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.
Microsoft is fighting against prompt injections which try to manipulate AI engine responses. Google Ads support form requires you to give rights to support reps to make changes to your account. Microsoft Advertising is testing a shopping carousel with multiple images. Microsoft Advertising updated the design of shopping ads in Bing Search. Google is testing removing dates from the articles in Google Discover.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
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Microsoft Thwarts AI Prompt Injection Attacks Aimed To Manipulate AI Engines
Microsoft has implemented and continues to deploy mitigations against prompt injection attacks in Copilot, the company announced last week. Spammers were using the "Summarize with AI" type of buttons to trick AI engines into believing or trusting a specific company or response. -
Google Ads Support Form Requires You To Authorize Google To Make Changes
Google reportedly updated its Google Ads support contact form to add a disclaimer and checkbox to say you authorize "Google Ads specialist on behalf of your company to make the changes above directly to your company's Google Ads account to reproduce and troubleshoot the issue." -
Microsoft Advertising Tests Shopping Carousel With Multiple Images Toggle
Microsoft Advertising is testing an update to the shopping ads carousel that can show multiple images in a single card. Essentially, you are seeing a carousel within a carousel for Bing shopping ads. -
Google Tests Removing Dates From Articles In Discover Feed
Google is testing removing the dates from the articles shown in the Google Discover feed. This is a limited test, Google confirmed, to see the impact of removing the date value. -
Bing Updates Shopping Ads Design
Microsoft Advertising seems to be testing a new design for the Bing shopping ads carousel. The new design fills the screen more from left to right than the old design and is just wider in general. -
Google Dinosaur Post-it Notes Wall
Here is a photo from one of the office areas inside the Google office. You can see someone put green post-it notes on the wall, in the shape of a dinosaur.
Other Great Search Threads:
- Google has launched a new UI for the “Search with Google Lens” feature on Google Chrome., Radu Oncescu on X
- And again, one turn of the knob by Google, and visits from Search plummets -> Why Reddit’s Stock Plunged 42% In Past Five Weeks "The number of Reddit daily users in the U.S. who are “logged in” to the service—meaning they’, Glenn Gabe on X
- Bing is again testing the bold ‘Sponsored’ tag. They previously tested this in January 2025., Sachin Patel on X
- Crypto update: We more than doubled the number of supported cryptocurrencies with the addition of Stable-coins, DeFi Tokens, Utility Tokens, Real-World Asset Tokens, and Meme Coins in Google Finance: https://t.co/muWFIcWGoc this week., Rose Yao on X
- Interesting find and I wasn't even looking for it... Pathetic over-optimized review shows up in my feedly. Gobs of content. Too much. No author listed... Sets off my internal "this looks AI-generated content" flag. Check the page, y, Glenn Gabe on X
- Quick update: Some of the biggest health and medical sites on the web got hammered by the December 2025 core update and some have dropped even more with the recent volatility. That said, most that dropped have many moving parts SEO-wise, Glenn Gabe on X
- Reminder! Our Google Posts 101 Workshop is this Wednesday! Learn how to use the newly updated Google Posts tool to engage customers. We'll cover best practices and even do a live build! Feb 25 | 9am PT/12pm ET, Google Business Profile on X
- Something I've been wondering about, and I am sure there are lots of different takes on this depending on how you see the topic... On February 5th, Google announced a core update impacting Google Discover (much needed)... But i, Mordy Oberstein on X
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Google Ads support now requires account change authorization
- What it takes to make demand gen work for B2B and ecommerce
- Content scoring tools work, but only for the first gate in Google’s pipeline
- SerpApi moves to dismiss Google scraping lawsuit
- The SEO’s guide to Google Search Console
- 8 tips for SEO newbies
- Google Search Console page indexing report missing data prior to December 15
- Mastering generative engine optimization in 2026: Full guide
Other Great Search Stories:
AI & LLMs
- Anthropic Accuses Chinese Companies of Siphoning Data From Claude, Wall Street Journal
- Anthropic Education Report: The AI Fluency Index, Anthropic
- Google launches AI literacy training for 6 million U.S. educators, Google Blog
- Manipulating AI memory for profit: The rise of AI Recommendation Poisoning, Microsoft Security Blog
- The persona selection model, Anthropic
Analytics
- Are You Measuring the Right Things in E-commerce SEO?, Audience Key
Industry & Business
- Anthropic Launches Employee Share Sale Valued Up to $6 Billion, Bloomberg
- Backed by Anthropic, a Super PAC Begins Ad Blitz in Support of A.I. Regulation, New York Times
- Google invests $500 million in Dominican Republic connectivity hub, Data Center Dynamics
- How much did AI boost the economy? Maybe zilch, some economists say., Washington Post
- Inside OpenAI’s Scramble to Get Computing Power After Stargate Stalled, The Information
- OpenAI lands deals with consulting giants in enterprise push, CNBC
- OpenAI may be the ‘best thing’ to happen to Google, analyst says, Fox Business Video
- Pentagon Summons Anthropic Chief in Dispute Over A.I. Limits, New York Times
- Wells Fargo upgrades Google-parent Alphabet, says it has '3 key traits of AI winner', CNBC
Links & Content Marketing
- Content Marketing 2026, eMarketer
- HubSpot supercharges its media engine by buying Starter Story, marte
- Writing for Humans, Algorithms, and LLMs at the Same Time, CommPRO
Local & Maps
- Android Auto 'voice commands aren't available' bug goes wide, 9to5Google
- Video Assets in GMC Now Populated With Videos, PPC News Feed
SEO
- Entity Search, Query Fan-Out, and Practical ML for SEO | Lazarina Stoy, Advanced Web Ranking
- Google Discover Feb 2026 Core Update Scorecard: Data Shows What Actually Changed, Newzdash
- History is repeating itself: The return of Google penalties in the age of AI, SALT agency
- How to Optimize Your Content for LLMs With Semrush, Semrush
- Should You Implement LLMs.txt? Evidence from 9 Websites, OVC Lawyer Marketing
- The Shadow Web, Part 2: LLMs Aren’t Reading Your HTML Anyway, QueryBurst
- Tracking OpenAI – ChatGPT Bots – A Fresh Guide for Webmasters, Site Owners, and SEO’s, SearchEngineWorld
- What is Preferred Sources, SEO For Journalism
- Your Brand Doesn't Exist Unless AI Says It Does, Five Blocks
PPC
- 7 Surprising Findings From Our Study of 15K+ Google Ads Accounts, WordStream
- Is it possible to get daily traffic without ads?, Ilana Davis
- Should you use Smart Bidding or Manual CPC in Google Ads?, Jyll Saskin Gales
Search Features
- Samsung is adding Perplexity to Galaxy AI for its upcoming S26 series, Engadget
- Tips for using Google DeepMind’s Lyria 3, Google Blog
Other Search
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