u/BogdanK_seranking

A maggio 2024, davanti al pubblico di Harvard, Sam Altman aveva definito l'unione tra pubblicità e IA "particolarmente inquietante" e "l'ultima risorsa" per OpenAI. Il 16 gennaio 2026 OpenAI ha annunciato gli annunci dentro ChatGPT (solo piani Free e Go).

Il nostro team SE Ranking ha appena analizzato 50.006 query commerciali su 20 nicchie negli Stati Uniti per vedere come funziona nella pratica. Abbiamo anche lanciato campagne nostre per testare il lato inserzionista.

Cosa emerge:

1. Una query commerciale su quattro attiva un annuncio. ChatGPT mostra pubblicità sul 25,94% delle query commerciali. L'AI Mode di Google è al 29,45%. Le due piattaforme monetizzano già l'intento commerciale a ritmi simili — ChatGPT mostra un solo spazio sotto la risposta, AI Mode spesso ne affianca due.
2. Il 14,35% degli annunci è fuori tema. A volte parecchio fuori tema. Per "migliori app di incontri per relazioni serie" ChatGPT ha servito un annuncio di Quince (gioielli e abbigliamento). Su una query sull'abbonamento al quotidiano Star Ledger è uscita TXU Energy (fornitore di elettricità in Texas). ChatGPT Ads non usa il targeting per parole chiave ma dei "context hints" in linguaggio naturale: il sistema pesca connessioni semantiche molto larghe e manca del tutto l'intento reale. Su News & Politics il 54,2% degli annunci è fuori tema. Su Relationships, il 51,1%.
3. La vera distanza da Google è sui temi YMYL. Gli annunci sulla salute compaiono sul 28,69% delle query in ChatGPT contro il 2,64% in AI Mode: circa 10 volte tanto. News & Politics: 28,76% contro 6,8%. Google ha avuto oltre 20 anni per costruire policy restrittive sugli argomenti sensibili. ChatGPT, evidentemente, non ci è ancora arrivato.

Un solo sito si prende il 13,56% di tutti gli annunci. BestMoney (piattaforma di comparazione) domina da sola più nicchie. Hungryroot copre il 79,92% degli annunci Food & Beverage. Booking com il 62,57% di Travel. Robinhood il 52,24% di Finance. Il mercato è già concentratissimo.
Nel 96,37% dei casi l'inserzionista non viene nemmeno citato nella risposta di ChatGPT sopra il suo stesso annuncio. Pagare dà lo spazio, non la raccomandazione.

Siamo pronti a un mondo in cui "ChatGPT consiglia X" diventa "ChatGPT consiglia X, e sotto c'è Y in pubblicità, senza alcun legame con la domanda"?

Voi che ne pensate di questa deriva?

Il nostro team SE Ranking ha appena chiuso uno studio sui ChatGPT Ads: 50.006 prompt commerciali su 20 nicchie statunitensi. Abbiamo anche pubblicato annunci nostri sulla piattaforma per vedere la cosa dal lato inserzionista. Nei dati sono uscite cose davvero strane.

 Tre risultati che spiccano:

• Il carico pubblicitario è più vicino a Google di quanto si pensi. ChatGPT mostra un annuncio nel 25,94 % dei prompt commerciali, AI Mode nel 29,45 %. Come frequenza, quindi, «risposta IA» e «spazio sponsorizzato» sono già allineati; cambia solo il formato, con una card sotto la risposta in ChatGPT e spesso due annunci affiancati in AI Mode.
• Il 14,35 % degli annunci è fuori tema, a volte in modo clamoroso. Su «best dating apps for a serious relationship» ChatGPT ha mostrato un annuncio di Quince, un rivenditore di abbigliamento e gioielli. Su una query per l'abbonamento a un giornale è comparsa TXU Energy, elettricità in Texas. I ChatGPT Ads si basano su «context hints» in linguaggio naturale invece che su parole chiave, così il sistema trova collegamenti semantici molto ampi che mancano l'intento reale dell'utente. Il tasso di disallineamento arriva al 54,2 % su attualità e politica e al 51,1 % sulle relazioni. Animali domestici e viaggi restano sotto il 5 %.
• Sui temi YMYL la distanza tra le due piattaforme è massima. Gli annunci compaiono nel 28,69 % dei prompt sulla salute in ChatGPT contro appena il 2,64 % in AI Mode, circa 10 volte tanto. Su attualità e politica si passa dal 28,76 % al 6,8 %. Google ha avuto oltre vent'anni per costruire restrizioni sulle categorie sensibili, ChatGPT non ci è ancora arrivato.

C'è un altro dato che vale la pena segnalare, perché nel 96,37 % dei posizionamenti l'inserzionista non viene citato nella risposta che compare sopra il suo annuncio. Pagare garantisce lo spazio, non la raccomandazione.

Qualcuno qui sta già usando i ChatGPT Ads?

Trovate lo studio completo sul nostro blog SE Ranking.

Salut tout le monde ! Nous avons rassemblé les actualités IA & SEO les plus intéressantes de la semaine et on a hâte de connaître votre avis — discutons-en dans les commentaires !

Recherche / SEO

• Google Trends compare désormais jusqu'à 5 termes de recherche à la fois

Google Trends relève sa limite de comparaison. Le graphique d'évolution de l'intérêt au fil du temps accepte maintenant davantage de termes en parallèle, ce qui est pratique pour situer un mot-clé face à plusieurs concurrents ou à plusieurs variantes en une seule fois.

La nouveauté complète la mise à jour du mois dernier, « comparer à la période précédente », et donne à ceux qui suivent les tendances beaucoup plus de souplesse pour découper leurs comparaisons sans exporter les données ni multiplier les graphiques côte à côte.

Source :
Barry Schwartz | Search Engine Roundtable

______________________

GSC

• Les Platform Properties de Google Search Console sont déployées dans le monde entier

Le nouveau type de propriété de Search Console, les Platform Properties, est désormais disponible partout. Propriétaires de sites et créateurs peuvent y suivre les performances de leurs contenus publiés sur Instagram, TikTok, X et YouTube dans Google Search, Discover et Google News.

