Google Ads sent an email notifying some advertisers that it will automatically identify and extract high-quality promotions from your website and apply them directly to your campaigns starting on October 12, 2026. This is called automated promotions and only applies to Search and Performance Max campaigns with linked location assets.

Google launched automated promotions some time ago, this is now Google communicating to advertisers about it.

Arpan Banerjee sent me the email via LinkedIn from Google that says:

Starting October 12, 2026, Google Ads will automatically identify and extract high-quality promotions, such as coupons and deals, from your website and apply them directly to your campaigns. These promotion assets are designed to improve your ad's performance by providing users with valid offers without requiring any manual setup on your part.

Note: This functionality currently only applies to Search and Performance Max campaigns with linked location assets that don't already have promotion assets attached.

This is opt out, so Google will automatically opt you in for this starting October 12th. To turn this off navigate to your account-level automated assets settings, find Automated Promotions and select Off.

Here is a screenshot of the email:

Forum discussion at LinkedIn.

Google seems to have a bug of sorts where sometimes it can show the three dots about this ad or search result button twice, instead of just once. I can replicate this for some queries but not all.

This was first spotted by Khushal Bherwani who posted a video of it in action on X - he said, "Google sponsored result with two dotted lines: one on the URL and another on the heading."

Here is a screenshot I took of this:

For me, clicking on the three dots do the same thing.

Here is his video:

ð Google sponsored result with two dotted lines: one on the URL and another on the heading.

'-ï' one on url and another on Heading when click on url pop show "why this ad" and when click takes to landing page.

'-ï' Another one opens pop up about ads.

'-ï' Video in action#sem pic.twitter.com/QU1HcOeW2c

— Khushal Bherwani (@b4k_khushal) October 2, 2026

This seems like a bug to me...

Forum discussion at X.

Gary Illyes from Google reportedly presented new data from Google Search on how long Google for crawling, indexing and serving on average. This is broken down by process, withing crawling, indexing and serving and shows the typical timeframe versus the slowest timeframe.

This was posted by John Campbell at We Are Roast from the three day Google Search Central Live Deep Dive event in Europe. He wrote that the "highlight of the day" was when "Gary Illyes showed Google's own data on how long things take across crawling, indexing and serving. It was brand new information." French SEO Neil McCarthy also sent me information about this and posted a bit more on LinkedIn.

"Each process had a fastest time, a typical time and a slowest time. The times are based on Google's internal analysis. One caveat from Gary: many of these processes are linked. E.g. a page can't be indexed until it has been crawled, so delays stack up," he added.

Here is the breakdown he posted:

Here is a graphic of this that I had AI put together:

Here are photos of the slides:

Interesting data - don't you think?

Forum discussion at LinkedIn.

Google Ads has a new AI campaign localization tool for Search campaigns (beta), at least according to a new help document I found late last week. "You can use the AI campaign localization tool to quickly localize entire Search campaigns for new languages and regions using generative AI," Google wrote in the help document.

Google added, "Instead of waiting extended periods for manual translation and spreadsheet uploads, you can use the tool to help translate text, images, targeting, and landing pages with a few clicks."

When you localize a campaign, the Google Ads system creates a brand new, independent campaign. Your original campaign is never modified. The tool localizes the following components of your campaign:

• Text assets and targeting: This includes headlines, descriptions, sitelinks, callouts, and keywords which are translated into the target language.
• Images: If your images have text overlays, the AI will remove the text (in-paint) to provide a clean image, and add the translated messaging as supplemental text assets.
• Landing pages: You can choose to automatically translate your website for users who click your ad by embedding a provided JavaScript snippet on your site. Alternatively, you can manually update your URLs or use a bulk find-and-replace tool for your domains.
• Budgets and bids: Budgets and bids are copied exactly from your original campaign. The system doesn't perform currency conversions or exchange rate calculations. For example, a $100 USD budget becomes a $100 USD budget in the localized campaign.

These are the listed benefits of this tool:

• Reach new customers: This feature can help you expand your business to new international markets or reach new customers who speak different languages within your existing markets.M
• Expedited translation: This feature can help you to translate text, images, targeting, and landing pages quickly without the need for spreadsheets or additional uploads.

