Best Search Engine for Privacy in 2026 [7 Ranked]
DuckDuckGo is the best private search engine for most people, but it is not the right answer for every threat model. We examined what seven active services collect, where their results come from, how they make money, and whether their AI can really be turned off. Read below for the full list and analysis. Privacy […]
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Google Search Console Shows AI Mode Follow-Up Queries
Earlier this year, Google launched a new AI Performance Report within Google Search Console, nested under the main Performance report. This new report lets site owners see impressions, pages, countries, devices, and dates but notably, it doesn’t include query data. Recently, Anastasia Kourou posted on LinkedIn about spotting odd queries in her regular Search Console […]
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ChatGPT Ads Get A New Heading Treatment
ChatGPT is testing a new ad display format within its results. we’ve been noticing more varied ad designs showing up in ChatGPT lately, and this latest one adds a descriptive heading directly above the ad itself. Brodie Clark spotted this and shared it on the SERP Alerts page on X. Brodie said: “ChatGPT is […]
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Search News Buzz Video Recap: Wild Google Ranking Volatility, Reddit Special Preference, Big Google Executive Shakeup & More Search News
This week, we covered two unconfirmed Google search ranking updates, one mid-week and one over the weekend – some were pretty big. Google said Reddit gets no special preference in its search rankings or AI results…
New Google Ads Report On New Customers Acquired
Google Ads is rolling out a new customer acquisition option named “Report on new customers acquired.” This lets you “Drive purchases from new and existing customers without changing bidding,” according to Google.
Google Ads Rolls Out Live Test Of Strong Match Labels
Google is testing a “Strongest match” or “Strong match” label on certain search ads. This one is confirmed Google’s Ginny Marvin announced it on LinkedIn and X. Marvin wrote: “We’ll be running a small experiment with adding a ‘Strongest match’ or ‘Strong match’ label to certain search ads.” Here is how it looks. A label […]
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ChatGPT Ads Updates: oCPC, Dynamic URLs, Muti-Product Carousel & More
Earlier this week, OpenAI sent an email to advertisers about new ChatGPT Ads Manager product updates. These updates include testing a new multi-product carousel format for product feed campaigns, plus a number of updates to the ad manager itself.
On Sep 1 Google Ads To Migrate ACA & Campaign-Level Broad Match To AI Max
Google Ads will begin migrating or “upgrading” Automatically created assets and campaign-level broad match setting to AI Max starting on September 1, 2026. We knew this was coming and now the process is soon going to begin.
Google Crawlers Send HTTP Requests: HEAD, OPTIONS, PUT, PATCH, DELETE
Gary Illyes from Google said that Google’s crawlers do not only send HTTP requests such as GET and POST but also for HEAD, OPTIONS, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE. He said the latter make up for less than 1.5% of the total number of requests all Google’s crawl…
Google Ads Phone Conversions Report Gets View Call Report Link
Google Ads added a “View call report” link in the Phone Call conversions leads report. This makes it easier to jump to the details of what makes up the metrics of that report and gives you access to that data in a new tab.
Google Ads Live Tests Of Strong Match Labels
Google Ads is now testing the “Strongest match” and “Strong match” labels it announced back in mid-June. This is the first time I have seen this label in the wild. I am actually a bit surprised Google went on with this test after the backlash…
The SEO’s Guide to Agentic Commerce — Whiteboard Friday
In the latest episode of Whiteboard Friday, Miracle Inameti-Archibong explains how to optimize your website for agentic commerce using Markdown, product feeds, structured data, and MCP.
Four Questions Every SEO Project Should Answer
[ Summary ] Use four questions to guide every SEO project: What are you saying? How will people discover it? Why should anyone trust it? Who is it really for? Align publisher intent, useful content, discovery systems, reputation, and audience purpose. …
Daily Search Forum Recap: August 6, 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 big changes and swings with the Google Search results…
Google Search Ranking Volatility Heats Up Into August 5th & 6th
Yes, I reported Google Search ranking volatility over this past weekend, but I am seeing a large increase in the chatter within the SEO community over the past 24 hours or so. The chatter seems consistent with a big Google Search algorithm update that…
Google AI Leadership Changes: Jeff Dean Leaves, Demis Hassabis Change & More
Google announced a number of big changes within its executive AI leadership ranks, including Jeff Dean leaving Google after 27 years, Demis Hassabis stepping down as Google DeepMind CEO to be its chair, and Koray Kavukcuoglu taking over many of his res…
Google Algorithm update in August 2026? What we know
We’re kickstarting a brand new series here at SEW, where we will do our best to watch and report in search engines’ updates. As you are probably aware, not all of them are announced, only the bigger ones. However, a lot of webmasters, publishers and agencies report ongoing fluctuations and volatility. Tracking potential Google algorithm updates […]
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Google Search Console Shows AI Mode Queries, Not In Generative AI Reports
While the Google Search Console generative AI performance reports do not share query data, you can still try to figure out which queries are from AI Mode versus normal searches. The SEO community has been doing this for years now by looking for more c…
Microsoft Ads New Exclude Audience Ads Placements Within PMax Campaigns
Microsoft Advertising is rolling out a new feature for advertisers to allow you to exclude Audience ads placements within Performance Max campaigns. There is a new setting named “Excluded content terms” within Audience Ads.
Google Ads Video Q&A On August 17 Bidding Update
Ginny Marvin, the Google Ads Liaison, posted a video Q&A on the upcoming bidding update coming on August 17th. As you know, these bidding changes are causing a big stir within the PPC industry and Ginny wanted to answer some questions in a video format.