Daily Search Forum Recap: August 21, 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.

The Google August spam update finished this morning. Google released a new improved preferred sources button. The Google crawl stats report is missing two days of data. Microsoft Ads will stop allowing Max CPC bidding on October 1st for new campaigns. Google announced it is rolling out new experimentation and planning capabilities in Google Ads and AI Max. Google has made some big updates to Local Service Ads. Even though LSAs are transitioning to Google Ads. Google's crawler now strictly enforces standard JSON formatting when reading your site's structured data, schema markup, instead of auto-correcting double-escaped HTML text. Google is rolling out the ability to tailor your Google Discover feed by using your words, in a conversational chat-like experience. Google updated the Google Tag and Google Tag Manager. And I posted the weekly SEO video recap.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google August 2026 Spam Update Has Finished Rolling Out
  The Google August 2026 spam update is now done rolling out. It started on Tuesday, August 18, 2026 at around 12:30 pm ET and completed on August 21, 2026 at around 4:50 am. Despite some people feeling the update started soon, Google's John Mueller said it did not.
• Google Preferred Source Button Improved For Publishers
  Google has updated the Preferred Sources button that publishers have on their websites to make it so that the user is taken right back to the page they were originally on. There is new embed code that handles this process to make it easier for users to go back to where they were and stay on your website.
• Google Search Console Crawl Stats Missing Two Days Of Data
  The crawl stats report within Google Search Console has a data gap again. This time the crawl stats report is missing August 15 and 16th crawl data. Normally, Google can fix the data but Google has not yet fixed it.
• Microsoft Advertising Max CPC Won't Be Available For New Campaigns On Oct 1
  Microsoft Advertising sent out emails yesterday announcing changes coming to Max CPC bidding. Microsoft wrote, "Max CPC will no longer be available when creating new non-portfolio campaigns" after October 1, 2026.
• Google Ads & AI Max New Experimentation & Planning Features
  Google announced it is rolling out new experimentation and planning capabilities in Google Ads and AI Max. There are new A/B test capabilities, brand and location parameters options and new Performance Planner predictions.
• Google Local Service Ads Pre-Badge Ads & Expansion Of Verticals
  Google has made some big updates to Local Service Ads. Even though LSAs are transitioning to Google Ads, Google is clearly still investing in the LSA product. Google added something called pre-badge ads, massively expanded the verticals and the verified ads badge updated its exclusions.
• JSON-LD Extraction For Googlebot Now Does One Pass Of HTML Unescaping
  Google's crawler now strictly enforces standard JSON formatting when reading your site's structured data, schema markup, instead of auto-correcting double-escaped HTML text. "To bring our parser up to JSON and other standards, we changed our JSON-LD extraction and are now only applying a single pass of HTML unescaping," Google posted on LinkedIn.
• Google Discover Feed Can Be Tailored By Words
  Google is rolling out the ability to tailor your Google Discover feed by using your words, in a conversational chat-like experience. You are taken to a screen that lets you enter your desired topics, then you can go back and forth with AI to really zone in on the topic you want your feed to look like.
• Google Tag & Google Tag Manager Updated
  Google updated the Google Tag and Google Tag Manager. Google said, "these changes are designed to streamline your measurement setup, improve performance and management, and provide a more unified experience across Google’s tagging products."
• Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Unleashed The August 2026 Spam Update, Gemini 3.7 Powers AI Mode, Google and Microsoft Ads News & More
  Google has released its third spam update of the 2026 year, the August 2026 spam update this week and finished rolling out Friday morning at 4:50am. Google Search’s AI Mode is now being powered sometimes by...
• Google Mahjong Gaming
  A few years ago we covered how Google has some folks who get together to play mahjong together. Well, it is still going on, a few years later, in the Google UK office.

