Search Engine Roundtable Podcast

Today we covered how the Google May 2026 core update heated up this weekend again. Google AI Mode and AI Overviews are testing sliding link cards.  Google Ads brand search controls are available for AI Max. And Google Ads has this new lead management screen.

0:00 - Introduction

2:45 - Google May 2026 core update heated again

3:47 - Google AI Mode sliding link cards

6:09 - Google Ads brand search controls in AI Max

7:11 - Google Ads Lead management screen 

10:13 - Conclusion

A daily recap video summarizing a few of the top search marketing headlines covered at the Search Engine Roundtable.

This recap is called It's New - A quick, daily dose of the latest in SEO with Anu Adegbola of Search Engine Land, Mordy Oberstein of SE Ranking and Greg Finn of Cypress North (and Marketing O’Clock) and Barry Schwartz.

This week in search, we gave a status update on the Google May 2026 core update. Google strongly warned against buying mentions for AI or manipulating mentions for AI. Google removed the indexing lag between search and AI responses. Google Discover report bug caused a drop in clicks and impressions on May 21. There are video interviews with Google’s Sundar Pichai and Nick Fox. Google is testing a new favicon and sitename layout in search. John Mueller said Google’s search quality raters guidelines are not a guide for search rankings. Google Ads has new real-time policy reviews during the ad creation process. Google Ads will delete shorter-term data starting June 1st. Google Ads has this new prospect mode, for cold leads. Google is testing growing shopping ads. Google AI Mode tests new styles for shopping ads. Google Merchant Center has a new AI performance insights report. Google Merchant Center has conversational attributes for AI responses. Google Local is testing real-time stock buttons. Google Business Profiles adds view counts to images and videos. Bing has really released the AI-curated image interface. Similarweb says ChatGPT is showing more links, which is leading to a 150% increase in referrals. Google officially appealed the monopoly ruling. And the EU may fine Google in the triple-digit millions over favoring its own services in its search results. That was the search news this week at the Search Engine Roundtable.

SPONSOR: This episode is sponsored by ADSQUIRE, known recently for being the first ad agency to get a lawyer advertisement to show on ChatGPT.

0:00 - Introduction

1:48 - Google May 2026 Core Update Landed Over The Weekend

2:38 - Google Strongly Warns Against Manipulating Mentions For AI

3:45 - Google Removes Lag For AI Overviews & AI Mode Showing Penalized Content

4:16 - Google AI Mode & AI Overviews Add Preferred Sources & New Carousel

5:06 - Google Discover Report Bug Cause Decrease In Clicks/Impressions May 21

5:34 - Interviews Of Google's Sundar Pichai & Nick Fox

6:07 - Google Tests New Sitename & Favicon Layout In Search

6:24 - Google: Search Quality Raters Guidelines Not A Guide For Search Rankings

7:13 - Google Ads Real-Time Policy Reviews During Ad Creation

7:29 - Google Ads To Delete Short Term Performance Data June 1st

8:18 - New: Google Ads Prospects Mode

8:41 - Google Tests Growing Expanding Shopping Ads

8:56 - Google Shopping Ads In AI Mode Tries New Styles?

9:19 - New Google Merchant Center AI Performance Insights

9:47 - Google Merchant Center Conversational Attributes For AI-Driven Surfaces

10:11 - Google Local Results Tests Check Real-Time Stock

10:34 - Google Business Profiles Photos / Videos Add View Counts

10:50 - Bing Officially Releases AI Guided Image Search Experience

11:11 - Similarweb: ChatGPT Shows More Links Leading To 150% Increase In Referrals

11:27 - Google Officially Appeals Search Monopoly Ruling

11:54 - EU May Fine Google Triple Million Euros Over Favoring Itself In Search Results

12:23 - Conclusion

Today we covered that Google says you should not buy or manipulate your brand mentions to get ahead on Google AI responses. Google AI Mode and AI Overviews gain preferred sources, a new carousel but is it enough - oh, also the highly cited label expanded. Google Ads to delete shorter-term data starting this Monday, June 1st. ChatGPT Ads conversion optimized campaigns are coming for advertisers.