Une fois la propriété configurée, deux rapports s'ouvrent. Le rapport Performances affiche les clics, les impressions et les publications les plus vues, avec un filtrage par requête. Le rapport Insights donne une vue d'ensemble des tendances de trafic et des modes de découverte des contenus.

Source :
Blog Google Search Central

______________________

IA

• Les contenus générés par IA doivent être clairement identifiés selon les nouvelles consignes européennes

L'Union européenne étend son exigence de transparence numérique au-delà des seules images : le texte publié sans relecture humaine entre lui aussi dans le périmètre. L'article 50 du règlement européen sur l'IA impose aux entreprises et aux professionnels d'identifier clairement tout contenu généré ou fortement modifié par IA, qu'il s'agisse de texte, d'image, d'audio ou de vidéo. Deux niveaux de divulgation sont prévus : un marquage lisible par les machines, qui signale le caractère synthétique du contenu, et un étiquetage visible dès lors que l'utilisateur interagit directement avec une IA.

Source :

Euronews

______________________

SEO technique

• Les consignes de Google sur les snippets d'avis interdisent désormais explicitement les faux avis et les avis incités non signalés

Google ajoute une règle à ses consignes sur les données structurées des snippets d'avis : « N'intégrez pas de faux avis ni d'avis incités sans divulgation, sur votre page comme dans votre balisage de données structurées. »

La mise à jour détaille deux cas de non-conformité :

• les avis qui ne reposent pas sur une expérience réelle du produit ou du service les avis rédigés en échange d'un avantage (argent, remise, bon d'achat, produit gratuit) sans mention claire et visible de cette contrepartie
• Google retire de ses consignes la règle sur le blocage des résultats de recherche interne, mais continue de le recommander

Dans un récent épisode du podcast Search Off the Record, John Mueller a précisé que l'obligation de bloquer les pages de résultats de recherche interne à Googlebot, en place depuis des années, a discrètement disparu des Search Essentials.

La recommandation pratique, elle, reste la même. Ces pages sont en général de faible qualité, et laisser Google les crawler à grande échelle alourdit la charge serveur tout en diluant la qualité perçue du site.

• Google prévient que repousser la date de unavailable_after ne produit pas toujours l'effet attendu

Gary Illyes a précisé que prolonger dynamiquement la balise meta unavailable_after ne pose aucun problème technique, mais que Google doit recrawler la page pour prendre connaissance de la nouvelle date.

Si Google s'est déjà engagé sur la date unavailable_after initiale, il peut retirer la page des résultats de recherche à l'échéance prévue, sans revérifier si elle a été modifiée.

Pour les sites qui gèrent du contenu à durée limitée, il faut donc s'assurer que la page est recrawlée bien avant la date d'expiration initiale. Sans cela, elle peut disparaître de la recherche alors même que ses signaux de fraîcheur ont été mis à jour.

Source :
Google Search Central | Consignes relatives aux données structurées
John Mueller | podcast Search Off the Record
Gary Illyes | LinkedIn

______________________

En bref

• (test) Bing affiche les prix directement sur les images produit et teste des snippets produit sur deux rangées

Microsoft mène deux tests liés dans les résultats produits organiques de Bing : l'affichage du prix en surimpression sur l'image du produit, et l'extension de certains snippets produit à deux rangées d'images sous un même résultat.

Source :
Barry Schwartz | Search Engine Roundtable

Si piensas que ChatGPT domina por completo el tráfico de referencia de IA, piénsalo de nuevo. Datos recientes muestran que, aunque el tráfico de búsqueda por IA se está disparando, el mercado se está consolidando rápidamente y los competidores más pequeños están creciendo exponencialmente más rápido que el rey.

Según nuestro estudio multianual de SE Ranking, el tráfico web total procedente de motores de IA alcanzó el 0,32 % en 2026. Eso representa un aumento masivo de 16 veces desde 2024 (cuando era solo del 0,02 %).

Antes de que cunda el pánico: la búsqueda orgánica tradicional sigue representando el 42,75 % del tráfico web global, lo que significa que Google todavía envía 134 veces más visitantes que todas las herramientas de IA juntas. Sin embargo, los cambios internos dentro del propio tráfico de IA son increíbles.

Aquí está el desglose actual del tráfico de referencia global de IA en 2026:

• ChatGPT: 74,78 % de cuota (Sigue siendo la fuerza dominante indiscutible, pero su cuota de mercado cayó desde el 79,74 % en 2025 a medida que otros motores ganan terreno).
• Gemini: 11,56 % de cuota (Se afianza como el número 2 tras un increíble crecimiento interanual del 231 %, superando oficialmente a Perplexity).
• Perplexity: 7,23 % de cuota (La única plataforma principal que registró una ligera caída en números absolutos de referencias a medida que los usuarios consolidan sus preferencias).
• Microsoft Copilot: 3,51 % de cuota (Creciendo a ritmo constante con un aumento interanual del 31 %).
• Claude: 2,62 % de cuota (El gran caballo negro de la lista, con una impresionante tasa de crecimiento interanual del 320 %).

¿La conclusión? Depender exclusivamente de la optimización para ChatGPT se está volviendo arriesgado. El ecosistema de búsqueda se está fragmentando.

¿Ya estás rastreando las referencias de IA en tus paneles de GA4? ¿Quién está liderando en tu nicho?

Search keeps rewriting itself week to week, but staying close to the people who track it means very little catches us off guard. This week's throughline is hard to miss: Google's AI surfaces are increasingly keeping users (and their clicks) inside Google's own walls. Here's what the community actually confirmed, so the whole team carries the same clear read into the AI-search era.

---------------------------

A quiet "7-Eleven" wobble hit around July 11 — but the real story is January's losers finally recovering.

