Local SEO
Google adds "Book Online" buttons to Business Profiles on its own, and some show an error
November 9, 2026 · 1 min read
Google has started showing a "Book Online" button on some Business Profiles that the business owner never set up. Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable found one on his own company's profile, and local search specialists Brandon Schmidt, Joy Hawkins and Syed Amir reported the same thing on Friday on a home-care business and on home-services businesses that do not use a Reserve with Google booking partner.
When the button points at Google's own reservation system with no booking partner behind it, Joy Hawkins got a 500 error page. Where the business already had a booking link or booking software connected, the button worked normally.
Syed Amir also noticed that simply entering a website's contact page in the Booking Link field now triggers the "Book Online" button, where a booking partner used to be required. The link can be managed from the Business Profile in Google Search by clicking the booking link.
What it means for your business: If your business has a Google Business Profile, search your business name today and click the "Book Online" button if one appears. A broken button sends a customer who is ready to book straight to an error page. If the button is wrong or missing, open your profile in Google Search, find the booking link and point it at a page where people can actually book or contact you.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, November 9, 2026
AI Search
One site's test: Google AI features drove about 21% of clicks from about 10% of views
November 9, 2026 · 2 min read
Cyrus Shepard of Zyppy SEO ran a four-week experiment to answer a question many site owners have asked: what happens to your traffic if you opt out of Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode? He switched his site out of Google's AI features on 1 September using the "Search generative AI" control in Search Console, switched back in on 29 September, and published the numbers in his newsletter on Thursday.
The site disappeared from AI Overviews and AI Mode in under an hour, even though Google's help page says exclusions usually take several days, and it came back nearly as fast. Before the test, the site drew 500 to 1,000 AI impressions a day, about 10% of its total Google impressions.
Comparing the 28 opted-out days with the following 28 days, on the same queries and positions, Shepard estimates a click-through rate of about 0.9% on AI impressions against about 0.4% for the site overall. That puts about 21% of the site's search clicks on AI features, or 23% once he adds a small lift on the regular listings shown beneath them. He is keeping the site opted in and calls staying in "the only reasonable action to take." Google still publishes no separate click count for AI features; a UK regulator deadline on 3 December may change that.
This is one site and one experiment; Shepard himself describes the result as "more as a directional yardstick than Google gospel."
What it means for your business: If you have wondered whether to block your site from Google's AI answers, this is the first measured answer, and it points one way: staying in. On this site, AI features drew clicks at roughly twice the rate of ordinary results. For a local business website, opting out would most likely mean giving up clicks with nothing gained in return. Leave the setting alone unless you have your own data saying otherwise.
Source: Search Engine Journal — Matt G. Southern, November 9, 2026
Google Updates
Early signs of a Google ranking shake-up on 8 and 9 November, but the tools are unreliable
November 9, 2026 · 1 min read
Rank-tracking tools showed spikes over the past 24 hours and some early reports surfaced in SEO communities, about two weeks after the last reported, unconfirmed shake-up around 27 October, which lingered for roughly a week. Chatter had been calm for a week before this.
Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable added an important warning: "it is hard to trust the tools since they seem a bit off with all the Google blocking mechanisms in place. Plus, Search Console's performance report is off for many and Google won't comment on the issue." One WebmasterWorld commenter quoted in the post reported "the worst weekend traffic in 6 years" after Google News and Discover traffic dried up.
The last confirmed change remains the September 2026 spam update, which ran from 24 September to 8 October. Google's Search Status Dashboard, checked this morning, lists nothing newer.
Google has not confirmed any update, and the tracking tools that show the volatility may be reporting skewed results.
What it means for your business: If a report tells you your rankings moved this week, do not act on it yet. Open Google Search Console and look at your actual clicks and impressions before believing a third-party rank tracker. Hold off on sweeping changes to your website until Google confirms an update or your own traffic data shows a real shift.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, November 9, 2026
AI Search
Ads now appear in Google AI Mode follow-up answers, and Bing adds ads to its AI Mode too
November 9, 2026 · 1 min read
Google announced "multiturn ads" a couple of weeks ago, and Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable saw them live on Friday afternoon: "Sponsored" labels at the bottom of the answer to a follow-up question in AI Mode, with more ads appearing in the third and fourth follow-ups. Google described the feature to him this way: "Multiturn ads show up on responses to follow-up user queries as users engage in back-and-forth conversations with AI Mode."
In a separate post the same morning, Schwartz reported that Microsoft is showing both regular search ads and shopping ads at the top of Bing's AI Mode, formerly Copilot Search. First spotted by Sachin Patel, the ads carry "sponsored" labels so muted that Schwartz did not notice them at first. Bing shows follow-up ads too.
What it means for your business: The back-and-forth conversation inside AI search is becoming advertising space on both Google and Bing. The unpaid answer underneath those ads still comes from web pages that directly answer the follow-up question a customer is likely to ask. Make sure your website answers the practical questions people ask after the first one, such as pricing, timing, service area and what to expect, in plain visible text.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, November 9, 2026
AI Search
Ziff Davis says Google referrals fell about 37% in a year, with no search recovery planned
November 9, 2026 · 2 min read
On the company's 6 November earnings call, Ziff Davis CEO Vivek Shah told analysts that organic Google referrals to its properties, which include IGN and RetailMeNot, fell about 37% year over year in the third quarter. That follows a roughly 23% drop the year before, for a decline of more than 50% over two years. Shah said the company is "not planning on a search recovery."
He also said the company's sites drew about 2.7 billion impressions in Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode during the quarter, nearly ten times the clicks they received from Google Search. Revenue fell 5.6% to $289.3 million. IGN held up best because its game-help traffic is "very maps heavy" and hard for AI to duplicate.
Search Console publishes no separate AI click count, so the comparison of AI impressions with Search clicks cannot be read as an AI click-through rate.
What it means for your business: A large publisher is now planning its business around permanently lower Google traffic. You can run a version of the same check on your own site: Google Search Console's generative AI report shows how often your pages appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode. Compare those impressions with your total clicks over the same period to see how much of your visibility is showing up in AI answers rather than ordinary results, and watch whether the gap is widening.
Source: Search Engine Journal — Matt G. Southern, November 9, 2026
Google Ads
Google is testing AI-written summaries above and inside the sponsored results on mobile
November 9, 2026 · 1 min read
Brodie Clark spotted a new test on mobile Google search: a loading animation, then an AI-generated summary that sits above the whole group of sponsored results, names the advertisers and links to their ads. Each individual ad also gets a generated description beneath it.
In Clark's words, "Google's sponsored results on mobile are increasingly becoming more generative." Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable notes he has seen generated text on single ads and sponsored products before, but not a summary written across all the ads at the top of the page.
This is a test spotted on mobile and is not confirmed as a general rollout.
What it means for your business: If you run Google Ads, Google may soon be writing the sentence that frames your ad next to your competitors' ads. That summary is pulled from your ad text and your landing page, so the two need to say the same thing. Check that your headlines, descriptions and the page people land on all describe the same offer in the same words.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, November 9, 2026
Analytics
Google Analytics adds a Data Manager hub for data streams, product links and your data
November 9, 2026 · 1 min read
Google has announced a Data Manager inside Google Analytics, described as "a unified hub in your admin console that enables you to seamlessly connect and control product links, data streams, and first-party data." It lives under Admin, in a Data Manager tab below "My preferences."
The hub includes a data connection map showing how data flows from source to property to destination, diagnostic alerts, and a data strength guide that flags gaps in your measurement. Google also warns that data brought in through Data Manager flows downstream to linked Google Ads and Marketing Platform accounts, not the other way, so setting up the same pipeline in both places would count conversions twice. Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable did not yet see the feature in his own account.
The feature is rolling out and may not appear in every account yet.
