Category Archives: computers

All things computers/servers…

Microsoft Advertising Custom Columns Supports All Conversion Metrics

Microsoft Advertising custom columns now support all conversion metrics – instead of just specific conversion metrics. This gives advertisers more flexibility on tracking campaign performance.

Google AdSense Vignette Ads Drops Back Button Trigger Over Hijack Penalty

Google AdSense (and Ad Manager) will drop the browser back button trigger for vignette ads additional triggers due to the new Google search penalty for back button hijacking. Google AdSense will drop it on June 15, 2026, the day the search penalty goes into effect.

Google May Adjust Its Site Reputation Abuse Policy For EU News Sites

Google proposed a number of changes to the EU in order to avoid fines from the European Union. One of those changes is around the site reputation abuse policy, which the EU watchdog said directly impacts a common and legitimate way for publishers to monetize their websites and content.

Fake call logs, real payments: How CallPhantom tricks Android users

ESET researchers uncovered fraudulent apps on Google Play that claim to provide the call history “for any number” and had been downloaded more than seven million times before being taken down

Fixing the password problem is as easy as 123456

How come it’s still possible to ‘secure’ an online account with a six-digit string?

Daily Search Forum Recap: May 7, 2026

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

Google Ads Call Recording To Default To Yes On July 1st

Google sent out emails notifying applicable advertisers that they will default call recording to Yes, to always record calls, if you don’t pick an option yourself. Google wrote, “Starting July 01, 2026, if you haven’t made a selection for your “Call recording” setting, it will automatically default to “Yes”.”

Google Ads AI Max Content & Titles Exclusions On Account Level Coming

Google will be bringing content and titles related exclusions to the account level to Google Ads AI Max later this year. It will give you the ability to always exclude any other content you don’t want to use in your ads at the account level, Ginny Marvin, the Google Ads Liaison, said on LinkedIn.

Bing Places For Business Finally Mobile Friendly

It is 2026 and finally Bing Places for Business is finally mobile friendly. Microsoft Bing sent me an email letting me know of this update, saying, “We’re excited to share that Bing Places for Business now offers a mobile-responsive experience, making it easier to view, update, and manage your business profile from any device-desktop, tablet, […]

Microsoft Bing On Search Indexing vs. Grounding Indexing

The folks over at Microsoft Bing put together a blog post explaining the differences between indexing for Search versus indexing for Grounding (AI responses) and the differences. Krishna Madhavan, Knut Risvik, Meenaz Merchant from Microsoft wrote, “Indexing for grounded AI answers is not a reinvention of search ‘” it is a major evolution of it. […]

Google Improves Links Within AI Mode & AI Overviews In 5 Ways

Google announced five new ways in how it is improving linking to web pages from AI Mode and AI Overviews. Some of these we saw Google testing earlier, and I (we) were fans of these changes and I am glad to see Google officially roll them out.

Daily Search Forum Recap: May 6, 2026

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…

Official: OpenAI Beta Self-Serve Ads Manager For ChatGPT Ads

A few weeks ago, we uncovered the beta self-serve Ads Manager for ChatGPT Ads. It was before it officially launched but now OpenAI officially announced its “beta self-serve Ads Manager that allows advertisers in the US to sign up and purchase ads directly to appear in ChatGPT.”

Google Tests Gemini 3 Model Options In Search Bar

Google is testing letting searchers select the Gemini 3 model they want to use directly in the Google Search bar. The options can include, Pro, Fast or Auto, from what I can see.

Google Tests New Anchor Links & Favicon Experiences In AI Mode

Google is testing an update to the citations, anchor links, and favicons within the AI Mode results. This new experience seems to make the citations more clickable because the embedded links have larger favicons and seem to appear more often, near the text it is referencing.