Source: Barry Schwartz | Search Engine Roundtable; Glenn Gabe | X; Lily Ray | X

Barry Schwartz flagged minor volatility around July 11 — his tongue-in-cheek "7-Eleven update" — while noting SEO chatter is unusually quiet since the June spam update wrapped. The sharper signal came from Glenn Gabe: several sites hammered by January's unconfirmed update (commodity content, self-serving listicles) are now recovering. Lily Ray agreed, calling January "the update with the most clear pattern this year so far". Watch for delayed recoveries, not just fresh drops.

---------------------------

Google Images turned 25 and got an AI makeover — AI Overviews can now generate images inside the answer.

Source: Barry Schwartz | Search Engine Roundtable; Matt G. Southern | Search Engine Journal

To mark Image Search's 25th birthday, Google swapped its clean image search box for a gallery homepage and — bigger for marketers — began generating AI images directly inside AI Overviews using its Nano Banana image model. Google's framing: "we're bringing image generation directly into AI Overviews in Search." One more reason informational queries resolve without a click to your site.

---------------------------

AI Mode is now a paid surface: ads show on nearly 1 in 3 commercial queries — and buying one won't get you cited.

Source: Yevheniia Khromova, Svitlana Tomko | SE Ranking; Danny Goodwin | Search Engine Land

SE Ranking's analysis of 50,032 commercial keywords (US, June 30) found text ads on 29.45% of AI Mode queries, usually in pairs (71.1%), with CPC the strongest predictor of placement — from 24.33% on sub-$2 keywords to 53.56% at $10+. Paying didn't buy visibility elsewhere: only 11.53% of advertiser domains appeared among cited sources, and ~85% didn't even rank organically for the terms they bid on. As Planable's Raluca Cîrjan noted in the study, treat AI Mode ads as a distinct top-of-funnel channel — ad spend and citations don't move each other.

---------------------------

Google is quietly becoming AI Mode's #2 most-cited "source" — by citing itself.

Source: Danny Goodwin | Search Engine Land

Per AI-visibility firm Profound, citations to google(.)com in AI Mode jumped 8.4x in about two months, making it the No. 2 most-cited domain — driven almost entirely by Google Business Profiles and Product Knowledge Panels surfacing inside answers. For local and product queries (hospitality, home services, restaurants, real estate, healthcare), your Google-hosted profile is increasingly the first thing users see. Tidy up hours, photos, and reviews now — that panel may be your only first impression.

---------------------------

Google tightened its canonical guidance — expect duplicate-cluster fixes to take up to two weeks.

Source: Barry Schwartz | Search Engine Roundtable

Google updated its canonicalization docs twice this week. First, fixes to a duplicate-page cluster can take up to two weeks to "split" — and split faster when the differentiation is clear and significant. Second, it re-added explicit advice to include a self-referential canonical on the canonical page itself. Not new advice, but now in writing — handy for setting expectations after a consolidation fix.

---------------------------

Thread tying it together: Google's AI surfaces are turning inward — generating their own images, citing their own profiles, and selling their own ad slots — so more queries resolve without ever reaching your site. The counter-move hasn't changed: be the trusted, well-structured source AI has to cite, and keep your Google-hosted profiles pristine.

Search / SEO

Google Search broke its all-time usage record during the World Cup

Google's Nick Fox said Google Search hit a new all-time usage record at the moment Argentina scored its winning goal in the World Cup, a fresh data point on how live events drive search demand.

Google says Cloudflare's content signals directive has no effect on crawlers or LLMs

John Mueller said the content-signals robots(.)txt directive Cloudflare introduced last year has no effect whatsoever on any crawler or LLM, and that as far as he knows none of them use it, so it only adds bloat and future maintenance to robots(.)txt files.

-----------------------

GSC

Google Search Console now shows social and video platform performance data

Search Console now surfaces third-party content performance data from Instagram, TikTok, X, and YouTube inside its reports through the new platform properties feature, giving creators and publishers cross-channel visibility in one place.

Google's generative AI controls are expanding beyond UK sites

Google began rolling out the Search generative AI controls in Search Console to more sites outside of the UK, widening access to settings that govern how content appears in AI experiences.

-----------------------

SERP features / Interface

(test) Google is testing google(.)com/goto tracking parameters in search results

Google was spotted testing google(.)com/goto tracking URL parameters on links within the search results, which would change how clicks are routed and measured.

(test) Google is testing larger Visit site buttons and favicons on sitelinks in sponsored results

Google is testing a prominent Visit site button on sponsored results and, separately, favicons on sitelinks within paid listings, both aimed at making ads more clickable.

(test) Bing is testing a product detail overlay

Microsoft Bing is testing a product detail overlay that appears when you click a product listing in the results, showing images, description, retailers and their prices, price insights and history, and related products.

-----------------------

AI

Google added Further Exploration to AI Overviews

Google added a Further Exploration element to AI Overviews, giving users more follow-up paths directly within the AI answer.

ChatGPT Ads gain auto-generated ads, audience targeting, an Overview tab, and expansion to Japan and South Korea

ChatGPT Ads can now autogenerate ads for advertisers and added audience targeting, a new Overview tab, and expansion into Japan and South Korea, a notable step in OpenAI building out its ad business.

ChatGPT drives 92.4% of standalone AI referral traffic, new study finds

Previsible's third AI Traffic Study, analyzing 6.77 million LLM-driven sessions across 166 sites over 19 months, found ChatGPT accounts for 92.4% of trackable standalone AI referral traffic, with Claude having overtaken Perplexity in March 2026. The study also found roughly 25% of AI-referred visits land on a site's internal search results page rather than the answer page.

Source:

David Bell | Search Engine Land

-----------------------

Documentation

Google says fixing canonicalization issues can take up to two weeks

Google updated its canonicalization documentation to state that it can take up to two weeks for Google to sort out canonicalization issues on a site.

