Daily Search Forum Recap: January 21, 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.

Google is brewing again - we got more search volatility kicking into gear. Some more legal docs disclose maybe more details about Google's search signals. Gemini has a new "answer now" button to skip the wait. Ads are not coming to the Gemini app, despite ChatGPT ads. Google is testing adding to the verification section of the Local Service Ads detail screen various details and qualifiers.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google Search Ranking Volatility Heated Again January 21
  Last week,I reported on January 15th of a Google Search ranking update with a lot of heated volatility. Truth is, it went through the weekend, but now it is spiking back up again as of yesterday and today - January 20th and 21st.
• Google Search Monopoly Appeal Legal Docs Mention Search Signals
  As you know, Google has appealed its search monopoly ruling and with that, filed a number of new documents with the court. One is an affidavit of Elizabeth Reid, Google's Vice President and Head of Search. The other is of Jesse Adkins Director of Product Management for Search Syndication and Search Ads Syndication.
• Google Ads Still Not Coming To Gemini (Post ChatGPT Ads Announcement)
  Demis Hassabis, Google DeepMind CEO, said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that Google does not have "any plans" to bring ads to Gemini. This comes even after OpenAI announced ads are coming to ChatGPT.
• Google Local Service Ads Verified Section Details
  Google is testing adding to the verification section of the Local Service Ads detail screen various details and qualifiers. These details and qualifiers include attributes such as Passed License Check" , "Number Of Recent Bookings", "Passed Background Check" And "Has Business Insurance."
• Google Adds "Answer Now" Button To Gemini App - If You Can't Wait...
  Google added an "Answer now" link or button to the Gemini app. Clicking "Answer now" will stop Google's Gemini from thinking and then give you an answer right away using Gemini 3 Flash model.
• Google Construction Worker Gear
  Here is a photo of construction worker gear at the Google office in Mexico. You can see the orange jacket and yellow hard hat. I found this on Instagram.

Other Great Search Threads:

• Will you be using agentic commerce solutions like Copilot Checkout?, Navah Hopkins on LinkedIn
• Demis Hassabis CEO of Google DeepMind at Davos: "We are on the cusp of a breakthrough moment in physical intelligence [...] I think the foundation models like Gemini show the way forward. From the beginning we made Gemini multimodal, Lisan al Gaib on X
• Hey @adsliaison yesterday, on MLK day, was the 3rd holiday of the past 4, where I had a Gads rep call me wanting to talk about an acct. I said it was a US holiday, their response was "Well it's a working day here". Can the SMB team be, Jon Kagan on X
• I've seen the notification before about Gemini powering my home devices... but it's finally working. I know have Gemini across my Google home devices (mini, max, original, etc.) So far, it's a big upgrade. Will be testing more soon. E.g., Glenn Gabe on X
• Pleasantly surprised with @Google Scholar Labs, which analyzes your question to identify key topics, aspects and relationships, then searches all of them on Scholar. (using Gemini!), Paige Bailey on X
• Really wild to see authoritative health publishers who have dominated in SEO for many years get hit so hard by this last core update, across various media networks Wondering if there is some cycle where content is now being answer, Lily Ray on X
• We’re rolling out age prediction on ChatGPT to help determine when an account likely belongs to someone under 18, so we can apply the right experience and safeguards for teens. Adults who are incorrectly placed in the teen experience can c, OpenAI on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• How digital marketing agencies are adapting to AI search
• Organic search traffic is down 2.5% YoY, new data shows
• Google Shopping API cutoff looms, putting ad delivery at risk
• Does llms.txt matter? We tracked 10 sites to find out
• 7 real-world AI failures that show why adoption keeps going wrong
• Why LLM-only pages aren’t the answer to AI search
• SEO in 2026: What will stay the same
• Yext’s Visibility Brief: Your guide to brand visibility in AI search

