Google is testing letting users view and modify their preferred sources list directly from within the AI Mode citations sidebar. There is a new button named “Source preferences” and when you click on it, it opens up your preferred sources …
Category: SE Roundtable
Google Moves Google Posts Higher Up On Local Panel
Google seems to have moved the Google Posts section of a local knowledge panel higher up on the page. In 2018, Google moved the Google Posts section to the bottom of the local panel. Now it seems Google is moving …
Google Ads Now In AI Mode With Personal Intelligence
Google confirmed it will now show ads in AI Mode results with Personal Intelligence enabled. Back in March, Google said AI Mode with Personal Intelligence turned on would be ad-free, but that is now changing.…
Is It New? AI Scan Tool
Here is something new for you – the Is it new? AI scan tool. It is a feature I thought would be neat to build, where instead of you reaching out to me to see if this or that is …
Google Ads To No Longer Show Featured Professionals, Headshots Are Optional
Google Ads posted a message to Local Service Ads advertisers saying that featured professionals will no longer show on your ads, and headshots will be optional and won’t impact ad serving.…
ChatGPT Ads New Ad Formats, Updated Conversion Page, Performance Emails…
OpenAI announced a number of product updates to ChatGPT Ads late Friday. These updates include new visual ad formats, a redesigned conversions page, performance emails, new measurement partners and a bug reporting / product feedback system.…
Daily Search Forum Recap: October 16, 2026
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today……
Google Ads Lead Form Adds Lead Scoring For Lead Qualification
Google added the ability to add lead scoring by indicating answers that qualify a lead for your business to get higher-quality leads. You can add up to 12 answers per question and check off whether they qualify under the lead …
Google Ads To Allow Certification For Online Gambling Advertisers
Google Ads will allow some advertisers to apply for certification for the category of online gambling. This started this month, October 2026, and will gradually be available to some advertisers in Google Ads.…
Bing Tests Read More Links In Search Result Snippets
Microsoft is testing placing “read more” links within the Bing Search result snippets, like Google officially did a year or so ago. I am able to replicate this on some browsers, where Bing adds a “Read more” link at the …
Google Poisoning Tracking Tools, Google AI Results Updates, Discover To Change, Google Ads, ChatGPT & SEO
Google seems to be poisoning the third-party tracking tools with fake data and paywalls; this is wreaking havoc on keyword tracking. Google launched Gemini 4 Argon and it is in AI Mode. Google made several……
Google Search Ranking Volatility & Chatter Spikes Today
It has been a while since I reported on a Google Search ranking update. I blame the tools, but in all seriousness, I am seeing a spike in volatility and, now probably more importantly, a spike in chatter over the …
Google Ads API Releases Twice Per Month Going Forward
Google Ads is planning on pushing twice as many Google Ads API updates for the remainder of this year and into 2027 compared to its previous schedule. Last year, Google said it would release an Ads API update monthly and …
Google Updated Indexing API Quota Details & More
Google has updated the indexing API documentation; this includes three different pages within the documentation. I think the big takeaway is that Google removed the old approval process and initial testing explanation, the sitemap recommendation, and, most importantly, the default …
Bing Search Testing Popular Links On Snippets
Microsoft is testing adding the label “Popular Links” to the Bing search results sitelinks. This reminds me of the Google top pages test and variations of that.…
Google Dataset Search Currently Not Returning Search Results
For the past several hours, Google Dataset Search has not been able to return any search results or matches. Google Dataset Search returns a response that says “Your search – [keyword phrase here] – did not match any datasets.”…
Google Updates Links In AI Mode & AI Overviews Again, Won’t Show Click Data
Google, for the umpteenth time, has updated how it shows links and carousel link cards in AI Mode and AI Overviews. Google always says this is to encourage searchers to click from the AI response to the publisher or creator, …