-----------------------

Tech SEO

Google adds Product category and Sale duration to Merchant Listings structured data

Google added new product category and Sale duration properties to the Merchant Listings structured data, letting merchants provide more precise product data for rich results.

-----------------------

Local SEO

New Google reviews bug shows You have no reviews yet

Many Google Business Profile owners saw a “You have no reviews yet” message when clicking to read their reviews, even though public review counts still showed on the live listing. Google said it is fixing the bug.

Google Business Profile appeals form now asks for supporting evidence

Google added an evidence step to the Business Profile appeals workflow, letting owners submit supporting documentation when contesting a suspension or action.

-----------------------

E-commerce

Google & YouTube Shopify sync app may scramble product IDs after August 18

Merchants using the Google & YouTube Shopify app to sync products to Merchant Center may need to reinstall the app by August 18, 2026, and doing so rewrites every product ID, which could disrupt shopping campaigns.

Google Ads automatically assigns product categories using an evolving taxonomy

Google Ads updated its product category insights help document to say it automatically assigns products to categories using a continuously evolving taxonomy. The behavior was already documented on the Merchant Center side but is new to the Ads documentation.

-----------------------

Tidbits

Google Ads now shows AI creation and editing labels

Google Ads will now indicate whether an ad was created or edited with AI across Search, YouTube, and Discover. The label appears mainly in the My Ad Center panel under How this ad was made, though in some regions local law may require it directly on the ad.

Most of this news was covered by Barry Schwartz on the pages of his Search Engine Roundtable. We want to give him a shout-out for continuing, year after year, to share the hottest topics with the SEO community and provide sharp, insightful analysis of the changes happening in our niche.

Keeping up with the chaotic state of SEO right now is exhausting. To save you hours of scrolling, here’s a quick breakdown of what actually matters this week:

Search / SEO

• Google Trends adds "compare to previous time period" for over-time data

Google Trends has added a new "compare to previous time period" button that plots keyword interest over your selected timeframe alongside the equivalent previous period on a single chart. 

Source:
Google Search Central | LinkedIn
___________________________

AI

• Google adds prominent links, creator names, ratings, and ingredient counts to AI Mode recipe results

Robby Stein announced that AI Mode is now surfacing more visible links to recipe creators at the top of responses, with metadata like creator name, star ratings, and ingredient count baked into the display.

Source:
Robby Stein | X
___________________________

Tech SEO

• Google Search now sends users directly to publisher-hosted AMP pages

 

The historical setup—where clicking an AMP result in Google Search sent users to a cached version served from inside Google's AMP viewer—is being retired. 

Users now land directly on the publisher's own AMP-hosted URL, addressing one of the longest-running publisher complaints about AMP. 

Google confirmed it will continue supporting the open-source AMPhtml format, but the shift effectively removes the main structural advantage AMP had—being served from Google's fast CDN—and turns it into just another format publishers can optionally use.

Source:
Google Search Central 
___________________________

Local SEO

• Google Business Profile reviews are vanishing for many businesses, with Google investigating

Over the past several days, businesses across multiple industries have reported significant drops in their visible review counts—some losing dozens of reviews at once, with agencies managing multi-location clients seeing continuous removals across accounts. 

Google has acknowledged the issue, confirmed some reviews may have been incorrectly removed, and said it's working to restore them. 

Source:
Barry Schwartz | Search Engine Roundtable
___________________________

Tidbits

• Cloudflare's new AI crawler rules could accidentally block Googlebot on September 15

Cloudflare's new AI crawler classification, live now for all tiers, sorts crawlers into three categories: 

Search: indexes to answer questions
Agent: real-time bots acting for a person
Training: pulls content to train models

Sites can allow or block each separately.

From September 15, Cloudflare applies the strictest applicable rule to multi-purpose crawlers—meaning bots that do both Search and Training, including Googlebot, Applebot, and Bingbot, will be blocked when a site blocks Training. 

Because Cloudflare enforces at the network level, the block is much harder to bypass than robots.txt, and losing Googlebot's Search access can meaningfully impact organic visibility. 
Review your Cloudflare AI bot settings before September 15 if this exposure applies to your site.

Source:
Matt G. Southern | Search Engine Journal

So much went down in SEO this week—we'd feel bad keeping it to ourselves:

Search / SEO

• Google publishes official guidance on third-party SEO tools and AEO/GEO services

Google has added new documentation positioning its own guidance as the "ground truth" for SEO, AEO, and GEO advice, and urging caution when evaluating third-party SEO tools and services. 

Source:

Google Search Central

__________________________

SERP features / Interface

• Google officially launches Search profiles for publishers and creators

Google has officially rolled out Search profiles—claimable profile pages where publishers and creators can showcase their latest articles, videos, and social posts in one central place. 

Google has also started rolling out an Insights section inside Search profiles, giving creators a view into how searchers are interacting with their profile on Google.

Source:

Barry Schwartz | Search Engine Roundtable

__________________________

AI

• Google's AI Mode information agents go live globally for AI Ultra subscribers

Previewed at Google I/O in May, the always-on information agents inside AI Mode are now available across all AI Mode languages and markets—but only to Google AI Ultra subscribers, with AI Pro and broader access still expected "this summer."

Source:

Robby Stein | X

__________________________

Local SEO

• Gemini can now connect to Google Business Profile, with Business notebooks for organizing business data

Google announced that businesses will be able to securely connect their Google Business Profile to the Gemini app with a single tap. Once connected, Gemini gets access to a business's reviews, customer questions, and performance data—and can analyze trends, draft tailored review responses in the brand's voice, or update profile fields like operating hours and seasonal posts.

Alongside the integration, Google introduced Business notebooks—a Gemini workspace that combines chats, sources, the connected Business Profile, and website data into one grounded knowledge base. 

Both features roll out globally this month, excluding the EEA and UK. 

