EU regulators are expected to rule that Google illegally favored its own shopping, travel, and other specialized services over rivals in search results.

The European Commission is expected to issue the decision next week under the Digital Markets Act, according to the Financial Times (subscription required), citing people familiar with the matter and internal Commission documents.

Google search changes possible. The case focuses on how Google displays its own vertical services in search results compared with competing services. Google owns some of the most valuable commercial search real estate. An order requiring changes could affect visibility for comparison sites, travel platforms, shopping services, and other businesses competing for organic traffic.

Why we care. Google’s treatment of its own services influences which businesses users see first in high-intent searches. Required changes could create new visibility opportunities in competitive commercial categories.

Fines add pressure. The Commission is expected to fine Google hundreds of millions of euros across two DMA decisions. Google could also face daily penalties if it fails to comply with parts of the orders within 60 days.

Search data access. The Commission is also expected to decide whether Google must give third-party search engines access to search data, including ranking, query, click, and view data. Google argues that sharing the data would threaten user privacy and exceed the Commission’s authority.

• The Commission is also considering whether Google must give third-party AI providers access to the same features available to Gemini.

Google’s AI Mode showed text ads on 29.45% of commercial queries in a new SE Ranking study, less than a year after ads began appearing in AI-generated search answers.

Ads appeared on 14,733 queries in the study, which analyzed U.S. commercial searches where text ads could appear, excluding product carousels.

AI Mode ad adoption accelerated. SE Ranking said ads began appearing in AI Mode responses in late 2025. By mid-2026, nearly one in three commercial queries in its data set showed a text ad. SE Ranking said the real ad rate may be higher because AI Mode results are inconsistent across sessions.

Two advertisers often appeared together. Most AI Mode ad blocks included more than one advertiser. SE Ranking found that 71.1% of ad-triggering queries showed two ads in the same AI Mode response, while 28.9% showed only one.

CPC best predicted ad visibility. Higher-cost keywords were much more likely to trigger AI Mode ads.

• Ad presence was 24.33% for keywords with CPCs below $2.
• It rose to 32.45% for keywords between $2 and $10, then jumped to 53.56% for keywords at $10 or more.
• SE Ranking said search volume and keyword difficulty did not show the same relationship with ad frequency.

Ad presence varied across categories. Pets had the highest rate, with ads appearing on 72.38% of analyzed keywords. Healthcare had the lowest, at 2.64%.

• Higher-ad categories were typically lead-generation markets with clear paths to paid conversions.
• Lower-ad categories were more likely to involve informational or YMYL intent, where commercial demand may be lower or Google may be more cautious.

Advertisers were rarely cited. Buying an AI Mode ad didn’t make advertisers more likely to be cited as a source in the same response. Only 11.53% of advertiser domains appeared among the cited sources for the keywords they advertised on. At the URL level, overlap fell to 1.95%.

• This held true even after comparing advertisers with similar non-advertising domains based on domain strength, backlinks, referring domains, and organic visibility, SE Ranking said.

Organic overlap was limited. Advertisers also rarely ranked organically for the same keywords. Only 2.32% of advertised URLs ranked organically for the queries where their ads appeared. At the domain level, overlap increased to 15.35%.

• About 85% of advertisers didn’t appear in organic results for the same keywords where they showed AI Mode ads, according to the study.

Why we care. Buying visibility in AI Mode doesn’t increase your chances of being cited or ranking organically. Treat AI Mode ads, cited sources, and organic rankings as separate visibility channels.

About the data. SE Ranking analyzed 50,032 commercial keywords across 20 niches, averaging about 2,500 keywords per niche. The data reflects U.S. AI Mode results collected on June 30. SE Ranking noted that ad behavior may change as Google expands AI-specific formats.

The study. AI Mode now shows ads on nearly 1 in 3 commercial queries

Google’s AI Mode increased citations to google.com by 8.4x in about two months, making it the No. 2 cited domain in Profound’s tracking.

The increase came almost entirely from Google Business Profiles and Product Knowledge Panels, according to Profound. Those Google-hosted cards now appear within AI Mode answers for many local and product searches.

Google cards moved up. AI Mode now surfaces Google Business Profiles as inline panels for local-intent queries.

These panels can display a business’s hours, photos, location, and reviews before users reach the company’s website. Profound said the shift makes the Google-hosted profile the first page many users see.

Local categories led. The change was strongest in industries where local intent drives revenue, including:

• Hospitality and travel
• Home services
• Restaurants and dining
• Real estate
• Healthcare

Product panels gained ground. Product searches also shifted toward Google-hosted results. Queries about comparisons, compatibility, or specifications increasingly surfaced Product Knowledge Panels instead of direct links to ecommerce or brand websites, Profound said.

Why we care. Your Google-hosted profile may shape a user’s first impression before they ever reach your website. Missing hours, outdated photos, incomplete information, or poor reviews can cost you the click before users visit your site.

About the data. Profound tracked AI Mode citation share from April 15 through June 30, analyzing more than 32 million google.com/searchviewer instances.

The report. Google AI Mode’s shift to citing itself

OpenAI’s ad revenue forecast is on pace to miss its 2030 target by 90%, according to Emarketer.

OpenAI projected $2.5 billion in ad revenue this year and $100 billion by 2030. Emarketer estimates the entire U.S. market for standalone chatbot ads will generate less than $1 billion this year and $5.41 billion by 2030.

