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 spoke on stage about chunking, AI content, quality content, subscriptions, paywalls, site wide signals, and AI clicks. Google will be turning on conversion-based customer lists for Google Ads advertiser accounts beginning on Jun 17, 2026. Bing is testing a new design for its news box in search. Bing is testing color selectors for its product carousel in search. Google Maps shows time alerts in hot pink. And I posted the weekly SEO Video recap.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
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Google Speaks On Chunking, Site Signals, Content, Paywalls & AI Clicks
Google held a Search Central Live event in Milan this week and spoke about several topics including chunking, site-wide signals, AI settings in Search Console, commondity versus non-commodity content, paywalled content, subscriptions for news sites, what clicks look like from AI Overviews and much more. -
Google Ads Turning On Conversion-Based Customer Lists For Advertisers
Google will be turning on conversion-based customer lists for Google Ads advertiser accounts beginning on Jun 17, 2026, with data processing to begin on August 18, 2026. This will happen to all advertisers who have already adopted both Enhanced Conversions and Customer Match but haven't yet enabled the conversion-based customer lists functionality, Google said. -
Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Volatility, Bing AI Reporting Updates, UK Orders Google To Hand Over Its Search Ranking Algorithm & More
This week, we covered the typical and ongoing Google Search ranking volatility. UK’s CMA ordered Google to share its search ranking algorithm and enable data portability to some third-parties. Google Search rolled out its information... -
Bing Tests Updated News Design In Search
Microsoft Bing is testing a new updated design for the news section within Bing Search. The updated news box, honestly, is easier to understand and makes it clearer that these are news sources - so I kind of like it. -
Bing Tests Color Options In Product Results
Microsoft Bing is testing a color selector / viewer in the shopping and product results within Bing Search. This will show you what colors the product is available in, without having to click over to the website to see it. -
Google Maps: Hot Pink Live Time Alerts
Google is testing using a hot pink font for the live time for when a place is busy or not. This is part of the old popular times feature, but Google is testing or launching a hot pink font to make it really noticeable. -
Google Elevator Going Up
Here is a video of the Google elevator going up at the Google London office. But as you all know, what goes up, must go down. Was that a cheesy SEO joke?
Other Great Search Threads:
- I attended Google Search Central Live in Milan. It was an incredible event, packed with deep technical insights into the architectural direction Google is taking. Avoiding generic summaries, let's analyze the most critical nodes that emerged during the sessions point by point., Stefano on X
- This Google Ads doc explains in a note what to do if you don't see PMax as an option - it is new, but seems insignificant?, Barry Schwartz on X
- I’m excited to share that I’ll be joining OpenAI and look forward to working with the exceptional team there. It was a difficult decision to move on. I’m incredibly proud of the amazing team at Google and everything we’ve built together. It has been an honor and a pleasure to, Noam Shazeer on X
Search Engine Land Stories:
- The latest jobs in search marketing
- Google launches AI agent for Ad Manager
- USA Today vs. Google AI Overviews: A World Cup battle for breaking news traffic
- Google Ads launches beta for supplemental conversion data
- Pew: 60% of Americans read AI summaries in search results
- Google AI Overviews cite self-serving listicles, but recommend competitors 69% of the time
- PPC budgeting in 2026: When to adjust, scale, and optimize with data
- New Adobe tool shows where brands win and lose in AI search
- Turn your SEO process into AI-powered tools
- What breaks when content operations scale
- Google just released an AI opt-out feature. Your competitors hope you use it.
- For site moves, specify all domain variants with Google’s Change of Address tool
Other Great Search Stories:
AI & LLMs
- Do AI Assistants Actually Respect Your robots.txt? We Put 12 of Them to the Test., Search Engine World
- How Search Grounding Biased an LLM Against YouTube, DEJAN
- Preparing for the Agentic Web: Key Insights, Schema App
- Self-improving Memory for Agents, Perplexity
- Improving health intelligence in ChatGPT, OpenAI
- Publishers versus bots: How Trusted Reviews is fighting back against LLMs, Press Gazette
- What is an AI Agent? A Plain-English Guide, Ahrefs
Analytics
- Cookieless vs Privacy-First Analytics: I Tested 8 Tools With 6 Questions to Find the Truth, MeasureU
Industry & Business
- Google appoints new head of data center energy & infrastructure in EMEA, Data Center Dynamics
- Video Inside Google's AI data centers, ABC News
- Google and Microsoft Team Up to Beat Back Anthropic and OpenAI, The Information
- Google Says Canada Law Changes Don’t Resolve Privacy, Security Concerns, Bloomberg
- Google’s Secret Warrant Fight Over DOJ Pipe Bomb Probe Revealed, Bloomberg
- Help Us Pick the Next Stop in Europe for Search Central Live Deep Dive 2026!, Google Search Central Blog
- WPP predicts generative search will be fastest channel to reach $100bn, PR Week
- Barret Zoph is out at OpenAI again after just five months, The Verge
Links & Content Marketing
- New Rules of Brand Storytelling From Reddit, Zoom, Content Marketing Institute
Local & Maps
- Drive with “Minions & Monsters” on Waze, Google Blog
- MapTap, a daily geography game, is my new Wordle, TechCrunch
- Why You Must Respond to Every Review About Your Company, Igniting Business
Other Search
- The New Siri is Actually Good, Joanna Stern on YouTube
- Analysis of Top AI Search Engines: Who Is Catching Up to ChatGPT?, SE Ranking
PPC
- Measurement Boost with Additional Data Sources in Google Ads, PPC News Feed
- Get more done with Ask Ad Manager in Google Ad Manager, Google Blog
- PPC Live live from SMX Advanced: How to Hack PMax, Defend Your Brand, and Win in the Era of AI Max, PPC Live
- The Probabilistic Problem With Autonomous PPC Agents, ZATO Marketing
- The Comprehensive Guide to Online Advertising Costs for 2026, WordStream
Search Features
- Google's AI Overviews Feature Is Telling Users That SCP Horror Fiction Entities Are Real, Futurism
- Google is testing adding an AI Mode shortcut right in Chrome's toolbar, Android Authority
SEO
- Google Search Gen AI Reports, Search Profiles & more (Q2 ‘26), Google Search Central on YouTube
- How to Stand Out in the AI Era of Infinite Creative, Brainlabs
- SEO Trends 2024: Separating Fact From Fiction, Ahrefs
- USA Today Co is trying to beat AI Overviews on World Cup news, Digiday
- Create & capture demand in the AI Search era, Think with Google
- How to Stop Google From Training AI on Your Images and Voice Recordings, Annielytics
- Building a Community-Led Content Strategy for SEO Businesses, Athens SEO
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