Source:

Barry Schwartz | Search Engine Roundtable

__________________________

E-commerce

• (test) Google Shopping tests linking product titles directly to merchant sites

Google is running a test where clicking a product title in the Shopping results takes the user straight to the retailer's website, instead of opening the typical product listing overlay inside Google Shopping. 

Source:

Sachin Patel | X

__________________________

Tidbits

• Schema org launches monthly usage statistics for every schema type

Schema org, in collaboration with Google, has rolled out aggregate usage statistics for every Schema org term, showing how widely each Type and Property is adopted across the public web. The dataset—updated monthly and pulled from Google's crawl infrastructure—is presented in popularity range buckets, aggregated at the domain level, and now appears directly on each schema term's documentation page. Raw CSV and JSON files are available on the official Schema org GitHub repo.

• Microsoft adds an opt-out for Copilot AI answers in Bing

Bing users now have two ways to turn off Copilot AI responses in search results: a preview browser extension that toggles AI chat-like features with one click, or appending "-ai" to any query (e.g., "weather forecast -ai") for traditional search results without the AI overlay. 

• German court rules Google can be directly liable for false AI Overview claims

The Regional Court of Munich issued a temporary injunction barring Google from repeating false AI-generated.  The court ruled that AI Overviews are Google's own content, not third-party search results. 

The implications are significant. If an AI-generated summary makes false claims about a brand or company, Google may be directly liable—publishers and brands now have a legal path to challenge AI Overview content as Google's own statement rather than as a passive search result. 

Source:

Schema org blog

Jordi Ribas | X

Danny Goodwin | Search Engine Land

Guys, if staying on top of the latest SEO news is important to you, our weekly digest is made for exactly that:

Updates

• May 2026 core update wraps with heavy volatility and a clear "intent-destination" reset

Google's May 2026 broad core update rolled out from May 21 to June 2, with heavy volatility across two weekends and especially sharp movement in YMYL niches.

A post-rollout analysis by Aleyda Solis points to what she calls an "intent-destination reset"—visibility consolidated around the source type that best matched each query's intent, market, and expected result format, not authority alone. Even highly authoritative domains lost ground when they weren't the preferred source type for the intent.

Key patterns:

• Source type beats authority. Canonical reference brands (Cambridge, Merriam-Webster, Thesaurus) gained sharply; pronunciation tools and dictionary aggregators dropped 60-70% in the UK.
• Forums and Q&A contracted, social and video didn't. Reddit, Quora, and StackExchange declined in both markets; YouTube, X, Pinterest, and Fandom held flat to positive.
• UK ecommerce rebalanced toward local entities. Amazon [dot] co [dot] uk, eBay [dot] co [dot] uk, and Screwfix gained; the [dot] com versions lost 50%+ in the UK index.
• "Aggregators lost" is too simple. Category-defining transactional marketplaces (trip.com, Skyscanner, Indeed, Booking) gained; derivative informational layers dropped.
• Health split by source confidence and result fit. WebMD and Cleveland Clinic held or rose; GoodRx (−80% UK) and UbieHealth dropped sharply.

Source:

Google Search Status Dashboard 

Aleyda Solis > Website

__________________________

SERP features / Interface

• Google officially launches Search profiles for publishers and creators

Google has officially rolled out Search profiles—claimable profile pages where publishers and creators can showcase their latest articles, videos, and social posts in one central place. 

Eligible profiles can be customized with an avatar, bio, website, social and video platform links, and other content, and claiming a profile can trigger the creation of a Knowledge Panel.

Source:

Ibrahim Badr | Google The Keyword 

__________________________

AI

• (limited) Google Search Console launches AI performance reports and an opt-out toggle for AI Mode and AI Overviews

Google is rolling out Search Generative AI performance reports inside Search Console, along with a toggle that lets site owners block their content from appearing in AI Mode and AI Overviews. 

The new reports show impressions, clicks, top pages, countries, and devices for content surfaced inside Google's AI experiences. The blocking control is opt-out only for the AI surfaces—it doesn't affect ranking in traditional Search results.

For now, both features are limited to a small subset of UK site owners, with a global rollout to follow.

• Google publishes official guidance on third-party SEO tools and AEO/GEO services

Google has added new documentation positioning its own guidance as the "ground truth" for SEO, AEO, and GEO advice, and urging caution when evaluating third-party SEO tools and services. 

Source:

Barry Schwartz | Search Engine Roundtable

Google Search Central 

__________________________

Local SEO

• Google Analytics is getting a native Google Business Profile integration

Google emailed some businesses confirming the link is coming "within the next few weeks," with a help doc already published. 

The integration brings local metrics like calls, directions, and how people find and engage with a business on Search and Maps directly into GA reports alongside website and app data—replacing the workaround of third-party connectors or manual exports that local SEOs have relied on.

Source:

Barry Schwartz | Search Engine Roundtable

__________________________

E-commerce

• Google Merchant Center extends attribute rules to automatically found products

Previously limited to products submitted through merchant feeds, the attribute rules feature now also applies to products Google automatically discovers from a retailer's online store. Merchants are seeing prompts to apply the same rule logic to auto-found products, letting them transform and standardize that data without manually adding it to a feed.

Source:

Hana Kobzová | PPC News Feed

Sources: Hillel Maoz, Moshe Samet | Google Search Central Blog; Google Search Central | LinkedIn

On June 3, 2026, Google did something the SEO community had been pushing for ever since AI Overviews launched in the US back in 2024: Search Console now has a dedicated Search Generative AI performance report — a separate tab that finally isolates how your site shows up inside Google's generative features: AI Overviews, AI Mode, and generative elements in Discover.

Until now, these impressions were "dissolved" into the overall Performance report, blended with the classic ten blue links, and there was no way to pull them out separately. Now you can. This genuinely is a shift.

So what's missing?

Almost everything that makes the data actionable

→ Impressions only. No clicks. No CTR. No average position. No query data… For an agency putting together client reports, this is obviously a cool new metric for measuring performance. But the data that actually drives high-level strategy is still a black box.

