Why the EU now regulates ChatGPT as a search engine
The decision does not declare ChatGPT a Google-sized search competitor. It places OpenAI’s search features under the EU’s toughest tier of platform oversight.
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What’s new in Yoast SEO 28.4: find, fix, and generate at scale
The Yoast SEO Bulk Editor already helps you update titles, meta descriptions, and focus keyphrases across your whole site, filter by content type, and let Yoast AI draft metadata you approve before it saves. This update builds on that: it’s now easier to spot exactly which posts need attention, catch AI suggestions that need a […]
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Bing tests removing site names from search results
Bing is testing the removal of site names from its search results. Instead, it’s just showing favicons followed by website URLs with breadcrumbs. This reminds us of a similar test Google ran back in May 2025, where Google also removed website names and showed just the URL instead. Here is a screenshot of how it […]
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Google answers whether old backlinks to hijacked domains hurt rankings
Google’s John Mueller replied on Reddit to a user asking whether Google would penalize a website for old outbound links pointing to a site that once hosted good-quality content but has since changed ownership and now hosts shady content. Here’s the user’s question on Reddit: “So the question is, how does Google treat OLD backlinks […]
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Google search operators I still use after 20 years as a publisher
I have spent more than 20 years building and running publishing websites that live or die by search. For much of that time, Google itself was one of my SEO tools. Before dashboards became the default answer to every question, I would use site: to look through an unwieldy archive, put a sentence in quotation […]
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Google: We Don’t Penalize For Old Outbound Links With Shady Content
Google’s John Mueller was asked if Google would penalize a site for old outbound links to a site that once hosted quality content and now changed ownership and hosts shady content. John said Google won’t penalize such links; he said “no” and added, “t…
Google European Search Dataset Licensing Program Details
Google has updated its Google European Search Dataset Licensing Program page with details on the program. Google has been designated as a “gatekeeper” under the DMA and is thus legally required to share its search data with competing search engines to…
ChatGPT is down: millions of users facing error codes as OpenAI scrambles for a fix
Yes, it’s not just you. ChatGPT is experiencing a major global outage, leaving thousands of users unable to send prompts or load conversations. Reports spiked with users experiencing elevated error rates across both the web interface and mobile applications. OpenAI’s Official Status Page confirmed that ChatGPT Plus subscribers are particularly impacted, as the platform’s […]
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Daily Search Forum Recap: August 31, 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.
Google Search is making AI Overviews fully expanded for some queries, making it more like AI Mode and pus…
Bing tests sponsored results within its Copilot results
Bing is now testing sponsored results within its AI Overview/Copilot results. This is the first time we’ve seen sponsored results appear directly within Bing’s Copilot results. Adding sponsored results to an AI Overview could be a meaningful step for Bing’s monetization strategy. When Google first launched its own AI Overview, it initially showed just the […]
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Microsoft Advertising New Updated Design Preview
Microsoft Advertising is previewing a new design and usability update for its ad platform. This update has a redesigned navigation and improved tables and layouts. This update should make managing your ad campaigns more efficient and intuitive.
Google Merchant Center Popular Products Enhanced Coverage & Insights
Google posted a note that it has made enhancements to the Merchant Center’s Popular products reports. Specifically, the coverage and insights sections were improved back in June of this year, but Google just posted about this information on this past F…
Microsoft Forcing Copilot Users To Login But Not For Copilot Search Answers
Microsoft is now forcing all users to log in before using Copilot, but this currently does not apply to Copilot Search answers within Bing Search. When you try to go directly to Copilot, even by clicking on the Copilot button on Bing’s home page, you a…
Google Confirms Search Spam Team Is Fighting & Well Resourced
Rajan Patel, VP of Engineering for Google Search, has confirmed that the Google Search team is still well-resourced in its fight against search spam. The spam team continues to update its spam algorithms, such as the latest Google August 2026 spam upda…
Google AI Mode With Inline Shopping Carousel Ads & Single Ad Unit
Google is now showing shopping ads in a carousel format inline within AI Mode results. Plus, Google is also showing a similar ad unit at the bottom of the AI Mode results. We got a lot of ads in AI Mode now, and I guess Google is looking for more and…
Google tests new check stock at more nearby stores button in free listings
Google is now testing a new button within free listings labeled “Check stock at more nearby stores.” When a user clicks on it, they’re redirected to a popup showing additional results. Previously, we’ve seen other button tests appear within free listings, like ‘Nearby,’ ‘Best price,’ and ‘Most popular’ but this specific one looks new, since […]
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Google tests AI-generated review summaries in sponsored results
Google is now testing AI-generated review summaries within sponsored results, shown under the heading “What Customers Love” followed by an AI-generated summary of reviews. Below that heading is a smaller label reading “AI-generated from the store ratings and reviews.” We’ve previously seen several other variations testing sponsored results and AI-generated summaries in Shopping ads, so […]
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Google Shopping tab lets users filter products by trusted review sites
Google Shopping tab is showing a new filter for users on mobile. Users can now filter products by website. I searched on google, upon opening the Shopping tab, saw a new filter labeled “Top Reviewed in 2026.” This lets users filter results by specific websites, including YouTube, Reddit, and several others. Here is the screenshot. […]
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Google drops show more button, pushes users into AI Mode
Google continues pushing users toward AI Mode. In this recent test, Google isn’t showing a “Show more” button for some queries. Chris Long spotted this first and shared a video on X, wrote: “Holy moly SEOs: Google is now revealing the AI Mode prompt box BY DEFAULT for some queries. This is how Google continues […]
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Google Search faces indexing and serving issues on August 28
Google Search experienced an indexing issue on August 28. Barry Schwartz reported this on Search Engine Roundtable, wrote: “Google Search Having Indexing/Serving Issues August 28th.” He shared several screenshots and pointed to examples from major news sites like The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, CNN, and others. Barry noted that these sites publish […]
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