Google Discover Update: Early Data Shows Fewer Domains In US
Early third-party tracking data offers a first look at how Google’s February Discover core update is changing what users see in their feeds.
About
Matt G. Southern, Senior News Writer, has been with Search Engine Journal since 2013. With a bachelor’s degree in communications, Matt specializes in gathering details, checking facts, and making complex subjects easy to understand. In addition to writing articles, Matt oversees strategy development for SEJ’s news department.
Articles
SerpApi Challenges Google’s Right To Sue Over SERP Scraping
SerpApi filed a motion to dismiss Google’s DMCA lawsuit, arguing the search giant lacks standing to invoke copyright law over publicly visible search results.
Microsoft: ‘Summarize With AI’ Buttons Used To Poison AI Recommendations
Microsoft found 31 companies hiding prompt injections inside “Summarize with AI” buttons aimed at biasing what AI assistants recommend in future conversations.
Google Ads Surfaces PMax Search Partner Domains In Placement Report
Google Ads PMax placement reporting is now populating with data for more accounts, revealing Search Partner domains and impression counts for brand safety review.
Google AI Mode Link Update, Click Share Data & ChatGPT Fan-Outs – SEO Pulse
The latest SEO Pulse examines how AI interfaces reshape link visibility, redirect clicks, and filter sources before rankings apply.
Google Offers AI Certificate Free For Eligible U.S. Small Businesses
Google launched an AI Professional Certificate with seven self-paced modules and three months of AI Pro access. Eligible U.S. small businesses can enroll free.
ChatGPT Search Often Switches To English In Fan-Out Queries: Report
Peec AI analyzed fan-out queries from 10M+ ChatGPT prompts and found 43% of background searches ran in English, even for non-English prompts.
Why Google Runs AI Mode On Flash, Explained By Google’s Chief Scientist
Google’s Jeff Dean explains why latency and cost make Flash Google’s production tier for AI search, and why models are built to retrieve, not memorize.
Google Says Links Will Be More Visible In AI Overviews
Google is adding hover link pop-ups on desktop in AI Overviews and AI Mode, plus more prominent link icons within responses across desktop and mobile.
Google Text Ad Click Share Rises Sharply In Some Verticals
An analysis of approximately 16,000 U.S. queries shows text ads increasing their click share by 7-13 points year over year.
Google Lost Two Antitrust Cases, But Stock Rose 65% – Here’s Why
Courts ruled against Google, regulators push forward, and appeals loom. Here’s where every proceeding stands and what it signals for search and monetization.
Google’s Search Relations Team Debates If You Still Need A Website
Google’s Search Relations team discussed whether you still need a website in 2026, and outlined when social, apps, or the web make sense.
Bing AI Citation Tracking, Hidden HTTP Homepages & Pages Fall Under Crawl Limit – SEO Pulse
The latest SEO Pulse examines AI citation dashboards, invisible homepage pitfalls, and what new crawl data means for technical teams.
Cloudflare’s New Markdown for AI Bots: What You Need To Know
Cloudflare launched Markdown for Agents, converting HTML pages to markdown automatically when AI crawlers request it through content negotiation.
Google’s Ads Chief Details UCP Expansion, New AI Mode Ads
Google’s VP of Ads & Commerce published her annual letter previewing agentic commerce updates, AI Mode ad expansion, and creator-brand matching tools for 2026.
Hidden HTTP Page Can Cause Site Name Problems In Google
Google’s John Mueller explains how a leftover HTTP homepage invisible to Chrome users can cause site-name and favicon problems in search results.
From Article to Short-Form Video That Holds Attention
Effective article-to-video workflows prioritize what to cut, what to keep, and how to structure 150 words that actually hold attention.
Google Can Now Monitor Search For Your Government IDs
Google’s Results about you tool now monitors Search results for government-issued IDs like passports, driver’s licenses, and Social Security numbers.
Bing Webmaster Tools Adds AI Citation Performance Data
Bing Webmaster Tools now shows publishers how often their content is cited in Copilot and AI-generated answers, with page-level data and grounding queries.
OpenAI Begins Testing Ads In ChatGPT For Free And Go Users
OpenAI is testing ads in ChatGPT for free and Go tiers in the U.S. Ads appear below responses, labeled as sponsored. Paid tiers remain ad-free.
Google Revises Discover Guidelines Alongside Core Update
Google updated its “Get on Discover” docs, adding page experience guidance and naming clickbait and sensationalism, alongside the February Discover update.
Discover Core Update, AI Mode Ads & Crawl Policy – SEO Pulse
This week’s SEO Pulse covers ranking volatility inside Discover, expanding AI ad inventory, and growing scrutiny of bot-facing content practices.
Google Releases Core Update Targeting Discover Feed
Google has started a Discover core update. The rollout may take up to two weeks, with expansion to more countries and languages later.
Google Search Hits $63B, Details AI Mode Ad Tests
Google is testing ads in AI Mode as Search revenue grew 17% to $63 billion. AI Mode queries run 3x longer than traditional searches.
Google’s Mueller Calls Markdown-For-Bots Idea ‘A Stupid Idea’
Google Search Advocate John Mueller is pushing back on the idea of serving Markdown files to LLM crawlers.
Google’s Crawl Team Filed Bugs Against WordPress Plugins
Google’s crawl team filed a bug against WooCommerce for add-to-cart parameters wasting crawl budget. WooCommerce fixed it. Other plugins haven’t.
Google Updates Googlebot File Size Limit Docs
Google updated its Googlebot documentation to clarify file size limits, separating default limits that apply to all crawlers from Googlebot-specific details.
LinkedIn Shares What Works For AI Search Visibility
LinkedIn tested what drives AI search visibility and shared results. Content structure, expert authorship, and timestamps showed the clearest impact.
AI Recommendations Change With Nearly Every Query: Sparktoro
SparkToro research finds AI tools produce different brand recommendation lists more than 99% of the time when given the same prompt.
SEO Pulse: Google Explores AI Opt-Outs, Gemini 3 Powers AIOs
This week’s SEO Pulse covers potential opt-outs from AI search, deeper AI Overviews integration, and what model tradeoffs mean for content workflows.