There are a number of reports that the performance reports, both for Google Search and the Generative AI features reports, are showing a decline in impressions and clicks (AI report does not show clicks) starting around August 12th and 13th. This seems like a bug because the drop seems to be super widespread.

Update, Google has confirmed the issue - the story is updated below.

Here is one chart showing the Generative AI performance report impressions dropping off a cliff:

Here are some of those reports:

Glenn Gabe wrote on X:

Heads-up, I'm hearing from site owners about a weird drop in clicks starting around 8/12 in GSC that might be a bug. Visibility reporting is stable and analytics shows no drop. Just a heads-up if you are seeing a weird drop starting 8/12 but visibility is still strong + analytics shows no drop. Stay tuned.

Juan wrote on Bluesky:

Seeing a decline in impressions in the Generative AI report in GSC since Aug 13th/14th. Coincidentally, we seem to hace drop our number of citations. We wonder if Google changed something in AIOs and has not been reported?

Meenka Pandita wrote on LinkedIn:

Anyone else seeing a sharp drop in Google Search Console's AI impressions around August 12?

I'm seeing almost every client project show the same pattern: weeks of growth, then a sudden cliff-edge drop within a couple of days.

Because it's happening across multiple sites at the same time.

Here is Meenka's chart:

A thread on Google Webmaster Forums says:

In Google Search Console's Generative AI Features report, I'm seeing a very large decrease in impressions in the past 2 days (starting 8/13).

Is anyone else experiencing similar, or know of relevant changes made by Google recently?

Here is that chart:

Dave Smart replied to that post saying:

I am seeing a similar pattern across a number of properties, so I suspect there's perhaps partial data for some days, rather than something specific to your site / property.

I'll escalate it, just to set some expectations, I can't give a timeframe of when or even if we'll hear something back, but I'll make sure to update you if I do.

Are you noticing this in both your Search performance report and Generative AI performance report within Google Search Console?

Forum discussion at X, Bluesky, LinkedIn and Google Webmaster Forums.

Update: John Mueller confirmed the issue on Bluesky and wrote:

Hi Juan, we're aware of this issue and working on resolving it. This is just a logging issue and not representative of visibility changes in Search. We're adding an annotation in Search Console to let folks know about this in the near future.

Google added to its data anomalies page:

August 13 (Generative AI in Search)

A logging error caused a decrease in impressions on the Generative AI performance report in Search for data starting on August 13, 2026. This issue affects data logging only and is ongoing.

A month ago, we reported that Google said it would be rolling out AI-generated images within AI Overviews in Google Search. Well, it seems Google is starting to roll out those AI-generated images in AI Overviews this week. (Update: Google has confirmed this as a small experiment and has decided to stop testing this the following Monday.)

Google wrote then, "To help bring those unique ideas to life, we're bringing image generation directly into AI Overviews in Search."

The folks at Inspired Taste posted on X an example of Google showing AI-generated images for recipe results. And as we expected, they are not happy about it. He said this is trying to "replace creators who buy groceries for testing, photography, and filming recipe videos."

Here is what it looks like closed:

Here is what it looks like opened:

Inspired Taste wrote:

We were updating our spaghetti squash recipe today and while searching for ourselves in Google we were shown an AIO with AI step cartoons.

We specifically have an entire section in our article and recipe video demonstrating how to safety cut the squash (which can be dangerous), add a ton more flavor with herbs, and show how you can cook your squash much faster in the microwave.

This AIO is directly trying to replace creators who buy groceries for testing, photography, and filming recipe videos. We also have conversations with our visitors who have questions. We are doing all of the work and Google is directly trying to over simplify everything and replace us with AIOs like this.

There is also risk that a searcher might think that one of the websites cited in the AIO did the illustrations. It is very confusing and extremely oversimplified.

No shock here that creators are not a fan of this...

This is horrible @rmstein and @rajanpatel. This can't be the direction AIOs and AI Mode take moving forward. cc @rustybrick @glenngabe pic.twitter.com/AnVqlmrsHg

— Inspired Taste (@inspiredtaste) August 13, 2026

Forum discussion at X.

Update: Google confirmed this was a small experiment and they stopped it. Robby Stein from Google told us, "This was a small experiment we're no longer running."

