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.
We are seeing the Google search ranking volatility heat up since the spam update was completed. Google Search Live no longer requires an opt-in. Cloudflare tries to block Google AI Overviews, but will it work. Google Ads has a new dishonest pricing practice policy. Google will label some search ads as not a government website.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
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Google Search Ranking Volatility Heated After August Spam Update
Over the past couple of days, especially since the Google August 2025 spam update officially completed, the Google search results have been rumbling. It is a bit hard to track due to the changes with the third-party rank checking tools, but there has been a lot of chatter within the SEO community over the past few days. -
Cloudflare Tries To Give Sites A Way To Block Google AI Overviews - Will It Work?
Cloudflare announced Content Signals Policy, a new addition to robots.txt that allows you to express your preferences for how your content can be used after it has been accessed. This aims to block Google from using your content in AI Overviews, but Google would have to comply, which they have not yet, for this to work. -
Google Ads Dishonest Pricing Practices Policy Updates
Google is updating the Google Ads Misrepresentation policy concerning Dishonest Pricing Practices. This will require advertisers to disclose the payment model or full expense that a user will incur before and after purchase, and clarify any false or misleading impressions of the cost of a product or service. -
Google Search Live No Longer Requires Labs Opt-In Within US
Google announced that Search Live is now fully live in the US and no longer requires opt in to Search Labs. In July, Google released it on mobile in the U.S. for users enrolled in the AI Mode Labs experiment but now it is open to everyone in the US in English'"no Labs opt-in needed. -
Google To Label Some Search Ads With "Not A Government Website"
Google updated its Other restricted businesses: Government documents and services policy to say it may label some search ads to say, "Not a government website." -
Painting Alebrijes At Google
Here is some sort of painting event Google had at its office. They were painting Alebrijes. Alebrijes are brightly colored Mexican folk art sculptures of fantastical creatures, traditionally made from papier-mâché or wood.
Other Great Search Threads:
- 20 GBP accounts for business got suspended, Local Search Forum
- Canonicalization generally determines indexing, so it would be normal that only that structured data is taken into account., John Mueller on Bluesky
- Regarding the August spam update, yes, sites can recover from spam updates. Here's an example of a site that dropped heavily with the December 2024 spam update that recovered in February 2025. If you address the spam and Google sees, Glenn Gabe on X
- Technically a request through the web is handled by the server, and how it does that depends on the setup. It's not something that the requesting side can change. There are a few things that could cause fluctuations like this though, such as DNS misconfig, John Mueller on Bluesky
- Toggle between search and AI chat to get the experience you want. Either way, your info stays private. Don't want this new view? No problem — you can turn it off in your Search settings., DuckDuckGo on X
- We'd ignore the jsaction attribute for crawling, we look at the href value and go with that. (github.com/google/jsact... looks like it's also deprecated, but I don't know the details nor if that matters to your case.), John Mueller on Bluesky
Search Engine Land Stories:
- Cloudflare offers way to block AI Overviews – will Google comply?
- Google Search Live is live in U.S., with voice and camera AI mode
- Google clarifies API key process for local inventory feeds
- Google tests Brand Profiles in Merchant Center Next
- YouTube to reinstate banned channels: What it means for advertisers
- The origins of SEO and what they mean for GEO and AIO
- AI Overview citations: Why they don’t drive clicks and what to do
- People Also Ask SEO: How to optimize, rank and track
- Google pushes Demand Gen deeper into performance marketing
- Your GEO content audit template
- Google Ads streamlines scripts documentation
- Microsoft clarifies nonprofit ad grant program status
- LinkedIn Company Intelligence API links ads to pipeline, revenue
- Schema and AI Overviews: Does structured data improve visibility?
- Google launches seasonal bid adjustments for app campaigns
Other Great Search Stories:
Analytics
- Google Analytics linking recommendation in Google Ads, Google AdSense Help
Industry & Business
- Nobel laureates and AI developers call for ‘red lines’ on AI, Transformer News
- U.S. Asks Judge to Break Up Google’s Advertising Technology Monopoly, New York Times
- DOJ v. Google: Judge Brinkema Calls For Less Ad Tech “Window Dressing” In The AdX And DFP Divestiture Debate, AdExchanger
- Google celebrates 20 years in Mexico, Google Blog
- Google just asked the Supreme Court to save it from the Epic ruling, The Verge
- Search Central Live Dubai 2025, Google Search Central Blog
- Sterling Sky Acquires Ranking Academy, Sterling Sky Inc
- The EC antitrust case against Google explained, Digiday
- Google’s ad tech breakup is now a political hot potato, Digiday
Links & Content Marketing
- 5 Ways To Write More Effective Website Copy, Alice Rowan
- AI-Generated Content 101 for Marketers and Creators, Ahrefs
- SEO vs Content Marketing: What Drives More Growth?, The SEO Adventure
Local & Maps
- Grounding with Google Maps in Vertex AI, Google Cloud Blog
- Dutch firms hit with fake Google reviews scam, Cybernews
- Google Maps lifts long-standing blur over Türkiye, Türkiye Today
Mobile & Voice
- Apple working on MCP support on Mac, iPhone, and iPad, 9to5Mac
- iOS 26.1 Adds New Apple Intelligence Languages and Expands AirPods Live Translation, MacRumors
- You Can Turn Off Apple Intelligence and Get It Out of Your Face, CNET
SEO
- SEO Experiments-Create Test and Control Groups (with Python), JC Chouinard
- What is zero-click search?, SEO For Journalism
- Mastering JavaScript SEO: Leveraging pre-rendering and log analysis for optimal indexing, Oncrawl
- Measuring the value of Shopify SEO, Ilana Davis
- Study: The AI Search Landscape, Beyond the SEO VS GEO Hype, Seer Interactive
PPC
- Google Ads scripts documentation upgrade, Google Ads Developer Blog
- Nonprofits Can Apply for Microsoft Ads Grant Program, PPC News Feed
- 5 Ways to Turn Performance Max Insights Into SEO Action, JumpFly
- How to Make Value-Based Bidding Work for You, Optmyzr
- Introducing improved diagnostics for enhanced conversions for leads imports, Google Ads Developer Blog
- Update to Healthcare and Medicines Policy (October 2025), Google Advertising Policies Help
- Update to Healthcare and Medicines Policy (October 2025) - Singapore, Google Advertising Policies Help
Search Features
- RexBERT, DEJAN
- AI Mode in Google Search expands to Spanish, Google Blog
- Cloudflare Sets Up a Fight Over Google’s AI Overviews Access, The Information
- Microsoft adds Claude models to Copilot 365, Engadget
- Microsoft looks to build AI marketplace for publishers with Copilot, Axios
Other Search
- Abundant Intelligence, Sam Altman
- ChatGPT Using Web Searches Less Frequently, SISTRIX
Feedback:
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