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 Ads smart bidding update is ragging in the PPC community, is it a broader change or not? Did Google Maps drop its OpenTable reservations integration? Google renamed NotebookLM Useragent To Google-GeminiNotebook. Google has updated the help document named How to fix: Google StoreBot crawler can’t access your in-store product page. Microsoft Bing is testing using a black colored magnifying glass in the search bar and box. And I posted the weekly SEO video recap.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
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Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google 7/11 Update, Bing Penalties, Google Images, AI Overviews AI Images, Google Ads Updates, ChatGPT Ads Features & Apple Maps
This week, we saw some Google Search ranking volatility around July 11th, so I called it the 7-Eleven update. Bing said it does not do one-off search penalties because it is not scalable. Google Images celebrated its 25th anniversary... -
Google Ads Making Broader Smart Bidding Updates? Google Says No.
The PPC community has been going wild over the change that is coming to Google Ads around bidding for campaigns limited by budget on August 18th. There is some belief that this is going to be a broader smart bidding update than what Google communicated. -
Did Google Maps Turn Off OpenTable Reservations?
Google has removed its help document named "Make OpenTable reservations in Google Maps" yesterday. It looks like that implies that Google Maps removed the integration it has with restaurant listings and making reservations with OpenTable. -
Google Renamed NotebookLM Useragent To Google-GeminiNotebook
As many of you know, Google has user-triggered fetchers including Google-NotebookLM. But with NotebookLM being renamed to Gemini Notebook, Google had to update the user agent name of Google-NotebookLM to Google-GeminiNotebook. -
Google StoreBot Accessibility Issues Help Document Updated
Google has updated the help document named How to fix: Google StoreBot crawler can’t access your in-store product page. The document has a number of big updates with a lot of clarifications including the user-agents, checking robots.txt, blocking IP addresses, page speed issues, reprocessing and how long it takes for your landing pages to be reprocessed. -
Bing Tests Black Magnifying Glass Icon In Search Bar
Microsoft Bing is testing using a black colored magnifying glass in the search bar and box. This is instead of a gray or black outlined icon, the test is a fully colored in icon. -
Volleyball At Google Office
Google's Seattle office has a volleyball court, so does the Mountain View office but here are some Googlers or maybe kids playing volleyball at the office there. We saw Googlers playing during COVID with masks and we even some professional volleyball players at Google.
Other Great Search Threads:
- ChatGPT's app reached a record 640.68 million monthly active users in June 2026, up 2.2% from May and 24% year over year. Over the past 37 months, ChatGPT's monthly active users have declined only three times., Similarweb on X
- Wow, first time I've seen the Like button on Google Discover to the left of the Discover card. Google is currently testing putting the Like and Share buttons on the left and the menu still on the right., Damien Andell on X
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Google expands Performance Max product reporting across all networks
- Google changes default Local Inventory Ads behavior
- Google AI Mode adds Instacart, Canva and YouTube Music integrations
- How to run a local GEO baseline audit
Other Great Search Stories:
AI & LLMs
- Please Stop Making Me Opt Out of AI, Wired
- Google DeepMind expands biosecurity effort amid AI safety push, Axios
- NotebookLM is now Gemini Notebook, Google Blog
- Someone Used A.I. to Write an Unauthorized Biography of Me. I Don’t Recommend Reading It., New York Times
Industry & Business
- Behind the Curtain: AI godfathers converge on regulations, Axios
- Google is better at playing the EU regulations game, The Verge
- Google ordered to open Android and Search to rivals in Europe, The Verge
- The DMA should not undercut security & privacy for Europeans, Google Blog
- Alphabet shares fall on report its Gemini 3.5 Pro AI model is delayed, CNBC
- Thousands of Google workers demand layoff protections amid AI boom in petition to CEO, The Guardian
- Google Gemini Launch Delayed as Tech Falls Short of Internal Goals, Bloomberg
Links & Content Marketing
- Local SEO Link Building That Improves Maps, Organic, and AI Rankings, The Upper Ranks
- Why B2B Marketers Should Pay Attention to Microdramas, Content Marketing Institute
Local & Maps
Other Search
- Expanding Choice in Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform: Introducing Grounding with Parallel Web Search, Google Developers Blog
- Why is OpenAI selling a ChatGPT basketball?, TechCrunch
PPC
- Why The Best Strategy for Creator Ads Focuses on Testing and Speed, Seer Interactive
- Google's Promotion Mode is live (Beta) - smec, Smarter Ecommerce
- Business Data Feeds Now Available in Demand Gen Campaigns, PPC News Feed
Search Features
- Connect more of your apps to Search, Google Blog
- Google preps letting you customize Gemini voices by Speed, Energy, and more, 9To5Google
- 6 Google Shopping tricks for back to school, Google Blog
- The top trends on Search ahead of back-to-school season, Google Blog
SEO
- How to read the Indexing Report, Search Off the Record
- New research: The Core Web Vitals thresholds you trust might be wrong, Embrace
- Reddit and AI Search: What Patterns Show, SE Ranking
- The Free Tools SEO Strategy: How to Rank With Calculators, Converters, and Generators, Ahrefs
- Where AI agents get stuck on your site, Kevin Indig
- What It Takes for SaaS Brands to Win in AI Search: 5 Data-Backed Findings and Actions, Aleyda Solis
- Why your pages are stuck in crawled-currently not indexed. And what to do about it., Marie Haynes
- How to Overcome Google Indexing Problems With Social Media + AI, Whitespark
Feedback:
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