To access the localization tool, you can take one of the following actions:

• Open the 'Campaigns' table, select the checkbox next to an eligible campaign, then choose the localization option.
• Select Localization from the Tools menu.
• Apply an Optiscore localization recommendation. These recommendations are triggered if Google Ads identifies opportunities to increase performance with localization.

This is currently supported in the following languages:

• Dutch
• French
• French (Canada)
• German
• Italian
• Polish
• Portuguese (Brazil)
• Portuguese (Portugal/European)
• Spanish (Castilian/Spain)
• Spanish (Latin American & Caribbean)

To use the AI campaign localization tool, your account and campaign must meet the following requirements:

• The original campaign must be active or paused. Removed, draft, experimental, or shadow campaigns aren't supported.
• The campaign must not exceed entity size limits.
• All assets and keywords in the original campaign must be in a supported source language. If the campaign contains unsupported languages, it cannot be localized.

Here is a screenshot of the top of the page:

Forum discussion at X.

OpenAI announced "new visual ad format in ChatGPT" that it will be testing "later this month in the US with an initial group of advertisers." The new visual ad format is an "ad format during image generation in ChatGPT."

So if you ask ChatGPT to make an image for you, it will show a special ad for that process.

OpenAI wrote:

Our new visual ad format helps people imagine how products and services could fit into their lives. Through images showing product inspiration, product usage, or the experiences they make possible, people can discover a new brand, understand what makes an offering distinctive, and decide what to buy. For advertisers, this creates new opportunities to tell their story through images.

Initially, we'll test this new ad format during image generation in ChatGPT. Ads will be clearly labeled, and remain separate from the image being created. As with our other ad formats, advertising does not influence the answers ChatGPT provides.

Testing will begin later this month in the US with an initial group of advertisers.

Here is an image of the ad format that OpenAI shared - you can see the image is being generated above, it says 62% done, and there is an ad below that is already loaded and waiting for you to click on:

Also, OpenAI announced it is expanding the ChatGPT Ads "measurement tools and partner ecosystem to help advertisers understand how ChatGPT Ads contribute to their business using the systems they already rely on."

OpenAI wrote:

Integrations with Hightouch, Tealium, and LiveRamp make it easier for advertisers to send conversion data from their existing systems to ChatGPT Ads.

We now support leading attribution partners across the web and app space, enabling Conversions API, reporting, and click attribution solutions with companies including AppsFlyer, Triple Whale, Adjust, DV Rockerbox, Northbeam, Branch, Singular, Kochava, Airbridge, and Tenjin. We also have partnerships with full-funnel and advanced measurement partners, including Fospha, Measured, and INCRMNTAL.

Incrementality measurement plays an important role in building a fuller understanding of advertising's business impact. While our work on incrementality is still in its early stages, we're partnering with Haus, Measured, and WorkMagic to explore geo-based experiments to help advertisers understand the causal impact of ChatGPT Ads.

Early partner findings illustrate strong performance across different measurement approaches. According to DV Rockerbox, WeightWatchers' attributed cost per acquisition on ChatGPT Ads was 15.3% lower than its blended paid-search benchmark. WorkMagic reported statistically significant lift for wellness brand Dose, with 67% of incremental purchases coming from net-new customers. And according to Triple Whale, 93% of Portland Leather's visitors from ChatGPT Ads were new.

Forum discussion at X.

