News

ChatGPT referral traffic reported as direct after ChatGPT stopped adding UTM tags on October 9, 2026
ChatGPT Stopped Tagging Its Links And Your Traffic Report Went Wrong
If your ChatGPT referral traffic fell off a cliff starting October 9, 2026, the traffic probably did not go anywhere. ChatGPT stopped adding its UTM tag after GPT-6 rolled out,... Read more...
Google AI Mode and AI Overviews adding more inline links, carousels and an official sources section
Google Added More Inline Links To AI Mode And AI Overviews
Google announced changes on October 15, 2026 to how links appear inside AI Mode and AI Overviews, including more inline links placed higher in responses, expanded article carousels, and a... Read more...
Google Ads lead form setting that marks which custom question answers count as qualified leads
Google Ads Lead Forms Now Let You Mark Which Answers Are Qualified
Google Ads lead forms now let you mark which answers in a custom question count as a qualified lead, with up to 12 answers per question. The qualified leads are... Read more...
Google Ads Demand Gen cost adjustment beta extended from three weeks to 60 days
Google Ads Extended Demand Gen Cost Adjustments To 60 Days
Google extended its performance-based cost adjustment beta for Demand Gen campaigns from three weeks to 60 days. If a qualifying Target CPA or Target ROAS campaign underperforms Google's own predictions... Read more...
Google Ads channel priority controls that rank channels and cap low-priority spend, with a February 2027 deadline
Google Ads Adds Channel Priority Controls And A February 2027 Deadline
Google announced two new Google Ads controls on October 14, 2026 that let you rank your channels by priority and cap how much of your daily budget the low-priority ones... Read more...
Google UGC Fresh Data program pushing forum and social platform content into Search within minutes
Google Disclosed A UGC Fresh Data Program For Forums And Social Platforms
Google disclosed a program called UGC Fresh Data on October 8, 2026, giving approved platforms a dedicated pipeline to push user-generated content into Search within minutes. The entry requirements cover... Read more...
Google September 2026 spam update finished rolling out on October 8 after two weeks
Google's September 2026 Spam Update Finished Rolling Out After Two Weeks
Google's September 2026 spam update finished rolling out on October 8 at 4:37 a.m. Eastern, about 14 days after it started on September 24. Recent spam updates have wrapped in... Read more...
Google Ads beta calculator building a Target ROAS from your campaign profit margin
Google Ads Can Now Build Your Target ROAS From Your Profit Margin
Google Ads is testing a calculator that converts your average profit margin into a breakeven Target ROAS, then shows weekly estimates for clicks, revenue, spend, and profit before you apply... Read more...
Google Ads Conversion Lift studies now available for Search and Performance Max campaigns
Google Ads Opens Conversion Lift Testing To Search And Performance Max
Google opened Conversion Lift studies to Search and Performance Max campaigns, and eligible advertisers can now run them without a Google representative. A lift study uses a holdout group to... Read more...
Google Ads turns on automated promotions by default, pulling website deals into ads from October 12
Google Ads Turns On Automated Promotions By Default Starting October 12
Starting October 12, 2026, Google Ads will automatically pull promotions off your website and apply them to your campaigns. It affects Search and Performance Max campaigns with linked location assets,... Read more...
Google September 2026 spam update second wave of ranking volatility on September 30
The September 2026 Spam Update Hit Again On September 30
The September 2026 spam update produced a second round of ranking movement on September 30 and October 1, with site owners reporting sharp drops on the 30th. Google said up... Read more...
Google content guidance update calling fake AI author profiles a form of deception
Google Rewrote Its Content Guidance And Called Out Fake Author Profiles
Google updated two content guidance documents on October 1, 2026. Fabricating creator profiles with AI headshots or false credentials is now explicitly called deception and a low-quality signal. Google also... Read more...
Google Ads localization tool translating a Search campaign into a new language and market
Google Ads Will Translate Your Whole Search Campaign Into A New Market
Google Ads is beta testing an AI tool that translates an entire English US Search campaign into a new language and market, building a separate campaign so your original stays... Read more...
Google Ads Performance Max asset group experiments testing headlines, images and videos
Google Ads Brings A/B Testing To Performance Max Asset Groups
Performance Max asset groups now support A/B testing, so you can prove whether a creative change actually helped instead of guessing. You can test headlines, descriptions, images, and video against... Read more...
Google Ads loosens its business name rules so the ad name can differ from the destination domain
Google Ads Is Loosening Its Business Name Rules On October 19
Google is changing the rules for the business name field on your ads, and enforcement starts October 19, 2026. You can now use a business name that does not match... Read more...
Search Console multimodal filter separating Google Lens and image search traffic from text search
Search Console Now Separates Image Search Traffic From Text Search
Google Search Console added a multimodal filter that separates image-based search traffic from text search under the Web search type. It began rolling out globally on September 24, 2026 and... Read more...
Google September 2026 spam update rolling out globally with heavy ranking volatility
Google's September 2026 Spam Update Is Rolling Out And The Weekend Was Loud
Google released the September 2026 spam update on September 24, 2026. It applies globally and to all languages, and the rollout can take up to two weeks. Independent trackers showed... Read more...