→ From what some SEO-folks in the community are pointing out, the Search report covers AI Overviews and AI Mode together within a single view. However, Google's documentation clearly differentiates between the two entities, so hopefully, this will become more transparent and easier to understand moving forward.

→ Rolling out to a subset of sites only — the UK first, with a global rollout to follow and no date given.

In other words, the report answers "how visible am I in AI search?" but still says nothing about the key question — "how much traffic is AI search actually sending me?" The measurement gap is half-closed, not closed. No surprise the comments are flooding in — and the lion's share are about the missing click data.

The buzz around the launch:

The blog announcement was signed by Hillel Maoz (Search Ecosystem Engineering Manager) and Moshe Samet (Product Manager Lead, Search Console). The Google Search Central post on LinkedIn pulled in [~10k reactions · ~500 comments · ~2000 reposts] — one of the hottest spikes of discussion in the SEO feed in months. People had been waiting for years, so the reactions are emotional.

What the community is saying (most-liked comments):

Giorgio Taverniti: "Only someone with little expertise would aggregate data from AI Overviews and AI Mode. Only someone with little expertise would think of not including any data on Grounding Queries. You are ruining an entire market because you are chasing outdated ideas. You used to be the vanguard of the Internet; now you are the last in line. Please, the time has come for you to open a dialogue with the professionals working in this industry."

Simone De Palma: "I don't understand why we should be satisfied at all with this update. You are providing us with a sub-menu aggregating impressions for both AI mode and AI overviews. To be fair, this is data engineering 101 and I can't believe that you can't do more. I appreciate that you have to use bloom filtering due to the gigantic size of your dataset, but I don't think Bing Search is an apple from another basket. Despite without referral distinction, at least they delivered RAG queries from Microsoft's engine stack."

Yongjoon Yang: "It is a bit disappointing that there is no separate category for grounding queries or query fan-out yet. Still, this is an update many of us have been waiting for for a long time, and it is great to see Google moving quickly on this!!"

Peter Rota: “Lmao, but no clicks, wow.”

So… What’s next?

This is a foundation, not a finish line. Google itself states plainly that it's "continuing to work with website owners" and will add metrics "over time." Page-, country-, device-, and date-level reporting is something that didn't exist on June 2. But as long as there are no clicks and no queries, it shows that AI sees us more than what that's worth to us.

Hi everyone! We're continuing to round up the most interesting news from the world of SEO, so you always stay on top of the latest developments:

Updates

• May 2026 core update brings heavy volatility across two weekends

After rolling out on May 21, the May 2026 broad core update started hitting hard fast. Significant ranking shifts landed across verticals and countries over the weekend of May 23-24, with a second wave of volatility on Saturday, May 30. YMYL niches like gambling saw especially sharp movement, and the rollout is expected to wrap within days.

Source:

Google Search Status Dashboard

_________________________________

SERP features / Interface

• (test) Google tests new single-line sitename and favicon layout in search results

Google is testing an alternate desktop SERP layout where the favicon, bolded sitename, and URL appear together on a single line above the title and description.

Source:

Sagar Bedi | X

_________________________________

AI

• Google strongly warns against buying or manipulating brand mentions for AI

Gary Illyes confirmed that Google strongly cautions against buying or manipulating brand mentions to appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode, comparing the practice to paid links—which Google's systems detect, disregard, and ignore.

• Google closes the lag between deindexing pages and removing them from AI Overviews and AI Mode

Since AI Overviews and AI Mode launched, pages hit with manual action penalties and removed from Search could still appear in AI-generated answers for several days—a synchronization gap between the index and the AI surfaces.

Glenn Gabe's recent tests confirm that delay is now gone: sites that get deindexed disappear from AI Overviews and AI Mode at the same time.

• Preferred Sources, perspectives carousel, and Highly Cited labels expand into AI Overviews and AI Mode

Google is bringing its Preferred Sources personalization feature into AI Overviews and AI Mode—links from sites a user has starred now get a "Preferred" badge inside AI responses, the same labeling already used in Top Stories. Google said 345,000 unique sources have been selected, with users twice as likely to click Preferred Source links.

Alongside it, Google is rolling out a new prominent carousel for developing-topic queries that surfaces timely articles (and highlights Preferred Sources inside it), plus a separate perspectives carousel pulling from forums, social media, and online discussions. The Highly Cited label is also expanding beyond Top Stories to more standard search results, and articles that explicitly reference a Highly Cited source will now be flagged too.

• (test) Google tests a swipeable citation carousel at the bottom of AI Overviews and AI Mode on mobile

Google is testing a new way to surface citation links inside AI Overviews and AI Mode on mobile. Clicking a citation bubble opens a sticky carousel at the bottom of the screen that users can swipe through left or right to browse publisher links.

Source:

Glenn Gabe | X

Kenichi Suzuki | LinkedIn

Barry Schwartz | Search Engine Roundtable

Gagan Ghotra | X

_________________________________

Local SEO

• (test) Google tests a "Check real-time stock" button in the local pack

Google is testing a new button in the local pack labeled "Check real-time stock" that lets searchers verify product inventory at nearby stores without leaving the SERP.

Google Business Profiles now show view counts on individual photos and videos

Google is now displaying per-item view counts in the photos and videos section of Google Business Profiles, so owners can see exactly which images and clips are getting attention.

The rollout is partial—some accounts have it, others don't yet.

Source:

Sachin Patel | X

Muhammad Hussain | LinkedIn

_________________________________

E-commerce

• Google Merchant Center launches AI Performance Insights and Conversational Attributes

Announced at Google Marketing Live 2026, AI Performance Insights is a new reporting view inside Merchant Center that shows retailers how their brand performs on AI surfaces—AI Mode, AI Overviews, and the Gemini app—benchmarked against similar competitors. The report covers share of voice, shopping funnel performance, and product term and attribute insights. It's rolling out in the US, Canada, Australia, India, and New Zealand in the coming months.

