Daily Search Forum Recap: January 23, 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 launched Personal Intelligence in AI Mode within Google Search. Google will fallback to featured snippets when AI Overviews cannot be generated. Google Ads for PMax has a bug with editing asset groups in the web interface. Gemini local results can show you what Google thinks of a local business. Also, there are some details on how to secure your Google Ads account, which is especially important today. And I posted the weekly SEO video recap.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google Search Gains Personal Intelligence In AI Mode
  As expected, but sooner than I thought, Google has brought Personal Intelligence to Google Search within AI Mode. This first launched last week in the Gemini app and is now rolling out to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers in English in the U.S.
• Google Falls Back To Featured Snippets When AI Overviews Don't Generate
  Google will sometimes fall back to showing featured snippets when it is unable to generate AI Overviews for a query. And when that happens, it sometimes looks like an AI Overview, but it is not an AI Overview, it is a featured snippet.
• Google Ads PMax Asset Group Editing Bug
  Google Ads currently has a bug where if you try to edit your asset groups within your Performance Max campaigns in the web user interface, it simply won't work. Google is reportedly aware of the issue and is telling advertisers to use Google Ads Editor or the API as a workaround for now.
• Gemini Local Results Insights Into How Google Interprets Your Business
  Google's Gemini may be rolling out new local results, it may be new, I am not sure. But the details it shows may give you insight into how Google understands and interprets your business. Gemini gives new headlines and sections about your business based on what it thinks it knows about it.
• Secure Your Google Ads Account Against The Rise In Hijackings
  For the past year or so, I've seen a growing number of complaints about Google Ads accounts being hijacked. It seems to be getting worse, even after we covered the Google Ads account hijacks last November. So how do you reduce the chances of your Google Ads account being hijacked?
• Google Robot Massage
  Did you know that Google offers massages by robots? I found this video of a robot massage on Instagram. The video was taken at the Google Mountain View, California office.
• Video: Google Search Double Heated, Personal Intelligence in AI Mode, ChatGPT Ads & Apple Siri Updates Coming
  This week, we covered the doubly heated Google Search ranking volatility, but nothing was confirmed by Google. OpenAI will soon test ads in ChatGPT responses and they will charge on an impression basis, not click basis. Google released Personal Intelligence for Google Search within AI Mode. Google AI Overviews...

Other Great Search Threads:

• A while back, we compiled a list of social networks that were expected to appear on Google profile pages. A quick reminder of what profile pages are: https://t.co/RXojdHF4xK The list of social networks at the time:, Damien (andell) on X
• Did anyone I know experience difficulties with meta data in a nextjs application? Ping me (:, Martin Splitt on Bluesky
• Helpful update for students, you can now take full practice SATs for free in the @GeminiApp. It uses vetted content from @ThePrincetonRev and gives you feedback straight away. Starting with the SAT today, but more tests are on th, Sundar Pichai on X
• Important update for Google Programmable Search Engine: Key changes: New engines: Use a Sites to search. Existing 'Search the entire web' users (>50 domains): Must transition to the new Full Web Search solution, Vijay Chauhan on X
• For Some Reason I Don't Think That This Ad Is The "Official Microsoft Ads"/ "Bing Ads" Site! LOL Also Microsoft Ads, UP YOUR BIDS YO!!!!! GOT TO PROTECT YOUR BRAND!, Anthony Higman on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google: Forced syndication would permanently expose its ad systems
• Google outlines risks of exposing its search index, rankings, and live results
• Google Ads adds cross-campaign testing with new Mix Experiments beta
• Google’s Demand Gen gets more shoppable — and more measurable
• Google brings Personal Intelligence to AI Mode in Google Search
• What 75 SEO thought leaders reveal about volatility in the GEO debate [Research]
• How to explain flat traffic when SEO is actually working
• Why Demand Gen works best alongside Performance Max for ecommerce

