February 2026 Google Discover Core Update Rolling Out – Local Impact
Google has released its first core update of 2026, which is focused on just Google Discover. Google named it the February 2026 Discover core update. This one is rolling over the next two weeks or so just English language users in the US and at some poi…
Google Ads Multi-Party Approval Aims To Stop Hijacking Ads Accounts
Google has launched what it calls Multi-party approval for Google Ads. “Multi-party approval (MPA) is a security feature for Google Ads designed to protect your account from unauthorized activity by requiring a second account administrator to verify hi…
Google Local Hotel Photos “Good To Know” AI Labels
Google is testing labeling some photos in the local hotel listings with “Good to Know” AI-generated descriptions of some of those photos. These labels seem to summarize what the photo and reviews say about the specific area of that hotel.
Google AdSense Reports Gain Browser, Hosting App & Operating System
Google AdSense seems to be rolling out new metrics for the AdSense reports in the console. These include Browser breakdown, Hosting App breakdown and Operating system breakdown metrics.
Google Personal Intelligence Small App Icons In Responses
Did you know that when Google AI Mode uses Personal Intelligence, Google will add icons of the various connected Google apps used to tailor your message. So you might see a Gmail icon, or Google Photos icon or Search or something else show up as a cita…
Microsoft Advertising Tests Magazine Answer Card Ad Format
Microsoft Advertising is testing a new ad format within its newish Answer Card format called a magazine layout. These load ads in the card formats you see at the top of some of the Bing search results.
Google AI Overviews Bug Removes Links & Citations
Google confirmed there is a bug with AI Overviews not showing links for some responses. The bug was spotted by Lily Ray, who posted some examples several hours ago. Rajan Patel, Google’s VP, Engineering for Search, replied saying it is a bug and Goog…
Google Ad Revenue Up 14% – Google’s Biggest Revenue & Ad Revenue Yet
Google reported its earnings today, its Q4 2025 earnings report showed ad revenues up by 14% at $82.3 billion and overall revenue was up 17% at $113.8 billion. I specifically like to dig in as best as I can on the ad revenue side to see how Google Ads …
Daily Search Forum Recap: February 4, 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’s search rankings are highly volatile…
Google Search Ranking Volatility Heats Up Big Time Starting On February 2nd
I was hoping, well, not really, that Google would calm down a bit since we had such a volatile January. But the Google Search results volatility is still very volatile, and the shuffling in those results is still shaking up.
Microsoft Publisher Content Marketplace – Pay For AI To License Content
Microsoft announced the expansion of the Microsoft Publisher Content Marketplace. This marketplace is designed to give publishers a new revenue stream, provides AI systems with scaled access to premium content, and deliver better responses for consumer…
Google Hit Self-Promotional Listicles In Recent Unconfirmed Updates?
Google may have hit those self-promotional and self-serving listicle articles in one of the more recent unconfirmed Google search ranking updates. Lily Ray dug into a pattern she spotted with these types of pieces of content, mostly in the SaaS space,…
Google On Serving Markdown Pages To LLM Crawlers
Google’s John Mueller responded to a question on the pros and cons of serving raw markdown pages to LLM crawlers and bots. John didn’t say much but he did list a number of concerns and things you should be on top of, if you do go down that avenue.
Google Ad Network Invalid Clicks Report: Fraud vs Accidental
Mike Ryan posted data on the percentage of invalid clicks on the Google Ad Network, broken down by fraudulent clicks or likely accidental clicks. It shows the Google Display Network has the most invalid clicks, but search partners have the most fraudu…
Googlebot File Limit Is 15MB But 64MB For PDF & 2MB For Other File Types
We have known for a long time that Google can crawl web pages up to the first 15MB but now Google updated some of its help documentation to clarify that it will crawl the first 64MB of a PDF file and the first 2MB of other supported file types.
Google’s First 2026 Winter Olympics Doodle: Curling
Google posted its first Winter Olympics Doodle, special logo, for the 2026 Winter Olympics. The first sport Google covered is curling. The Doodle is an animated GIF of an Olympian pushing the curling stone down the ice.
Daily Search Forum Recap: February 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.
Google says search algorithms, spam detection…
Google: Search Algorithms, Spam Detections & Policies Don’t Fundamentally Change With AI Search
Google’s John Mueller said that when it comes to AI Search and the changes that come with that, Google’s core search algorithms, spam detection methods, spam policies, and other search systems do not fundamentally change.
Bing Multi-Turn Search Rolls Out Worldwide
Bing Search has rolled out what it calls multi-turn search in Bing globally. This is something we saw Microsoft Bing test back in June, when we saw a floating Copilot follow up search box at the footer of the Bing search results page show up as you scr…
ChatGPT With Top Stories & More Visual Knowledge Panels
OpenAI seems to be jazzing up its ChatGPT responses by showing more visual responses, like Google’s knowledge panels and top stories. This goes across people, places, products, and ideas, OpenAI said.