This was a small experiment we're no longer running. FYI this is not the Nano Banana feature we announced in July, which only triggers when users explicitly ask to generate an image

— Robby Stein (@rmstein) August 17, 2026

I updated the time stamp on this story from Friday morning, August 14th to Monday afternoon, August 17th.

Gemini 3.7 Flash now powers some queries on AI Mode in Google Search. Google has posted a job listing for a Product Manager for Content Automation. Google Ads is testing super-sized review stars. Apple has added over 4,000 new IP addresses for Applebot. Microsoft Advertising is testing displaying larger images in the Bing sponsored results. Google is testing blue hyperlinks in the ad descriptions within the sponsored results.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google Search Using Gemini 3.7 Flash In AI Mode
  Late on Friday, Google's Robby Stein and Rajan Patel announced on X and X that Google Search is now using its latest AI model named Gemini 3.7 Flash. This model was first announced on Thursday, but Google made no mention of Search, it only said it is its "most intelligent workhorse model yet for coding and agents."
• Google Ads Tests New Review Layout With Supersized Star
  Google Ads is testing a new layout for review stars for a product in the mobile sponsored results within Google Search. I am pretty sure I've seen this layout before, but it is not common and I don't think I covered it before.
• Apple Adds Thousands Of New IP Addresses For Applebot To Crawl From
  Apple has added over 4,000 new IP addresses for Applebot, Apple's Siri and Apple Intelligence crawler, to crawl from. Specifically, there are now 18 of /24 CIDR ranges and 3 of /28, which totals 4,656 new IP addresses.
• Bing Testing Large Images In Sponsored Results
  Microsoft Advertising is testing displaying larger images in the Bing sponsored results. These images are full block size images that take up a lot of space in the search results.
• Google Ads Tests Blue Hyperlinks In Ad Descriptions
  Google is testing blue hyperlinks in the ad descriptions within the sponsored results. These are clickable, keyword rich, links in the ads, similar to what we saw last week with the keyword rich anchor text links but those were black links, not blue.
• Google Hiring A Product Manager For Content Automation
  Google has posted a job listing for a Product Manager for Content Automation, I kid you not. The job posting was posted about two weeks ago and is available for two Google locations, Boulder, CO, USA and Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
• Google Color Sweater
  Here is a photo of a new Googler, Noogler, wearing a Google colored sweater, standing outside of the Google London office.

Other Great Search Threads:

• New update #GoogleAds Got access to Google Ad's new AI Dashboard - beta today. Old dashboard still there if you're not ready to trust it yet (which I do). Testing it out this week., Govind Singh Panwar on X
• Today's Google Diff... Google Adds Watch-While Ads Format Google added documentation for "Watch-While Ads" under Demand Gen image ad formats. The note covers Watch Page placement, supported campaigns, manual closing and the 30-second inactivity timeout., Shauvik Kumar on X
• Arpan Banerjee discovered that Google support now gives the option to choose the campaigns in its form, Adriaan Dekker
• Google is rolling out its Gemini Spark assistant in the EU and it will be available for free users as well., Radu Oncescu on X
• Half the SEO industry is doing digital PR and calling it link building. The other half is doing link building and calling it digital PR., Jeremy Rivera on Bluesky
• Not sure what happened here with this YMYL site (health), but that's a huge drop on 7/8... The site does seem to be recovering now. Maybe a technical issue in early July that was causing problems? Hard to say at this point since rankings are returning. Interesting one for sure., Glenn Gabe on X
• We've seen a few Discover cards, albeit timidly, on Snapchat posts/topics, given that Google intended the platform to appear in "search profiles"., Damien Andell on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Gemini 3.7 Flash rolling out in Google Search
• The 4-step roadmap to AI agents for Google Ads
• Google Merchant Center for Agencies now supports up to 1,000 linked accounts
• Google Analytics adds custom conversion attribution windows
• Google sets AI Max migration timeline for Search campaigns
• LLM traffic converts differently '" here's what to do about it
• The latest jobs in search marketing
• Demand Gen shows why PPC can no longer hide behind intent
• The missing step in vibe coding: Verify what actually shipped

