign are useful for spotting content plagiarism and filtering out noisy results like Reddit or YouTube.
- Operators should be treated as diagnostic 'flashlights' rather than replacements for precise data from Search Console or site crawlers.
- The intext: operator is a practical shortcut for identifying potential internal linking opportunities across an existing content library.
Mastering search operators allows marketers to quickly audit site indexation, find internal link targets, and monitor brand mentions without opening heavy SEO software.
Technical SEO
- Yoast SEO 28.4 introduces a filtered bulk editor to identify and select posts with weak or missing metadata in one click.
- The bulk editor now includes AI guardrails that flag generated metadata for posts with thin content that require human review.
- Users can now send specific posts directly from the WordPress post list to the bulk editor via a new dropdown action.
- A new MyYoast connection option ensures AI features continue to function on sites with firewall or REST API restrictions.
WordPress users can now optimize site-wide metadata significantly faster by filtering for underperforming pages and using AI to generate drafts at scale.
Search Features
- Bing is experimenting with removing site names from its search result snippets.
- The new layout displays only a favicon followed by the URL and breadcrumbs.
- This follows a similar test conducted by Google earlier this year.
- The change could impact how users perceive brand authority in search results.
Brand recognition may decrease if site names are removed, making it more critical for marketers to ensure their URLs and favicons are clean and recognizable.
Technical SEO
- Rank Math temporarily disabled a feature that automatically opted users into indexation programs without clear consent.
- The plugin developer admitted to a failure in the user consent process following significant community backlash.
- Rank Math plans to reintroduce the feature after implementing a clearer opt-in mechanism for its users.
Marketers using Rank Math should review their settings to ensure they haven't unintentionally opted into data sharing or indexing features that could affect their site's privacy.
Search Features
- Google updated the Merchant Center Popular products reports to offer more accurate and comprehensive performance data.
- The enhancements include increased coverage and ranking insights across all available regions.
- Data updates occur weekly, though new metrics may take up to two weeks to appear in reports.
- These changes also apply to users accessing data via the Merchant API and BigQuery.
E-commerce marketers now have access to more reliable competitive data to identify trending items and optimize their product inventory for better visibility on Google Shopping.