Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google May Core Update Status, Buying AI Brand Mentions, Preferred Sources In AI Responses, Google Ads, Local & Legal
This week in search, we gave a status update on the Google May 2026 core update. Google strongly warned against buying mentions for AI or manipulating mentions for AI. Google removed the indexing lag between….
New: Google Ads Prospects Mode
Google Ads has expanded New Customer Acquisition with a new feature called Prospect Mode. Prospect mode also targets brand-unaware users, Google said. Those prospects who have not searched for, engaged with, or visited your site. Some call them cold pr…
Google: Search Quality Raters Guidelines Not A Guide For Search Rankings
John Mueller from Google said that the Google Search Quality Raters guidelines are not a guide for search rankings. Meaning, the content in those guidelines is not a blueprint on how to rank your website in Google Search.
Google 1st Order Price Labels On Shopping Ads (Again)
Over a year ago, we saw Google testing a “First order” label on shopping ads within search. Now, we are seeing Google test a variation of that named “1st order price” on those same ads. It basically tells the customer that if this is their first order …
Google Discover Publisher Profile Pages Tests Short URLs
Google is testing short URLs with @handles for the Google Discover publisher profile pages. Instead of those long URLs that go on forever, Google is testing a format that uses the publisher’s handle.
Bing Tests New Sitelinks On Ads
Microsoft Bing is testing a new style of sitelinks for the search ads. These sitelinks differ in that they are narrower, use a smaller font, have a border and when you hover over them, they change from a blue font to a bold black font.
Daily Search Forum Recap: May 28, 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 AI Mode and AI Overviews gain preferred sources…
Google AI Mode & AI Overviews Add Preferred Sources & New Carousel
Google is officially rolling out preferred source labels within AI Mode and AI Overviews and adding a new carousel to AI Mode and AI Overviews, as well. Plus, Google said the highly cited label is expanding to more search results (which is not specific…
Google Strongly Warns Against Manipulating Mentions For AI
Gary Illyes from Google reportedly said at the Search Central Live Shanghai 2026 event on May 15th that he and Google strongly warns against buying or manipulating mentions brand mentions to try to show up in the AI responses, AI Overviews and AI Mode.
Google Tests New Sitename & Favicon Layout In Search
Google is testing shifting the sitename and favicon in the search results around, where it is on one line with the favicon, then a bold sitename and then the URL, followed by the rest of the snippet; the title and description and sitelinks. Typically,…
ChatGPT Ads Conversion-Optimized Campaigns Coming June 5th
OpenAI sent out an email to some early advertisers offering them early access to conversion-optimized campaigns. Conversion-optimized campaigns are going to be available to some advertisers starting on June 5, 2026.
Google Ads To Delete Short Term Performance Data June 1st
As you know, Google updated its Google Ads data retention policy recently, which changed how long it will store some of its shorter-term performance data. Specifically, the data hourly, daily, and weekly reporting data…
New Google Merchant Center AI Performance Insights
Google is rolling out a new AI performance report within Google Merchant Center named AI performance insights. Google said the “AI performance insights can help provide you with a view into your brand’s performance on AI surfaces and how you can optimi…
New: Track your brand visibility in Claude with Yoast AI Brand Insights
Yoast AI Brand Insights, part of the Yoast SEO AI+ plan now lets you scan how your brand appears in answers generated by Claude. You can see your Claude data alongside ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini, all in one dashboard. Why Claude is worth paying attention to Think about how your own customers are making decisions […]
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The Top AI Search Skills Hiring Managers Want (From 1,543 Job Listings)
Wondering which AI search skills hiring managers want most? See data from 1,543 SEO jobs and learn how to frame AI, GEO, AEO and measurement on your resume for 2026
Interviews Of Google’s Sundar Pichai & Nick Fox
There are two interviews that is probably worth a listen of Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai and Google’s SVP of Knowledge & Information, out of Google I/O and Google Marketing Live. If you listen, you can see the direction Google Search is headed – and du…
Google Local Results Tests Check Real-Time Stock
Google is testing letting searchers check for real-time stock, inventory, of products through the local pack in the search results. There is this new button being tested next to view “more places” in the local pack that says, “Check real-time stock.”
Google Discover Report Bug Cause Decrease In Clicks/Impressions May 21
Google has confirmed another bug with the Search Console Discover performance report on May 21st. Google said there was another data logging issue that may cause a decrease in clicks and impressions for May 21, 2026.
Google Ads Real-Time Policy Reviews During Ad Creation
Google is rolling out what it calls Real-Time Policy Reviews within Google Ads for Responsive Search Ads and rolling out to other campaign types later in the year. Google wrote, “this feature provides instant feedback during the ad creation process, si…
Similarweb: ChatGPT Shows More Links Leading To 150% Increase In Referrals
New data out of Similarweb says that since OpenAI began surfacing more prominent links to brands in the ChatGPT answers, referral traffic is up 150%. Also pageviews per visit is up 24% and time on site is up 11%.