We are seeing phase two of the Google September spam update hit on Wednesday and Thursday. Google now says it is critical to manually review all AI-generated content before publishing. Google updated its helpful content document to say what is main content and how quality raters review it. Google is testing adding tracking URL parameters to AI Overview links. Google won a case over AI Overviews hurting publishers' ad revenues. Google made several changes to the about merchant loyalty program within the Google Merchant Center help documentation. Google Local Service Ads seems to hide the phone number until you hover your mouse over the ad. Microsoft Bing is testing a new'ish section labeled "Recommended by" followed by the company making the recommendations. Google is testing new AI Mode sitelinks. Google Ads may have a bug or maybe it is testing, not showing images on sponsored product results. Google Ads will update its business name policy to allow some advertisers to use a business name that differs from the ad's destination domain. OpenAI announced that it is rolling out virtual try-on for clothing and accessories for ChatGPT on the mobile and web interfaces. And I posted the weekly SEO video recap - yea, big day.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Phase Two Of The Google September 2026 Spam Update Hits On 9/30
  Google announced the Google September 2026 spam update a week ago today on September 24th. We most likely saw the first wave of sites getting hit on September 25th, 26th and into the 27th. Then things cooled a bit but it all heated back up yesterday, September 30th. September 30th may have been the second wave, the second phase of this Google spam update.
• Google: Manually Factcheck & Review AI-Generated Content For Accuracy
  Google has updated Google Search's "guidance on using generative AI content on your website" document to tell those who use AI-generated content to "manually factcheck and review all AI-generated content for accuracy and trustworthiness before publishing."
• Google Helpful Content Doc With New Main Content & EOT/SA Sections
  Google has updated the creating helpful, reliable, people-first content help document to primarily add two new sections. First, it added that the main content is super critical, added what is main content and then explained how Search Quality raters review content quality of the main content.
• Google AI Overview Lawsuit Dismissed Over No Agreement With Publishers
  About a year ago, Penske, which operates and owns Rolling Stone, The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Variety, and others, sued Google over its AI Overviews. Well, that case was dismissed because Penske failed to prove that Google entered into any formal agreement with Penske to sell its content in exchange for any amount of traffic.
• Google Tests URL Tracking Parameters To AI Overviews
  Google seems to be testing adding tracking parameters to the link URLs within AI Overviews. If this rolls out fully, this will help you decipher when you get a click from an AI Overview in Google Search or just a click from the main Google Search web results.
• Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Spam Update Impact, Google Not Paying Much For Your Content, Google Feels Sad & Terrible and more
  This week, we covered the first impact felt by the Google September 2026 spam update. And then on Wednesday and Thursday we had the second impact of this spam update. Remember the AI contribution report...
• Google Loyalty Customer Match Expands To AI Mode & More Regions
  Google made several changes to the about merchant loyalty program within the Google Merchant Center help documentation. The key changes are that Loyalty Customer Match expanded to AI Mode and Gemini and to more regions, but there are even more changes noted in the help documentation.
• Google Local Service Ads Hiding Phone Number By Default
  Google Local Service Ads seems to hide the phone number until you hover your mouse over the ad. I am not sure if this is new or not, but there is a big button that says "Get phone number" which is not needed because the phone number does show up as soon as you move your mouse near the ad.
• Bing Product Results With Recommended By Section
  Microsoft Bing is testing a new'ish section labeled "Recommended by" followed by the company making the recommendations. The weird thing is, the specific product thumbnails link to various retailers and not the place that recommended it.
• Google Ads Sponsored Products Results Missing Images
  Google Ads may have a bug or maybe it is testing, not showing images on sponsored product results. You can see from the screenshot below, the images that are generally shown above the ad titles and descriptions are missing from the Sponsored products carousel in Google Search.
• Google Ads Sitelinks Format In AI Mode
  Google Ads show up a lot within AI Mode these days and with that, Google is testing various ad formats to see which formats get the highest click-through rate (unlike links in AI Mode). Here is a screenshot of what may be the Google Ads Sitelinks within AI Mode.
• Google Ads To Allow Some Advertisers To Use Different Business Names
  Google Ads will update its business name policy to allow some advertisers to use a business name that differs from the ad's destination domain. This is limited to certain cases, specifically three cases and it also excludes advertisers who are not the direct verified brand.
• ChatGPT Adds Virtually Try On Clothing & Accessories
  OpenAI announced that it is rolling out virtual try-on for clothing and accessories for ChatGPT on the mobile and web interfaces. This also includes saving these to your ChatGPT Library.
• Google Birthday Cake For 28th Birthday
  As you know, Google celebrated its 28th birthday this past Saturday on September 27th. Well, here is a Google office that celebrated with tons of cakes and treats.

