OpenAI sent out an email to some early advertisers offering them early access to conversion-optimized campaigns. Conversion-optimized campaigns are going to be available to some advertisers starting on June 5, 2026.

Gary Illyes from Google reportedly said at the Search Central Live Shanghai 2026 event on May 15th that he and Google strongly warns against buying or manipulating mentions brand mentions to try to show up in the AI responses, AI Overviews and AI Mode.

Google is testing shifting the sitename and favicon in the search results around, where it is on one line with the favicon, then a bold sitename and then the URL, followed by the rest of the snippet; the title and description and sitelinks. Typically, the favicon spans two lines covering the sitename one the first […]

Google is officially rolling out preferred source labels within AI Mode and AI Overviews and adding a new carousel to AI Mode and AI Overviews, as well. Plus, Google said the highly cited label is expanding to more search results (which is not specific to AI Mode and AI Overviews).

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 AI Mode and AI Overviews gain preferred sources…

There are two interviews that is probably worth a listen of Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai and Google’s SVP of Knowledge & Information, out of Google I/O and Google Marketing Live. If you listen, you can see the direction Google Search is headed – and duh, it is AI.

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

New data out of Similarweb says that since OpenAI began surfacing more prominent links to brands in the ChatGPT answers, referral traffic is up 150%. Also pageviews per visit is up 24% and time on site is up 11%.

Google is rolling out what it calls Real-Time Policy Reviews within Google Ads for Responsive Search Ads and rolling out to other campaign types later in the year. Google wrote, “this feature provides instant feedback during the ad creation process, significantly reducing the time it takes for your ads to begin serving.”

Google has confirmed another bug with the Search Console Discover performance report on May 21st. Google said there was another data logging issue that may cause a decrease in clicks and impressions for May 21, 2026.

Google is testing letting searchers check for real-time stock, inventory, of products through the local pack in the search results. There is this new button being tested next to view “more places” in the local pack that says, “Check real-time stock.”

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