Daily Search Forum Recap: November 4, 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 Search Console's performance report is showing a spike in clicks for some websites, it might be a bug. Google updated its documentation on the "Crawled - currently not indexed" page indexing status. We got more details on those Google Twiddlers. Google can show four ads in AI Mode. Google Ads has a new help document for Promotion mode. Microsoft Clarity added agentic analytics and more features. OpenAI says ChatGPT now has about one-fifth the volume of queries of Google. Google Tag Manager, the server-side one, will be able to see full user IP addresses.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

Google Updates Crawled - Currently Not Indexed Details
Google has updated the page indexing report help documentation, specifically the "Crawled - currently not indexed" section. It now says Google doesn't index all pages, this is a common message, it doesn't necessarily indicate an issue and more.
Google Performance Reports Showing Weird Spike In Clicks For Some Sites
Google Search Console's performance report is showing a weird spike in clicks for some sites over the past couple of days. It is not impacting all sites, and it might be a bug, but some are seeing this huge increase in clicks reported by Search Console.
List Of Google Twiddlers For Re-Ranking Search Results
Twiddlers are adjustable rules or systems that Google uses to fine-tune search results. They can re-rank the search results. Twiddlers can boost, demote, or otherwise rework search results based on specific, dynamic criteria, signals, or business rules such as NavBoost, user engagement, freshness, or manual/algorithmic filters.
Microsoft Clarity With New Agentic Analytics & Ask Clarity
Microsoft Clarity added two, well, three, new features today, including agentic analytics, ask Clarity, and brand agent expansion. Microsoft also said, "AI agents nearly doubled in three weeks to almost 2 million," 3 weeks!!!
Google Ads New Help Document For Promotion Mode
Google Ads has posted a super comprehensive help document for Promotion mode. Promotion mode lets you advertise for short-term sales by temporarily lowering your Target ROAS and applying an optional extra daily budget during your promotional window. There is this new help document that digs into the Google Ads feature.
Google AI Mode Now With Up To Four Ads
Google can now show up to four Google Ads in the AI Mode responses for a single query. I mean, I am not sure if this is new, being that Google Ads has been showing four ads for search results officially since 2016 but we do know Google said it will show more ads, more often, in AI Mode during its earnings call.
OpenAI Says ChatGPT Is At 20% Of Google Search Volume
OpenAI's Adam Fry said "ChatGPT’s volume of search-like queries is now roughly one-fifth the volume of queries of Google," in an interview with Alex Kantrowitz. "ChatGPT has gone from one billion to 1.2 in just the last two months," he added.
Server Side Google Tag Manager To See Full IP Addresses
Server-side Google Tag Manager will soon be able to process and see your visitors' full IP addresses. Google wrote, Starting January 11, 2027, server-side Google Tag Manager (SGTM) will allow tags to process standard...
A Bunch Of Clowns At Google
There are just a bunch of clowns at Google, here is photographic evidence of this at the Google office in Brazil.