Daily Search Forum Recap: July 2, 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 now sends searchers to the publisher-hosted AMP page. Bing says it continously backfills data in Bing Webmaster Tools. Google Ads updated the all campaign drop down. Google Ads has new channel diagnostics for PMax campaigns. You can now unsubscribe from those book a call with your Google Ads expert emails. And I posted the monthly Google webmaster report.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• July 2026 Google Webmaster Report
  Here is the monthly Google Webmaster report, where I summarize the major organic Google Search news and SEO topics from the past month. The big news was the Google June 2026 spam update, which took only two days to roll out and felt like it started earlier and was substantial.
• Google Ads Makes Changes To Bidding For Campaigns Limited By Budget
  Google Ads, as we covered earlier, made changes to Target CPA & Target ROAS. But now, Google sent out an email about even more changes starting on August 17, 2026 around bidding for campaigns limited by budget. It seems like this bidding update will end up costing advertisers even more money.
• Bing Webmaster Tools Backfilled Data For AI Performance Reports On June 1st
  If you take a look at the Bing Webmaster Tools newish AI performance reports, you may see more data, impressions, etc showing up on and after June 1, 2026. Microsoft said this is just "regular data backfilling" and there are "no anomalies" (which I think is a dig at Google).
• Google Ads Updates All Campaigns Drop Down
  Google has reportedly updated the Google Ads "All Campaigns" drop-down selection box to be from the center of the screen to the top-left corner and added the full campaign hierarchy in an expandable view.
• Google Sends Searchers To Site-Hosted AMP Pages Instead Of Cached Page
  Google updated how it handles sending searchers to AMP pages within Google Search. Now Google will send searchers directly to publisher-hosted AMP pages instead of the cached pages displayed in an AMP viewer. Google said this was done because it "simplifies and reduces maintenance efforts for publishers who are creating AMP content."
• Google Ads Performance Max Channel Diagnostics
  Google Ads is testing a new Channel Diagnostics feature for Performance Max campaigns within "Channel Performance" under the "Insights & Reports" section. This shows you the diagnostic data of all the channels together and of a specific channel in particular, all in one place.
• You Can Now Unsubscribe From Google Ads Expert Book Call Emails
  Google has now added an unsubscribe option to those book a call with your Google Ads expert emails that you find in your inbox just way too often. This has been a complaint for a while, like since 2005 and we covered it many times, but in 2022, Google said it will do something about it. Well, in 2026, we now have an unsubscribe link.
• Dancing At The Google Orb
  Here are several dozen dancers dancing by the Google Orb at the GooglePlex. I am not sure why they are doing this there, but here is the video I found of it on Instagram.

Other Great Search Threads:

• I noticed that Google has started adding direct links to the relevant guideline pages alongside certain fields. Clicking these links takes you straight to the applicable policy, helping you understand the requirements before making changes. It’s a small improvement, but one that, Vinay Toshniwal on X
• I found another one today... It's dead in Google and is cited in ChatGPT and Copilot in thousands of answers. And yep, it's due to Bing rankings. This site is pumping out tons of AI-generated content. Tens of thousands of pages indexed now with over 3K with "how to" in the title., Glenn Gabe on X
• AdSense Earnings and Observations - July 2026, WebmasterWorld
• This captures clicks to the domain across organic and ads traffic and are shown as: 10K+ clicks, 100K+ clicks, or 1M+ clicks. More info here..., AdsLiaison on X
• Time for an AI Max Q&A. In a recent AMA with Paid Search Association members, including Brad Geddes, Jeremy K., Sarah Stemen, MBA, and others I tackled pressing AI Max questions, including on the DSA migration to AI Max. , Ginny Marvin on LinkedIn
• Google Business Profiles in Gemini Is Officially Live, Lisa Landsman on LinkedIn

Search Engine Land Stories:

• ChatGPT Thinking mode changes which brands get cited
• Google adds Channel Diagnostics to Performance Max
• Google Search now sends searchers directly to publisher-hosted AMP pages
• In memoriam: A tribute to Bruce Clay
• Google tests AI-generated summaries in Search ads
• GraphRAG: What entity-first retrieval means for SEO
• Why TikTok deserves a place in your SEO strategy
• Google Trends adds previous time period comparison
• How campaign structure shapes Google Ads performance

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• Which AI systems actually read the live web, and why it decides your GEO, Search Engine World
• Can a prompt undo years brand building? Our AI interview tests say yes, Seer Interactive
• People Don’t Trust AI – They Trust Creators, Says People Inc.’s Jonathan Roberts, AdExchanger

Analytics

• The Future of the Analyst Role: Two Paths Are Emerging, Digital Debrief

Industry & Business

• Swedish court orders Google to pay $1.5 billion to Klarna in antitrust damages, Reuters
• Google's employee count in Kirkland takes big jump, Puget Sound Business Journal
• Yelp Gets Antitrust Win Against Google on Heels of DOJ’s Case, Bloomberg Law News
• Google Loses EU Court Appeal Over €4.1 Billion Android Antitrust Fine, Bloomberg
• Vint Cerf Retires From Google After 20 Years, Technology Org
• OpenAI proposes U.S. government own 5% stake to address political blowback, CNBC

Links & Content Marketing

• 13 Marketing Roles Worth Adding (or Reimagining), Content Marketing Institute

Local & Maps

• Google Maps has an authentic new voice in New Zealand, Google Blog
• 5-Minute AI WordPress Plugin Audit That Can Save Your Local SEO, Local Visibility System

Other Search

• SearchResearch (7/1/26): What you need to know about image search (1/3), SearchReSearch
• SpaceX Showed Investors Prototype of Elon Musk’s New AI Device, Wall Street Journal

PPC

• DSA to AI Max Migration: What Feb 2027 Means, Hop Skip Media
• Google Launches PMAX Channel Diagnostics, PPC News Feed
• How to build a PPC strategy that gets results, Semrush
• 10 Paid Social Myths We Wish Would Disappear, JumpFly
• Microsoft Expands View-Through Conversions to Multimedia Ads, PPC News Feed
• Updates to Cryptocurrency Advertising Policy in France (July 2026), Google Advertising Policies Help
• Google Ads Users Can Now Unsubscribe From Reps, PPC News Feed

Search Features

• Gemini Spark, Google's agentic assistant, is now available on Mac, TechCrunch
• 7 Lesser-Known Google Account Settings You Should Change, Wired
• Google says a fix is in the works for Home device delays, Android Authority

SEO

• How to Use Reddit for SEO (The Right Way), Ahrefs
• SEO Unpacked: What Is Indexation And Why Does It Matter?, Koozai
• The Impact of Google AI Overviews on Publisher Traffic and User Experience: Evidence from a Field Experiment by Saharsh Agarwal, Ananya Sen, SSRN
• Your site, your rules: new AI traffic options for all customers, Cloudflare
• How 27 Companies Use AI to Grow Traffic & Revenue, Detailed

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News, add as a preferred source on Google and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or just contact us the old fashion way.