What it means for your business: This gives you one screen to check whether your Google Analytics, Google Ads and Search Console accounts are actually connected and working. When it appears in your account, open Admin, find Data Manager and look at the connection map and any alerts. If you connect data there, do not also set up the same connection inside Google Ads, or your conversions will be counted twice.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, November 9, 2026
Google Ads
Google Ads tests an "Asset Activity" page that grades your ads against competitors
November 9, 2026 · 1 min read
Advertisers including Anthony Higman and Hana Kobzová, the latter via CJ Lopez on PPC News Feed, spotted a new "Beta" page in Google Ads over the weekend called Asset Activity.
According to Kobzová, it "offers insights updated every week, allowing advertisers to filter through categories such as Featured, Asset performance, Asset diversity, Competitor performance, and Industry trends." Higman called it an AI feature he "actually likes."
The page is in beta and has only been seen by some advertisers so far.
What it means for your business: If you run Google Ads, this is a free weekly read on how your headlines, images and other ad assets compare with competitors and with trends in your industry, inside the account you already have. Look for an Asset Activity page in your Google Ads account, and if it is there, check it once a week before deciding what to change in your ads.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, November 9, 2026
AI Search
Tripadvisor writes down $369.5 million and says SEO will still weigh on growth in 2027
November 8, 2026 · 2 min read
Tripadvisor took a $369.5 million non-cash goodwill impairment in its Hotels and Other segment, which covers hotel metasearch and media advertising. The company tied the charge to traffic headwinds from "changes in the search landscape." Revenue in that segment fell 23% to $151.6 million.
Asked how close the core brand is to "Google Zero," CFO Mike Noonan put the company's SEO exposure in the "mid to high teens" as a share of its business, down meaningfully from a year ago. Marketing spending rose to 48.8% of revenue from 43.3% as the company shifts from free search traffic to paid channels, and it expects SEO to still weigh on growth in 2027.
CEO Matt Goldberg said traffic from AI sources is probably under 1% of the total, but it converts at about five times the average on Viator and about twice the average on Tripadvisor.
These figures come from one company's earnings call and describe Tripadvisor's own traffic, not a wider market measurement.
What it means for your business: Tripadvisor is the second large company in a week, after Reddit, to say publicly that Google traffic is a shrinking line, and the first to say that visitors arriving from AI tools convert far better even at very small volume. For your business, the lesson is twofold: do not build your plans on free search traffic growing forever, and treat the few visitors who arrive from AI answers as high-intent. Make it easy for them to book, call or buy on the page they land on.
Source: Search Engine Journal — Matt G. Southern, November 8, 2026
AI Agents
Cloudflare CEO: OpenAI pays for page-change hints, attracting AI agents is "the new SEO"
November 8, 2026 · 2 min read
On Cloudflare's third-quarter earnings call, CEO Matthew Prince said the company is already earning revenue from products that sit between websites and AI companies. OpenAI pays Cloudflare for signals that tell its crawler when a page has changed, so it does not re-fetch the same page, and Prince expects other AI companies to follow. Cloudflare's quarterly revenue was $782.5 million, up 39%.
Prince split website owners into two groups. Those who want as many AI agents as possible visiting their sites get help attracting and serving them, which he called "sort of the new version of SEO." Those who see agents as a threat can block them at no charge, since AI Crawl Control is included on every Cloudflare plan.
His example of the cost problem: an AI agent choosing a dinner spot pulls menus from 1,000 restaurant websites, and the user visits one, so 999 sites carry a cost with no benefit. He expects nonhuman traffic to reach up to 1,000 times human traffic sooner than the five years he predicted in August, and sees a future of micropayments and discounts for agents that explain why they are visiting.
Whether the websites in the OpenAI pilot receive any share of the payments was not addressed on the call.
What it means for your business: Traffic from AI agents is turning into something with a price tag attached, on both the blocking and the welcoming side. For most small businesses the sensible position for now is to let the well-known AI crawlers read your site, since that is how your business shows up in AI answers, and to keep an eye on these new paid products rather than buying into any of them yet. If your site is on Cloudflare, know that the controls to block or allow AI crawlers are already in your account for free.
Source: Search Engine Journal — Matt G. Southern, November 8, 2026
Local SEO
Google now lets you type your opening hours in plain words in your Business Profile
November 6, 2026 · 2 min read
The hours editor in a Google Business Profile now has a "Generate hours" box. You type your hours in normal words, and Google fills in the hours fields for you. Google's help page gives this example: "open Mon-Fri, 9AM-5PM but closed for lunch 1PM-2PM." You check and edit the result before you save it.
Google's help page says the tool is only in select regions and languages. After you change your hours, Google shows a message on your profile and an update post on the mobile Updates tab. You can edit or delete that post. The appeals tool now also accepts optional supporting documents, and you can only submit an appeal once.
The same Google bulletin says businesses that use a Google Workspace email can now connect their profile to Gemini, "rolling out now." But Search Engine Journal points out that Google's Gemini help page still said on 6 November that the feature "isn't available if you sign in with a work or school Google Account." It also still works only for someone who manages a single verified profile, and only in the Gemini web app.
The hours tool is only in select regions and languages, and Google's own Gemini help page still contradicts the announcement about work accounts.
What it means for your business: Before the holidays, set special hours for days like Thanksgiving (Thursday 26 November), and make sure your listed hours match when you actually answer the phone, so Google Maps does not send a customer to a locked door. If you log in to Google with a work email, do not count on Gemini managing your profile yet. Google's own help page says it does not work with work accounts. If you ever need to appeal a profile decision, gather your documents first, because you only get one try.
Source: Search Engine Journal — Matt G. Southern, November 6, 2026
AI Search
OpenAI is building a tool to show how often ChatGPT mentions your business
November 6, 2026 · 1 min read
OpenAI appears to be building a "Claim your business in ChatGPT" tool. It was spotted by Juozas Kaziukėnas, who posted a screenshot on LinkedIn. OpenAI has not announced it. The banner says businesses will be able to see how they show up, keep products and business info up to date, and let a "business agent" answer customer questions "with context you control."
According to Kaziukėnas, the tool counts impressions (how many times a business appeared in ChatGPT answers) and clicks on links to its website, charted day by day. It is part of a larger Business Hub feature, only for businesses that have verified ownership, for example by connecting a Shopify store. He says it does not show which questions triggered a mention, any user data, or how competitors compare. Search Engine Roundtable notes it looks separate from ChatGPT's ads.
This is based on a screenshot of an unreleased feature; OpenAI has not announced it and there is no launch date.
What it means for your business: There is nothing to sign up for yet. When it opens, claiming your business could be a quick way to see whether ChatGPT mentions you at all. Get ready now: make sure the business name, services and service area on your website are correct and match your Google Business Profile, because that is the kind of business information the tool asks you to keep up to date.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, November 6, 2026
AI Search
Brave sells its search index to AI firms, and you can't block it without blocking Google
November 6, 2026 · 2 min read
On 2 November the New York Times sued Brave, alleging that Brave copied more than 30 billion pages and sold the content to AI companies. Brave's About page says its Search API is "used by some of the biggest names in AI, including Cohere, Mistral, Perplexity, and You.com."
Brave's help page says its crawler "does not advertise a differentiated user agent because we must avoid discrimination from websites that allow only Google to crawl them." In plain words, Brave's crawler does not have its own name. If Googlebot can't crawl a page, Brave won't either. So your robots.txt file (the file that tells search engines what they may read) cannot let Google in and keep Brave out. To get a page out of Brave's index, its help page points to the noindex tag, which also removes the page from Google.
The writer, Slobodan Manic, says Brave showed him an old stored description of his home page that he had already replaced. So Brave's index is not always a live view of your site.
The lawsuit claims are allegations, and Brave had not responded when the article was written.
What it means for your business: Most businesses want AI tools to find them, so this is a reason to look, not a reason to block. Go to search.brave.com and type site: followed by your domain. If an old page with wrong hours, prices or services shows up, fix or remove that page on your website, because AI answers built from Brave's index can repeat what it stored.
