Bing rewrote its webmaster guidelines to cover Copilot grounding, meta directive controls for AI answers, and a softened stance on AI-generated content.

The post Bing Adds GEO To Official Guidelines, Expands AI Abuse Definitions appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Google's February Discover core update is complete after a roughly 22-day rollout. Early data suggests fewer domains in top slots.

The post Google’s Discover Core Update Finishes Rolling Out appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Google's Gary Illyes clarifies why resource hints do not influence Googlebot's crawling behavior, and notes that HTML validity is not a ranking factor.

The post Google Explains Why Its Crawler Ignores Your Resource Hints appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Lack of support for an independent WordPress plugin and theme repository leads Joost de Valk to step away.

The post Joost de Valk Exits Federated WordPress Repository Project appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Researchers compared two ways to improve rankings in LLMs: Shadow Model and Query-based solutions.

The post How Researchers Reverse-Engineered LLMs For A Ranking Experiment appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Google is preparing to test search result changes in the EU that would show rival vertical search services alongside its own results

The post Google To Test Search Changes In EU After DMA Charges, Per Report appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Survey data shows 49% of U.S. consumers have used TikTok for search, but Gen Z's TikTok-over-Google preference is dropping.

The post Gen Z Preference For TikTok Over Google Drops 50%, Data Shows appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Anthropic updated its crawler documentation to list separate Claude bots for training, search indexing, and user requests, with visibility tradeoffs when blocked.

The post Anthropic’s Claude Bots Make Robots.txt Decisions More Granular appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Early third-party tracking data offers a first look at how Google's February Discover core update is changing what users see in their feeds.

The post Google Discover Update: Early Data Shows Fewer Domains In US appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

SerpApi filed a motion to dismiss Google's DMCA lawsuit, arguing the search giant lacks standing to invoke copyright law over publicly visible search results.

The post SerpApi Challenges Google’s Right To Sue Over SERP Scraping appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Google's John Mueller points to site content as the reason for Search Console sitemap error messages

The post SEO Fundamental: Google Explains Why It May Not Use A Sitemap appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Microsoft found 31 companies hiding prompt injections inside "Summarize with AI" buttons aimed at biasing what AI assistants recommend in future conversations.

The post Microsoft: ‘Summarize With AI’ Buttons Used To Poison AI Recommendations appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Google Ads PMax placement reporting is now populating with data for more accounts, revealing Search Partner domains and impression counts for brand safety review.

The post Google Ads Surfaces PMax Search Partner Domains In Placement Report appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Google launched an AI Professional Certificate with seven self-paced modules and three months of AI Pro access. Eligible U.S. small businesses can enroll free.

The post Google Offers AI Certificate Free For Eligible U.S. Small Businesses appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Peec AI analyzed fan-out queries from 10M+ ChatGPT prompts and found 43% of background searches ran in English, even for non-English prompts.

The post ChatGPT Search Often Switches To English In Fan-Out Queries: Report appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Google's Jeff Dean explains why latency and cost make Flash Google's production tier for AI search, and why models are built to retrieve, not memorize.

The post Why Google Runs AI Mode On Flash, Explained By Google’s Chief Scientist appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Google is adding hover link pop-ups on desktop in AI Overviews and AI Mode, plus more prominent link icons within responses across desktop and mobile.

The post Google Says Links Will Be More Visible In AI Overviews appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Automattic's James LePage describes emerging WooCommerce capabilities that will enable Sidekick-type AI extensions

The post WooCommerce May Gain Sidekick-Type AI Through Extensions appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

CleanTalk WordPress plugin, installed in 200,000+ websites, exposes sites to a critical vulnerability rated 9.8/10

The post CleanTalk WordPress Plugin Vulnerability Threatens Up To 200K Sites appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Antitrust filing argues Google cannibalizes audience visits to sites it uses to power AI results.

The post Antitrust Filing Says Google Cannibalizes Publisher Traffic appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

A site owner blamed Google AI Search for falsely reporting their site offline. The answer was a content delivery pitfall.

The post Google AI Shows A Site Is Offline Due To JS Content Delivery appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Google's Search Relations team discussed whether you still need a website in 2026, and outlined when social, apps, or the web make sense.

The post Google’s Search Relations Team Debates If You Still Need A Website appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Cloudflare launched Markdown for Agents, converting HTML pages to markdown automatically when AI crawlers request it through content negotiation.

The post Cloudflare’s New Markdown for AI Bots: What You Need To Know appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Google clarifies campaign consolidation guidance, saying performance and business logic matter more than legacy granularity in AI-driven Google Ads accounts.

The post Google Clarifies Its Stance On Campaign Consolidation appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

WordPress co-founder and Automattic are alleged to have planned to target at least ten competitors beyond WP Engine.

The post WP Engine Complaint Adds Unredacted Allegations About Mullenweg Plan appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Google's VP of Ads & Commerce published her annual letter previewing agentic commerce updates, AI Mode ad expansion, and creator-brand matching tools for 2026.

The post Google’s Ads Chief Details UCP Expansion, New AI Mode Ads appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Google's John Mueller explains how a leftover HTTP homepage invisible to Chrome users can cause site-name and favicon problems in search results.

The post Hidden HTTP Page Can Cause Site Name Problems In Google appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Google's Results about you tool now monitors Search results for government-issued IDs like passports, driver's licenses, and Social Security numbers.

The post Google Can Now Monitor Search For Your Government IDs appeared first on Search Engine Journal.