Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web. Google said with SEO…

Google Ads is releasing two new features for multi-location retailers including Local Customer Optimization and Store Sales in Data Manager. Ginny Marvin, the Google Ads Liaison, wrote on X, “Ahead of the holiday rush, we’re introducing two features for multi-location retailers, restaurants and local services to drive and measure in-store sales with ease.”

Google is now answering nearly 100% of all people also asked questions with AI Overviews. 14 months ago, it was only at about 12% but now we are seeing thar nearly all People also ask sections are answered by AI Overviews.

Google has updated its location asset requirements for Google Ads. Google said it made these updates to “improve terminology, enhance readability, and include troubleshooting steps applicable to advertisers using location assets.”

John Mueller has one of his Google lines again, he said in response to someone trying to pick the right answer for an SEO question – he said, “Sometimes there is no absolute right answer — but you can choose one, and make it the right answer.”

The Google Merchant Center AI Performance Insights which launched in July and has begun expanding to more regions earlier this month has also gained new metrics. AI Search intent, AI Search terms and AI attributes have been added to the Google Merchant Center AI Performance Insights report.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…

Google has posted a new help document explaining the regional differences in the Google Search experience. This document includes information about search experiences available in certain countries, such as aggregator units, supplier units, and carousels.

Some advertisers are starting to see the new AI dashboards within Google Ads. As a reminder, Google showed off these Gemini-powered Google Ads dashboards last May and then in August said they would roll out soon and I guess now some advertisers are seeing it.

Google is testing a new form of responses in AI Mode that offers paginated follow-up questions and responses, with a skip button to skip them.

The Google Search Console link report has now not been updated for a month. The last time the report was updated with fresh link data was around August 8, 2026 – a month ago.

Google Business Profiles insights analytics report is missing data for the whole month of September 2026. Normally these reports can be a few days delayed but now we 8 days into the month and I still do not see any data.

Google has rolled out its Digital Markets Act changes in Europe and called it the “largest reduction in quality” in the life of Google Search. “The changes mark the largest reduction in quality of service ‘at the world’s most popular internet search engine in its 29-year search history,” Google official told Reuters.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…