Source: Search Engine Journal — Slobodan Manic, November 6, 2026
Local SEO
Google Maps now puts a Message button right next to Call on business listings
November 6, 2026 · 2 min read
Google says customers on Android and iPhone "can now find a prominent Message button right next to 'Call' on your Google Maps listing." The news came in Google's monthly Small Business Bulletin. Before this change, Google's Lisa Landsman wrote, "finding chat on Maps required scrolling deep down into your profile." The button also appears in the expanded header and the bottom action bar.
Messages go to the channel you set up, either WhatsApp or text. Google's help page says chat is available in select regions and needs a claimed and verified profile. If you add both WhatsApp and text, customers only see the text option.
Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable confirmed the button shows next to Call on his own listing in the iOS app.
What it means for your business: If you are often on a job and miss calls, this gives people another way to reach you instead of moving on. In your Business Profile, go to Edit profile, then Contact, then the pencil next to Chat, and enter a number that can receive texts. Only do this if someone at your business will actually answer those texts.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, November 6, 2026
Technical SEO
Search Console click spikes from 31 October to 2 November weren't human, Marie Haynes says
November 5, 2026 · 2 min read
Marie Haynes looked at Search Console data from the sites she monitors. Most looked normal, but a subset spiked between 31 October and 2 November. Pages sitting on results pages 2 to 6 logged click-through rates of 45% to 100%.
In one example, an anonymized multi-location service business went from about 50 clicks a day to 327 on 2 November. Of those clicks, 91% were on desktop, while its mobile clicks stayed flat. More than 40 city and service pages with no clicks that week logged 3 to 16 clicks each.
Haynes lists four possible causes: scrapers that click through, click-manipulation bots, AI agents opening pages, and a gap in Google's bot filtering. She does not pick one. Google has given no explanation. Barry Schwartz said Google told him it was looking into the spike but had not come back to him, and that the extra clicks had since gone from the reports he saw.
This is one person's look at the sites she monitors, the post says it was mostly written by AI and then fact-checked by her, it promotes a system she is about to launch, and Google has not explained the spike.
What it means for your business: If your clicks jumped around 31 October to 2 November and your calls did not, do not count it as a win and do not change anything on your site. Make a note in your reporting so nobody measures from that peak or panics when it drops back. To check, Haynes suggests excluding a spiked page or country, looking at Device: Mobile as a sanity check, or filtering the Pages table to Position greater than 10 and sorting by clicks.
Source: Search Engine Journal — Marie Haynes, November 5, 2026
AI Search
About 6 million AI-written "Facebook Answers" pages are indexed in Google
November 5, 2026 · 2 min read
Pages under facebook.com/fb-answers/ are AI-written summaries of a topic, built from public Facebook posts by people and pages. Saul Westbrook says he noticed them in June 2026.
Glenn Gabe says the folder has over 6 million indexed URLs, ranks for millions of queries, and shows up in blue links, AI Overviews and AI Mode. He calls it "massive" scaled content abuse. That label is his, not a Google ruling.
Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable says he suspects the pages will not stay indexed much longer now that this is public. Google has not said anything about it yet.
The page count and the abuse label come from Glenn Gabe, and the article carries no comment from Google or Meta.
What it means for your business: Do not read this as permission to mass-produce AI pages. This is a giant brand being called out, and a small site doing the same has no such cushion. It does show that public Facebook posts can end up in search and AI answers, so keep your business's Facebook page accurate.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, November 5, 2026
Local SEO
Google explains how to remove an offer a third party added to your Business Profile
November 6, 2026 · 2 min read
Google published a new help page called "Manage offers on your Business Profile." Offers can appear on your profile in Search and may show when someone interacts with an AI Overview. Google says they come from authorized third-party partners, from Offers Posts you create, or from special offers found through your linked social media profiles.
To remove an unauthorized offer, contact Business Profile Support, type "Remove Offers" and choose Fix Posts. Then send the provider's name, the offer details and a note that you have no relationship with them. Google gives you a link to reach the provider, who has 5 business days to remove it. After that, you can report them through Google's third-party policy violation form.
The feature is only available in select regions and languages.
What it means for your business: Search for your own business and look for a discount you never agreed to. Offers can come from linked social profiles, so an old Facebook promotion could also be a source. Check those too.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, November 6, 2026
Google Ads
Report counts about 175,100 ad placements in Google's AI answers, mostly retail
November 5, 2026 · 2 min read
Adthena, a company that sells ad tracking, counted about 175,100 ad placements in Google's AI answers from June to September. The count covers AI Overviews and AI Mode combined, in the U.S., across five holiday shopping categories. Apparel and consumer electronics made up most of it.
The report also says U.S. AI Overview appearances rose 89%, from 304 million in August 2025 to 575 million in August 2026. It does not say which queries it tracks.
Search Engine Journal notes that existing Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns are automatically eligible for these spots. You cannot buy them separately or target only them.
This comes from a company that sells ad tracking, covers five U.S. holiday shopping categories, shows where ads appeared rather than clicks, spend or sales, and does not say which queries sit behind its AI Overview figures.
What it means for your business: If you run Google Ads, you may already be appearing in AI answers without having changed a thing. This report only covers retail-style categories, so it says nothing about local service ads.
Source: Search Engine Journal — Matt G. Southern, November 5, 2026
AI Search
Google AI Mode shows some people a "Continue with this search?" prompt
November 6, 2026 · 1 min read
Some Google AI Mode users are seeing a new prompt above their query. It reads: "Continue with this search? Malicious queries could result in unsafe or harmful actions." Damien Andel spotted it and shared it on X.
Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable calls it his gut feeling that Google is trying to block bots and scrapers from AI Mode. He notes that Google has recently used sign-in or continue buttons to verify humans.
The bot-blocking explanation is Barry Schwartz's guess, and Google has not made a statement.
What it means for your business: There is nothing to do on your website. If you pay for tools that report AI Mode results, keep an eye on whether that data gets patchier.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, November 6, 2026
AI Search
Google uses a pop-up to push AI Mode users to connect their Google apps
November 6, 2026 · 1 min read
A pop-up in Google AI Mode says "Supercharge Search with Personal Intelligence" and has a blue continue button. Its text asks people to connect more of their Google apps. It also says they stay in control and can change this at any time.
Sachin Patel spotted the pop-up on Search Engine Watch. Patel says it appears aimed at making results more personalized.
The report rests on a sighting by Sachin Patel, and the aim of more personalized results is Patel's reading of the pop-up.
What it means for your business: As more people connect their apps, what you see for a question in AI Mode may be less like what your customer sees. Treat one check on your own phone as a sample, not the truth.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, November 6, 2026
AI Search
Google AI Mode now lets people book home services like plumbers directly
November 4, 2026 · 2 min read
Google's Robby Stein announced that AI Mode now shows direct booking links for home services. The launch partners are Angi, Thumbtack, Housecall Pro and Jobber. ServiceTitan is "coming soon". The feature is live in the U.S. only.
Stein said he used it himself when his main sewer line backed up. AI Mode "compared local pricing, checked reviews, and made recommendations based on my situation," and he booked a plumber who came out and fixed it.
Google has not explained how AI Mode chooses which providers to recommend, whether a business must use one of the booking partners to appear, or where the booking is actually completed.
Google has not said how providers are chosen or whether a partner profile is required to appear.
What it means for your business: If you run a home-service business in the U.S., check that you have active, claimed profiles on Angi and Thumbtack, and note whether your booking software is Housecall Pro or Jobber. Reviews and clear pricing on those profiles may now be part of what an AI assistant reads before it sends a customer to someone. Google has not said a partner profile is required, so keep your own booking page too.
Source: Search Engine Land — Danny Goodwin, November 4, 2026
Technical SEO
Google can briefly protect an important page from dropping out when it shows errors
November 5, 2026 · 1 min read
SEO watchers noticed the VLC media player website showing in Google with no icon and no description. Google's Gary Illyes explained that the site had been returning a 418 error code, which Google treats like most other 4xx errors: "basically 'not found'".
Because VLC is "arguably one of the most important pages on the internet," Google "temporarily protected the URL from falling out of the index right away." The side effect was that Google had "no snippet, no favicon, no nothing -- just the link itself and the last good title we had." The site is working normally again and "should sort itself out soon."