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• Anthropic set AI agents loose on the same task. They started a turf war., TechCrunch
• Apple has trained its own LLM for Apple Intelligence in China, Apple Insider
• Anthropic sees AI risks rising, no plan to release stronger "Model 2", Axios
• Empty shelves or lost keys? Recall is the bottleneck for parametric factuality, Google Research
• So You Want to Build an A.I. Star?, New York Times
• 1,000 AI Agents Started Agreeing Without Anyone Telling Them To, ScienceAlert
• How Claude's text watermarking works, Anthropic
• How Google is Making Private AI Practical with Homomorphic Encryption, Google Blog

Industry & Business

• OpenAI sheds senior execs in pre-IPO refresh, Axios
• How Big Tech’s Earnings Are Inflated by Other Tech Companies, Wall Street Journal
• OpenAI CFO Friar tells investors that enterprise bigger than consumer, CNBC
• Anthropic Revenue Ahead of IPO Surges Over 14-Fold in Second Quarter, Bloomberg
• OpenAI upheaval mounts as Sam Altman readies IPO push, Financial Times (Sub)
• Anthropic IPO valuation hinges on $190-200 billion 2028 revenue forecast, sources say, Reuters
• Nvidia Downsizes Plans for $250 Billion Guarantee of OpenAI Data Center, Wall Street Journal

Links & Content Marketing

• Claude Now Watermarks Everything It Writes. Here's What It Means for Marketers, Ahrefs
• Content Effort: The Google Ranking Feature Nobody Talks About, Zyppy

Local & Maps

• Google Maps On Android Auto Is Getting Its Biggest Update In Years, SlashGear
• Google Maps popular times graph is missing for some users, Android Authority
• I stopped trusting the fastest route in Google Maps. Here's why, Android Police
• I bought a car with Google built-in, but Apple Maps keeps winning, Android Police
• Don't Switch to Google Maps: Why Waze No Longer Showed Police Warnings, Autoevolution

Other Search

• Apple has a huge product roadmap for the smart home: Here’s what’s coming, 9to5Mac

PPC

• Reddit Is Where Search & Social Collide. Is Your Paid Strategy Ready for the Impact?, PPC Hero
• Apple Maps is now taking ads, Apple Insider
• EU Political Ads Declaration Required in Google Ads, PPC News Feed
• Google Updates Demand Gen VTC Optimization, PPC News Feed

Search Features

• Gemini app gets 3.7 Flash, setting to turn off corner watermarks, 9To5Google
• I replaced Google Search on my phone to get instant answers without scrolling through ads, Android Police
• ChatGPT subscribers can now open and edit Google Drive files from inside the chat, 9to5Mac

SEO

• The Keyword Universe Was Always Smaller Than We Thought, Duane Forrester Decodes
• Google, Anthropic and OpenAI crawlers fetched dejan.ai's robots.txt 1,150 times and its llms.txt 4 times in 30 days, DEJAN

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News, add as a preferred source on Google and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or just contact us the old fashion way.

Late on Friday, Google's Robby Stein and Rajan Patel announced on X and X that Google Search is now using its latest AI model named Gemini 3.7 Flash. This model was first announced on Thursday, but Google made no mention of Search, it only said it is its "most intelligent workhorse model yet for coding and agents."

This will work in Google Search's AI Mode for Google AI Pro & Ultra subscribers in English at first as of last Friday. This is a global roll out and if you are a subscriber, you can access it by clicking the plus icon and then selecting the model.

So I asked Rajan Patel and Robby Stein and friends on Thursday what about Search:

is 3.7 Flash integrated into Google Search in any way? I don't see that mentioned @rmstein @thefox @rajanpatel

— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) August 13, 2026

Then the next day, they post posted on X about it. They said:

Next stop for Gemini 3.7 Flash? Google Search!

We're bringing our most intelligent workhorse model to Search for even more helpful responses. Rolling out globally today in AI Mode for Google AI Pro & Ultra subscribers in English. Just click the plus icon, select the model and get searching.

Robby Stein added that this is "better at following instructions and understanding your intent, so you get even more helpful responses."

This should eventually fully replace 3.5 Flash-Lite on Google Search as Google removes the subscription requirement.

Again, this is currently only live in AI Mode for paid subscribers.

