AI visibility scores can mislead search marketers, new guidelines warn
Marketers should be cautious about using AI visibility scores to make budget or strategy decisions, according to new industry guidance. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), a trade group representing the digital advertising industry, says many current tools provide directional signals rather than reliable business intelligence. These tools measure how often brands and websites appear across […]
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Google: Reddit Gets No Special Preference In Google Search Rankings
Google’s communications representative, Jennifer Kutz, told The Verge that Reddit gets no preference in Google Search or Google’s AI Search features. Kutz told The Verge that Reddit “gets no special preference” in Google’s ranking systems.
Google Assistant Shutting Down On Mobile Devices On September 4
We knew this day was coming, and now Google has sent out emails announcing the date when Google Assistant will be going away on mobile devices. The date is September 4, 2026, and Gemini will replace Google Assistant on WearOS, headphones and earbuds th…
Google Ads Government Documents & Services Policy To Be Updated
Google will be updating its Other restricted businesses: Government documents and services policy on October 5, 2026. There are a lot of changes coming to this policy, so if you are in the business that promote direct acquisition of government documen…
Bing Top Source Search Feature
Microsoft is testing a “Top Source” section within the Bing Search results interface. This section shows the Top Source with various sections from the site or various news articles from the site.
Google Local Services Platform Policies Now Local Services Ads Requirements
Google has renamed the Local Services platform policies document to Local Services Ads requirements. I am not sure if this was renamed and reworded because the Google Local Service Ads platform is being migrated into the main Google Ads platform but it…
August 2026 Google Webmaster Report
Here is the big Google Webmaster Report for August 2026, including of course the ongoing Google search ranking volatility; we saw volatility on…
Google Ads Tests Anchor Text Hyperlinks In Ad Descriptions
Google is testing adding keyword-rich anchor text hyperlinks to the ad descriptions in the sponsored results within Google Search. Clicking on the link takes you to the same ad landing page URL as it would if you clicked on the main title link in the ad.
Google Ads Ad Preview & Diagnosis Captcha Bug
The Google Ads Ad Preview and Diagnosis tool, where you can preview your ads in the Google Search results, within the Google Ads interface is broken. It loads a CAPTCHA box and doesn’t let you remove the CAPTCHA from being displayed. So you cannot use …
Google Ads Text Disclaimer Override Pinned Descriptions Position One
Google Ads is testing a new text disclaimer feature that lets you set the text disclaimer to override descriptions pinned to position 1. This is labeled as “new” under where you add text disclaimers in the Google Ads interface.
Handle Swapping Coming To Google Search Profiles
Google is currently beta testing a new Search Profiles feature named Handle Swapping. Handle Swapping allows you to switch your handle to any of your linked verified platforms within Google. Some sources say it’s launching very soon.
I Tested 15 of the Best Brand Monitoring Tools: Here Are My Top 8 Picks
Looking for the best brand monitoring tool? I tested 15 and ranked my top 8 for AI search visibility, social listening and traditional media.
Daily Search Forum Recap: August 3, 2026
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.
We are seeing Google Search ranking volatility starting on August 1st and kicking up today…
Google Search Ranking Volatility Hits August 1st & Heats Up Into August 3rd
I am seeing signs of another Google Search ranking update with a lot of volatility hitting this past weekend again. This one started on Saturday, August 1st, and has continued thus far through today, August 3rd. Both the third-party tracking tools are …
Google Business Profiles Protect From Fraudulent Calls and Texts Updated
The Google Business Profile help page on Help protect against fraudulent calls and texts has been updated. It now includes how to identify legitimate texts over WhatsApp and RCS messages, it also updated a lot of the examples of the types of calls and …
Bing Webmaster Tools Page & Query Level Filtering Coming To Reports
Microsoft has confirmed it is working on bringing filtering capabilities to the Bing Webmaster Tools performance reports. Right now, there is no way to add a filter for any of the metrics in the report. Of course, you can download the data and do what…
Google Search Tests Sign In To Verify Searches Are Human (Not Captcha)
Google Search is testing asking searchers to sign in to verify they are humans and not bots conducting the searches. I don’t think Google has done this before, geneally when Google tries to verify human versus bot activity, Google will serve a captcha …
Google Trends Lets You Compare 220% More Search Terms
Google Trends now lets you compare up to 400 search terms across 8 groups of terms and up to 50 terms in each group. Previously, it was 125 search terms across 5 groups of terms and up to 25 terms in each group. That is a 220% increase, if my math is c…
Bing Webmaster Tools SOAP/POX APIs To Be Retired On August 31, 2026
Microsoft will be retiring the Bing Webmaster Tools SOAP/POX APIs on August 31, 2026. If you use these legacy APIs you should begin to migrate to the JSON/HTTP (REST) API version.
How to Build a Full SEO Analysis Dashboard with the Moz API MCP Server
Turn plain-English prompts into instant, full-stack SEO dashboards with the new Moz API MCP server. The Moz API Model Context Protocol (MCP) server allows you to connect your favorite AI assistant directly to our SEO data endpoints using standard open …