What it means for your business: If your listing in Google suddenly loses its description or icon, first check whether your page is returning an error. A short outage can be survived, but do not count on Google protecting a smaller site the way it protected VLC.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, November 5, 2026
Technical SEO
Google: only a permanent 301 redirect passes ranking signals to a new page
November 5, 2026 · 2 min read
In a new Google Search Central video, Google's Cherry Prommawin says: "First of all, relax. No matter which redirect you choose, one of your pages will stay in search." Gary Illyes adds that Google's crawlers "don't care at all" which redirect you use.
The difference shows when Google picks which version of a page to show. A permanent (301) redirect tells Google to move the old page's ranking signals to the new address. A temporary (302) redirect makes Google assume you are coming back, so it keeps the old address in results and largely ignores the new one.
307 and 308 redirects work like 302 and 301, but keep form data intact. JavaScript and meta-refresh redirects are slower and may be missed.
What it means for your business: If you moved a page or changed your domain for good, make sure the redirect is a 301 (or 308) set on the server, not a 302 or a JavaScript redirect. A temporary redirect left in place after a website redesign can keep your old address showing in Google.
Source: Search Engine Journal — Roger Montti, November 5, 2026
SEO Tools
Some rank reports since October 30 may show Google links instead of real pages
November 5, 2026 · 2 min read
Since late August, Google's search results have used www.google.com/goto links, according to data provider DataForSEO. These links cannot be read without following them. Now Google limits how fast they can be followed from one results page.
DataForSEO says the first 5 or 6 links on a page may open at once, then waits grow, up to 120 seconds for one link. Changing IP address or search wording does not help. Serper first noted the problem on 30 October, and SerpApi logged incidents on 30 October and 3 November. None of them cited a cause from Google.
This comes from statements by data providers; Google has made no announcement.
What it means for your business: If a rank report from 30 October onward says your page is missing, or shows a google.com/goto address where your page should be, it may be a data problem, not a ranking drop. Check the search term in Google Search Console before you react.
Source: Search Engine Journal — Matt G. Southern, November 5, 2026
Search Trends
Semrush: 46.11% of U.S. desktop Google searches ended in a website click in September
November 4, 2026 · 2 min read
Semrush's State of Search Q3 2026 report says the share of U.S. Google desktop searches that lead to a click on an outside website rose from 39.74% in July to 46.11% in September, the highest in its 15-month study. Searches with no click fell from 24.97% to 22.99% over the same months.
AI tools made up 1.29% of U.S. desktop activity in September, up from 0.72% a year earlier. Searches longer than 15 words rose to 2.58% of U.S. desktop searches in September, up from 1.67% in August. SparkToro's Rand Fishkin said that suggests people are using Google more like an AI assistant.
The data covers desktop searches only, not mobile, and comes from one company's report.
What it means for your business: Google search is still sending visitors to websites, and on desktop it sent more of them in September than earlier this year. Longer questions are growing, so pages that answer a full, specific question in plain words are worth writing for your business.
Source: Search Engine Land — Danny Goodwin, November 4, 2026
Search Trends
3 in 4 home pages lost Google clicks year over year in a study of 110 sites
November 4, 2026 · 2 min read
Jenny Lee Lynch compared Google Search Console data for 110 home pages across six industries, Q3 2026 against Q3 2025. 81 of them (74%) lost clicks from Google, with a median drop of 21%. Only 15 (14%) lost half or more.
Software (SaaS) sites were hit hardest, with a median drop of 35%, followed by education and information (21%), logistics (21%), ecommerce (18%) and finance (11%). Healthcare fell 3%, but with only eight sites.
Her reading: when nearly three in four home pages decline, it points to changes in how people search, not problems with each site. Searchers more often get the answer on Google itself or land on deeper pages instead.
This is one analyst's study of 110 sites, and some industry groups are small (healthcare had only eight sites).
What it means for your business: Fewer clicks to your home page does not by itself mean your business is slipping. Look at total clicks to your whole website, calls and booked jobs before you decide something is wrong.
Source: Search Engine Land — Jenny Lee Lynch, November 4, 2026
Google Policy
Google: site reputation penalties no longer affect search results in the EEA
November 4, 2026 · 1 min read
Google sent Search Console emails to sites that had a manual penalty under its site reputation abuse policy, the rule against "parasite SEO". The email says that for those pages, "the previous manual action will no longer impact search results shown to users within the EEA."
The change took effect on 30 August 2026. Glenn Gabe, who shared the email, noted it also went to sites that had such a penalty in the past but do not now.
This is based on a Search Console email shared publicly, not a formal Google announcement.
What it means for your business: This only matters if your business publishes for searchers in the European Economic Area. In the U.S. nothing changes: site reputation abuse can still lead to a manual penalty.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, November 4, 2026
Google Search Console
Search Console's Performance report now lets you pick more than one device at once
November 4, 2026 · 1 min read
The device filter in Google Search Console's Performance report now lets you tick Desktop, Mobile and Tablet together, instead of picking one at a time.
Google added the same multi-select option for countries about a month ago.
What it means for your business: If you use Search Console, you can now compare mobile plus tablet against desktop in one view, without exporting two reports and adding them up.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, November 4, 2026
AI Search
Study: negative questions shift how ChatGPT describes a brand about twice as much
November 4, 2026 · 2 min read
Researchers from Lastmile Retail and SE Ranking ran 180 positive, neutral and negative prompts across 900 ChatGPT responses, and scored how positively each brand was described on a scale from -100 to +100.
Negative prompts averaged -36, neutral +20 and positive +46. Compared with a neutral question, negative wording lowered the score by 56 points, while positive wording raised it by 26. For trust questions, such as reliability, refunds, privacy and safety, positive wording barely helped while negative wording still hurt.
This is a single study of ChatGPT only, based on 180 prompts.
What it means for your business: When you check what ChatGPT says about your business, also ask it the worried customer's version, such as "is this business reliable?" or "problems with this business?". That is where weak spots in your reviews and public information show up.
Source: Search Engine Land — Danny Goodwin, November 4, 2026
Analytics
Microsoft Clarity now shows which AI agents visit your website and what they do
November 4, 2026 · 2 min read
Microsoft says new features are available globally to all users of Clarity, its website analytics tool. Agentic Analytics shows which AI agents visit a site and what they do there, from searches and form submissions to appointment bookings and checkout. It can also run tests of whether an agent can complete a task, starting with shopping and travel.
Brand Agents, which help products show up across Copilot, Bing and MSN, are expanding to local businesses to help them "capture leads and book appointments". A new feature called Ask Clarity answers plain-language questions about how visitors use a site, backed by recorded sessions.
The details come from Microsoft's own announcement.
What it means for your business: Clarity is free. If it is already on your website, the new AI agent report is an easy way to see whether AI assistants are visiting, and whether they get stuck on your booking or contact form.
Source: Search Engine Land — Barry Schwartz, November 4, 2026
Search Console
Some sites saw a sudden click spike in Search Console around 31 October
November 3, 2026 · 1 min read
Some websites saw a big jump in clicks in Google Search Console's Performance report around 31 October. Not every site was affected. Dan Nutter saw spikes across a range of sites and industries, sometimes "10X the traffic of the normal day", mostly for UK sites.
Impressions stayed flat while clicks jumped. Joy Hawkins said she is "fairly confident it's bot traffic." Glenn Gabe said it "sure seems like AI agents or bots that are researching products or services." One reader said the extra clicks did not show up as real visits on the website.
By 4 November, Hawkins said things were "back to normal" and Gabe said the numbers were "dropping back down now." Google has not explained the spike.
These are reports from a few SEO professionals on X, the cause is not confirmed, and Google has not commented.
What it means for your business: If your Search Console clicks jumped between about 31 October and 2 November but your website visits did not, treat those days as noise. Do not count them as a win, and do not use them as a starting point when you measure your progress later.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, November 3, 2026
Technical SEO
Google says "Crawled – currently not indexed" doesn't necessarily mean a problem
November 3, 2026 · 1 min read
Google rewrote its Search Console help text for the "Crawled – currently not indexed" status. The new text says Google "doesn't index all pages across the web, so this is a common message for many sites and doesn't necessarily indicate an issue that needs attention."