Alongside it, Barry Schwartz said that Google launched Conversational Attributes—a new product-data field that lets retailers add more natural, conversational descriptions for their listings, which Google's AI then uses to match products to conversational shopping queries across AI Mode and Gemini.

Source:

Barry Schwartz | Search Engine Roundtable

_________________________________

Tidbits

• Reddit CEO says LLMs "would not exist as we know them" without Reddit data

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman called user-generated content "modern oil", claiming Reddit is the most cited platform across all major models. Reddit's stance: commercial use requires commercial terms. The company already has licensing deals with Google and OpenAI from 2024 and says it's "open for business" for more, while suing Anthropic and Perplexity over alleged unauthorized data use.

Source:

Matt G. Southern | Search Engine Journal

Hey everyone! Tons of cool news dropped this week, so let's jump right in and unpack it all:

Updates

• Google begins rolling out the May 2026 core update

Google started rolling out its May 2026 broad core update on May 21—the second core update of the year, following the March 2026 core update that completed on April 8. The rollout is expected to take up to two weeks, and no companion blog post or specific guidance accompanied the announcement.

Source:

Google Search Status Dashboard

________________________________

AI

• Google overhauls Search at I/O 2026 with a new search box, agents, and Gemini 3.5 Flash

At Google I/O, Elizabeth Reid unveiled a sweeping set of Search upgrades. Gemini 3.5 Flash is now the default model in AI Mode globally, and the Search box itself is getting its biggest redesign in over 25 years—expanding dynamically, offering AI-powered intent suggestions, and accepting text, images, files, videos, and Chrome tabs as inputs. A new Search agents system lets users create background AI agents that continuously monitor the web for specific updates (apartment listings, sneaker collabs, etc.), launching for Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers this summer in the US.

Google also announced agentic coding in Search—powered by its Antigravity platform—which can generate custom UI, visual tools, and mini app-style dashboards on the fly for any query, free for all users this summer. Personal Intelligence (Gmail and Photos integration in AI Mode) is expanding to nearly 200 countries across 98 languages, no subscription required.

• Google merges AI Overviews and AI Mode into a single Search flow

The new unified AI Search experience merges AI Overviews and AI Mode into a single flow (live globally on desktop and mobile), meaning users can now move from a standard SERP with an AIO directly into a full AI Mode conversation without a separate step—reducing the likelihood of clicking through to sources.

Generative UI is arriving in Search this summer for all users at no cost: Search will dynamically assemble custom layouts, interactive visuals, tables, and simulations in response to queries—and for ongoing tasks, it can build persistent mini apps and dashboards, potentially replacing entire categories of informational content. Information agents launching this summer (AI Pro/Ultra first) will monitor the web 24/7 and send users synthesized updates, another layer of zero-click consumption.

Source:

Elizabeth Reid | Google The Keyword

________________________________

E-commerce

• Google launches Universal Cart with agentic checkout across Search, Gemini, YouTube, and Gmail

Universal Cart is a new cross-merchant shopping cart that works across Google's surfaces, running in the background to surface price drops, stock alerts, payment perk recommendations, and compatibility checks. Checkout is handled via UCP with Google Pay or direct transfer to the retailer's site; launch partners include Nike, Sephora, Target, Walmart, and Wayfair, with the brand staying a merchant of record either way. Rolling out in the US this summer across Search and Gemini, with YouTube and Gmail to follow.

Source:

Vidhya Srinivasan | Google The Keyword

________________________________

SERP features / Interface

• Google introduces Gemini-powered ad formats for AI Mode and standard Search

Four new ad formats are coming to Search. Conversational Discovery ads generate creative tailored to a specific natural-language query; Highlighted Answers insert eligible ads into AI Mode recommendation lists. AI-powered Shopping ads use Gemini to write a custom explainer alongside relevant products at the moment of consideration; Business Agent for Leads embeds a brand chat agent directly inside an ad instead of a static lead form. All new formats will be labeled "Sponsored" and include an independent AI explainer generated by Gemini. The Direct Offers pilot is also expanding with promotion bundling, native UCP checkout, and travel deals from partners like Booking and Expedia.

Source:

Keyword Team | Google Ads & Commerce Blog

________________________________

Tech SEO

• Google adds llms.txt check to Chrome Lighthouse's new Agentic Browsing audit category

Lighthouse 13.3's experimental Agentic Browsing category now checks for an llms.txt file at the domain root as a discoverability signal for AI agents. This sits in tension with Google Search's own guidance, which explicitly lists llms.txt among things you don't need for AI search visibility—the file is about browser-agent readiness, not rankings.

Source:

Chrome for Developers

Hey everyone! Tons of cool news dropped this week, so let's jump right in and unpack it all:

Updates

• Google begins rolling out the May 2026 core update

Google started rolling out its May 2026 broad core update on May 21—the second core update of the year, following the March 2026 core update that completed on April 8. The rollout is expected to take up to two weeks, and no companion blog post or specific guidance accompanied the announcement.

Source:

Google Search Status Dashboard

________________________________

AI

• Google overhauls Search at I/O 2026 with a new search box, agents, and Gemini 3.5 Flash

At Google I/O, Elizabeth Reid unveiled a sweeping set of Search upgrades. Gemini 3.5 Flash is now the default model in AI Mode globally, and the Search box itself is getting its biggest redesign in over 25 years—expanding dynamically, offering AI-powered intent suggestions, and accepting text, images, files, videos, and Chrome tabs as inputs. A new Search agents system lets users create background AI agents that continuously monitor the web for specific updates (apartment listings, sneaker collabs, etc.), launching for Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers this summer in the US.

Google also announced agentic coding in Search—powered by its Antigravity platform—which can generate custom UI, visual tools, and mini app-style dashboards on the fly for any query, free for all users this summer. Personal Intelligence (Gmail and Photos integration in AI Mode) is expanding to nearly 200 countries across 98 languages, no subscription required.