Google Ads API v25.2 adds competitive benchmark data and a new target CPA and ROAS alert
Google Ads API v25.2 Brings Competitor Benchmarks Into Your Reporting Tools
Google Ads API v25.2 shipped on September 23, 2026 with competitive benchmark percentiles, asset group level URL controls for Performance Max, and new alerts for bid targets that are too... Read more...
Google Ads Customer Match now accepts unhashed IP addresses and interaction timestamps
Google Ads Customer Match Now Takes IP Addresses And They Are Not Hashed
Google Ads expanded the Customer Match file format to eight columns, adding user IP address and user interaction timestamp. Unlike every other identifier, these two have to be uploaded unhashed,... Read more...
Google Ads says Smart Bidding learning can take around 50 conversions or three conversion cycles
Google Ads Now Says Smart Bidding Learning Takes Around 50 Conversions
Google updated its Smart Bidding documentation to describe the learning period in conversions rather than days. The new wording says learning can take up to around 50 conversions or three... Read more...
Cloudflare Disallow AI Training setting blocks model crawlers while Googlebot keeps crawling
Cloudflare Lets You Block AI Training Without Losing Google Search
Cloudflare launched a Disallow AI Training setting on September 15 that adds robots.txt opt-out rules for Google-Extended and Applebot-Extended while letting Googlebot, Applebot, and Bingbot keep crawling for search. Most... Read more...
Google tightened scraper blocking and rank tracking tools lost much of their data
Google Is Blocking Scrapers And Your Rank Tracking Data Is Not Reliable Right Now
Google appears to have improved its blocking of scrapers and third-party tracking tools around September 13, and rank tracking data took a hit across the industry. Nozzle reported roughly an... Read more...
Judge Brinkema ordered six years of court oversight instead of breaking up Google ad tech
Google Avoids A Breakup But Faces Six Years Of Court Oversight
Judge Brinkema rejected the Department of Justice request to break up Google's ad tech business, calling forced divestiture neither realistic nor needed. Instead Google faces six years of court oversight... Read more...
Google Ads Spend Benchmarks report comparing your spend and clicks against similar advertisers
Google Ads Is Now Showing You What Your Competitors Spend
Google Ads is rolling out a Spend Benchmarks report on the account Overview page that shows what businesses like yours are spending and how many clicks they get for it.... Read more...
Google Ads ended bid suppression on budget-limited campaigns and CPCs are rising
Google Ads Bid Suppression Is Over And Budget-Limited Campaigns Are Paying More
Google changed how target-based bidding works for budget-limited campaigns on August 17, and the rollout finished August 27. Advertiser data from September shows CPCs rising for capped campaigns while a... Read more...
Google Business Profile post view counts are back after three and a half years
Google Business Profile Post View Counts Are Back After Three And A Half Years
Google has restored per-post view counts to Google Business Profile, three and a half years after removing them in February 2023. You get 18 months of history, all post types,... Read more...
Google says Search Console AI reporting does not accurately reflect AI search visibility
Google Admits Its Search Console AI Reporting Does Not Tell You Much
Google's John Mueller has acknowledged that Search Console's AI search reporting does not accurately reflect your AI search visibility. Impressions count links nobody saw, links behind expandable sections go uncounted,... Read more...
Google Data Manager expands into Analytics and DV360 with a Data Strength Uplift metric
Google Data Manager Expands And Adds A Data Strength Uplift Metric
Google is integrating Data Manager into Google Analytics and Display and Video 360, moving its API to the IAB Tech Lab ECAPI standard, and adding built-in diagnostics. A new Data... Read more...
Google Ads adds Local Customer Optimization to Performance Max store goal campaigns
Google Ads Adds Local Customer Optimization To Performance Max
Google Ads is adding an opt-in Performance Max setting called Local Customer Optimization that prioritizes people near your business who look ready to act. It only works on store-goal campaigns... Read more...
Google Ads promotional credits are being invalidated after advertisers spend to earn them
Google Ads Promo Credits Are Being Invalidated After Advertisers Spend
Advertisers are reporting that Google Ads promotional credits are being marked invalidated after they already spent the money required to earn them. In one documented case an advertiser spent $3,200... Read more...
Google says ranking recovery can take months after you fix the underlying problem
Google Says Ranking Recovery Can Take Months After You Fix Things
John Mueller said on Reddit that disavow file effects can take roughly three to six months to show up, and that recovery from bigger algorithmic changes can take many months.... Read more...
Search Console now shows AI Overviews and AI Mode performance data worldwide
Search Console Now Shows Your AI Search Data Worldwide
Google is rolling out Search Console's generative AI performance reporting globally, giving you impressions, pages, countries, devices, and dates for AI responses, AI Mode, and AI Overviews. Click data is... Read more...
ChatGPT Ads expands globally and adds audience, measurement, and reporting tools
ChatGPT Ads Expands Globally And Adds Real Measurement Tools
On September 4, 2026, OpenAI expanded ChatGPT Ads into select countries across Europe, India, the Middle East, and North Africa, along with a batch of new audience, measurement, and reporting... Read more...