For important pages, Google says to use the URL Inspection tool "and other tools" to check that nothing on the site stops them from appearing, "such as if you've blocked them from our crawlers." If you suspect "a complete, site-wide problem with indexing", Google points to its form for reporting an indexing issue.
Barry Schwartz notes that the new text does not mention quality, even though Google has pointed to quality for this status before.
What it means for your business: Seeing this status on a few pages of your site is not an emergency. If it shows on a page that matters, such as a main service or location page, check it with URL Inspection first to make sure nothing blocks it. Then ask whether that page gives searchers something your other pages do not.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, November 3, 2026
AI Search
OpenAI says ChatGPT gets about one-fifth of Google's searches, but sends far less traffic
November 3, 2026 · 2 min read
Adam Fry, who leads ChatGPT's consumer product, told Alex Kantrowitz of Big Technology that "ChatGPT's volume of search-like queries is now roughly one-fifth the volume of queries of Google." He counts a search as "every time you ask a question and go search the web." He said people now ask about people, places and things that need up-to-date information, plus finance and health questions.
Fry did not say which Google figure he compared against, over what period, or for which regions. Big Technology also reported that ChatGPT's weekly users grew from 1 billion to 1.2 billion in two months.
Sending visitors to websites is a different measure. Across 118,671 sites that use Ahrefs' free Web Analytics tool, Google sent 24.74% of tracked traffic in October and ChatGPT sent 0.36%. Neither number shows whether ChatGPT searches are replacing Google searches.
OpenAI did not say which Google figure it compared against, and the traffic numbers only cover sites that use Ahrefs' free analytics tool.
What it means for your business: People do ask ChatGPT where to go and who to hire, so it helps when AI answers name your business. But for now Google sends far more visitors, so keep your Google Business Profile and your service pages as the priority. Track visits from AI tools separately in your analytics so you can see if that changes.
Source: Search Engine Journal — Matt G. Southern, November 3, 2026
Rankings
Google's page 2 often matches only one word of a search, rank trackers find
November 3, 2026 · 2 min read
Two rank-tracking firms, SE Ranking and Nozzle, found that since mid-September Google's lower results and page 2 often show pages that match only one word of the search. In SE Ranking's example, "business bank line of credit", banks filled the top nine spots, while page 2 showed music videos, the LINE messaging app and The Line Hotel.
SE Ranking studied 10,000 US desktop keywords. The share of keywords with any unrelated result went from 0.09% on 16 September to 57.3% on 17 September, then 67.2% by 24 September. 96.5% of these unrelated groups started at position 9 or lower.
Nozzle says that since 16 September, page 2 ignored part of the search on 12.6% of the desktop searches it could judge, against 2.2% for page 1. Google has not publicly explained the change.
Both firms sell rank tracking, they measure in different ways so their rates can't be compared directly, and SE Ranking's sample covers US desktop searches only.
What it means for your business: If a ranking report shows your business slipping off page 1 since mid-September, do not panic or change the page yet. First look at the results that replaced you, then check impressions and clicks for that search in Google Search Console. The rank tracker may be reading a broken results page, not a real loss.
Source: Search Engine Journal — Matt G. Southern, November 3, 2026
Google Ads
Google AI Mode spotted showing up to four ads for a single search
November 4, 2026 · 1 min read
Sachin Patel shared a screenshot of a Google AI Mode answer with four ads in it. Barry Schwartz writes that you would usually see one or two ads there, sometimes three.
Schwartz is not sure it is new, because regular Google results have officially shown up to four ads since 2016. But Google said on its earnings call that it will show more ads, more often, in AI Mode. Schwartz also notes that ads on follow-up questions in AI Mode are coming in the US.
This is based on one shared screenshot, and Google has not announced the change.
What it means for your business: More ads in AI answers means less room for free mentions of your business. If you run Google Ads, check whether your campaigns can show in AI Mode, and look at those results separately from regular search results.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, November 4, 2026
Google Search
An SEO firm published 120 names of rules it says Google uses to re-rank results
November 4, 2026 · 2 min read
Olivier de Segonzac of Resoneo published a list of 120 "twiddlers". Barry Schwartz describes twiddlers as adjustable rules Google uses to fine-tune search results after its main ranking. They can boost or push down results based on signals such as user engagement, freshness or filters.
De Segonzac wrote that 111 of the names are new, "among them AI Mode's fan-out plan, a filter still named after Bard or an Expertise twiddler." He groups them into areas such as quality, authority and trust; AI and rankers; spam and safety; freshness; page layout; images; and video.
Names on the list include Expertise, Authenticity, Topic authority, Freshness and Spam demotions. The list gives names only. It does not say how much any of them affects a search.
The article does not say where the list came from, Google has not commented, and the list gives names without any weights.
What it means for your business: This is a list of names, not a recipe, so do not rebuild your website around it. It does match what Google already says in public: show real expertise, stick to the topics your business is known for, and keep your pages up to date.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, November 4, 2026
AI Search
Google now shows an AI Overview beside many brand searches, where the Knowledge Panel sat
November 2, 2026 · 2 min read
For many brand-name searches on desktop, Google has moved the AI Overview out of the main results and into the right-hand column. That is the spot where the Knowledge Panel, the box with a business's details, used to sit. Chris Long spotted it and wrote: "Instead of a Knowledge Panel, they're showing AI Overviews for brand terms in the right column."
David McSweeney noticed the change two days earlier and said that in some cases the AI Overview sits further down the page instead. On 27 October, Sachin Patel saw an "AI-generated" label on a Knowledge Panel.
Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable used a search for [Apple] as his example. He thinks the layout works better than putting the AI Overview in the main results, but also wrote that it is "not great to trust that AI will do a good enough job writing about your brand than your own website would."
This is based on what a few people saw and posted on X; Google has not commented, so it may not apply to every search.
What it means for your business: The first box people see when they search your business name may now be written by AI, not taken from your own profile. Search your business name on a desktop computer and read what the right-hand box says. If it gets your hours, services or location wrong, fix the facts at the source: your Google Business Profile, the About and Contact pages on your website, and your main directory listings.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, November 2, 2026
Technical SEO
Google's Mueller: if only your home page is indexed, it may be a quality issue
November 3, 2026 · 1 min read
On Bluesky, Sarah Blocksidge asked about a site that was hacked last year and then cleaned up. Since then, only its home page is indexed, meaning only that page can appear in Google, and Search Console will not crawl or index any of the inner pages.
Google's John Mueller replied that it is "impossible to say without more information", but "off-hand, this sounds like a general quality issue that might be unrelated to the hack (unless the hack was in place for a long time - ca many months)." He added that timing can make it hard to tell what happened, for example "when the hack & a core update happen together."
Barry Schwartz notes that Mueller has called similar cases quality issues many times before, though a hack that was never fully cleaned up or a technical problem can also cause it.
This is one informal reply about one site, and Mueller said he could not be sure without more information.
What it means for your business: If Google has dropped most of your pages and kept only your home page, a technical fix alone may not bring them back. First rule out leftover hacked pages and anything that blocks Google from crawling your site. Then look honestly at your inner pages: are they thin, copied, or not very helpful to a visitor?
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, November 3, 2026
Technical SEO
PageSpeed Insights update can raise your speed score even if your site did not change
November 2, 2026 · 2 min read
Google's PageSpeed Insights, the free tool that scores how fast a web page loads, now runs Lighthouse 13.6.0, the testing engine behind the score. Chrome's Barry Pollard said the new version changes how the test simulates a page loading, which affects two key speed numbers: First Contentful Paint and Largest Contentful Paint. He says these numbers are now more accurate and will generally produce higher scores, and the change is "more likely to impact JS-heavy sites."
Matt G. Southern of Search Engine Journal points out that scores before and after the switch are not measured the same way, so a chart of your scores over time may jump. Each PageSpeed Insights report shows the Lighthouse version next to the test device.
