Businesses say Google encouraged them to spend, then denied the reward
Advertisers say Google denied ad credits after they spent thousands
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Google Ads adds a new way to measure sales missing from your reports
Google’s latest measurement update could help explain why reported ad results improve even when a business hasn’t made more sales.
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Google researchers improved AI search and made the top result worse
Google DeepMind researchers are exploring whether one AI model could find and rank search results, replacing a process often split between two systems. The approach, called Autoregressive Ranking, generates identifiers for documents to produce a ranking. The team developed a training method called SToICaL to teach it which results should appear higher. The paper explains […]
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Google tests AI Mode upload menu in Search results
Google seems to be bringing its AI Mode upload menu to the Search results page, replacing the usual magnifying-glass icon when users focus an existing query. The change affects the search box on the results page. When you click inside an existing search query, the box normally shows a magnifying-glass icon on the left. In […]
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Google warns AdSense publishers their impression counts could drop
Google is warning publishers that a new way of counting display ad impressions could reduce their reported totals from February 17, 2027. That means a website could keep its audience and still record fewer impressions after the switch. Google’s documentation confirms the date. The change, called Begin-to-Render, moves the counting point from when an ad […]
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WordPress co-founder sidelined by the company he built
Automattic’s board has put its founder on paid leave. The leadership of the open-source software used by publishers and businesses remains unchanged.
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Demand for people to fix AI-generated work is climbing, reports find
AI’s next big job opportunity? Cleaning up after AI
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Google: The Old Position 1-10 Is Hard To Map For Site Owners
Google’s John Mueller responded to questions about how impressions are counted for Generative AI in Google Search Console. Google has a document that explains that, and John just reiterated that. But what he added was that “the old “position 1 – 10” is…
Google Ranking Factors Survey: Content & Backlinks Most Important
There is a new Google ranking factor survey out for 2026. It has been a while since we had one, and it is here. This one was done by Cyrus Shepard and Dawn Shepard and posted at Zyppy. It says content relevance, backlinks, and content quality are the m…
Bait & Switch: Google Ads Revoking Credits After Advertisers Spend Them
Google Ads has been offering new and existing customers credits to encourage them to spend on the advertising platform. But sometimes, Google Ads will revoke a credit, a credit that was already spent within the Google Ads platform, leaving the client …
Google Ads Beta Experiment: Budget Or Bidding Targets For Search Campaigns
Google Ads has a new beta variable to test within its experiments area named “Budget or bidding targets for Search campaigns.” This test different budget, target CPA or target ROAS amounts to find the optimal level of spending for your campaign, Google…
Google Maps Phone Number in Photo Scam
Scammers are using the Google Maps contributor program to upload AI-generated photos with phone numbers, tricking users into calling the number in the photo instead of the number on the Google Business Profile listing. These scammers are doing this ac…
Google moves Citations Panel toward the bottom of AI Mode
Google is showing a more detailed Citations Panel at the bottom of AI Mode results, featuring titles, descriptions, and images for cited websites a format first spotted back in July.
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Google tests message option on sponsored ad results
Google is testing a new ‘Message’ option on sponsored ad results that lets users connect directly through Google Messages, possibly tied to a new SMS setting for advertisers.
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Google tests centered sponsored results heading on desktop
Google appears to be testing a centered “Sponsored results” heading on desktop search results, a shift from its usual side placement.
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Google tests showing days left for sales in shopping ads results
Google is testing ‘days left’ labels on sponsored shopping results, showing users how much time remains before a sale price ends a potential boost for urgency-driven conversions.”
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Google Uses Its Search Homepage to Promote AI Tools in the U.S.
Google is using the U.S. version of its Search homepage to promote its growing collection of AI tools. A promotional link at the bottom of the Google homepage reads, “Build, create, and do more with AI tools from Google.” Clicking it opens Google’s dedicated AI landing page, where the company highlights its AI products, features, […]
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YouTube says showing fewer videos helped people watch more
Larger desktop thumbnails increased engagement with longer videos, according to YouTube. How individual channels benefited remains unclear.
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Google’s new weather AI promises fewer “but it said sunny” moments
WeatherNext 3 is coming to Search, Maps and Gemini, with Google claiming better rain predictions for plans a day or more ahead.
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Cloudflare’s AI block could shut out Google next week, even if you change nothing
Rules scheduled for September 15 would bring Google, Microsoft and Apple crawlers under restrictions that previously excluded them.
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