Google Ads automated promotions pull offers from your website into your ads
Google Ads Will Pull Promotions From Your Website Automatically
Google Ads has a new automated promotions feature that reads promotional offers off your website and attaches them to eligible campaigns for you. It is automatic rather than opt-in, so... Read more...
A federal judge ruled Google will not have to sell AdX after the antitrust case
Google Will Not Have To Sell AdX After The Antitrust Ruling
On September 2, 2026, Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that Google will not have to sell off AdX, its ad exchange, even while keeping the finding that Google illegally monopolized the... Read more...
Google Ads News - the latest Google Ads and search news from Surfside PPC
Google Ads News - The Latest Google Ads News You Need To Know
Your standing home for the latest Google Ads and search news, updated every week with the newest roundup on top. Each story gets a short breakdown of what changed and... Read more...
Google is auto-expanding AI Overviews and dropping the Show more button
Google Is Auto-Expanding AI Overviews And Dropping The Show More Button
Google is now expanding AI Overviews to their full length automatically on some queries, with no Show more button to click. The full AI answer loads first and organic results... Read more...
Google site reputation abuse policy now works differently in the EEA
Google's Site Reputation Abuse Policy Now Works Differently In The EEA
Google rewrote its site reputation abuse policy, the one most people call parasite SEO, with an effective date of August 30, 2026. Enforcement now splits by region: manual actions still... Read more...
Google expands Demand Gen with messaging ads, travel tools, and AI video creation
Google Expands Demand Gen With Messaging Ads, Travel Tools, And AI Video
Google announced three Demand Gen updates on August 27, 2026, and they are at different stages of availability. The AI video workflow in Asset Studio and personalized travel inventory are... Read more...
Google merged the Google tag into Tag Manager and added no-code conversion tracking
Google Merged Google Tag Into Tag Manager And Added No-Code Conversion Tracking
Google merged the Google tag into Google Tag Manager on August 20, 2026, and added visual tagging so you can build conversion events by clicking elements on your own site... Read more...
Google Local Services Ads will charge for missed calls starting October 1 2026
Google Local Services Ads Will Charge For Missed Calls On October 1
Starting October 1, 2026, Google Local Services Ads will charge for missed calls that ring longer than 20 seconds during your business hours, even when nobody answers. Follow-up calls can... Read more...
Google is building interactive calculators inside AI Overviews with Generative UI
Google Is Building Calculators Inside AI Overviews
Google is expanding Generative UI from AI Mode into AI Overviews, so it can now build calculators and interactive tools directly into ordinary search results. If your traffic depends on... Read more...
Google August 2026 spam update finished rolling out after two and a half days
Google's August 2026 Spam Update Finished Rolling Out
Google's August 2026 spam update finished rolling out on August 21 after starting August 18, applying globally and to all languages. Google called it a routine spam update with nothing... Read more...
Google Merchant Center will require 500x500 product images from January 2027
Google Merchant Center Will Require 500x500 Product Images
Google is requiring product images of at least 500 x 500 pixels in Merchant Center starting January 31, 2027, and recommending 1500 x 1500 or larger. The warnings are already... Read more...
Google Ads cuts the wait time before switching to Maximize Conversion Value bidding
Google Ads Cuts The Wait Time For Maximize Conversion Value
Google quietly shortened its recommended wait before switching to Maximize Conversion Value bidding, from four weeks or three conversion cycles down to one or two. Here is what a conversion... Read more...
Google Ads adds cross-campaign A/B testing to AI Max for Search campaigns
Google Ads Adds Cross-Campaign A/B Testing To AI Max
Google is rolling out three new testing and forecasting features for AI Max in Search campaigns. Cross-campaign A/B testing arrives in September 2026, and you can now run AI Max... Read more...
Court Dismisses Google's Lawsuit Against SerpApi
Court Dismisses Google's Lawsuit Against SerpApi
By Corey Frankosky · Last Updated August 6, 2026 On July 20, 2026, a federal court dismissed the core of Google's lawsuit against SerpApi, and that decision gives plain, text-based... Read more...
Google Is Moving LSAs Into The Google Ads Interface
Google Is Moving LSAs Into The Google Ads Interface
Google has announced that Local Services Ads (LSAs) are migrating directly into Google Ads as a specialized Performance Max pay-per-lead campaign type starting August 2026. While pay-per-lead pricing, placements, and... Read more...
LLMs.txt Doesn't Help or Hurt Your Rankings
LLMs.txt Doesn't Help or Hurt Your Rankings
Google officially confirmed in June 2026 that adding an llms.txt file to your website has zero impact on crawling, indexing, ranking, or AI Overviews in Google Search. While hyped as... Read more...
Google Search Ads Grew 14.5% Last Quarter | Why Does Your Budget Feel Tighter?
Google Search Ads Grew 14.5% Last Quarter | Why Does Your Budget Feel Tighter?
Is your Google Ads budget delivering fewer clicks and leads despite keeping spend steady? Rising CPCs, shrinking impression shares, and an 11% year-over-year drop in available search impressions mean your... Read more...