Google's own documentation says good test (lab) data "does not necessarily mean real-user experiences will also be good." Chrome 159 is expected to bring the same version into Chrome's developer tools, with a stable release listed for 8 December.
What it means for your business: If someone shows you a better speed score this month, ask whether both reports used the same Lighthouse version. Then look at the real-visitor data in the report, not only the test score. A new test is not the same as a faster website.
Source: Search Engine Journal — Matt G. Southern, November 2, 2026
Technical SEO
Google: you can block a pop-up script from Google, if the page still loads without it
November 3, 2026 · 2 min read
Someone on Reddit asked if they could stop Google from loading an age-verification pop-up that their site must show for legal reasons. The pop-up comes from a separate domain.
Google's John Mueller said: "That would generally work. If you're using a specific JS script file to do this, you could also disallow that specific javascript file via robots.txt." Robots.txt is a small file that tells search engines what not to fetch. He warned: "if you only have one JS file that does a bunch of things, I wouldn't do that."
He gave two options. If the pop-up's own domain blocks crawling in its robots.txt, Google will not fetch it, which is "how many ads services work." If you cannot control that domain, block your own script that loads the pop-up. Either way, "you need to make sure that your pages still load when those URLs are not fetched." Search Engine Journal's Roger Montti notes that years ago sites lost rankings for blocking files Google needed to show their pages, which is why the question made sense.
This is general advice from a Reddit reply, not a formal Google policy page.
What it means for your business: If an age check, cookie banner or similar pop-up is hiding your content from Google, there is now a Google-approved way around it. Ask your web developer to block only the one script that loads the pop-up, never a shared file your whole site depends on, and then check that your pages still load correctly without it.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, November 3, 2026
AI Search
UK rules say Google must show publishers AI Overview clicks by 3 December
November 2, 2026 · 2 min read
Google's Gary Illyes said Google has nothing to announce about click and query data for AI search in Search Console, Google's free tool for site owners. But the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the country's competition regulator, lists "impressions, clicks, and click-through rate, aggregated across features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode" among the data Google must give publishers.
The CMA wants this data in "a commonly accessible platform, such as Google Search Console", and has given Google until 3 December to comply. Google can meet the rules another way if it shows the CMA it complies, and the rules cover AI features shown to people in the UK.
Today, Search Console's generative AI report shows impressions only, meaning how often you appeared. Clicks from AI features are counted inside the normal Performance report, mixed in with all other web results. Under the CMA's rules, page-level controls for AI features are due three months after 3 December.
The rules cover AI features shown to UK users, and Google may comply in a way other than Search Console.
What it means for your business: There is now a real date to watch. Check your Search Console in early December for new AI click data. Until then, track your AI visibility with what you already have: AI impressions in Search Console and visits from AI tools in your website analytics.
Source: Search Engine Journal — Matt G. Southern, November 2, 2026
AI Ads
Study: a ChatGPT ad visit earned $0.89, against $2.45 for a Google search ad visit
November 2, 2026 · 2 min read
A working paper by Maximilian Kaiser (Vienna University of Economics and Business) and Christian Schulze (Frankfurt School of Finance & Management) tracked sales on 102 advertiser websites as OpenAI rolled out ChatGPT ads country by country. In U.S. traffic, a visit from a ChatGPT ad brought in $0.89 in revenue, against $2.45 for a visit from a Google search ad. ChatGPT ad visits converted at 0.37%, against 1.17% for paid search.
Of 87 advertisers who bought both kinds of ads, 84 earned less per ChatGPT ad visit. 73 of them made no sales at all from ChatGPT ads, across 18,726 visits between them, and one advertiser accounted for 66% of all ChatGPT-ad purchases. Measured against paid search, the authors put a fair price for a ChatGPT ad click at about $0.26, within a range of $0.05 to $0.57. OpenAI recommends starting bids of $3 to $5.
On the unpaid side, ChatGPT's organic referrals to 1,898 sites fell by an estimated 6% to 8% in the 13 weeks after ads launched.
This is a working paper still under review; advertisers chose to buy these ads, so it shows their results rather than proving cause, and the data came from Grips Intelligence, where one author is a scientific advisor.
What it means for your business: If someone offers to run ChatGPT ads for your business, start with a small test. Compare the revenue you get per visit with your Google ads before you move any budget. In this data, most advertisers sold nothing from ChatGPT ads.
Source: Search Engine Journal — Matt G. Southern, November 2, 2026
AI Search
Google says it has nothing to announce on AI click data in Search Console
November 2, 2026 · 1 min read
A LinkedIn post quoted an unnamed Google employee at a Search Central Live event. The post said clicks and queries are "the most requested data set" for the AI performance report in Search Console, and that Google expects to add them, with no date given.
Gary Illyes of Google replied: "I don't think we've phrased it like this. The team is super interested in giving more data, data that makes sense, but we don't have anything to announce yet." Search Engine Roundtable's Barry Schwartz read this as a sign that click and query data probably are not coming. Google's John Mueller then said on Bluesky that this was a weird way to read the comment.
So nothing is confirmed either way. For now, Search Console still cannot tell you how many people clicked through to your site from AI Overviews or AI Mode.
This is based on a social media thread and replies, not an official Google announcement, and Google has confirmed nothing in either direction.
What it means for your business: Do not wait for Google to report AI clicks. Track what you can measure today: visits that come to your site from AI tools in your analytics, phone calls and form fills, and whether AI answers mention your business when you search for your own services.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, November 2, 2026
Technical SEO
Google's John Mueller: technical SEO stays very relevant in AI search
November 2, 2026 · 2 min read
In a video interview with David Iwanow, Google's John Mueller was asked whether AEO and GEO (ways of optimizing for AI answers) make classic SEO obsolete. He said: "I think you'll see that a lot of the AI systems, they build on SEO. So from that point of view, I think it's going to continue to be relevant. I think especially technical SEO is going to remain very relevant."
Mueller added that AI systems crawl a little differently, because they collect content for training as well as for fresh results. He called that "just like another flavor of technical SEO."
On SEO vendors who use low-quality AI tactics, he compared them to keyword stuffing and white-on-white text: tricks that work for a while and then stop. "So I think as a small business, you have to always question what your vendors are doing." In his own commentary, Search Engine Journal's Roger Montti says he sees old tactics like cloaking, directories and reciprocal links being promoted again as if they were new.
What it means for your business: A website that is fast, easy for search engines to crawl, and clearly structured is what both Google and AI tools read. If you pay someone for SEO, ask them to show you exactly what they changed each month and why.
Source: Search Engine Journal — Roger Montti, November 2, 2026
AI Search
Reddit stock drops after CEO says Google traffic fell due to AI Mode and AI Overviews
November 2, 2026 · 2 min read
Reddit's stock dropped 36% over the past week, according to Search Engine Roundtable. This came after CEO Steve Huffman told CNBC that search referrals from Google went "down meaningfully in this quarter" because of the "shift to AI mode and AI overviews."
Huffman said earlier Google changes would "kind of come and go," but called the AI shift "a fundamental shift in how the Google product works, from being a traffic driver to whatever's going on now." Reddit plans to rely more on users who come to it directly.
SEO consultant Glenn Gabe offered another explanation: Reddit's AI-translated pages, tens of millions of URLs across many countries, took a big hit in the May 2026 core update and the June spam update. Google recently said Reddit gets no special preference in Search.
The source article's headline says 33% while its text says 36%, and the cause of the traffic drop is disputed.
What it means for your business: If one of the biggest sites on the web can lose Google traffic this fast, your business should not depend on one channel either. Your Google Business Profile, your reviews, your email list and your repeat customers bring traffic that Google cannot take away.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, November 2, 2026
Google Ads
Email from a "Google Ads Strategist"? Check that it ends in @xwf.google.com
November 2, 2026 · 1 min read
Joe Youngblood got a sales call from a contractor working for Google Ads, then an email from a "Kassy Garcia, Google Ads Strategist." He could not find anyone by that name on LinkedIn, and he says Google's own AI-image checker flagged her profile photo as AI-generated.
