A federal judge denied the U.S. Justice Department's request to force Google to sell its AdX advertising exchange, leaving Google's antitrust liability intact but imposing behavioral remedies instead of a forced sale.
Google has published eligibility rules, data samples, and key dates for licensing ranking, query, click, and view data from EEA Search under the EU's Digital Markets Act.
Google has completed the global rollout of AI performance reports and Search generative AI controls in Search Console as of August 31, 2026, making these features available to all users with a Search Console account.
Allegations have surfaced that the Rank Math WordPress plugin creates a WordPress Application Password tied to the user when they open the Help & Support section, without explicit consent or notification, potentially granting the company administrator-level access.
Google has confirmed that for some queries, AI Overviews may dynamically expand to their full state, replacing the snippet with a full detailed response and pushing organic search results further down the page.
Link building in 2027 will be less about how many links you can acquire and more about whether you've earned them through stories worth covering.
Google's August 2026 spam update caused 16.71% of top 10 URLs to fall beyond position 100, an 82% increase compared to a period without a confirmed ranking update, according to SE Ranking data.
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.