Other Great Search Threads:

• I think this is new on the Google app (the same thing on Google on desktop). I see a blue outline and a "PLUS" badge on my Google account with Google AI Plus., Damien Andell on X
• Google is testing a new preview for "search profiles" on Google Discover. For a claimed profile that hasn't added a banner, Google still adds a large banner with the favicon: It redisplays the existing avatar as a full-frame hero banner. Immersive hero banner: full-frame, Damien Andell on X
• ChatGPT is testing out a new format across all standard singular text-based ads. Instead of featuring the ad label and site name inside the ad itself, they are separating the two and placing them at the top., SERP Alert on X
• ChatGPT is Changing Which Page Types it Cites in AI Responses (New Peec AI Data), Lily Ray on X
• Anyone else getting these false information emails?, Joe on X
• ChatGPT isn't showing Reddit at all!!! Wait, there they are. :) So I don't know... I need to dig deeper here, but there doesn't seem to be any technical block from what I'm seeing. And, they are showing for searches (like below)., Glenn Gabe on X
• DonaldJTrumpJr We agree that the results for these types of searches aren’t what they should be, and we’re working on improvements. Results can vary a lot from search to search (see screenshot) — and these inconsistent warnings aren’t unique to any one group., News from Google on X
• More OpenAI ChatGPT Ads updates - most we covered already, Barry Schwartz on X
• The agency phishing scams look pretty official ya'll, check out the links before you click them and the senders, and report them!!!!, Kirk Williams on LinkedIn
• It goes by fast... I tend to miss this date most years. The email this year helped. :-) So very fortunate for everything that @Google has let me do!, Satyajeet Salgar on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google August 2026 spam update done rolling out
• The latest jobs in search marketing
• Microsoft Advertising removes Max CPC from new standalone bidding campaigns
• Google makes the Preferred Source button more seamless
• Google Discover lets you customize your feed using conversational search
• Meta AI can now analyze and optimize Meta Ads campaigns
• How to improve Google Ads lead quality with CRM data
• 3 phases to build authority and earn AI citations
• Google adds new AI Max testing and planning tools
• SEO priorities for 2027: Your guide to search success

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• Gemma passes 1 billion downloads, Google Blog
• 18.7% of ChatGPT's API answers are undisclosed ads — and developers are paying premium rates to serve them, AIRANKS
• College students get 12 months of Google AI free, Google Blog
• ChatGPT update adds Apple Messages integration on Mac, 9to5Mac
• ChatGPT Rebuilt Its Search Tool. I Read the New Language It Speaks., Suganthan

Analytics

• How to Run a Complete GTM Audit in Minutes (That Used to Cost $2,000), MeasureU
• GTM Compliance Crisis: When Cookie Banners Fail and Who Gets Paid to Fix Them, MeasureU
• How I Use Claude to Build Dashboards Faster, Analytics Playbook

Industry & Business

• Google gives $6 million to West Texas towns affected by data center, Times Record News
• Spirit Flight Attendants Fight Google’s Data Bid for AI, Wall Street Journal
• Where we stand on Broadcom after Marvell tie-up with customer Google, CNBC
• Muon Space Raises $250 Million With Google, Salesforce Backing, Bloomberg
• Anthropic Expects to Match SpaceX’s Record IPO Size or Top It, Bloomberg
• Jeff Dean Explains Why He Left Google to Build a Small AI Startup, Business Insider
• Ex-Google engineer's conviction for stealing AI secrets partially overturned, Reuters
• Judge acquits ex-Google engineer of economic espionage in AI secrets case, Courthouse News Service
• Layoffs in Apple's Vision Products Group reduce VR staff, Apple Insider

Links & Content Marketing

• What Is Information Gain in SEO? (and How To Add It to Your Content), Ahrefs
• Make Your Content Part of AI-Driven Buyer Research, Content Marketing Institute
• Third-Party Citation Optimization Prioritization in an AI Search Era: A Framework + Worksheet, Aleyda Solis

Local & Maps

• Should We Stop Writing With AI?, Moz
• EP 270 - The Hidden Advantage: How Brand Awareness Decides the Click in Legal Search, Near Media
• Google Maps navigation glitch is driving Android Automotive users crazy, Android Authority

PPC

• How 3 creatives used AI to make small business campaigns, Google Blog

Search Features

• Google AI Giving Staggeringly Racist "Advice" About Being Alone With Certain Groups of People, Futurism

SEO

• How Much Should You Spend on AI Search? A Budget Guide for CMOs, Brainlabs
• Staying Visible in a Zero-Exit Search Experience, Advanced Web Ranking
• UK AI crawler policies: 100 consumer websites (2026), Search Decoded

Feedback:

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