Other Great Search Threads:

• New change to search profiles on Google Discover. Google is removing the "Profile generated by Google" tag from unclaimed profiles. Here's what it looks like., Damien Andell on X
• ChatGPT is quietly moving logged-out users to a different app, and it hides most of what AI visibility tracking relies on. OpenAI has been testing a lightweight logged-out version of ChatGPT, internally called "unauth-mweb". In the last few days we watched it go from a slice of, Jay ( Radarkit ) on X
• DAUs on Muse are approaching 2M, Similarweb on X
• So… I helped @Google design their @WNBA Doodle that just went live today. And that’s my voice on the call of the promo vid for the WNBA Playoffs presented by Google Pixel! This was a pretty nifty cool lil project to give feedback & be part of! Now, are we watching, Ros Gold-Onwude on X
• Grokipedia launches redesign and resumes edits as visibility keeps dropping in Google: "Grokipedia had paused autonomous edits and user-suggestion reviews for several months before resuming activity in September 2026.", Glenn Gabe on X
• Search interest in latte art reached an all-time high globally this year! So this International Coffee Day, @rajanpatel and I tried to level up our barista skills using Search Live. We had it talk us through the pour step-by-step, then showed what we made for some real-time, Robby Stein on X
• This Google Search Console recommendation is just wild, Barry Schwartz on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google Search now says it’s critical to manually factcheck and review all AI-generated content for accuracy and trustworthiness
• Publishers’ Google ad-tech antitrust claims clear a major legal hurdle
• Google clarifies 'Destination not working' ad policy with more examples
• Penske Media lawsuit over Google AI Overviews dismissed
• Microsoft Advertising adds HubSpot integration ahead of holiday season
• Google AI Overviews jump from 26% to 80% of branded queries
• The best SEO hires bring judgment, not just expertise
• SEO and meta descriptions: Everything you need to know in 2027
• Google location asset requirements: What you need to know

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• Anthropic Moves to Cut Off Discounts When Customers Hit Their Cap, The Information
• Who’s to Blame When A.I. Goes Rogue?, New York Times
• Google’s WikiSkill gives AI agents a memory of what went wrong — without putting it in the prompt, VentureBeat
• Do Americans Use AI for News?, BuzzStream
• In Robotics, Google Goes Android to Tesla’s Apple, The Information

Analytics

• Google Gemini Adds UTM Parameters For Referral Attribution, Search Engine Journal
• The KPI Most Marketers Aren’t Tracking for AEO, Content Marketing Institute

Industry & Business

• Google Wants Hollywood to Stop Being So Afraid of Technology, New York Times
• Anthropic Targets November IPO After Delays, Eyes SpaceX-Sized Debut, Bloomberg
• Google to Face $3.2 Billion Damage Claims Over Ad-Tech Monopoly, Bloomberg
• OpenAI cuts ties with 3 safety researchers, WSJ reports, TechCrunch
• Publishers clear major hurdle in Google ad-tech antitrust fight, Editor and Publisher
• OpenAI alerts more than 100 groups about rogue AI agent activity, Reuters
• Wayne County commissioners override veto of Google data center tax breaks, CBS Detroit

Links & Content Marketing

• AI content marketing in 2026: Confidence rises, but so does scrutiny, EMARKETER

Local & Maps

• How to Remove Bad Google Reviews: 4 Steps That Work, Sterling Sky
• Google Maps ate my battery on longer drives until I discovered this setting, Android Police

Other Search

• Apple Home Hub colors revealed in macOS code, Apple Insider

PPC

• Black Friday & Cyber Monday Ecommerce Tips, Cypress North
• ROAS vs. Incrementality: Why Efficiency Alone Limits Growth, Brainlabs
• Turn your existing social assets into high-impact YouTube ads., Google Blog
• October 2026: Gambling and Games Policy Updates for Croatia, PPC News Feed

Search Features

• 5 tips for making better coffee at home with help from Google Search, Google Blog

SEO

• Do sitemaps still matter?, Search Off the Record
• Identifying the Right KPIs in the Context of AI Search, iPullRank
• Introducing Yoast SEO AI+ for Shopify, Yoast
• Yoast SEO One Billion Download Celebration: Thank You Users, Yoast
• SEO for Static Sites: 8 Problems to Watch For, Ahrefs

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News, add as a preferred source on Google and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or just contact us the old fashion way.