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• Agentic AI in Marketing: Separating Real Value From AI Theater, Content Marketing Institute
• An A.I. Start-Up Says It Wants to Empower Workers, Not Replace Them, New York Times
• DeepMind CEO Says Chinese AI Firms Are 6 Months Behind the West, Bloomberg
• No one noticed that Google has fixed Gemini's stupidest calendar limitation, Android Authority
• Our approach to age prediction, OpenAI
• The mundane absurdity of telling Gemini about your life, 9to5Google
• Watch Robotics Nearing Physical AI Breakthrough, Google DeepMind CEO Says, Bloomberg
• BETT 2026: Khan Academy and Google Gemini partnership, Google Blog
• Transform teaching and learning with updates to Gemini and Google Classroom, Google Blog

Analytics

• Measure Marketing's ROI Right: Incremental Net Profit ROI!, Avinash Kaushik

Industry & Business

• 5th Circ. Urged Not To Transfer Google Antitrust Case, Law360
• Building a community-led future for AI in film with Sundance Institute, Google Blog
• Google-backed Isomorphic Labs delays clinical trial timeline, Reuters
• New retailers joining Google’s Commerce Media Suite, Google Blog
• OpenAI and ServiceNow Strike Deal to Put AI Agents in Business Software, Wall Street Journal
• OpenAI CFO Says Revenue Has Grown With Compute, The Information
• Google’s quiet GAM changes face fresh EU scrutiny, Digiday
• OpenAI Says It Will Pay for Energy Upgrades at Stargate Sites, Bloomberg

Links & Content Marketing

• Does informational content still matter for SEO?, Blue Array SEO
• Enterprise Content and Marketing Trends: Insights for 2026, Content Marketing Institute

Local & Maps

• 4 Sites to Buy Google Reviews That Impact Local SEO Rankings - Programming Insider 4 Sites to Buy Google Reviews That Impact Local SEO Rankings, Programming Insider
• Apple services outage hits Apple TV, Maps, & App Store, AppleInsider
• EP 240 - Inside Google Local Rankings and the Review Purge, Near Media
• Every Google Maps user should change these settings now, How To Geek

SEO

• 8 SEO Services to Avoid (Before They Hurt Your Site), The Upper Ranks
• A Reflection on SEO, GEO & AI Search in 2025, Lily Ray
• How Google vs SerpAI could set web scraping precedent, Not A Robot
• How to Do Enterprise SEO, Sara Taher
• How to Rank in AI Overviews: What Actually Works (Based on Data, Not Speculation), Ahrefs
• How to Use Accessibility as an SEO Advantage, JumpFly
• How Zurich Insurance UK monitors AI search with Oncrawl, Oncrawl
• SEO Ethics. I'll Lead This One (SEO > ICE), SEO for Lunch
• The Universal Commerce Protocol: When Structured Data Gets a Rebrand, The Inference
• Adding more supported query types to South African carousel documentation, Latest Google Search Documentation
• How to Make Every Click Count with Search Experience Optimization, Moz
• IndexWatch 2025: Visibility Winners in Google, SISTRIX
• The Death of Using Reviews to Rank and the Rise of 'Chunked' Business Content, Reputation Arm
• What AI Means for SEO, Ahrefs

PPC

• Another Shake-Up: How E-Commerce Brands Can Stay Visible as Google Volatility Continues into Q4, JXT Group
• Burnout Is Costing You Clients: The 900% PPC Search Surge, PPC Live
• OpenAI Lines Up Advertisers, Reveals Key Details Ahead of Ads Launch, The Information
• The Era of the Cyborg Architect: Why the Best PPC Ads Still Need a Human Touch, JumpFly
• The Future of AI Ad Placements, Koozai
• The PPC Performance Question to Ask: Is This a Seasonal Dip or a True Decline?, Optmyzr

Search Features

• ChatGPT Searches Google Shopping to Create its Recommendations, Semrush
• Google Scholar Labs helps you answer research questions with AI, Google Blog
• Voice Updates, ChatGPT Release Notes

Other Search

• Debunking The Myth That Search Is Dying, Graphite

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News, add as a preferred source on Google and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or just contact us the old fashion way.