Apple Maps Ads Bans Home Service Businesses With Updated Terms
Apple has posted new Apple Maps policies where it now says it is prohibiting home services, such as plumbing, electrical, locksmith, HVAC, pest control, roofing, or general contracting services. It also says bail bonds, cryptocurrency ATMs and some med…
Google Ads Performance Max Product Reporting Now Uses All Networks
Google Ads updated its Performance Max product level reporting back on June 15th. This report now uses data from all Performance Max networks, rather than the subset it previously pulled from.
Google Manufacturer Center Removed Manual Update Or Add Products
Google sent out an email to those who use the Google Manufacturer Center to remind them that the ability to manually add or update products directly in Manufacturer Center has been removed. Instead, Google said use the Manufacturer Center API or upload…
Google: You’re Are Better Off Without Lastmod Dates When They Are Incorrect
Gary Illyes from Google said that you are better off not using a lastmod date in your XML Sitemap if those dates are wrong. He said on Bluesky, “probably better off without the lastmods. at least you save a few bytes.”
Google To Merge Google Shopping Ads & Free Listing Policies To One Policy
Google announced it will consolidate and merge the Shopping ads and free listings policies into a single Shopping policy sometime in September 2026. Keep in mind, there may be specific ads or free listing policies listed in that consolidated policy doc…
Google Ads To Turn On Local Inventory Ads By Default For Shopping Campaigns
Google just sent out an email to Google Ads advertisers noting that it will turn on local inventory ads by default in your Shopping campaigns. Google added that you can change this setting by August 31st by using the “inventory filter” instead of the “…
Daily Search Forum Recap: July 15, 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 Image Search turned 25 years old and with that…
Google Image Search Home Page Goes From Simple Search Box To Gallery
Google Image Search turned 25 years old and to celebrate, Google revamped the Google Image Search home page. Instead of a clean image search box, Google added an image gallery and placed a search bar at the top of the page.
AI Image Generation Now Within Google AI Overviews
Google AI Overviews can now generate AI images based on your questions, directly in the AI Overview response in Google Search. Google wrote, “To help bring those unique ideas to life, we’re bringing image generation directly into AI Overviews in Search.”
ChatGPT Ads Get Location & Audience Exclusion Controls
OpenAI added more features to ChatGPT Ads Manager, the ability to exclude your ads from showing based on geo-location and/or audience lists. ChatGPT Ads Manager continues to rapidly add new advertising features to its ad platform.
Google Confirms Testing Hide Sponsored Products In Shopping Results
Google has confirmed that it is testing the hide and show sponsored results within the Google Shopping search results interface. Google launched the hide/show sponsored results in the main search results last October and is now testing this feature wit…
Google: Significant Differences With A/B Tests Can Show In Search Results
Google’s John Mueller noted that if your A/B tests are “significantly different” from one and the other, then that “could be visible in search results too.” He also said, “Depending on your setup, what might happen is that one or the other version is u…
Google: Significant Differences With A/B Tests Can Show In Search Results
Google’s John Mueller noted that if your A/B tests are “significantly different” from one and the other, then that “could be visible in search results too.” He also said, “Depending on your setup, what might happen is that one or the other version is u…
Google Bans Prediction Markets Product Ads Michigan & New York; Expands Shopping Ads & Free Listings
Google announced it is no longer allowing the advertisement of prediction markets contracts and related products ads in Michigan and New York. Plus, Google also expanded Google Shopping ads and free listings eligibility to more countries.
Google Bans Prediction Markets Product Ads Michigan & New York; Expands Shopping Ads & Free Listings
Google announced it is no longer allowing the advertisement of prediction markets contracts and related products ads in Michigan and New York. Plus, Google also expanded Google Shopping ads and free listings eligibility to more countries.
Google Ads Expands Alcohol, Gambling & Games Policy
Google Ads has posted that it has (1) expanded its alcohol policy to expand the approved geographic locations and (2) updated the gambling and games policy to expand the certification requirements to all categories under this policy.
Google Ads Asks For Justification When Requesting Removal Of Access
Google Ads is now asking you to note a justification for when you request the removal of access for a user in your Google Ads account. Then that request is sent to another administrator for approval, with the justification you entered.
OpenAI Crawlers Can Update Its User Agent String
OpenAI made a number of clarification changes to its crawler help documentation to say that version number of the user-agent string may be updated and it may use a user-agent string with an additional robots.txt marker.
Google Merchant Center AI Performance Insights For AI Mode & AI Overviews
Google Merchant Center is rolling out a beta AI Performance report that shares how well your products are performing within AI Mode and AI Overviews. Google wrote this report “specifically revealing your performance on AI Mode and AI Overviews.”
ChatGPT Ads Manager Gains Attributed Sales Value & Sales ROAS & Products
OpenAI has added new metrics to the ChatGPT Ads manager advertiser control center. The new metrics include Attributed Sales Value and Sales ROAS.