• Google merges AI Overviews and AI Mode into a single Search flow

The new unified AI Search experience merges AI Overviews and AI Mode into a single flow (live globally on desktop and mobile), meaning users can now move from a standard SERP with an AIO directly into a full AI Mode conversation without a separate step—reducing the likelihood of clicking through to sources.

Generative UI is arriving in Search this summer for all users at no cost: Search will dynamically assemble custom layouts, interactive visuals, tables, and simulations in response to queries—and for ongoing tasks, it can build persistent mini apps and dashboards, potentially replacing entire categories of informational content. Information agents launching this summer (AI Pro/Ultra first) will monitor the web 24/7 and send users synthesized updates, another layer of zero-click consumption.

Source:

Elizabeth Reid | Google The Keyword

________________________________

E-commerce

• Google launches Universal Cart with agentic checkout across Search, Gemini, YouTube, and Gmail

Universal Cart is a new cross-merchant shopping cart that works across Google's surfaces, running in the background to surface price drops, stock alerts, payment perk recommendations, and compatibility checks. Checkout is handled via UCP with Google Pay or direct transfer to the retailer's site; launch partners include Nike, Sephora, Target, Walmart, and Wayfair, with the brand staying a merchant of record either way. Rolling out in the US this summer across Search and Gemini, with YouTube and Gmail to follow.

Source:

Vidhya Srinivasan | Google The Keyword

________________________________

SERP features / Interface

• Google introduces Gemini-powered ad formats for AI Mode and standard Search

Four new ad formats are coming to Search. Conversational Discovery ads generate creative tailored to a specific natural-language query; Highlighted Answers insert eligible ads into AI Mode recommendation lists. AI-powered Shopping ads use Gemini to write a custom explainer alongside relevant products at the moment of consideration; Business Agent for Leads embeds a brand chat agent directly inside an ad instead of a static lead form. All new formats will be labeled "Sponsored" and include an independent AI explainer generated by Gemini. The Direct Offers pilot is also expanding with promotion bundling, native UCP checkout, and travel deals from partners like Booking and Expedia.

Source:

Keyword Team | Google Ads & Commerce Blog

________________________________

Tech SEO

• Google adds llms.txt check to Chrome Lighthouse's new Agentic Browsing audit category

Lighthouse 13.3's experimental Agentic Browsing category now checks for an llms.txt file at the domain root as a discoverability signal for AI agents. This sits in tension with Google Search's own guidance, which explicitly lists llms.txt among things you don't need for AI search visibility—the file is about browser-agent readiness, not rankings.

Source:

Chrome for Developers

Hey guys! If you were looking for your news fix, we’ve got you covered. We just gathered the most interesting updates from the world of SEO and AI:

SERP features / Interface

• Preferred Sources is now available globally in all supported languages

Google has expanded Preferred Sources to all supported languages worldwide. The feature lets users choose which publishers and outlets they want to see more often in Top Stories and From your sources for relevant news queries.

• (test) Google’s “Ask anything” box in AI Overviews may now stay visible while users scroll

Anthony Higman published that Google is testing a version of AI Overviews where the “Ask anything” box stays pinned near the bottom of the screen as users scroll through the overview and the rest of the results page. That keeps the prompt into AI Mode visible throughout more of the search journey.

Source:
Google Search Console > Documentation 
Anthony Higman | X
___________________________________

AI

• Gemini in Chrome rolls out globally, opening a much wider path to adoption

Gemini integrated into Chrome is now rolling out to users worldwide, giving Google a much bigger distribution channel for its AI assistant. Natalia Witczyk said that the new “Ask Gemini” entry point could encourage more people to try Gemini directly in the browser—including users who have not yet adopted generative AI tools.

Source:
Natalia Witczyk | LinkedIn
___________________________________

Documentation

• Google starts sending Search Console warnings over back button hijacking

Glenn Gabe said that Google is now sending Search Console email warnings to sites that may be violating its new back button hijacking spam policy. The notices say no manual action has been taken yet, but site owners should fix the issue before enforcement begins on June 15, 2026.

Source:
Glenn Gabe | X
___________________________________

Local SEO

• Google now shows how many reviews were deleted from some Business Profiles

According to Benjamin Szturmaj, some Business Profiles now display how many reviews were removed due to defamation complaints. Experts say this appears to be live in Germany only for now, likely because of the country’s stricter legal environment around review removals.

Source:
Benjamin Szturmaj | X
___________________________________

Tidbits

• Bing Webmaster Tools previews new AI reporting features

Microsoft previewed several new AI reporting features that are expected to come to Bing Webmaster Tools soon. 

According to Barry Schwartz’s recap of the demo, the upcoming additions include citation share, grounding query intent, semantic topic labels, and GEO-focused recommendations.

Source:
Barry Schwartz | Search Engine Roundtable 

Hi everyone! Bogdan Krupin from SE Ranking here.

With over 10 years in digital marketing, I’ve had the chance to dive deep into almost every corner of the industry... from Traffic Arbitrage and SEO to Content Creation and In-App advertising.

Today, AI has converged these once-separate tracks into one massive ecosystem. Our challenge (and opportunity) is to figure out how to navigate this shift and use AI to scale projects effectively.

So, let's talk about SEO and AI Visibility! I’ll be sharing insights from my own journey and the collective expertise of the SE Ranking team. We can talk about:

• AI Visibility: How to stay visible as search algorithms evolve.
• Workflow Optimization: Integrating AI into SEO and marketing pipelines.
• The Future of Growth: Leveraging AI for high-performance digital strategies.
• Or really, anything else that’s on your radar.

When: May 7th, 11:00 AM ADT

Where: Right here - r/SEO_for_AI

Feel free to ask me anything! I truly believe that diving deep into these complex cases together is the best way for us to level up as a community. Let’s share some real insights and grow together!

https://preview.redd.it/7okvz8reb5zg1.jpg?width=1398&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3628e2bf9e40ab7ff61e40886be388039a3e5122