Glenn Gabe and Gagan Ghotra compared the old model to the new:

Testing Gemini 3.7 Flash in AI Mode versus the default version most users have (which I believe is Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite). Google said it's better at understanding intent. So far not really seeing a huge difference there. I'll keep testing, though. :) Here are two comparisons of'... pic.twitter.com/MV0qoi6IG4

— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) August 15, 2026

AI Mode (default - 3.6 Flash) vs now 3.7 Flash model
For local results this change isn't significant I noticed ..... pretty much whole ordered list of entities mentioned in answer is the same but in the main top 3 citations it's usually different URLs compared to what it was for'... pic.twitter.com/edlUoXgasI

— Gagan Ghotra (@gaganghotra_) August 16, 2026

OK, I just found a good example of 3.7 Flash outperforming the default AI mode model for most people (3.5 Flash-Lite). I asked how Google review updates roll out now and 3.7 did a much, much better job at understanding what I meant. 3.5 Flash-Lite was referring to Google Business'... pic.twitter.com/xiU6ePw71p

— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) August 17, 2026

Forum discussion at X and X.

Google Ads is testing a new layout for review stars for a product in the mobile sponsored results within Google Search. I am pretty sure I've seen this layout before, but it is not common and I don't think I covered it before.

This gives the review start real estate a lot more room and actually makes the ad stand out a lot more, and I kind of like how it looks.

This was spotted by Sachin Patel who posted a screenshot on X:

Have you seen this layout before? Do you like it?

Forum discussion at X.

Apple has added over 4,000 new IP addresses for Applebot, Apple's Siri and Apple Intelligence crawler, to crawl from. Specifically, there are now 18 of /24 CIDR ranges and 3 of /28, which totals 4,656 new IP addresses.

I spotted this via Ryan Siddle who posted this on LinkedIn, he wrote, "It looks like Apple might be entering the AI race with a new flavour of Applebot/Siri." "We've seen on several occasions OpenAI ramp up their IPs to warm the servers. The most recent was the Sol 5.6 release, but it wasn't at the scale Apple just did. Apple also hadn't updated their IPs for many years," he added.

Here is his screenshot:

Ryan said you may want to keep your eyes open for something big from Apple, he said:

For anyone interested in AI Search, make sure Applebot can access your platform. I think something big might be about to happen...

The last time Apple updated its Applebot documentation was in June to add information about AI, Siri, Apple Intelligence and more.

Forum discussion at LinkedIn.

Microsoft Advertising is testing displaying larger images in the Bing sponsored results. These images are full block size images that take up a lot of space in the search results.

We've seen Microsoft Bing test large images on some ads before - but this version is on mobile search.

This was spotted by Sachin Patel who posted these on X and on SEW - here is one example:

For comparison purposes, this is the version I see with the image:

Bing also can show this ad without any images.

Which are you more likely to click on?

Forum discussion at X.

Google is testing blue hyperlinks in the ad descriptions within the sponsored results. These are clickable, keyword rich, links in the ads, similar to what we saw last week with the keyword rich anchor text links but those were black links, not blue.

Here is a screenshot of this from Sachin Patel who posted some examples on X:

In this example the words "Custom Dashboards" is in blue underlined hyperlinked font.

I guess we will be seeing more links within the Google Search sponsored results descriptions going forward?

Forum discussion at X.

Google has posted a job listing for a Product Manager for Content Automation, I kid you not. The job posting was posted about two weeks ago and is available for two Google locations, Boulder, CO, USA and Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

How funny and maybe ironic is it that Google is hiring someone for content automation?

The job listing itself doesn't say much about content or automation in the description, but it is in the title. The description reads:

The Partner and Operations Solutions team at Google is responsible for developing and maintaining a suite of critical tools that empower partners and internal operations teams. We build and evolve the platforms that streamline operations, surface actionable insights, and power every stage of the partner life-cycle, keeping operations efficient and partnerships thriving. Our tools portfolio includes Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems , partner-facing tooling, our spend management platform, workforce management solutions, and other productivity-related platforms.

In gTech Users and Products (gUP), our mission is to advocate for Google's users by creating helpful and trusted experiences across the product ecosystem. We achieve this by meeting partners and consumers where they are with support and help, representing their needs with our product partners and proposing fixes and features that elevate their engagement with Google's diverse product ecosystem. Additionally we provide a range of product services that ensure our products are optimized for every user, no matter where they are in the world (e.g., localization, digitization, partner integration and more).

