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

Google sent out emails to some of its Local Service Ads advertisers introducing “rich content” that can be pulled from your URLs. Rich content includes service descriptions and special offers.

Google has updated its reviews policy to add two items; (1) do not have your staff solicit a certain number of reviews and (2) the content of the review should not mention the staff member’s name and information.

Microsoft is testing animating the Bing “people also search for” boxes. Bing will run this animated outline around the boxes when it loads, to give it more attention to the searcher.

Google rolled an important change with how AI Mode works yesterday and it can have a big impact on the experience for desktop users. Now when users click a link in AI Mode…

Google has released its annual Google Ads safety report and the big number that stands out to me is that Google removed 8.3 billion ads, which is up almost 63% from last year’s number of 5.1 billion. Google did say that 99% of those were removed before serving the ad, thanks to Gemini.

Google also released the annual Google Maps safety report saying blocked or removed over 292 million policy-violating reviews and removed over 13 million fake Business Profiles. Google also said it blocked 79 million inaccurate or unverified edits and placed posting restrictions on more than 783,000 policy-violating accounts.

This week we covered a new Google Search spam penalty for back button hijacking. Google also updated its spam report, it may now be used for manual actions. Google is aware of self-serving listicles and warns not to…

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

Google Ads has rolled out a new update to the channel performance report on the insights report that shows spend over time per channel. This shows you more clarity over your spending and if there are spikes or other reasons for those changes.

Google announced this week that Offerwall is now generally available on AdSense. Google has been expanding access to its publishers for Offerwall and now, it should be available to all.

Google has made a number of updates to its Merchant Center product data specifications. Some changes went into effect on April 14, 2026 and others happen June 30, 2026 and January 31…

Google Ads announced that starting in September Dynamic Search Ads will automatically upgrade to AI Max. This includes automatically created assets (ACA) and campaign-level broad match setting will automatically be upgraded to AI Max.