OpenAI’s target. OpenAI began testing ChatGPT ads in February. By April, the company projected that ad revenue would grow to $100 billion within five years. But that forecast is larger than Emarketer’s 2030 estimate for the full U.S. chatbot ad market.

What Emarketer measured. Emarketer’s estimate covers standalone chatbots in the U.S., including ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google AI Mode and Amazon Alexa for Shopping, formerly Rufus. The research firm’s forecast puts the 2030 market ceiling at $5.41 billion, far below OpenAI’s target for its ad business alone.

Why we care. Chatbot ads are still a small market, despite growing interest in AI search and shopping. The gap between OpenAI’s target and Emarketer’s forecast shows ChatGPT Ads have a long way to go.

Assumptions vs. reality? OpenAI’s forecast assumes the company will capture search ad budgets at scale, dominate a mature chatbot ad market, and outperform every ad format in history, Adweek reported. Emarketer’s data points to a much smaller market.

If AI can’t find you, customers won’t either.

Track your visibility across AI search, uncover missed opportunities, and grow your presence where customers are asking questions.

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OpenAI is discontinuing ChatGPT Atlas, its standalone desktop browser. The browser-based AI features are moving to the new ChatGPT desktop app, which includes ChatGPT Work, OpenAI’s work-focused agent, alongside ChatGPT Codex.

The end of Atlas. James Sun of OpenAI confirmed on X Atlas will be deprecated Aug. 9.

• “The current targeted date for deprecation is 8/9, and we’ll share more information in the upcoming days both in-app and via email,” Sun said.

One desktop app. The new ChatGPT desktop app becomes OpenAI’s primary desktop product with built-in browser capabilities. Instead of maintaining a separate AI browser, OpenAI is combining browsing, work-agent features, and Codex into a single app.

Chrome users can keep Chrome. OpenAI also offers a ChatGPT and Codex extension for Chrome. That lets Chrome users access ChatGPT in their existing browser without switching to an OpenAI browser.

Why we care. OpenAI is moving AI browsing from a standalone browser into the main ChatGPT app, where more users can ask questions, research brands, and complete tasks. That gives ChatGPT another way to shape discovery beyond traditional search results.

Catch up quick. Atlas will be retired as a standalone browser less than a year after its launch.

• ChatGPT Atlas launched on Mac in October.
• OpenAI later released a dedicated Codex app and added an in-app browser in April.
• Those features are now being folded into the new ChatGPT desktop app.

If AI can’t find you, customers won’t either.

Track your visibility across AI search, uncover missed opportunities, and grow your presence where customers are asking questions.

See your AI visibility

YouTube expanded Ask YouTube to signed-in U.S. desktop viewers 13 and older, moving its conversational search experience beyond a Premium-only test.

What is Ask YouTube? Ask YouTube lets users type natural-language questions into the YouTube search bar and receive responses that combine text, video clips, long-form videos, and Shorts. Users can also ask follow-up questions to refine results.

Access expands. When YouTube announced the test in April, Ask YouTube was limited to U.S. YouTube Premium members 18 and older who opted in through youtube.com/new. On July 6, YouTube expanded it to signed-in U.S. viewers 13 and older using English-language searches on desktop.

• Signed-out viewers and supervised accounts remain excluded.
• YouTube said it will roll out the feature to more devices, languages, and users worldwide in the coming months.

YouTube standard Search isn’t going away. Users can switch back to traditional video results by clicking All on an Ask YouTube results page or by returning to the Home page. Ask YouTube remains a separate search option rather than a replacement for standard YouTube Search.

Views count for creators. YouTube said videos featured in Ask YouTube responses give creators another way to be discovered.

• Views from Shorts, videos, and previews shown in Ask YouTube responses count toward total view metrics and YouTube Partner Program eligibility. Featured videos also display the video title and channel name.
• YouTube said creators can improve their chances of appearing by publishing unique, high-quality content with clear chapters and descriptive titles. Those signals help its systems match video segments to viewer questions.

Why we care. YouTube is putting conversational search in front of a much larger group of U.S. desktop users. Your videos may need clear titles, chapters, and segments that answer specific questions well enough to appear in Ask YouTube responses.

What it looks like. Here’s a GIF of Ask YouTube in action:

The announcement. Try a new conversational search experience with Ask YouTube

Advanced architecture is no longer just technical structure. It determines whether your content can be found, understood, and surfaced by search engines and AI systems.

Our next SMX Now on July 15 features Shari Thurow, co-founder, information scientist, and search director at the Information Architecture Gateway. She’ll explain how advanced architecture works and where most AI, SEO, and site development workflows fall short.

The session introduces a five-phase framework Thurow has tested through decades of client work with organizations including Microsoft, Google Cloud, Abbott Laboratories, CVS Pharmacy, WebMD, Sony Music, the Library of Congress, Best Buy, and Merriam-Webster. You’ll learn how architecture decisions shape labeling systems, wayfinding networks, taxonomy, wireframes, and AI access to valuable content.

It also challenges long-standing misconceptions, including the three-click rule, the idea that taxonomy is only a hierarchy, and the belief that AI can generate effective wireframes without a deeper architectural model.

You’ll leave with a practical framework for building sites that communicate more clearly with users, search engines, and human-centered AI systems.

Save your spot