The responsibilities include:

• Develop and advocate product goal, strategy, and multi-year roadmap for the product area, ensuring alignment with gUP goals and stakeholder needs.
• Conduct research and analysis of users and their journeys, and use market and performer analyses to identify unmet needs and opportunities
• Lead the end-to-end product life-cycle, from ideation and definition through development, launch, and iteration, ensuring timely delivery of high-quality innovative products in collaboration with engineering, design, and partner teams.
• Define key performance indicators (KPIs) to track product performance, identify areas for optimization, and develop strategies to drive user growth, engagement, and desired outcomes.
• Collaborate with and provide clear direction to cross-functional teams, including engineering, UX, partner-facing teams, and operations

This is just funny to see Google post a job about content automation... I found this via Noah in the SEO Community Slack channel, which is private unless you get an invite.

Here is a screenshot of the job listing, in case it disappears shortly after I post it:

Forum discussion at The SEO Community.

Google Ads is removing the ability to manually set your language targeting next month. Google is placing AI-generated images in AI Overviews, and it is not good. Googlebot says it crawls from California but it might not. Google has a new local reviews feature to report owner responses. Google updated a help document within the Google Merchant Center help area to document that Google Merchant Center for Agencies can now link to up to 1,000 Merchant Center accounts. And I posted the weekly SEO video recap.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google Ads Language Targeting Update Coming In September
  Google Ads will roll out a change to language targeting that will remove the ability to manually adjust the language setting. This change is happening next month, in September 2026. Google said its ad systems already match languages automatically and enhanced AI prioritization will automatically select the most relevant ad language when there are eligible ads in multiple languages, Google told me.
• Google AI Overviews With AI-Generated Images In The Wild
  A month ago, we reported that Google said it would be rolling out AI-generated images within AI Overviews in Google Search. Well, it seems Google is starting to roll out those AI-generated images in AI Overviews this week.
• Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google AI Home Page Test, AI Local Pack Slop, Google Poaching Advertisers & Meta Building A Search Engine
  This week, we of course had more Google search ranking volatility, this time on the 12th. Google is testing new AI buttons on its home page...
• Google Merchant Center For Agencies Can Link Up To 1,000 Accounts
  Google updated a help document within the Google Merchant Center help area to document that Google Merchant Center for Agencies can now link to up to 1,000 Merchant Center accounts. Previously, that number was not there, and now we know - up to 1,000 accounts can be linked to a single agency account.
• Googlebot Say They Are Coming From California But Might Not
  As we know, Google has often declared that its crawlers, Googlebot, etc, come from Mountain View, California. But the truth is, that is where they self-declare the bots are coming from. Google has data centers all over the world, and even though Google may be declaring the crawler is coming from a specific location, it might be coming from a different location.
• Google Local Report Owner Response
  Google has a new reporting option for reviews in Google Business Profiles and Google Local. This one is called "Report owner response." It lets you tell Google if an owner response to a review is off-topic, contains profanity, is harassing, discriminatory, hateful, or includes personal information.
• Don't Fall Off The Google UK Rooftop
  This photo made me a bit nervous, as this lady was a bit too close to the edge of the Google London rooftop. Google had some sort of rooftop party at the office there.

Other Great Search Threads:

• I just looked at site: searches for a few major brands and found thousands of impressions for site: searches, but almost 0 clicks. The number is generally increasing over time, too. Thinking out loud: could this be coming from ChatGPT? If ChatGPT is doing more site: searches, Lily Ray on X
• last 4 weeks hearing a lot about thin content manual actions �' seems like Google web spam team did actions against a set of sites which they have been keeping eye on #SEO, Gagan Ghotra on X
• Ads Decoded season 2 launches next week! Kicking off with Merchant Center tips for Holiday Retail, and we've got some special things planned this season. Let me know your big questions for the Google Ads product teams in the comments., AdsLiaison on X
• Everyone (myself included) assumes AI is swallowing Search and killing organic discovery. Surprisingly, Shopify's numbers say otherwise: AI-referred sessions are up 3x YoY, but organic still grew 12% on a much bigger base. The pie itself got bigger., Mikhail Parakhin on X
• You’re invited: Meet the new AI agent in Merchant Center, Menachem Ani on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google Ads is removing language targeting from Search campaigns
• Shopify: AI referrals up 197%, but organic search still leads traffic
• Microsoft Clarity AI Scrape-to-Referral insights report
• Link building works better when you think beyond links
• Your B2B SEO can win the click and lose the consideration
• Only 1.1% of news publisher visits come directly from AI: Study
• Most AI visibility gains are just technical debt repayment
• Why SEO uncertainty is creating opportunities for challengers

