Google has updated its Search profiles with a single login feature and lowered the follower requirement to 10,000 across platforms, simplifying profile management for publishers.
Google has admitted that Search Console's current AI search reporting does not accurately reflect AI search positioning data.
Google's August 2026 spam update has caused significant search visibility drops for some publishers, including long-standing performers, and the update is now complete. Affected sites need to act before Q4 sales begin.
Google is testing whether traditional Search campaigns using exact and phrase match keywords can serve text ads in AI Mode, potentially allowing advertisers to gain exposure in AI-powered search without switching to AI Max or Performance Max.
Google has made its Search Console AI reports available globally. John Mueller also provided insights on recovery timing, markdown for AI crawlers, and sitemap cache-busting.
Google has updated its AI Mode in Search to use Gemini 3.8 Flash, replacing Gemini 3.7 Flash for AI Pro and Ultra subscribers, with improvements in software engineering, agentic tasks, and multi-step reasoning.
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.
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.
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 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.