This week, we covered the first impact felt by the Google September 2026 spam update. And then on Wednesday and Thursday we had the second impact of this spam update. Remember the AI contribution report, well, a report says Google is paying about a 100 publishers and it comes out to about 0.1% of their ad revenue. Google is now returning AI Overviews for brand queries and also team rosters. Google's Nick Fox sad he feels sad and terrible but why. Google has appealed the EU DMA mandate to share its search data. Penske's lawsuit against Google's AI Overviews was dismissed. Google AI Overviews is testing citations at the bottom, not right side. Google is testing replacing the Show more button with Loading. Google rolled out AI Mode's monitoring capabilities in AI Mode. I posted the monthly Google Webmaster report. Google Maps requires you to sign in to see all reviews. Google Maps has a bug placing some businesses in the middle of the ocean. Google Business Profiles has a new policy on misuse of support channels. Google Local Service Ads has a but where it serves advertisers in locations they do not service. Google Local Service Ads hide the phone number and then later show it. Google is testing a sponsored products grid that looks organic. Microsoft Advertising rolled out optimization experiments globally. Bing is testing sponsored ad with one-line consumer reviews. OpenAI released a number of new ChatGPT Ads updates. Google is testing dropping the I'm Feeling Lucky button. Google celebrated its 28th birthday this past weekend. That was the search news this week at the Search Engine Roundtable.

Sponsor: BruceClay ð"² one of the founding fathers of the SEO space, doing search marketing optimization since 1996. Bruce Clay is big into SEO training, check out seotraining.com to learn more and check them out at bruceclay.com. Also, check out their new product, Prewriter.ai - this tool empowers writers to write better and more efficiently, so check it out. Just a note: Bruce Clay is actively looking for new, AI-SEO-savvy recruits for staff positions, and also for potential business partners that may want to help carry forward the Bruce Clay global brand.

Make sure to subscribe to our video feed or subscribe directly on iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or your favorite podcast player to be notified of these updates and download the video in the background. Here is the YouTube version of the feed. For the original iTunes version, click here.

Search Topics of Discussion:

• 0:00 - Introduction
• 1:32 - Google September 2026 Spam Update Has Big Weekend<< Impact
• 2:12 - Phase Two Of The Google September 2026 Spam Update Hits On 9/30
• 3:22 - Google Paying ~100 Publishers 0.1% Of Ad Revenue In AI Contribution Pilot
• 4:19 <<  - Google AI Overviews Return For Many Large Brand Names
• 5:11 - Google's Nick Fox Feels Sad & Terrible For European Searchers After DMA
• 6:45 - Google Appeals Europe's DMA Mandate To Share Search History Data
• 7:11 - Google AI Overview Lawsuit Dismissed Over No Agreement With Publishers
• 8:12 - Google AI Overviews Testing Citations Cards At Bottom (Not Right Side) Again
• 8:34 - Google Tests Replacing Show More Button On AI Overviews With Loading...
• 8:55 - Google Globally Rolls Out Monitoring Capabilities In AI Mode
• 9:21 - October 2026 Google Webmaster Report
• 9:34 - Google Maps Now Requires Sign In To Read All Reviews & More
• 10:18 - Google Maps Bug Places Map Pins In Middle Of Ocean
• 10:39 - Google Business Profiles Policies Adds Misuse Of Support Channels
• 10:53 - Google Local Service Ads Bug Serving Wrong Locations
• 11:20 - Google Local Service Ads Hiding Phone Number By Default
• 11:39 - Google Tests Sponsored Products Grid That Looks Like The Organic Product Grid
• 11:59 - Microsoft Advertising Optimization Experiments Now Generally Available
• 12:17 - Bing Sponsored Ads With One-Line Consumer Review Extension
• 12:37 - OpenAI ChatGPT Ads Gains Bulk Product Creation, Product Review Status & More
• 12:58 - Google Tests Dropping I'm Feeling Lucky Button From Search Bar
• 13:18 - Google's 28th Birthday Doodle Takes You To Google AI Mode Quiz
• 13:34 - Conclusion

Please do subscribe on YouTube or subscribe via iTunes or on your favorite RSS reader. Don't forget to comment below with the right answer and good luck!

