Contextual SEO: The “It Depends” Edition
This article (although a first draft) clarifies my current thinking on SEO and how I approach it today. My views are shaped by long-term, hands-on experience across multiple eras of search, including practices that no longer align with modern Google sy…
Google Search Ranking Volatility January 6th With AdSense Earnings Drops
There are a number of SEOs and site owners complaining that they saw a large drop in Google Search rankings yesterday, January 6, 2026. This unconfirmed Google update does not feel as widespread as some of the previous ones we reported on but I wanted…
Google Merchant Center Updates Multi-Channel Products Rules
Google will update how it handles multi-channel products, products sold both online and locally in the store, to help with managing inventory. Google emailed merchants that this applies to and the changes go into effect this March.
Microsoft Tests Larger Ask Copilot Button On Bing Home Page
Microsoft is testing a much larger “Ask Copilot” button on the Bing home page. Normally, Bing only has a small Copilot logo on the right of the search box but in this test, Bing writes it all out – “Ask Copilot” with the logo.
Google Personalizing Some AI Overviews & AI Mode Answers
Google’s Robby Stein confirmed (again) that Google is personalizing some of the AI experiences, including AI Overviews and AI Mode. He said this on the CNN, Terms of Service podcast with Clare Duffy.
Google Hiring Search Intelligence Chief of Staff
Google is hiring a Chief of Staff on Search Intelligence, Strategy and Operations. This job is to “help architect the next era of Search with AI,” Rajan Patel, the Vice President of Search Engineering of Google, posted on LinkedIn.
Site Kit by Google integration available for all Yoast customers
This first release of 2026 brings Site Kit by Google insights into your Yoast SEO Dashboard. After introducing the integration in phases throughout 2025, we are pleased to share that the rollout is now complete and available to all Yoast customers using WordPress. What you can see in your Yoast SEO Dashboard You can now view key performance data […]
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Google Hiring AI Answers & Search Quality Software Engineer
Google posted a new job listing looking to hire a new Senior Software Engineer, Search, AI Answers Quality. The job post says “Help the AI Answers Quality team deliver AI Overviews to users’ hard and complicated queries on the SRP and in AI Mode.”
Google Added LLMs.txt To It’s Web Sites For Other Reasons Than Discovery
A month ago, Google added LLMs.txt files to many of its developer and documentation sites including the Search developer docs. As you know, Google pulled it off the Search developer docs within a day or so but the LLMs.txt files still remain on many of…
Microsoft Bing Tests New Home Page Design Promoting Copilot
Microsoft Bing is testing a new home page design where it promotes its AI-powered search and answer engine, Copilot. It seems to be a limited test and is not fully live yet, but it is a big change to the home page, which normally has the Bing custom ba…
Google Practice Problems Structured Data Help Documentation Removed
Last November, Google announced it was dropping support for a number of structured data types and search features. One of those was practice problem structured data types, and now, Google has removed the help documentation along with it.
Google Ads To Allow Ads For Prediction Markets
Google Ads will update its advertising policies to allow ads for Prediction Markets starting on January 21, 2026. This will be allowed in the United States, but only for federally regulated entities.
Daily Search Forum Recap: January 5, 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 Discover seems to show X posts way too often and some searchers don’t like it…
January 2026 Google Webmaster Report
It is January 2026, and it is now time for the monthly Google Webmaster report, where I recap the most important Google organic stories of the past month. Obviously, the Google December 2025 core update was the big one, it ran for 18 days and it reall…
Google Discover Show X Posts Too Often?
Google has been showing social media posts in Google Discover, including posts from X for a while now, and Google may even show more posts from those you follow. But is Google showing too many social media posts from X in your Google Discover feed?
Google To Fix Squished Knowledge Panel Images
Google is working on fixing an issue where some searchers are seeing squished images within the Google Search knowledge panels. I personally cannot replicate this but it seems to be happening for a number of searchers.
Google Search Console Links Report Missing Data?
Google Search Console’s link report seems to be either missing data or is now showing fewer links. I suspect it is a bug but I also don’t think Google spends too much time monitoring this report within Search Console.
Google Ads Change History Adds Go To Button
Google added a new button to the Google Ads Change history report that lets advertisers quickly jump to different campaigns and ad groups in this report. It should be a big time saver for some advertisers.
Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google December Core Update Done, News Publishers Hit Hard, Frankenstein AI Recipe Horror & Happy New Year
Google completed the December 2025 core update this week and it hit some news publishers incredibly hard. I posted the annual Google algorithm update infographic. Google’s Frankenstein AI-recipes are a complete horror. Google questioned the need for …
Some News Publishers Saw Big Declines With The Google Core Update
Now that the December 2025 core update is officially done, some are looking at the damage it caused. A number of very visible news publishers saw some significant declines in Google Search visibility with this latest core update.