Google Ads tests a way to steer spending toward priority products
Google Ads is testing Product Value Optimization, a feature that lets retailers adjust how much selected products are worth to its automated bidding system. The aim is to give advertisers more influence over which products their campaigns pursue, including items with stronger margins or stock they need to clear. Google’s product announcement describes the intended […]
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OpenAI can reject ChatGPT ads simply for competing with its own business
OpenAI has explicitly reserved the right to reject ChatGPT advertisements that conflict with its commercial interests, giving competing businesses another condition to consider before buying ads. The company’s advertising policy, updated September 10, says it can decline advertisers and refuse ads or website links for reasons including its “business interests, or competitive position.” The September […]
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Google details partner-only search API as Custom Search nears shutdown
Google has updated documentation for a service that lets approved partners add full-web Google search results to their websites and apps. The details arrive as customers of its older Custom Search JSON API face a January 1, 2027 shutdown. The Web Search Service API requires a Google Cloud project, an API key and a client […]
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Google tests payments for content used in AI answers, but pricing remains unclear
Google is testing payments to publishers whose content helps produce answers in Gemini, AI Overviews and AI Mode. Participants can see their earnings, but receive little information about how Google calculates them, according to Digiday. The “AI contribution pilot” adds an earnings panel to Google Search Console. Payments depend on whether Google considers a publisher’s […]
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How to run ads on ChatGPT: A beginner’s guide
To run ads on ChatGPT, start at OpenAI Ads Manager. Eligible businesses can create an advertiser account, complete verification and billing, build a campaign, add their ads and submit them for review. Getting the campaign live is only part of the job. You also need to work out what you can afford to pay for […]
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Google Analytics launches Dashboards to make custom reporting easier
Google Analytics has launched Dashboards, giving businesses a new way to arrange their most useful numbers and charts on one screen. The useful change is how those reports are built. Google Analytics already supports customizable overview reports, including the Reports snapshot. In that workflow,shou users assemble summary cards defined in individual detail reports, then rearrange […]
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Google’s AI answers reduced Wikipedia search visits, study finds
Google’s AI Overviews reduced search referrals to English Wikipedia by around 5%, according to a University of Washington working paper revised September 2. But the research leaves an important question unanswered: does being cited in an AI answer help an individual page retain visitors? Researchers compared English articles with their German and French counterparts around […]
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Google tests new queries between free listing products in SERP
Google is testing new query suggestions that appear between the free listing product carousel above and an AI Mode box below. Clicking one of these queries redirects users to AI Mode. Here is a screenshot of how it looks. Here is a screenshot of what happens when I click on a particular query. Showing these […]
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Google wants Maps and Waze to send more customers into stores
New advertising controls focus on people ready to visit a business. The accompanying sales measurement update still comes with substantial eligibility requirements.
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Amazon is bringing its ad empire to ChatGPT
Amazon is opening a new route for its advertisers to reach people inside ChatGPT, putting its advertising business closer to the conversations where users decide what to buy. The pilot launched on September 10 for select U.S. advertisers, with Delta Vacations among the first participants, according to Digiday. It allows participating businesses using Amazon Ads […]
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Could Google’s next core update arrive in September 2026?
Google’s last core rollout finished in June. We checked previous September updates, current volatility readings and publisher reports to assess whether another could be close.
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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 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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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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Bing tests new Web tab in its search menu
Bing is testing a new ‘Web’ tab under its ‘All’ tab in the search menu, though it currently shows the same results and appears non-clickable after the first click.
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Google says search is getting worse in Europe and this will hurt local businesses
Google began rolling out changes to EU search results on September 8 to comply with the Digital Markets Act, warning that the redesign would reduce search quality, Reuters reported. The new layout gives one specialist comparison service the most prominent placement, followed by two others with fewer details. A carousel containing hotels, airlines and restaurants […]
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