Google made several changes to the about merchant loyalty program within the Google Merchant Center help documentation. The key changes are that Loyalty Customer Match expanded to AI Mode and Gemini and to more regions, but there are even more changes noted in the help documentation.

Google has also made significant changes to how merchants can identify loyalty members, particularly for free listings.

Here is what is new in this document, which likely means this has rolled out to Merchant Center now or will so soon:

• AI Mode and Gemini is now mentioned in the document, before it was not.
• Added that Loyalty Customer Match is now through Merchant API
• Explicitly states loyalty participation is open to non-advertisers
• Clarifies that programs cannot require eventual payment, including certain free trials
• Loyalty points and completed orders eligibility are added as a qualifying membership type
• Free-to-join programs clarifies that programs cannot require eventual payment, including certain free trials
• Added a country-by-country and device-by-device availability matrix
• The program has officially expanded to 14 countries. The updated article now additionally applies to merchants in India, Italy, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Spain. Previously, US, UK, Germany, France, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, and Australia (with Japan supported separately for points programs).

Here is that grid:

Here is the diff:

Forum discussion at X.

Google seems to be testing adding tracking parameters to the link URLs within AI Overviews and AI Mode. If this rolls out fully, this will help you decipher when you get a click from an AI Overview in Google Search or just a click from the main Google Search web results.

Update: This was a browser extension - not Google. Tom told me later, "Turns out it was a Chrome Browser Extension modifying the URLs to include these parameters. Presumably to sell the data on to brokers..."

The parameter is appended to the end of the link or URL and is "?st_source=ai_overview parameter."

This was spotted by Tom Pool who posted this on LinkedIn and wrote, "Just started seeing the ?st_source=ai_overview parameter on links mentioned within AI Overviews - is this the start of actual proper attribution reporting?"

Here is his screenshot:

Here is the AI Mode version:

I tried to replicate this in several browsers, but I am unable to.

But Tom was able to see it in several examples, he even said they show even in the "links mentioned in the source list too."

Here are more screenshots from Tom:

Do you see this?

Forum discussion at LinkedIn.

Update 2: This was a browser extension - not Google. Tom told me later, "Turns out it was a Chrome Browser Extension modifying the URLs to include these parameters. Presumably to sell the data on to brokers..."

Google Local Service Ads seems to hide the phone number until you hover your mouse over the ad. I am not sure if this is new or not, but there is a big button that says "Get phone number" which is not needed because the phone number does show up as soon as you move your mouse near the ad.

Here is a GIF of it in action, so that you can see what I mean:

Here is a static image of what you see first when the ad load:

Then after you hover your mouse over the ad, the phone number loads in:

Is this new?

Forum discussion at X.

Microsoft Bing is testing a new'ish section labeled "Recommended by" followed by the company making the recommendations. The weird thing is, the specific product thumbnails link to various retailers and not the place that recommended it.

Plus, there is no way to verify that the brand actually recommended the products being shown - there are no links to the source of the recommendation from what I can see.

This was spotted by Sachin Patel who posted about this both on X and SEW - I was able to replicate this in some browsers - here is my screenshot:

So you can see, it says "Recommended by GearLab" in this example and then there is no link to click to GearLab. Plus, when you click on the products below, they take you to the retailer site and there is no mention of GearLab on those pages.

It is just weird.

Google tested a recommended by section for product results in May 2025 - so maybe this is a play off of that? I am not sure.

It is just super confusing...

Forum discussion at X.

Google Ads may have a bug or maybe it is testing, not showing images on sponsored product results. You can see from the screenshot below, the images that are generally shown above the ad titles and descriptions are missing from the Sponsored products carousel in Google Search.

