Daily Search Forum Recap: September 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 says the disavow link tool does have effects. Google Analytics has another data bug this morning. Google is working on fixing a bug with Local Service Ads where it seems Local Service Ads are being unlinked from the associated Google Business Profiles. Google Ads added a new section to the how asset groups work help documentation for pre-fill asset groups with generated assets. Google Tell Maps is rolling out to some. Bing is testing removing the site names from snippets. Google AdSense will change how it counts impressions. Google Trends added category filtering.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google: The Disavow Tool Does Have Effects
  Google's John Mueller said the Google disavow tool "does have effects," adding, "but it has its place & time." This was in response a complaint about a site dropping in the search results after adding links to the disavow link tool.
• Google Analytics September 1 Data Missing
  Google Analytics seems to have another bug, this time with data missing from the main charts. September 1, 2026 data is showing zero traffic to websites; I believe this is across every Google Analytics install.
• Google Working On Fixing Local Service Ads Bug
  Google is working on fixing a bug with Local Service Ads where it seems Local Service Ads are being unlinked from the associated Google Business Profiles. There are also complaints of instability and slowness on the Local Service Ads platform.
• Google Ads New Pre-Fill Asset Groups With Generated Assets
  Google Ads added a new section to the how asset groups work help documentation for pre-fill asset groups with generated assets. This section goes over new features like in-construction callout and automatic pre-fill.
• Google AdSense Begin-to-Render Impression Measurement Coming
  Google AdSense will change how it counts impressions for display ads starting on February 17, 2027. Google will use what it calls the Begin-to-Render methodology and will only count the impression once the ad has successfully loaded and has started to render on the user’s device.
• Google Tell Maps Starts To Roll Out
  About a month ago, Google announced Tell Maps, a way for Google Maps contributors to use AI to tell Google Maps more about places. "You can suggest edits conversationally, right from Ask Maps and the Contribute tab," Google said about Tell Maps.
• Bing Tests Search Result Snippets Without Site Names
  Microsoft is testing removing the site names from the Bing search results and instead showing only the site's URL. Google tested this about a year ago, so I guess it makes sense for Bing to test as well.
• Google Trends Explore Page Adds Category Filtering
  Google Trends now lets you filter your results by category, either with or without a query. This can give you a more refined view of the trends for a specific query or zoom you out more on category level trends within Google Search.
• Google Floating Circle Swing
  The Google Austin office has this circular hanging floating swing. It looks to be hanging from the ceiling and made of wood.

Other Great Search Threads:

• Calling all experienced SEO professionals, Microsoft is hiring again with a key role in leading the organic discovery and content strategy for the Microsoft.com storefront., Ryan Ricketts on LinkedIn
• LLMs really really suck at being random. Much like hallucinations, that isn't a bug. It's how autoregressive models work, it's by design. Testing an LLM with a coin flip tells you nothing about its actual "intelligence" or reasoning capability; it just reveals human training data bias. , Gary Illyes on Bluesky
• Today's Google Ads Diff... [Dont forget to check point #5] 1. Permanent Passkey Verification Google Ads admins can now opt into permanent phishing-resistant re-authentication for sensitive actions. Once enabled, passkeys and hardware security keys become the only accepted, Shauvik Kumar on X
• Google has just removed the "Claim your profile" menu from search profiles on Google Discover. This menu allowed users to claim a Google profile page via the link (using the publisher's entity code as "mid"). It was only present on unclaimed search, Damien Andell on X
• Why would you use cache-busting in a sitemap file? Perhaps I'm misunderstanding what your goal is though, feel free to elaborate!, John Mueller on Bluesky

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google AdSense to change how it counts impressions: Begin-to-Render
• 10 technical SEO audit mistakes that lead to bad recommendations
• Google vs. Microsoft AI Max: What’s the same and what’s different
• Anthropic AI watermarking: What it means for content and SEO

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• An Anthropic researcher just gave us a peek at self-improving AI, TechCrunch
• Where does AI get its information? And how to get cited, Semrush
• Introducing Agentic Video in Gemini, Google Blog
• TimesFM-3: A zero-shot foundation model for multivariate forecasting, Google Research
• Anthropic changes data retention policy after pushback from customers, CNBC
• Anthropic Says New Fable 5.1 AI Model Is Cheaper, Better at Coding, Bloomberg
• Google AI Pro, Ultra subscribers: Try Google Pics, Google Blog
• New Google AI Model Said to Narrow Gap on Coding Ability, Wall Street Journal
• OpenAI Is About to Release Its First AI Model With ‘Critical’ Cyber Abilities, Wired
• Introducing Claude Fable 5.1 and Claude Mythos 5.1, Anthropic
• OpenAI to limit access to Astra's most powerful cyber tools, Axios

Analytics

• Build Custom Dashboards in GA4 Reports: A Practical Guide, KRM Digital Marketing

Industry & Business

• Fervo Secures Its Largest-Ever Geothermal Power Deal, With Google, Wall Street Journal
• Google, other companies eye South Bay tech building suitable for AI work, Mercury News
• Google Court Loss Brings Big Payday to Privacy Lawyers, Wall Street Journal

Links & Content Marketing

• Content Blocker False Positives, Vale Rocks
• Why AI Demands That Marketers Have Industry Expertise, Content Marketing Institute

Local & Maps

• Google Maps has become a tool of digital imperialism, The Globe and Mail
• 5 game-changing Google Maps features I never noticed until I went looking, How To Geek
• Apple Maps Renames Lake Ontario ‘Lake America’ After Trump Order, Bloomberg
• Ford explains why it chose Apple Maps over Google for its new EVs, 9to5Mac

Other Search

• Amazon Alexa can now alert you when something new might tempt you to shop, TechCrunch
• Healthcare Public Data in ChatGPT for Clinicians, ChatGPT Release Notes
• Reduce clutter and distractions with Ad Blocker for Firefox on iOS, Mozilla

PPC

• Lookalike Segments Expand to Video Campaigns, PPC News Feed
• A milestone in expanding access to AI, OpenAI
• Business Agent Can Now Be Enabled From Shopify, PPC News Feed
• Microsoft Renames AI Max Text Guidelines to Text Guardrails, PPC News Feed
• PPC Live #21 Recap: Shifting Your Mindset (Problem-solving, Channel expansion, Account setups, AI), PPC Live

SEO

• Why is SEO important? 11 reasons it still matters., Semrush
• Did AI kill evergreen content? Let's discuss., SEO For Journalism
• Demystifying Grounding Queries with Real Data, Moz
• The Dehumanization of SEO: Displaced by Code, Ignored by Communication (PT1), SEO For Lunch
• I Hid 15 Names in a 705,216-Word Page. Gemini Found Four. Meta AI Found All 15., Search Engine World

Feedback:

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