Google Ads now provides a Product titles report showing when AI-generated titles replace advertiser-provided ones, giving advertisers more visibility into how Google AI modifies their Shopping ad titles.
Google has expanded the categories for Local Services Ads (LSAs), adding more specific options for restaurants, automotive services, and beauty businesses ahead of migrating LSA campaigns into Google Ads.
Google has launched its August 2026 spam update and introduced generative UI elements in AI Overviews. Reddit's share of ChatGPT citations has also declined.
Google confirmed the August 2026 spam update, which began on August 18, 2026, completed its rollout on August 21, 2026. The update affects all languages and regions globally. This is the third spam update this year, focusing on combating spammy content in search results.
Microsoft Advertising will stop allowing advertisers to set Max CPC limits on new campaigns using several standalone automated bidding strategies starting October 1, 2026. Existing campaigns and certain other bidding strategies will retain the option.
Google has released its August 2026 spam update, which will take a few days to fully roll out. This update applies globally and to all languages. The update is the third spam update of 2026, following the June 2026 spam update. If your site was not impacted, there is no need to take any action at this time.
Fractl's AI Visibility Index shows that some brands with strong SEO footprints barely appear in AI answers, while others with smaller footprints frequently do. The study highlights that traditional search authority still matters but is not the only factor in AI search visibility.
OpenAI has acknowledged that its ChatGPT fetch bot may not respect the Robots.txt protocol, allowing it to access content that webmasters have explicitly disallowed.
Google is rolling out Gemini 3.7 Flash, its latest AI model, to Google Search for AI Pro and Ultra subscribers. The model is designed to enhance coding and agent capabilities within the search platform.
Google will begin automatically migrating legacy Search campaign features to AI Max on September 1, 2026, with Campaign-level Broad Match, Automatically Created Assets, and Dynamic Search Ads transitioning through early 2027.
A federal judge refused to dismiss a lawsuit alleging an auto transport company used toxic backlinks to harm a competitor’s Google rankings. The ruling found the plaintiffs plausibly alleged false advertising and trademark claims under the Lanham Act and Illinois consumer protection laws.
Google is testing a mobile Search ad layout that places a list of advertisers above the sponsored results, giving users more context before they click. The experiment includes each advertiser’s favicon and domain name at the top of the sponsored results block. If rolled out broadly, it may influence user behavior and ad performance. SEO practitioners should monitor this development and adjust strategies accordingly. One actionable step is to ensure brand consistency in favicons and domain names to improve visibility in this new layout.