Arpan Banerje shared a screenshot of the images not being shown on these Google sponsored products on LinkedIn - here is the image:

I tried it minutes from when he posted the screenshot and I am able to see images:

I am honestly thinking this was more like a temporary bug versus Google trying to test this. I mean, images always get a higher click-through rate than without images.

Forum discussion at LinkedIn.

Google Ads show up a lot within AI Mode these days and with that, Google is testing various ad formats to see which formats get the highest click-through rate (unlike links in AI Mode). Here is a screenshot of what may be the Google Ads Sitelinks within AI Mode.

I found this new format via Anthony Higman who posted this on X - here is his screenshot:

Higman wrote, "New Ai Mode Ad Format? With Site Links? Their AI Mode Monetization Strategy Is Heatin Up."

I am not sure, but this sitelink format looks "off" to me - not sure why.

Forum discussion at X.

Google Ads will update its business name policy to allow some advertisers to use a business name that differs from the ad's destination domain. This is limited to certain cases, specifically three cases and it also excludes advertisers who are not the direct verified brand.

Google posted that starting October 2026 (October 16, 2026 to be exact), Google will allow business names to differ from destination domains under specific conditions. Advertisers must maintain a verified relationship with the domain owner and accurately reflect their recognized brand name.

Google wrote: "In October 2026, Google will update its Business name requirements policy to allow for differences between the business name and the destination domain in certain limited cases, provided that:"

• The business name accurately reflects the recognized name or brand of the advertiser;
• There is a verified direct relationship between the advertiser and the domain owner; and
• The advertiser's products or services are directly offered in the destination domain.

Arpan Banerjee sent me the email he received from Google about this news, which added the date of October 16th:

Forum discussion at X.

Google has updated the creating helpful, reliable, people-first content help document to primarily add two new sections. First, it added that the main content is super critical, added what is main content and then explained how Search Quality raters review content quality of the main content.

This was updated the same day Google updated the AI-generated content document.

Google wrote this new line:

Beyond E-E-A-T, the Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines emphasize that one of the most critical factors for assessing page quality is the quality of the main content, specifically how effectively it allows the page to achieve its purpose and provide a satisfying user experience.

Yep, the word "critical" is used again here, and it emphasizes that main content is super important.

Then Google defined what is "main content" and wrote, "any part of the webpage that directly helps the page achieve its purpose. Depending on the primary intent of the page, the main content directly fulfills the page's purpose and could include:"

• Primary text and media: The main text, articles, images, audio, or video files on the page.
• Interactive features: Built-in functionality such as calculators, online tools, games, or search functionality.
• User-generated contributions: Forum discussions, customer reviews, comments, or user-uploaded media when they directly fulfill the page's purpose (for example, when the page is about discussing a particular user question).
• Tabbed or expanded sections: Information housed behind interactive tabs (such as product specifications, safety notes, or user reviews).
• Page titles and headings: The visible title and headings throughout a page that summarize its topic and helps users make informed decisions about visiting.

And then Google describes how Search Quality raters review the main content of the page. Google wrote, "When reviewing content quality, Search Quality raters are trained to evaluate these fundamental attributes of the main content:" I'll call this the EOT/SA section. :)

• Effort: The extent to which human work went into creating the content or the systems powering it. For example, writing original analysis, translating a poem manually, or building a custom interactive map for a game represents high effort. Conversely, automatically generating pages from feeds or using generative AI to produce large amounts of text without manual oversight or curation represents little to no effort. Attribution or giving credit to other sources doesn't replace the need for original effort.
• Originality: The extent to which the content offers unique, original information or perspectives that aren't already available on other websites.
• Talent or skill: Whether the content shows the talent, skill, or expertise necessary to provide a satisfying experience for visitors (such as clear writing, well-produced video, or functional page tools). Keep in mind that not all content requires specialized expertise. For example, a person sharing their experience about finding a new way to clear their driveway of snow generally doesn't necessarily require specialized expertise.
• Accuracy: For informational pages, the content should be factually accurate. For topics that could significantly impact people's lives or well-being (YMYL topics), the content must be highly accurate and consistent with established expert consensus.

Here is a screenshot of what is new - highlighted in the red box:

Forum discussion at X.