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 now won't use spam reports with personal identifiable information. Google's head of search, Liz Reid was interviewed again. Google to fix an AI Mode bug that changes title links. Google is testing audio overviews in the wild. Google Business Profile photos are now sorted in order of recent. And I posted the weekly SEO video recap.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
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New: Google Won't Use Spam Reports With Personally Identifying Information
A couple of weeks ago, Google stunned many by saying that they updated their spam report to pass along all information to the site that you enter in the spam report. There was a lot of backlash to that and Google reverted, now saying if there is personally identifying information, it won't process the spam report at all. -
Liz Reid Of Google Interviewed By Bloomberg On Google Search & AI
Here is another interview from Google's head of search, Liz Reid. This one was done on the Odd Lots Bloomberg podcast and is titled "Google's Liz Reid on Who Will Own Search in a World of AI." -
Google To Fix AI Mode Bug Where It Changes Title Links
Google is working to fix a bug in AI Mode where it is changing the title links and citations. This bug was spotted by Lily Ray who wrote on X, "Google is changing title links / citations in AI Mode - just the name of the person, with a link to the place they were mentioned." -
Google Testing Audio Overviews In The Wild (Not Just In Labs)
About a year ago, Google announced you can opt in, within Search Labs, to see Audio Overviews within the Google Search results. But now, I saw two different people say they saw it without opting into the experiment. So Google may be testing this in the wild. -
Google Business Profiles Sorts Photos By Most Recent
Google Business Profiles lets you upload photos of your business to your Business Profile. Those photos can be viewed on Google Search and Google Maps. And now, these photos are reportedly sorted by most recently uploaded. -
Search News Buzz Video Recap: Heated Google Ranking Volatility, Commodity Content, Getting SEO Right, Search Ads
This week, we covered new heated Google search ranking volatility. Google's Danny Sullivan spoke about commodity versus non-commodity content. Google now wont use spam reports with personality identifiable...
Other Great Search Threads:
- After 10 years at Google working on web and AI technologies, I made the decision to leave and start something new. Google is without a doubt the best job I’ve ever had, and I know I will miss many things about working there, especi, Alberto Medina on X
- Got this in an email from Google Ads offline conversion support. Is this a joke? Hours are 1am to 8am EDT??? Literally no one in the US is working during ANY of those hours. Completely insane, Melissa L Mackey on X
- Spotted a new Google Ads Beta called App Labs, Thomas Eccel on LinkedIn
- When "Mt. AI" Crumbles, ChatGPT follows -> If you are interested in my latest case study about National Today's manual action for scaling 850K+ local news articles via AI, then you should check out my latest podcast episode (which we, Glenn Gabe on X
Search Engine Land Stories:
- The bureaucracy tax: How disruptors are winning AI search visibility
- ChatGPT ads expand to logged-out users
- Google’s Liz Reid on AI search changes, query shifts, and AI slop
- 5 lessons from delivering bad SEO news to executives
- Google expands Demand Gen tools to drive faster YouTube conversions
- Google tests “App Labs” hub for early ad features
- How to use customer acquisition and retention goals in Google Ads
- Google Search Console job data logging issue
- How to build an enterprise SEO strategy that actually gets buy-in
- When search growth stalls: How to diagnose what’s really holding you back
Other Great Search Stories:
AI & LLMs
- Copilot's agentic capabilities in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are generally available, Microsoft 365 Blog
- From Audit to Action: How the AI Search Strategic Roadmap Turns Data into a Plan, iPullRank
- Introducing GPT-5.5, OpenAI
- SearchResearch (4/23/26): AI image gen tools are great, as long as you don't ask for accuracy, SearchReSearch
- AIO Impact on Google CTR: 2026 Update, Seer Interactive
Analytics
- Google Signals and Consent Mode: About The GA4 Change, Measure Minds Group
Industry & Business
- Google’s Challenge to Joint Employer Ruling Heads to Ninth Cir., Bloomberg
- Microsoft offers voluntary retirement to long-serving employees, The Verge
- Watch Google's Liz Reid on Who Will Own Search in a World of AI, Bloomberg
Links & Content Marketing
- What Is Commodity Vs Non-commodity Content And Why Does It Matter?, Nikki Pilkington
- What is Non-Commodity Content? Meet The New Helpful Content, Hobo
Local & Maps
- EP 253 - Yelp Strikes Back + The FTC’s Review Fraud Hit List, Near Media
- Google Maps Rivals Are Getting Better, and These Updates Make a Switch Very Tempting, AutoEvolution
- Reviews Are Now Driving Growth for Brands, Street Fight
SEO
- A 3 Layer Framework to Measure AI Presence, Readiness and Business Impact: Redefining Metrics for the AI Search Era, Aleyda Solis
- Analysing Robots.txt at scale with HTTP Archive and BigQuery, Search Off the Record
- SEO without a hypothesis is just a to-do list, Product Led SEO
- Why your product is your most important SEO asset, Yoast
PPC
- AI Agents in Ad Accounts: Why the Math Doesn't Work (Yet), ZATO PPC Marketing
- ChatGPT Ads Have Begun Showing Up For Logged-Out Users, AdExchanger
- Convert faster on YouTube with April’s Demand Gen Drop., Google Blog
- Google Ads Budget Pacing Explained, PPC Hero
- The State of Google Ads Q1 2026, Optmyzr
- Why B2B Google Ads Fail (Even When You Do Everything Right), PPC Hero
Search Features
- 3 easy ways to shop for spring with Google, Google Blog
- Google shares trending fashion and beauty searches for spring 2026, Google Blog
Feedback:
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