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• ChatGPT and Gemini disagree on the best software in a third of categories, and the review sites have been skipped, TheNextWeb
• I Tested a Popular A.I. Slop Detector. It Felt Empowering., New York Times
• DeepSeek Releases Flagship V4-Pro Model in Challenge to Kimi K3, The Information
• Microsoft starts merging its Copilot consumer and business apps in advance of 'Super App' rollout, GeekWire
• August 2026 Ramp AI Index: Cracks in the AI thesis, Ramp
• ChatGPT can now remember what you did on your Mac — without screenshots, The New Stack
• Gemini 3.7 Flash: our most intelligent workhorse model, Google Blog
• Trust isn't a schema field: how machines decide to believe you, MLforSEO

Analytics

• See Which AI Crawlers Drive Real Website Visits, Microsoft Clarity Blog
• #GTMTips: Split GA Events Between Client-Side And Server-Side Dispatch, Simo Ahava's blog
• Updated conversion window configuration, Google Analytics Help

Industry & Business

• Former Google Exec Has Been in Talks for a $10 Billion Valuation for AI Startup, Business Insider
• AI Looms Over Software Companies — and the Investors Who Piled Into Them, Bloomberg
• DeepMind’s Hassabis Pitched AI-Oversight Body Before Shake-Up, Wall Street Journal
• OpenAI Hires New Chief Revenue Officer After Less Than a Year, Bloomberg
• OpenAI revenue chief Denise Dresser leaving, second major executive departure in days, CNBC
• OpenAI’s Revenue Run Rate Tops $40 Billion Ahead of IPO, Bloomberg
• The Safety Reckoning Inside OpenAI, Wired
• Customers Can't Depose Google, Apple CEOs, 9th Circ. Says, Law360
• ‘That is not acceptable’: Judge orders Google to make rival app store installs easier, The Verge

Links & Content Marketing

• How To Handle the Old Content AI Keeps Finding, Content Marketing Institute
• Building Quality Links Without Quality Content (8 Examples), The Upper Ranks

Local & Maps

• Prepare your business for the AI era, Google Small Business on LinkedIn
• How Enterprise Brands Can Scale Local Marketing Strategy, Brainlabs

Other Search

• The Future Is for Everyone: Free AI Glasses for Every Blind and Visually Impaired Adult Vision Ireland Supports, Facebook

PPC

• 37 Proven Ways to Use AI in Marketing, Ahrefs
• How To Find the Right Non-Branded Keywords, JumpFly
• AI Max for Search: The Complete Guide to Campaign Controls, Targeting, and Performance Reporting, Amsive
• Homebuilder Case Study: Get Better Leads with Paid Ads, Hop Skip Media
• The ChatGPT ad gap: why major brands are losing ground on brand comparison prompts, PPC Live
• Colgate-Palmolive’s bet on AI Max pays off with 44X conversions, Google

Search Features

• Gemini is getting over a dozen new connected apps – here's the list, 9To5Google
• Build mini-apps with Gemini in Google Sheets, Google Blog

SEO

• Publishers are replacing Google with a little bit of everything, Digiday
• "Yes, Go On": The AI Conversations Leaking Into Your Search Console, Suganthan
• How To Find And Organize AI Mode Queries Via the Search Analytics API, Analytics Edge, and Claude Cowork, GSQI
• How to grow your AI Visibility with community signals, Growth Memo
• AI and organic search are doing different jobs: What Shopify's data shows (2026), Shopify
• Introducing citation decay in Profound, Profound
• Does Your Website Still Matter in the Zero-Click Era?, SparkToro

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News, add as a preferred source on Google and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or just contact us the old fashion way.