These contacts come from Google's extended workforce, meaning contractors, not employees. Search Engine Roundtable asked Google about the fake names and photos and has not heard back.
Google's help page on third-party partners says to "always check carefully the identity of persons or entities claiming to act, on behalf of Google." It suggests asking them to email you so you can verify, and states that "Google representatives always have an email address that ends with @xwf.google.com."
This is based on one advertiser's experience, and Google has not yet responded to questions about it.
What it means for your business: When someone calls or emails "from Google" about your ads or your business listing, check the email address before you change anything. A real Google contact ends in @xwf.google.com, and even then their job is usually to get you to spend more.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, November 2, 2026
AI Search
Google, Microsoft and OpenAI plan to honor one shared robots.txt line for AI training
November 1, 2026 · 2 min read
Google, Microsoft and OpenAI plan to honor one shared line in robots.txt (the small file that tells bots what they may do on your site). The line lets a website say whether its content may be used to train AI. It uses the name "__usage_ai-training" with the normal Allow and Disallow rules.
The idea comes from an Internet Draft that Anthropic's Kevin Kelley sent to the IETF's AI Preferences working group. It is an individual draft, not an official standard yet. The rules you already have in robots.txt do not count as a training choice. A general "User-agent: *" group does not count either. So if your file has no group for this name, it states no choice at all.
The line only covers AI training. It does not stop bots from crawling your site. None of the three companies supports it yet. Google aims for early 2027. Microsoft starts on 1 February 2027. OpenAI says "the next few months". The article also notes that Google-Extended does not affect your place in normal Google Search, and that AI Overviews and AI Mode have their own opt-out in Search Console.
This is an individual draft, not an official IETF standard, and none of the three companies supports it yet.
What it means for your business: You do not need to change your robots.txt today. This line exists to opt out of AI training. If you want AI assistants to know about and recommend your business, leave it out and keep AI crawlers allowed.
Source: Search Engine Journal — Matt G. Southern, November 1, 2026
Website Security
DebugBear tells sites to remove its speed-monitoring script after a DNS hijack
October 31, 2026 · 2 min read
DebugBear makes a popular tool that measures how fast pages load for real visitors. On 29 October it told customers to remove its Real User Monitoring script, which loads from cdn.debugbear.com. It later said attackers took over its DNS records (the address settings for its domain) through its domain registrar. Its first check found the attack aimed at one customer's site, and it saw no sign that its own systems were breached.
Security firm Hudson Rock found harmful code at a DebugBear script address used by Polymarket on 29 October. Polymarket's report says the code sold positions and moved funds from some users' wallets. It used the access of people who were already signed in, so no password was needed.
Search Engine Journal lists steps for affected sites. Remove the script from templates, plugins and tag managers. Clear cached pages. Reset passwords and end active sessions, starting with admins. Revoke any exposed API keys. Look for new accounts, changed files and added scripts. If you find a break-in, put the site in maintenance mode with an HTTP 503 until it is clean.
It is not yet clear whether other DebugBear customers received the harmful code.
What it means for your business: If anyone ever added DebugBear to your website, check today and remove it. Any outside script your site loads can act with your visitors' signed-in access. Fewer third-party scripts means less risk, and often a faster site too.
Source: Search Engine Journal — Vahan Petrosyan, October 31, 2026
AI Search
Google plans one robots.txt line to opt out of AI training across many AI companies
October 30, 2026 · 2 min read
Google says it plans to support a shared "policy token" in robots.txt. robots.txt is the small file on your website that tells crawlers what they may and may not do. The token is based on a draft from the IETF AI Preferences (AIPREF) working group. With one step, a site could opt out of AI model training at every AI provider that takes part.
If a site uses this token to opt out of training and does not mention Google-Extended separately, Google will treat it as if the site had blocked Google-Extended. Company-specific controls, such as Google-Extended, keep working alongside the new token.
Google adds that sites which explicitly allow Google-Extended "are eligible to appear in responses and receive clicks via grounding in Gemini Apps." This is not immediate: Google says it aims to support the control, together with other AI providers, in 2027. Microsoft announced the same shared preference on the same day.
What it means for your business: Nothing changes on your website today. When this arrives, remember that blocking AI training is not the same as blocking Google Search. Also, Google links appearing in Gemini answers to allowing Google-Extended. Opt out only if keeping your content away from AI companies matters more to your business than being cited in AI answers.
Source: Google Search Central Blog — John Mueller, October 30, 2026
AI Search
Microsoft Bing splits AI controls into "training" and "grounding", with 2027 deadlines
October 30, 2026 · 2 min read
Microsoft is adopting the same shared AI training preference in robots.txt and extending it to single pages. It is also adding a separate page-level "AI Grounding" preference. Grounding means a page can be used to build the AI-generated answers in Bing, Copilot and Microsoft 365.
A new "DisallowExtended" value limits grounding to Microsoft's own products. It keeps your content out of the grounding services Microsoft sells to other companies. Microsoft says normal Bing rankings are not affected, but warns: "If you select DisallowExtended or Disallow for grounding, you will see reduced brand visibility in AI experiences."
Microsoft starts to honour the new preferences on 1 February 2027. Sites that still use the old NoArchive or NoCache tags should switch by 1 March 2027 to keep their restrictions. Search Engine Roundtable reports that temporary grounding controls arrive in Bing Webmaster Tools on 15 December 2026.
What it means for your business: If you want Copilot and Bing's AI answers to cite your business, leave grounding allowed. You can still block training separately. Ask whoever runs your website if it uses NoArchive or NoCache tags, because those stop counting under the new system.
Source: Microsoft Bing Blog — Krishna Madhavan, October 30, 2026
AI Search
Small test: leaving Google's AI Overviews also cut one site's regular search clicks
October 30, 2026 · 2 min read
SEO consultant Cyrus Shepard used the opt-out control in Google Search Console to remove one of his sites from Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode. He then compared results before, during and after the change.
His estimate: AI impressions had "~0.9% CTR" (CTR is the share of people who saw the result and clicked). AI impressions dropped to zero right away, and "most surprisingly, regular organic clicks ALSO DROPPED when AI features were disabled." AI impressions were about 8% of the site's total.
Shepard calls this a possible "Search SERP Halo Effect": the more places a brand shows up on the results page, the more likely someone clicks one of them. Search Engine Land also covered the test on 29 October.
This is one site over a short window, and Shepard himself calls the sample "admittedly small".
What it means for your business: Early data suggests that if your business leaves Google's AI answers, you may also lose clicks on your normal search listing. Do not switch on the AI opt-out without a plan to measure what happens to your clicks.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, October 30, 2026
Analytics
Gemini stopped tagging its links, so Gemini visits are harder to see in your analytics
October 30, 2026 · 1 min read
Google began adding a utm_source=gemini tag to the links Gemini cites in early September. It stopped around 28 September. A chart shared by Natzir on X shows the tagged visits growing for three weeks and then disappearing overnight.
Visits from Gemini on the web still carry a gemini.google.com referrer (the label that shows where a visit came from), and those stayed flat. The iOS app is the gap: according to Natzir, it opens links in its own in-app browser and sends no referrer. Those visits land in "Direct" in Google Analytics 4. The only trace left is a "GeminiiOS" user agent in server logs.
The data comes from one person's chart shared on X, not from Google.
What it means for your business: If your reports count Gemini traffic by the utm_source=gemini tag, that number has read zero since late September. Track the gemini.google.com referrer instead, and expect some Gemini visits to hide inside "Direct" traffic.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, October 30, 2026
Local SEO
Google Business Profile's free AI messaging agent opens to more businesses
October 29, 2026 · 2 min read
Google appears to be opening its AI-powered messaging feature on Business Profiles to more businesses. Customers message the business from Search or Maps in their phone's own texting app.
An AI agent answers routine questions. Google's example shows menu items with photos and prices, then open reservation times. The agent hands off anything it can't answer, and the owner can take over at any time.