0:00 - Introduction

2:21 - Google says don’t buy mentions

4:39 - Google preferred sources expands to AI responses

8:49 - Google to delete shorter-term data June 1st

10:06 - ChatGPT Ads conversion optimized campaigns are coming 

11:46 - Conclusion

A daily recap video summarizing a few of the top search marketing headlines covered at the Search Engine Roundtable.

This recap is called It's New - A quick, daily dose of the latest in SEO with Anu Adegbola of Search Engine Land, Mordy Oberstein of SE Ranking and Greg Finn of Cypress North (and Marketing O’Clock) and Barry Schwartz.

Today we covered the new Google Ads real time policy review process for faster ad approvals. Google Display ads is being folded into Demand Gen campaigns. Google Search Console Discover performance report broke again on May 21. Google local pack tests a check real time stock button.

0:00 - Introduction

2:40 - Google Ads Real Time Policy Review

4:44 - Google Display Ads now in Demand Gen Campaigns

7:45 - Google Search Console Discover Report broke again

9:04 - Google local packs test real time stock checker

10:43 - Conclusion

A daily recap video summarizing a few of the top search marketing headlines covered at the Search Engine Roundtable.

This recap is called It's New - A quick, daily dose of the latest in SEO with Anu Adegbola of Search Engine Land, Mordy Oberstein of SE Ranking and Greg Finn of Cypress North (and Marketing O’Clock) and Barry Schwartz.

Today we covered that the EU may fine Google triple-digit million euros for showing its services in the search results. Bing image search officially launched its AI-curated image search results.  ChatGPT ad manager added geo-targeting, budgeting and more, and is testing ad experiences.  Google does some testing with Shopping Ads, which are renamed ratty ads.

0:00 - Introduction

1:50 - EU may fine Google in the triple-digit million euros

4:00 - Bing Image search AI-grouped images goes live

5:16 - ChatGPT ads gain geo-targeting, budgeting and more

7:24 - Google Shopping Ads tests

11:04 - Conclusion

A daily recap video summarizing a few of the top search marketing headlines covered at the Search Engine Roundtable.

This recap is called It's New - A quick, daily dose of the latest in SEO with Anu Adegbola of Search Engine Land, Mordy Oberstein of SE Ranking and Greg Finn of Cypress North (and Marketing O’Clock) and Barry Schwartz.

Today we covered the Google core update being announced on Thursday but being felt in a bit way this weekend.  Google also appealed its search monopoly ruling on Friday. Google Search Console’s link report is broken. Google seems to have removed the index lag between AI Overviews/AI Mode and core search. And Google is promoting its AI features and I/O news on its home page but it was replaced by the Memorial Day Doodle.

0:00 - Introduction

0:40 - Google May 2026 core update touched down this weekend

2:04 - Google appealed its search monopoly ruling

3:32 - Google Search Console links report is broken

4:15 - Google removed the index lag between its AI results and core search

5:37 - Google’s home page promotes AI features and I/O news

6:51 - Google Memorial Day Doodle

7:04 - Conclusion

A daily recap video summarizing a few of the top search marketing headlines covered at the Search Engine Roundtable.

This recap is called It's New - A quick, daily dose of the latest in SEO with Anu Adegbola of Search Engine Land, Mordy Oberstein of SE Ranking and Greg Finn of Cypress North (and Marketing O’Clock) and Barry Schwartz.

This week, we had both Google I/O and Google Marketing Live, so we have a lot of news. Google launched a new search box it is calling the intelligent search box. Google also launched Gemini 3.5 Flash, which is now powering AI Mode. Google showed off information agents in search, expanded agentic booking capabilities, showed agentic coding directly in Google Search, expanded personal intelligence and the seamless AI Overviews to AI Mode experience went fully live. Also, Google showed off its new Universal Cart, which is neat. What would be a week without Google ranking volatility, we had that the morning of I/O and throughout. Google posted a new help document on how to optimize for generative AI. Google added markdown files to its help docs but says it is not for Search. Google is testing a preferred label in the AI Mode results. Google has two new ad formats, conversational discovery ads and highlighted answers, within AI Mode. Google AI Mode is gaining shopping ads, business agents for leads and direct offer for leads. Google is merging Ads Advisor and Analytics Advisor with Ask Advisor. Google Ads primary conversion actions may be used for enhanced conversions. Microsoft Advertising has an import center, cross-account portfolio bidding, and bidding strategy report. Microsoft Clarity added a new AI report, a citations report. OpenAI’s ChatGPT does have a web cache. OpenAI also released updates to ChatGPT Ad Manager such as daily budgets and geo-targeting and new CTA experiments to ChatGPT ads. That was the search news this week at the Search Engine Roundtable.

