Google I/O is later today and we are already seeing search ranking volatility kick into high gear. Google added markdown files to its help docs but says Google Search does not use it. OpenAI has a web cache. Bing is testing new fonts, links and products. Microsoft Clarity now shows AI citations.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google I/O 2026 Search Ranking Volatility & Update
  Today is Google I/O, where Google announces many of its new features across its products, including Google Search. It is not uncommon to see Google search ranking volatility spike around Google I/O, and that is exactly what we are seeing today - the morning of Google I/O.
• Google Adds Markdown Files To Help Docs But Not Used For Search
  Google has added markdown files, .md.txt files, to the Google Search help documents. But John Mueller from Google said that these are not being used for Search or generative AI responses in Search.
• OpenAI / ChatGPT Has A Web Cache
  OpenAI's ChatGPT web search feature does offer a web cache, an offline, locally stored version of web pages that have been previously crawled. This should not come as a surprise, as all search engines store cached versions of web pages (even if they don't show it to us).
• Bing Tests New Fonts, Links & Products Within Copilot Answers
  Microsoft is running a number of tests and experiments for Bing Search and the Copilot answers within Bing Search. These tests include font changes, link updates, product results and more.
• Microsoft Clarity New AI Citations Report
  Microsoft, not to be outdone by Google, added AI citations to Microsoft Clarity, its web analytics tool. This report shows how your content is referenced in AI-generated answers.
• Google Bear Relaxing On Sofa
  Here is a photo from the lobby at the Google office in France. It shows they have this massive stuffed bear animal relaxing on an expensive looking sofa. I found this on Instagram.

Other Great Search Threads:

• 2026 is very much the year of agents and AI coding, lots to happen still!, Logan Kilpatrick on X
• Gemini surpassed both Yahoo! and Yahoo! Japan over the last month and is getting closer to Wikipedia., Similarweb on X
• SEOs hate this one trick, John Mueller on Bluesky
• They're also weird for SEO (since the text can appear in a title / snippet in search results)., John Mueller on Bluesky
• This is a technical issue triggered by a recent, routine update to satellite imagery in Google Maps and Earth, which accidentally restored old imagery from before the fire. We're fixing it ASAP., News from Google on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google Ads costs keep rising, but conversion rates improved in 2025
• The 5-layer framework for measuring GEO performance
• From video tapes to AI: Frederick Vallaeys on the evolution of paid search
• SEO/GEO audits with AI fail without these 3 essentials
• 4 ways to strengthen buy-in for technical SEO work
• When did 25% efficiency become not enough?

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• Amazon Alexa Plus Now Produces AI-Generated Podcast Episodes, Variety
• Arizona Students Boo Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt During Graduation Speech, Business Insider
• Google's Own AI Researchers Jockey for Access to Its Computing, Bloomberg
• The New Class of AI Jobs Is Here, Business Insider
• What A.I. Did to My College Class, New York Times

Industry & Business

• Baidu's Profit Slides Again Amid Slow AI Payoff, Wall Street Journal
• Google and Blackstone to Create New AI Cloud Company, Wall Street Journal
• Google DeepMind's Demis Hassabis emerges as early Anthropic investor, Financial Times (Sub)

Links & Content Marketing

• Creating 'Non-Commodity' Content That Isn't Shit, Leadership SEO
• What Is Content Engineering, and How Do You Do It?, Ahrefs

Local & Maps

• Google brings real estate listings back to mobile search, Housing Wire
• Google Maps Is Getting an Insane Navigation Feature That'll Never Launch on Android Auto, AutoEvolution
• Google Maps scrubs images of LA wildfires ahead of elections, NY Post
• Make Content Your Local Marketing Priority, Online Ownership

SEO

• By the Time You Notice the Traffic Drop, the Damage Is Already Done., Koozai
• Creating 'Chain of Evidence' (CoE) Content for GEO / AEO, Lumar
• Google's Guidance on AI Search is Naive and Self-Serving, iPullRank
• How to Think Like AI So You Can Optimize for AI, Adam Riemer
• SEO Isn't Dead, It Just Needs A Therapist And Better Attribution Models, MediaPost
• New Research: Google's AI Overviews Now Cost Websites 58% of Their Clicks, Business Wire
• Screaming Frog SEO Spider Update '" Version 24.0, Screaming Frog

PPC

• Consent Mode Diagnostics Cards Now Available for Apps, PPC News Feed
• Google Ads Benchmarks 2026: Competitive Data & Insights for Every Industry, WordStream
• PMax Performance Dropped? Here's What to Audit First, ZATO PPC Marketing
• Search Partner and Display Exclusions in Performance Max, PPC News Feed
• Why (And How) Optmyzr's AI Beats ChatGPT and Claude at Managing Google Ads, Optmyzr

Other Search

• Gradient Google icon redesign starts rolling out, 9to5Google

Feedback:

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