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• Apple's Siri Chatbot May Run on Google Servers, MacRumors
• CEOs Say AI Is Making Work More Efficient. Employees Tell a Different Story., Wall Street Journal
• ChatGPT Checkouts to Take 4% Cut of Shopify Merchant Sales, The Information
• D4RT: Unified, Fast 4D Scene Reconstruction & Tracking, deepmind.google
• GraphRAG for Production Engineer Agent Memory, Decoding AI
• How AI Weather Models Are Making Better Forecasts, Bloomberg
• OpenAI is coming for those sweet enterprise dollars in 2026, TechCrunch
• Small models, big results: Achieving superior intent extraction through decomposition, Google Research Blog
• With Google Deal, Apple’s Craig Federighi Plots a Cautious Course in AI, The Information

Analytics

• Google Tag Gateway Explained: Why It's Essential for 2026, Brainlabs
• Prove AI Overview Traffic Value: The GA4 ROI Framework, KP Playbook

Industry & Business

• Google Likely Stuck With $425M Loss, But Bid For $3B Flops, www.law360.com
• Google Must Face Another Search Antitrust Case From Consumers, Bloomberg
• Judge approves oversight committee for remedies to Google’s internet search monopoly, Courthouse News Service
• OpenAI’s Altman Meets Mideast Investors for $50 Billion Round, Bloomberg
• Anthropic Lowers Gross Margin Projection as Revenue Skyrockets, The Information
• FTC Cites 'Serious Concerns' With Epic-Google Play Deal, Law360
• Google Acquires Top Talent From AI Voice Startup Hume AI in Licensing Deal, Wired
• Google Antitrust Accord Over Its App Store Meets Skeptical Judge, Bloomberg
• Google Can't Duck Case Over Paid Search, Privacy Claims, Law360
• Google Keeps Its Victory Over Owner of Web-Conferencing Patent, Bloomberg
• Google Moves To Toss Privacy Suit Alleging AI Spying, Law360
• House Seeks More Say in AI Chip Exports After Nvidia’s China Win, Bloomberg
• South Korea launches landmark laws to regulate AI, startups warn of compliance burdens, Reuters
• Ex-OpenAI VP Calls Google's Comeback 'OpenAI's Fumble', Business Insider
• Google Invests in Sakana AI to Boost Gemini’s Presence in Japan, Bloomberg
• OpenAI Pulled in $1 Billion From Something Other Than ChatGPT, Business Insider

Links & Content Marketing

• 2026 MarketFully Report: Multilingual Content Spending Is Exploding, Bill Hartzer
• What CMOs Want Marketing Teams To Know for 2026 Success, Content Marketing Institute

Local & Maps

• Incident report regrets? Google Maps prepares a much-needed fix, Android Authority
• Waze rolling out 'new' features including speed bump warnings, 9to5Google

SEO

• 1 in 7 top-ranking pages vanished from Google, Content Caffeine #59
• How to find the Google Knowledge Graph ID of any online media outlet or journalist, and how to use it to optimize Google Discover, DiscoverSnoop
• RLM-on-KG: Recursive Language Models and the Future of SEO, WordLift Blog
• Shopify SEO Limits: Flat Taxonomy and the Visibility Ceiling, Audience Key
• User Data is Important in Google's Ranking Systems. What We Learned from Liz Reid's Appeal Declaration., Marie Haynes
• Zero SEO Traffic, Maximum Value - Two Pages I'll Never Delete, Nikki Pilkington
• Eight in ten of world's biggest news websites now block AI training bots, Press Gazette
• If You’ve Been Investing in SEO, You’re on the Right Track With GEO: An AMA With Lily Ray, Moz

PPC

• High-Spending B2B Account? The First Problem I See., Group Twenty Seven
• Everything You Need To Know About Content Targeting, Jyll Saskin Gales
• How to track pipeline, not just traffic, Hallam

Search Features

• Google Makes Subtle Change in Nod to Famous Curt Cignetti Quote, Sports Illustrated
• 5.2 Personality System Prompt Update, ChatGPT Release Notes

Other Search

• ChatGPT Atlas Gains Tab Groups, Auto Google/AI Search Switching, MacRumors
• Why conversational search can be 'huge opportunity' for publishers, Press Gazette
• How Wikipedia Will Survive in the Age of AI (With Wikipedia’s CTO Selena Deckelmann), 404 Media

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.