This week, we of course had more Google search ranking volatility, this time on the 12th. Google is testing new AI buttons on its home page, which makes you wonder. Google Search Console expanded its generative AI reporting tools again. Google AI Overviews for local results show AI slop. Google is creating AI-generated images in AI Overviews. Google can show spammy Google-selected canonical in Search Console. Don't misconfigure your Cloudflare account, it can cause major issues for your SEO. Some SEOs are taking over expired X accounts of Googlers. Google Business Profiles now disallows repeated bilingual names and transliterated scripts. You can now report owner responses to reviews in Google. Google is still stealing advertiser accounts from agencies. Google Ads will drop the manual targeting setting in September. Google Ads is testing advertiser names and favicons at the top of ads. Google Ads and Google Analytics gain new AI features. Google Merchant Center performance reporting updates are coming August 24th. Microsoft Advertising has a new bulk edit and appeal for disapproved assets. ChatGPT Ads is testing AI-generated descriptive headlines. ChatGPT is making it harder to find sources in the interface. Google amends its lawsuit against SerpAPI citing licensed content. META/Facebook is crawling the web, maybe building an AI search engine. That was the search news this week at the Search Engine Roundtable.

Sponsor: This video is sponsored by Ahrefs. Did you know there's a free version of Ahrefs? It has six tools - Site Explorer, Site Audit, Web Analytics, Social Media Manager, AI Content Helper, and SEO Toolbar. All free, no card required, no expiration date. Go to ahrefs.com/free and start working on your website's visibility.

Make sure to subscribe to our video feed or subscribe directly on iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or your favorite podcast player to be notified of these updates and download the video in the background. Here is the YouTube version of the feed. For the original iTunes version, click here.

Search Topics of Discussion:

• 0:00 - Introduction
• 1:00 - Google Search Ranking Volatility Spikes On August 12-13
• 1:28 - Google Home Page Create Images, Ask About Files & Brainstorm Buttons
• 2:23 - Google Search Console Generative AI Performance Report Expands To More
• 2:48 - Google AI Overview Local Results Pulling From Low-Quality Listicles
• 3:39 - Google AI Overviews With AI-Generated Images In The Wild
• 4:23 - Spammy Google Selected Canonical In Search Console
• 5:07 - Misconfiguring Cloudflare Can Hurt Your SEO Badly
• 6:02 - Googlebot Say They Are Coming From California But Might Not
• 7:07 - SEOs Taking Over Expired Google X Accounts
• 7:39 - Google Local Disallows Repeated Bilingual Names & Transliterations
• 8:08 - Google Local Report Owner Response
• 8:30 - Google Still Aggressively Poaching Agency Ads Accounts
• 9:33 - Google Ads Language Targeting Update Coming In September
• 10:09 - Google Ads Sponsored Results Tests Advertiser Name & Favicon Summary
• 10:33 - Google Ads & Google Analytics Gain New AI Features
• 10:52 - Google Merchant Center Performance Reporting Update Coming August 24th
• 11:18 - Microsoft Advertising Bulk Edit/Appeal Disapproved Assets
• 11:39 - ChatGPT Ads With AI Descriptive Heading
• 11:51 - OpenAI Makes The ChatGPT Sources Less Visible
• 12:20 - Google Amends Lawsuit Against SerpApi Over Licensed Content
• 13:03 - Meta/Facebook Crawling Web & May Be Building Search Engine
• 13:26 - Conclusion

Please do subscribe on YouTube or subscribe via iTunes or on your favorite RSS reader. Don't forget to comment below with the right answer and good luck!

Google Ads will roll out a change to language targeting that will remove the ability to manually adjust the language setting. This change is happening next month, in September 2026. Google said its ad systems already match languages automatically and enhanced AI prioritization will automatically select the most relevant ad language when there are eligible ads in multiple languages, Google told me.

Google updated its language targeting help document in the Google Ads support area with more details. Here is a summary of the changes:

(1) The manual setting for language targeting is going away.

(2) Google told me this is to simplify language targeting, eliminate redundancy and set up errors.

(3) Note that language targeting does not currently support language exclusions and still won't with this update.

(4) No account restructuring is required. If you currently utilize single-language campaign structures (e.g., one campaign dedicated to English, another to Spanish), these will continue to function normally.

(5) If you have multiple eligible campaigns or ad groups within your account, Google's enhanced AI-driven ad and asset group prioritization will now identify and select the most relevant ad language based on the user's search context.

(6) For the Google Ads API, there are some changes you should be aware of including to:

(A) Stop setting language criteria:

• For new Search campaigns: Stop including language criteria when creating or updating Search campaigns when sending Google Ads API requests.
• For existing Search campaigns: You may optionally remove existing language criteria from your Search campaigns for cleanliness, though it is not strictly required as they will simply not apply.