SPONSOR: This week's video recap is sponsored by Duda, the Professional Website Builder You Can Call Your Own.

Note, I recorded this on Thursday and I am offline on Friday for a holiday.

0:00 - Introduction

0:38 - Google May 2026 Core Update Is Rolling Out - You Felt It

1:03 - Google I/O 2026 Search Ranking Volatility & Update

1:45 - Google's New Search Bar, The Intelligent Search Box

3:13 - Google Search Now Powered By Gemini 3.5 Flash With New Agentic Features

5:41 - Google Search On How To Optimize For Generative AI With Myth-Busting

6:36 - Google Adds Markdown Files To Help Docs But Not Used For Search

7:06 - Google Tests Preferred Sources Label In AI Mode Citations

7:30 - Google Tests Conversational Discovery Ads & Highlighted Answers In AI Mode

8:10 - Google AI Mode Shopping Ads, Business Agent For Leads & Direct Offers Coming

8:26  - Google Ask Advisor Brings Together Ads Advisor & Analytics Advisor

8:56 - Google Ads Primary Conversion Actions May Be Used For Enhance Predictions

9:38 - Microsoft Advertising Updates Import Center, Cross-Account Portfolio Bidding & Bidding Strategy Report

9:39 - Microsoft Clarity New AI Citations Report

10:08 - OpenAI / ChatGPT Has A Web Cache

10:38 - OpenAI Releases ChatGPT Ads Manager Updates & Ads Tests

10:57 - Conclusion

Today we covered much of the Google Marketing Live news about changes with Google Ads. This includes new ad formats for AI Mode, conversational discovery ads and highlighted answers. Google Shopping ads coming to AI Mode, Business Agents for Leads also coming and expanding Direct Offers.  Google also combined Ads Advisor and Analytics Advisor into Ask Advisor.  

0:00 - Introduction

0:24 - Google Marketing Live Ad News

15:28 - Conclusion

A daily recap video summarizing a few of the top search marketing headlines covered at the Search Engine Roundtable.

This recap is called It's New - A quick, daily dose of the latest in SEO with Anu Adegbola of Search Engine Land, Mordy Oberstein of SE Ranking and Greg Finn of Cypress North (and Marketing O’Clock) and Barry Schwartz.

Today we covered all the big search news out of Google I/O, including the new intelligent search box, the seamless AI Overview to AI Mode feature expanding, Gemini 3.5 Flash powering AI Mode, information agents in search, agentic booking updates, coding in Google Search, personal intelligence expanding, Universal Cart, and so much more.  Microsoft Advertising announced its monthly releases, and they include updates to the import center, cross-account portfolio bidding, bidding strategy reports and more. 

0:00 - Introduction

1:02 - Google I/O Search News

10:15 - Microsoft Advertising import center, cross-account bidding and bidding report

0:00 - Conclusion

A daily recap video summarizing a few of the top search marketing headlines covered at the Search Engine Roundtable.

This recap is called It's New - A quick, daily dose of the latest in SEO with Anu Adegbola of Search Engine Land, Mordy Oberstein of SE Ranking and Greg Finn of Cypress North (and Marketing O’Clock) and Barry Schwartz.

Today we covered Google search ranking volatility heating up before Google I/O.  Google added markdown files to the help docs but John Mueller of Google said it is not used by Google Search. Microsoft Clarity adding AI citations reporting to its analytics package.  And just some ranting. 

0:00 - Introduction

0:20 - Google has some big ranking volatility on I/O day

1:30 - Google added markdown files to its help docs but Search doesn’t use it

2:52 - Microsoft Clarity added a new AI citations report

4:09 - Conclusion

A daily recap video summarizing a few of the top search marketing headlines covered at the Search Engine Roundtable.

This recap is called It's New - A quick, daily dose of the latest in SEO with Anu Adegbola of Search Engine Land, Mordy Oberstein of SE Ranking and Greg Finn of Cypress North (and Marketing O’Clock) and Barry Schwartz.