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.
Bing officially rolled out a preview of the new AI performance reports in Bing Webmaster Tools. Google updated its Googlebot crawler file size docs once again. Google added "sign in to customize" the top stories section. Google Business short names are being removed from profiles. Google lets you remove your sensistive information, if you give it to them.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
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Bing Webmaster Tools Rolls Out AI Performance Report (With New Design)
A couple of weeks ago I reported Bing was beta testing a new AI performance report within Bing Webmaster Tools. These reports are now available as a public preview for all to see. Plus, Bing Webmaster Tools has a whole new slick design. -
Google Sign In To Customize Top Stories - Preferred Sources
Google added a new button to the top stories section of Google Search named "Sign in to customize." This leads users who are not logged into Google to sign in, so those users can configfure there preferred sources in Google Search. -
Google Clarifies Google's Crawler File Size Limits Doc Again
Earlier this month, we reported that Google updated two of its help documents around Google's crawler file size limits. Well, Google made a clarification to one of those documents the other day after some confusion within the SEO industry. -
Google Business Short Names Being Removed From Business Profiles
Google will stop showing the business short names on Google Business Profiles in Search and Google Maps. The short name will still work, if you have one, but going forward, the link in your Google Business Profile will no longer be displayed to you or searchers. -
Would You Give Google Your ID Numbers To Remove Results About You
Google announced a number of updates to help people find and remove personal information and sensitive imagery about themselves from Google. But you would need to give Google this information first, so Google can find it and then remove it. -
Ceiling Clouds At Google Office Going Up
Google is painting one of the ceilings and placing art to add clouds to one of the office ceilings. You can see the painter working and then some white cloud-like art objects hanging from the ceiling.
Other Great Search Threads:
- Here is what is missing... 82% - 99.68% of the data. 468 Clicks, 22,066 impressions, and $225.20 in ad spend. That exceeds any sort of logic to protect user privacy or because the terms did not meet minimum impression thresholds., Nate Louis on X
- ChatGPT Searches Google Shopping to Create its Recommendations -> "After running the experiment 100 times, we found that the top ChatGPT product was included in Google Shopping’s first 3 results 75% of the time. There was also sub, Glenn Gabe on X
- I think some marketers forgot (or maybe didn't know in the first place?) that Google has specific guidance for how to write good reviews. This documentation originated from Google's Product Reviews updates - a specific ranking system, Lily Ray on X
- Wow... this site tried everything and got hit by the March '25 core update, June '25 core update, Aug Spam Update, Dec core update & recent Jan algo update. It has *over 3,000 self-promotional listicles,* incorrect/spammy/duplicate, Lily Ray on X
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Google pushes AI Max tool with in-app ads
- Bing Webmaster Tools officially adds AI Performance report
- How to make automation work for lead gen PPC
- Why governance maturity is a competitive advantage for SEO
- Why PPC measurement feels broken (and why it isn’t)
- How SEO leaders can explain agentic AI to ecommerce executives
- What repeated ChatGPT runs reveal about brand visibility
Other Great Search Stories:
AI & LLMs
- Chatbots Make Terrible Doctors, New Study Finds, 404 Media
- Introducing Model Council, Perplexity
- OpenAI's Deep Research now runs on GPT-5.2 and lets users search specific websites, The Decoder
- Updates to deep research, ChatGPT Release Notes
Analytics
Industry & Business
- An update on the CMA’s assessment of our mobile ecosystem., Google Blog
- Google Hits A Snag: European Publishers File An Antitrust Complaint, MediaPost
- Google secures EU antitrust approval for $32 billion Wiz acquisition, Reuters
Links & Content Marketing
- What Marketers Should Steal From Bookstagram, Content Marketing Institute
Local & Maps
- I'm not going back to Google Maps after I tried this, Make Use Of
SEO
- 8 Benefits In-House Teams Enjoy from Working with SEO Consultants, Bruce Clay
- CommonLID: Re-evaluating State-of-the-Art Language Identification Performance on Web Data, Common Crawl - Blog
- E-E-A-T Audit: 220+ Markers That Measure Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust, Ahrefs
- Google reduces its crawl limit to 2 MB: What this means, Seobility
- Google's 2MB Crawl Limit: What Service & eCommerce Sites Must Do, Jonathan Alonso
- Google's Still Rewarding Low-Quality Sites (What Gives?), WordStream
- How SXO Ties Into the Era of Zero-Click Searches, RicketyRoo
- How to measure and optimize your presence in AI search, Oncrawl
- Is Your Press Release News or Just Digital SEO Litter?, JumpFly
- It's Time To Invite Your SEO To The Adults Table, SEO for Lunch
- The New Rules of AI-Led International Search Discovery, International Search News
PPC
- Google Ads Displays AI Max Promotion in Campaign Settings, PPC News Feed
- How to Set Up Google Shopping Query Sculpting in 2026, ZATO PPC Marketing
- What AI Does Well in PPC & Where it Loudly Fails, PPC Live
- Why Google’s AI Overviews Update Matters — And What Brands Must Do Online Now, JXT Group
Search Features
- ChatGPT sends very few clicks: why Google is still 500 times more important for publishers, Merca 20
- How to remove your government ID numbers from Google Search, Google Blog
- How to request removal of non-consensual explicit images in Search, Google Blog
Other Search
Feedback:
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