Industry News

The Search Engine Roundtable Google volatility aggregator tool is finally live. This takes the volatility scores from the tools I use for my Google update stories and aggregates them into one score. You can then click in for more detail and the scores directly from the sources.

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 May 2026 core update was super heated over the weekend...

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 May 2026 core update was super heated over the weekend...

Google added a new help document to the Google Ads help documentation section named About the Invalid Activity Credit Report. I am not sure if the report is new, or if it is just that the help document is new - but either way, this is a report advertisers should be looking at frequently enough.

Google has confirmed it is doing a small test of healthcare-related ads in AI Mode. Ginny Marvin, the Google Ads Liaison, said this on LinkedIn when asked if the rumors of Google testing ads in AI Mode for healthcare a few weeks ago were true.

Google Ads is rolling out branded searches controls to some advertisers within AI Max. This allows advertisers to control how your ads appear in searches that include brand names.

Google Ads has a new leads section under the Conversions section that shows Google-hosted form leads for the past 60 days. This will give you the lead's name, stage, date submitted, email, phone, the form contents and more.

Google is testing a new way to show citation link cards within AI Overviews and AI Mode. In this test, if you click on a citation bubble, Google opens a carousel at the bottom of the screen that you can swipe left or right on to see the links to publisher sites.

Google's Doodle today is an animated Disco ball, titled "The Art of Disco." Google wrote, "In celebration of Pride Month, today's Doodle celebrates the art of disco by shining a light on the LGBTQ+ artists who helped create space for everyone on the dance floor."

The Google May 2026 core update seemed to have hit some sites in a very big way yesterday, Saturday, May 30, 2026. As a reminder, the May 2026 core update was announced on May 21, 2026, and then that following weekend, we saw some significant ranking volatility, and then again, this past weekend, we saw even more volatility. I suspect the update will be completed in the next few days.