Google Search Ranking Volatility Around 7-Eleven
We may have had another unconfirmed Google Search ranking update around July 11th, which I will call the 7-Eleven update. It has been an unusual time since the completion of the June 2026 spam update, where I was on the verge of covering a few unconfrimed updates but it seems the chatter in the SEO community is at an all time low.
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Daily Search Forum Recap: July 16, 2026
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today...
Google: Discovered vs Crawled Not Indexed Quality Issues & AI-Generated Content
Google's John Mueller and Martin Splitt spoke about the Google Search Console indexing report in its latest Search Off the Record podcast. One item was on how quality issues, including low-quality AI-generated content, can result in those pages not being trusted and not being indexed by Google. That might lead to the page indexing report showing a "crawled - currently not indexed" status, in some cases.
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Apple Maps Ads Bans Home Service Businesses With Updated Terms
Apple has posted new Apple Maps policies where it now says it is prohibiting home services, such as plumbing, electrical, locksmith, HVAC, pest control, roofing, or general contracting services. It also says bail bonds, cryptocurrency ATMs and some medical services are also banned from Apple Maps Ads.
Google Ads Performance Max Product Reporting Now Uses All Networks
Google Ads updated its Performance Max product level reporting back on June 15th. This report now uses data from all Performance Max networks, rather than the subset it previously pulled from.
Google Manufacturer Center Removed Manual Update Or Add Products
Google sent out an email to those who use the Google Manufacturer Center to remind them that the ability to manually add or update products directly in Manufacturer Center has been removed. Instead, Google said use the Manufacturer Center API or upload a product file.
Google: You're Better Off Without Lastmod Dates When They Are Incorrect
Gary Illyes from Google said that you are better off not using a lastmod date in your XML Sitemap if those dates are wrong. He said on Bluesky, "probably better off without the lastmods. at least you save a few bytes."
Google To Merge Google Shopping Ads & Free Listing Policies To One Policy
Google announced it will consolidate and merge the Shopping ads and free listings policies into a single Shopping policy sometime in September 2026. Keep in mind, there may be specific ads or free listing policies listed in that consolidated policy document, where some policies only apply to ads and some only to free listings but it will be in a single policy document.
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Google Ads To Turn On Local Inventory Ads By Default For Shopping Campaigns
Jul 16, 2026Daily Search Forum Recap: July 15, 2026
Jul 15, 2026Google Image Search Home Page Goes From Simple Search Box To Gallery
Jul 15, 2026AI Image Generation Now Within Google AI Overviews
Jul 15, 2026ChatGPT Ads Get Location & Audience Exclusion Controls
Jul 15, 2026Google Confirms Testing Hide Sponsored Products In Shopping Results
Jul 15, 2026Google: Significant Differences With A/B Tests Can Show In Search Results
Jul 15, 2026Picture of the Day