Claudia Tomina says to look for a red dot on Messages in your profile. She notes the agent only works for customers on RCS-capable phones and networks; other customers' texts go straight to the business phone. Mike Blumenthal shared a Google email that offers restaurants early access to the pilot "at no cost."
The wider rollout is based on sightings by Claudia Tomina and Mike Blumenthal, not on a Google announcement in the source.
What it means for your business: A free AI receptionist on your Google listing is only useful if the listing is correct. As Tomina puts it, "the agent can only answer as well as your profile does." Before you switch it on, check your hours, services, menu and prices, because the agent will repeat whatever your profile says.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, October 29, 2026
Content
Google's John Mueller: mass AI content tricks get caught "at some point"
October 29, 2026 · 2 min read
In a video interview with David Iwanow, Google's John Mueller was asked about tactics such as publishing listicles to rank in AI search. He said listicles are not spam in themselves, but building a whole strategy on thousands of them is risky.
He compared mass-produced AI content to old tricks such as keyword stuffing and white-on-white text: "people always find some trick and then they write about it and then everyone goes off and does that and then it's like at some point the systems are like huh this this is easy to recognize." His advice was to focus on "having something that search engines and AI systems will want to show to people in the long run."
In the same interview he called Search Console's Crawl Stats report underused. He said to watch it for unusual crawl activity or a jump in how long Google takes to fetch pages. He also said he hasn't seen sites have problems just because of long redirect chains.
What it means for your business: If someone offers your business hundreds of AI-written pages that "work right now", ask what happens when Google catches up. Check the Crawl Stats report in Google Search Console once a month. It is free and can show problems early.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, October 29, 2026
Technical SEO
Google's Gary Illyes: AI made fake Googlebot traffic worse
October 30, 2026 · 1 min read
On the Odys Podcast, Google's Gary Illyes said bot impersonation has grown, "I think", because of AI. Companies that harvest content to train their own models can claim to be Googlebot to get past firewalls that would otherwise block them. Changing a crawler's name (its user-agent) takes seconds.
Illyes said his honeypots (traps set to catch bad bots) have caught requests that claim to be Googlebot from IP addresses not related to Google. His advice is to verify Googlebot through its IP address and a reverse DNS lookup, not by its name. He also warned that badly configured bots can request pages again and again and take a small site offline.
What it means for your business: If your server logs or hosting bill show a spike in "Googlebot" visits, have your web person check that it is really Google before you blame Google. Blocking a fake Googlebot does not hurt your business in Google Search.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, October 30, 2026
AI Search
Reddit says search referrals fell by over 1 million a week; CEO blames Google's AI
October 30, 2026 · 2 min read
Reddit's Q3 shareholder letter says search traffic dropped "by more than 1 million referrals on average per week" in October, after a third quarter in which search referrals were "down meaningfully." U.S. logged-out daily users fell from 30.1 million to 27.3 million between Q2 and Q3.
CEO Steve Huffman said Reddit's main theory is Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, which at a minimum push other results down the page. A second factor is machine-translated content, which Reddit believes ranks lower outside the U.S. He said AI Mode "does not drive traffic," not for Reddit and, as far as he knows, not for anyone else.
Reddit will also test a logged-in-only version of the site in some markets outside the U.S. this quarter.
The causes are Reddit's own hypothesis, and the letter does not say how much of the decline comes from each cause.
What it means for your business: Even a site that Google's AI answers cite often says the clicks are drying up. Measure your business by leads and calls, not just website visits, and make sure your Google Business Profile is complete, because that is what people still act on.
Source: Search Engine Journal — Matt G. Southern, October 30, 2026
Technical SEO
Unconfirmed: Google may be bringing back 100 results per page
October 30, 2026 · 1 min read
Brodie Clark wrote on X and LinkedIn that "Google seems to have brought back the ability to use num=100 in some capacity". He saw 99 organic results on one page after clicking from a knowledge panel.
Google removed the num=100 setting in September 2025 as one of its anti-scraping measures, and that broke many rank-tracking tools. Barry Schwartz tried several browsers and could not reproduce it. Clark also noted that Google's "/goto" links are getting around earlier workarounds, "likely an issue for some rank trackers too."
This is a single sighting that Search Engine Roundtable could not reproduce, and Google has not confirmed it.
What it means for your business: Rank-tracking tools have been less reliable since Google's anti-scraping changes. Until that settles, judge your business's rankings by Google Search Console data, not third-party rank reports.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, October 30, 2026
Technical SEO
Google says 404 errors don't hurt your rankings, so fixing them is your call
October 29, 2026 · 2 min read
In a new Google Search Central video, Google's Gary Illyes and Cherry Sireetorn Prommawin talked about the 404 "not found" errors that show up in Search Console. Illyes said: "No, we don't care at all. An HTTP 404 status code literally just means not found... There is no penalty, no secret Google jail, and no negative impact on your other healthy pages."
Their advice has three steps. Redirect an old page to a new one only when a true replacement exists, such as an updated article or a newer model of the same product. Return a 404 or 410 when nothing replaces the page. And use a helpful custom 404 page. Prommawin warned against sending every dead page to the home page: "That just confuses humans and make your data very confusing."
They also said 404s don't use up crawl budget the way server errors do. Server errors (5xx) and 429 "too many requests" responses are the ones that slow Googlebot down.
What it means for your business: If Search Console lists 404 errors on your site, don't panic. Redirect an old page only if it still gets visits or links and you have a real replacement for it, and leave the rest alone. Keep an eye on server errors instead, because those are the ones that make Google crawl your site less.
Source: Search Engine Journal — Roger Montti, October 29, 2026
AI Search
Is Google showing fewer source cards in AI Overviews? Reports conflict
October 29, 2026 · 1 min read
SEO Brodie Clark posted screenshots on X showing desktop AI Overviews without the card that usually lists two or three source websites next to the answer. He wrote that he is seeing "a drastic reduction in their appearance" and that this is likely a contributing factor if sites are seeing a significant decline in impressions and visibility in recent days.
Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Roundtable says he tried for over a day and could not reproduce it, though he noticed the card sometimes loads late. He asked Google's Rajan Patel whether it is a bug or a test and had no reply at the time of publication. Clark replied that he is "seeing it consistently across a lot of test queries now."
This is unconfirmed: one SEO reports it, the reporter could not reproduce it, and Google had not commented at publication.
What it means for your business: If your Search Console impressions dipped in the last few days on searches where Google shows an AI answer, this may be part of the reason. Because it isn't confirmed, write down the date and wait about a week before you change any pages because of it.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable — Barry Schwartz, October 29, 2026
AI Search
Study: pages cited by ChatGPT and Google's AI more often open with a direct answer
October 28, 2026 · 2 min read
An analysis by TJ Robertson's agency, TJ Digital, looked at 193,507 AI answers. It tracked 4,167 non-branded buying questions for 78 client companies across ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and AI Overviews between 27 August and 21 October 2026.
In a blind rating of 195 page pairs, 20% of pages the AI cited opened with a direct answer, compared with 5% of Google top-10 pages the AI never used. Half of those passed-over pages didn't answer the question anywhere in the section the raters read; 23% of cited pages missed it too. Against pages the AI retrieved but didn't cite, the split was 23% vs 14%.
After adjusting for Ahrefs Domain Rating and page type, a year in the page title came with more than twice the odds of being cited. A date in the last 12 months came with 88% higher odds, tables 69%, first-hand experience 45% and prices 28%. Author bylines (28% lower odds) and calls to action (12% lower) went the other way. Robertson says he can't explain those two and wouldn't remove either because of them.
The study comes from an agency that sells SEO and AI-search services, it shows associations rather than proof of cause, and a per-engine table referenced on the study page was not visible as of 28 October.
What it means for your business: Put the answer to your customer's question at the top of the page, not halfway down. Keep your pages dated and up to date, and include real details such as prices and first-hand experience where you can. That gives AI tools something clear to quote.
Source: Search Engine Journal — Matt G. Southern, October 28, 2026