Daily Search Forum Recap: February 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.

Google unleashed its first core update of 2026, it was specific to Google Discover only and is in the US English only for now. Google AI Mode has follow up suggestions. Google Ads mixed campaign type experiments are live for some advertisers. Bing is unshipping its Frankenstein recipes. Google launched a redesign partner portal. ChatGPT and Perplexity treat structured data as text on a page. And I posted the weekly SEO video recap.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• February 2026 Google Discover Core Update Rolling Out - Local Impact
  Google has released its first core update of 2026, which is focused on just Google Discover. Google named it the February 2026 Discover core update. This one is rolling over the next two weeks or so just English language users in the US and at some point will roll out beyond that to all countries and languages.
• Bing Unshipping Frankenstein Recipes In Search
  We covered how horrific the AI-based Frankenstein recipes can be in Google Search, where it mashes up recipe steps from various publishers and acts like it is a real recipe from a source. Well, Bing had something similar but Jordi Ribas from Microsoft said they are "unshipping" the feature after the feedback was received.
• Google Ads Mixed Campaign Type Experiments Live For Some
  The Google Ads mixed campaign type experiment beta, which we covered the help document last month, seems to be going live for some advertisers. This feature allows advertisers to test multiple campaign types, budgets, and settings across campaigns in a single experiment.
• Google AI Mode Follow Up Search Suggestions
  We saw Google test follow up questions below the AI Mode responses back in July. Now Google is testing follow up search suggestions, not necessarily in question format, at the bottom of some AI Mode results.
• Google Partner Portal Gets A Redesign
  Last week, Google updated the design for the Google Partner Portal for advertisers. Google said the new look makes it "simpler to understand your goals and to track all your points activity."
• Report: ChatGPT & Perplexity Treat Structured Data As Text On A Page
  To fuel the debate in the SEO world of the topic of structured data and LLMs and AI engines, we are hearing that once again, AI engines like ChatGPT and Perplexity are not using structured data in any special way.
• Towel With A Google Briefcase Logo
  This is a weird one, I spotted this photo of a towel at the Google office in Dublin and on the towel is a Google super G logo on a briefcase.
• Video: Google Discover Core Update, Listicles Hit, Google Ads, ChatGPT Ads Ready & Microsoft Publisher Content Marketplace
  This week, we covered the first core update of 2026, the February 2026 Discover core update. Meanwhile, there is an ongoing super-heated and volatile Google search rankings. Google has nothing to share about the recent unconfirmed ranking updates.

Other Great Search Threads:

• First, the good part of the Anthropic ads: they are funny, and I laughed. But I wonder why Anthropic would go for something so clearly dishonest. Our most important principle for ads says that we won’t do exactly this; we would ob, Sam Altman on X
• Team is looking at this., Fabrice Canel on X
• Thanks for flagging. This was a bug affecting book search results, and it's fixed now. Things should be back to normal., News from Google on X
• Google Small Business Bulletin Your February Checklist, Google Business Profile Community
• 11 years ago, I suggested & drove our epic Bing team-building project: lighting up the Bing building in Bellevue with a massive 12-man sign visible for miles. We’ve since moved buildings, but that 12th Man spirit lives on stron, Fabrice Canel on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google & Bing don’t recommend seperate markdown pages for LLMs
• Your local rankings look fine. So why are calls disappearing?
• Google releases February 2026 Discover core update
• Google Ads no longer runs on keywords. It runs on intent.
• Google says AI search is driving an ‘expansionary moment’
• How AI is reshaping local search and what enterprises must do now
• Why SEO teams need to ask ‘should we use AI?’ not just ‘can we?’
• How first-party data drives better outcomes in AI-powered advertising

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• Evaluating Deep Research Performance in the Wild with the DRACO Benchmark, Perplexity
• Google & Apple CEOs offer seemingly contradictory AI details, AppleInsider
• Google’s Gemini app has surpassed 750M monthly active users, TechCrunch
• Meta Memo: New Avocado Model ‘Most Capable’ to Date, The Information
• Anthropic Updates AI Model to Field More Complex Financial Research, Bloomberg
• Claude has been having a moment — can it keep it up?, The Verge
• How to Choose the Best Prompts to Monitor Your AI Search Visibility, Ahrefs
• Introducing the Developer Knowledge API and MCP Server, Google Developers Blog
• OpenAI Frontier is a single platform to control your AI agents, The Verge
• Update on thinking time settings for GPT-5.2 Thinking in ChatGPT, ChatGPT Release Notes

Analytics

• 5 Google Analytics Reports PPC Marketers Should Actually Use, Search Engine Journal

Industry & Business

• Google could spend $3B building Botetourt data centers, Virginia Business
• Google suggests Gemini-powered Siri will run on Google's servers, 9to5Mac
• Google Leans Hard Into Its AI-Winner Status, Wall Street Journal
• No, Google didn't just admit that Siri will run on its servers, Macworld
• Officials rush to take legal action as Google data center drains major water source: 'Really bad effects down the line', The Cool Down

Links & Content Marketing

• Internal Links: SEO Best Practices for Internal Linking, Shopify
• Should Trending News Disrupt Content Plans? A 2-Question Test, Content Marketing Institute
• 15+ Tips For Editing AI Content, The SEO Community
• Framework for AI-Generated Content That Doesn't Suck, Advanced Web Rankings
• The content multiplier: How strategic SEO content turns a small team into a big impact engine, SALT.agency

Local & Maps

• The Google Business Review Extortion Scam: How to Fight Back, Sterling Sky
• Android Auto update may fix steering wheel, hints at new features, 9to5Google
• Local Pack Ads, Google Ka-Ching!, Claude Super Bowl Ads, AI Ankle-Biters, Near Media

SEO

• Add Loyalty and Membership Program data to qualify for search enhancem, Ilana Davis
• People Inc. Says Who Needs Google?, AdExchanger
• Tracking Clicks from AI Overviews in Google Search Console, JC Chouinard
• What Google’s December 2025 core update tells us about quality, Raptive
• Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines and YMYL in the Age of AI Search, iIPullRank
• Measuring SEO Success in a Zero Click World, Visible Factors
• Naver SEO in 2026, International Search News
• Publishers say Google search traffic in 'managed decline', not dead, Press Gazette
• SEO Change, Product Grids, and What Actually Matters, Audiencekey

PPC

• Google Ads for B2B lead generation: What high-performing accounts do differently, Hallam
• Microsoft Ads Updates Dating and Companionship Policy, PPC News Feed
• Mixed Campaign Type Experiments Enter Early Beta, PPC News Feed
• New Merchant Center Recommendations Focus on Product Descriptions, PPC News Feed
• Update to the Personalized ads policy (February 2026), Google Advertising Policies Help

Search Features

• Guide to AI Mode Follow-Up Questions and Multi-Turn Search, Hill Web Creations

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