(B) Focus on Ad and Landing Page Language: Ensure your ad creatives and landing pages are clearly structured in the intended languages. Search ads will primarily use these signals, alongside user language preferences, for matching.

Here is a graphic Google sent me about these changes:

The new help document says at the top:

Note: Starting in September 2026, the way language targeting works is changing for Search campaigns and the Search Network portion of Performance Max campaigns.

• Search Campaigns: The campaign-level language targeting setting will be removed. Search ads will automatically match based on the language of your ads.
• Performance Max Campaigns: The campaign-level language setting will no longer apply to ads shown on the Google Search Network. These will function like standard Search campaigns described above. However, the language settings you select will continue to apply to other channels within your Performance Max campaign, such as YouTube, Display, Discover, and Gmail. Shopping ads within Performance Max are not affected by language settings.

Here is a screenshot of the email sent to advertisers from Natasha Kaurra on LinkedIn:

No action is required by advertisers for this change.

Hi Barry, It's got more info about the AI-driven ad group and asset prioritization that will be used to identify the most relevant ad based on the users' specific context and language preference at auction time.

— AdsLiaison (@adsliaison) August 14, 2026

Forum discussion at X.

Google updated a help document within the Google Merchant Center help area to document that Google Merchant Center for Agencies can now link to up to 1,000 Merchant Center accounts. Previously, that number was not there, and now we know - up to 1,000 accounts can be linked to a single agency account.

Google wrote:

As an Agency Admin, you can link up to 1000 client Merchant Center accounts.

Here is a screenshot:

As a reminder, Google rolled out Google Merchant Center for Agencies in the US and Canada after beta testing it in October 2025. In May, Google released Google Merchant Center for Agencies globally.

Forum discussion at X.

As we know, Google has often declared that its crawlers, Googlebot, etc, come from Mountain View, California. But the truth is, that is where they self-declare the bots are coming from. Google has data centers all over the world, and even though Google may be declaring the crawler is coming from a specific location, it might be coming from a different location.

I asked John Mueller of Google, after he wrote, "I'm pretty sure the physical location [of Googlebot] varies. What kind of issues are you seeing?" I asked as a follow up, "wasn't it mostly from California but some bots may test or come from other locations but majority CA?"

Gary Illyes from Google responded on Bluesky, "IP location is declared (this is just a text bit you can set for the IPs you manage) to be US, Mountain View, in most cases, but the actual egress points vary." The example he gave was, "if the IP is assigned to a cluster in ATL, the egress point will be ATL."

Gary added:

IP addresses don't have a "geographic location". They typically default to whatever the registrant's location is, or they're defaulted to some location based on BGP anycast routes. Think about addresses like 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8. Where do you put these on a map? They're technically everywhere...

So while Google crawlers might say they are coming from Mountain View, California, they may actually be coming from a different location.

We know blocking US traffic would cause big problems from Google crawling. We also know, Google can crawl locally from different regions if necessary with locally aware crawlers. In 2011, we saw Google crawling from China but that might have been a regional legal requirement.

Here are the Bluesky threads:

Forum discussion at Bluesky.

Google has a new reporting option for reviews in Google Business Profiles and Google Local. This one is called "Report owner response." It lets you tell Google if an owner response to a review is off-topic, contains profanity, is harassing, discriminatory, hateful, or includes personal information.

This allows users on Google to report responses left by the business owner, if they feel the response has issues.

This was spotted by Vinay Toshniwal who posted on LinkedIn and later Amy Toman who also posted on LinkedIn - here are screenshots:

And here is the form you submit after you report the owner response:

The options include:

• Off topic: Owner response doesn't pertain to an experience at or with this business
• Profanity: Owner response contains swear words, has sexually explicit language, or details graphic violence
• Bullying or harassment: Owner response personally attacks a specific individual
• Discrimination or hate speech: Owner response has harmful language about an individual or group based on identity
• Personal information: Owner response contains personal information, such as an address or phone number

You can also report legal issues with the response, if you need to.

Amy Toman wrote, "I'm so happy about this, because recently there have been a number of responses that were less-than-professional. Over the years, I've seen questionable responses ranging from comments about people's appearance to bank account details (yes!), both of which had to be addressed on the forum. I'm so glad they've addressed this. "

Forum discussion at LinkedIn.