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 Merchant Center has a new AI Performance report. Google Ads now asks for a justification to be entered when you request removal of someone's access. Google Ads updated its alcohol and gambling/games policy. OpenAI updated its crawler help documentation. Google also updated its crawler documentation, it had a typo. ChatGPT Ads Manager added a new product report and Attributed Sales Value and Sales ROAS metrics.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
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Google Ads Expands Alcohol, Gambling & Games Policy
Google Ads has posted that it has (1) expanded its alcohol policy to expand the approved geographic locations and (2) updated the gambling and games policy to expand the certification requirements to all categories under this policy. -
Google Ads Asks For Justification When Requesting Removal Of Access
Google Ads is now asking you to note a justification for when you request the removal of access for a user in your Google Ads account. Then that request is sent to another administrator for approval, with the justification you entered. -
OpenAI Crawlers Can Update Its User Agent String
OpenAI made a number of clarification changes to its crawler help documentation to say that version number of the user-agent string may be updated and it may use a user-agent string with an additional robots.txt marker. -
Google Merchant Center AI Performance Insights For AI Mode & AI Overviews
Google Merchant Center is rolling out a beta AI Performance report that shares how well your products are performing within AI Mode and AI Overviews. Google wrote this report "specifically revealing your performance on AI Mode and AI Overviews." -
ChatGPT Ads Manager Gains Attributed Sales Value & Sales ROAS & Products
OpenAI has added new metrics to the ChatGPT Ads manager advertiser control center. The new metrics include Attributed Sales Value and Sales ROAS. Plus a new product detail report. -
Google Fixes Google-InspectionTool User Agent String In Help Doc
Google has updated its Google crawlers help documentation to fix a typo under the Google-InspectionTool user agent string. In short, Google had a semicolon as part of the Google-InspectionTool user agent string and it should not have been there, so Google removed the semicolon. -
Mini Google Bike For Partners
We all know about Google's bikes, including Google partner bikes. But did you know that Google has mini bikes for Google Partners?
Other Great Search Threads:
- Top 10 advertisers on ChatGPT over the last 90 days, Similarweb on X
- Image SEO Tip: It is shocking how many eCommerce websites aren't using AI for image alt text generation. This is one of the great use cases for AI, where it can quickly analyze your images and generate a description that is better than what a copywriter could do. Note: I'm, Brodie Clark on X
- New Google search profile update seen on Google Discover: Bluesky has been spotted on Discover cards with exclusive Bluesky search profiles. I was able to generate Bluesky search profiles for a few accounts, including @rustybrick , @lilyraynyc , etc. I can check if you have, Damien Andell on X
- Digital Marketing Trick Of The Day!! How To View ChatGPT Ads Traffic In Google Analytics. 1. Go To User Acquisition Or Traffic Acquisition. 2.Enable The Secondary Metric "Landing Page + Query String" 3. Put "oppref" In the Search Bar To Filter By. 4. Done! 5., Anthony Higman on X
- I'd recommend not providing clashing meta data - it makes it hard to work out what's relevant. An option might be to serve it via feed instead, for example., John Mueller on Bluesky
- Index Coverage update: I have noticed this a lot over the past several months. Sites seeing categories of "Not indexed" urls drop heavily, which look like they were routed to "Crawled, not indexed". So it's like the categories flipped... I have seen that across a number of sites, Glenn Gabe on X
- We launched a new report with @SMEForumIndia, highlighting consumer-led shifts driving India’s e-commerce growth - on track to reach $250B by 2030. We’re helping businesses capture that growth with shopping experiences and open standards like UCP., Vidhya Srinivasan on X
Search Engine Land Stories:
- How to justify GEO investment without perfect attribution
- SMX Now: Build better site architecture for SEO, AI, and users
- 6 SEO priorities for AI shopping
- Why search ROAS depends on paid social more than you think
- How to close the identity gap between your brand, search, AI, and buyers
- Why agentic commerce will matter more than ChatGPT ads
Other Great Search Stories:
AI & LLMs
- AI companies are throwing museums a lifeline. What do they want in return?, Financial Times (Sub)
- Economists Warn of A.I. Threat, New York Times
- The Reverse Information Paradox, Satya Nadella on X
- Gemini publishes first ever 2026 Southeast Asia Report, Google Blog
Analytics
Industry & Business
- Retired engineer sounds alarm over Google's San Jose research facility, CBS San Francisco
- OpenAI's Ad Business Is on Pace to Miss Its Own Forecast By 90%, Analyst Says, AdWeek
- Google backs major US solar project to offset fossil fuel emissions, Financial Times (Sub)
- WPP to cut hundreds of jobs globally before the end of 2026, Ad Age
Links & Content Marketing
- Evergreen Content Is Over – The Individual Is The Only Strategy Left, Search Engine Journal
Local & Maps
- A huge Google Maps upgrade is rolling out on Android Auto, Android Police
- Fake Google claims number leads to vehicle ransom scam, Insurance Business
- User Installs Android Auto 17.3 and Gets the "Biggest Google Maps Navigation Update in One Decade", Autoevolution
Other Search
- Q2 2026 Global Smartphone Shipments Slump to Lowest Q2 Level in 13 Years as Memory Crisis Deepens, Counterpoint
- Google Discover Publishers ranking in June 2026, DiscoverSnoop
- Microsoft announces major Windows 11 search overhaul that prioritizes clearer, local results, and removes ads: Huge effort to fix search on Windows is finally happening, Windows Central
- Siri AI Is Becoming Apple’s Everything Tool, Wired
- Improving Windows Search Box, with less clutter and more control, Windows Insider Blog
PPC
- Google's AI Search Guidelines: What You Really Need to Know, WordStream
- Optimize multiple campaigns with Google Ads' video campaign groups, Google Blog
- Stop Targeting Keywords And Start Targeting Intent, PPC Hero
- What exactly is Smart Bidding Exploration Anyways?, ZATO Marketing
- AI Max Is Replacing Dynamic Search Ads: What Advertisers Need to Know, JumpFly
Search Features
- Google AI Mode now lets you search your chat history on Android, 9To5Google
- ChatGPT returns to WhatsApp in the EEA, ChatGPT Release Notes
- Gemini in Chrome is expanding to the UK, Google Blog
SEO
- Original Data as a GEO Moat, Similarweb
- Writing Medical Content for SEO - The Do's and Don'ts, Assertive Media
Feedback:
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