Industry News

Google is testing adding an open in new window icon on sponsored results within the Google Search results. This icon appears at the end of the URL in the Google search ads.

Yesterday, Google announced it was "renaming and updating the Default Ads Treatment policy to improve the clarity and transparency of the policy." But it did one more thing, it removed "shocking content" from the list of categories of ads that would not be shown while Google was determining the user's age.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today...

Liz Reid, Google's Head of Search, was interviewed by Jason Howell and Jeff Jarvis on the AI Inside podcast. In that interview, Liz Reid said Google wants great content to shine in its search results and AI experiences. She said, "we really do want great content to shine and continue to connect people to it."

Google seems to be testing the rollout of top stories within the AI Overview section of the Google Search results. This was something Google pre-announced last month and it now seems to be rolling out to some searchers.

Google has now specified exactly which regions local inventory ads and free local listings are available. Previously, Google would lump both together, but in reality, local inventory ads are accepted in more regions than free local listings within Google Merchant Center.

OpenAI has dropped the "Sponsored" label on its ChatGPT Ads for an "Ad" label. The position of the label also moved from the top left of the ad box to the right side of the individual ad unit.

Google Ads is adding new reporting to Performance Max campaigns for product reporting by asset group and also a report to view audience segments by spend. These reports should give you more clarity in your ad campaign spend and to understand the ROI of such spend.

Bruce Clay, known as the Father of SEO, passed away in late May. Bruce Clay started his company before there was even an SEO industry and is known for helping it become a true professional industry. I never met an individual who has contributed more to the industry than Bruce, both in terms of his time, resources, and money.

It only took about two days - the Google June 2026 spam update is now done rolling out. It started on Wednesday, June 24, 2026 at around noon and completed on June 26, 2026 at around 2pm ET. This update felt like it started earlier than it was announced, and felt more widespread than a typical Google spam update.