<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/08/The-ultimate-Shopify-SEO-and-AI-readiness-playbook.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="The ultimate Shopify SEO and AI readiness playbook" decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/08/The-ultimate-Shopify-SEO-and-AI-readiness-playbook.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/08/The-ultimate-Shopify-SEO-and-AI-readiness-playbook-768x432.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/08/The-ultimate-Shopify-SEO-and-AI-readiness-playbook-1536x864.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>A Shopify outage disrupted storefronts, checkouts, admin access and Retail POS, potentially affecting merchants' ability to manage stores / process sales.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/08/The-ultimate-Shopify-SEO-and-AI-readiness-playbook.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="The ultimate Shopify SEO and AI readiness playbook" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/08/The-ultimate-Shopify-SEO-and-AI-readiness-playbook.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/08/The-ultimate-Shopify-SEO-and-AI-readiness-playbook-768x432.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/08/The-ultimate-Shopify-SEO-and-AI-readiness-playbook-1536x864.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>A Shopify service disruption on Tuesday affected core commerce functions, potentially preventing merchants from managing stores and customers from completing purchases.</p>



<p><strong>The big picture</strong>. Shopify confirmed that some merchants and customers experienced issues across multiple services, including storefronts, checkouts, the Shopify admin dashboard and Retail POS.</p>



<p>Access to Shopify Support was also impacted.</p>



<p id="h-what-happened"><strong>What happened.</strong> Shopify first acknowledged the issue at 9:27 a.m. EDT, saying merchants may experience problems accessing:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Shopify Admin</li>



<li>Retail POS</li>
</ul>



<p>At the same time, customers could encounter issues with:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Storefronts</li>



<li>Checkouts</li>
</ul>



<p>The outage also affected access to Shopify Support.</p>



<p><strong>Why we care.</strong> If Shopify storefronts or checkouts are unavailable, paid traffic can’t convert into sales, potentially wasting ad spend and skewing campaign performance data. Brands running Google, Meta, TikTok or other paid campaigns should monitor results during the outage and account for any disruptions when evaluating campaign performance.</p>



<p id="h-latest-status"><strong>Latest status.</strong> At 10:37 a.m. EDT, Shopify said it had identified the root cause and was seeing recovery following mitigation efforts.</p>



<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve identified the problem and are seeing recovery from our mitigation efforts,&#8221; the company said in a status update. &#8220;We will continue to monitor and update.&#8221;</p>



<p>Earlier, at 9:45 a.m. EDT, Shopify said it was actively investigating the incident.</p>



<p id="h-between-the-lines"><strong>Between the lines.</strong> Because Shopify powers millions of online stores, even short disruptions can have immediate revenue implications for merchants, particularly when checkout functionality is affected.</p>



<p>For brands running promotions, product launches or high-traffic campaigns, any interruption to storefront access or payment processing can translate into lost sales and customer frustration.</p>



<p id="h-what-to-watch"><strong>What to watch.</strong> Shopify said services were recovering following mitigation efforts, but merchants will likely continue monitoring performance and order activity until the company confirms the incident has been fully resolved.</p>



<p><a href="https://www.shopifystatus.com/">The outage</a> also serves as a reminder of how dependent many ecommerce businesses have become on a small number of platform providers for critical commerce infrastructure.</p>



<p><strong>First spotted.</strong> This alert was spotted by Senior Paid Media Manager Ayisha Yousef who shared the error message she came across on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ayisha-yousef_shopify-ecommerce-ppc-share-7467946152630456320-A-hQ/">LinkedIn</a>. </p>


A Shopify service disruption on Tuesday affected core commerce functions, potentially preventing merchants from managing stores and customers from completing purchases.
The big picture. Shopify confirmed that some merchants and customers experienced issues across multiple services, including storefronts, checkouts, the Shopify admin dashboard and Retail POS.
Access to Shopify Support was also impacted.
What happened. Shopify first acknowledged the issue at 9:27 a.m. EDT, saying merchants may experience problems accessing:
Shopify Admin
Retail POS
At the same time, customers could encounter issues with:
Storefronts
Checkouts
The outage also affected access to Shopify Support.
Why we care. If Shopify storefronts or checkouts are unavailable, paid traffic can’t convert into sales, potentially wasting ad spend and skewing campaign performance data. Brands running Google, Meta, TikTok or other paid campaigns should monitor results during the outage and account for any disruptions when evaluating campaign performance.
Latest status. At 10:37 a.m. EDT, Shopify said it had identified the root cause and was seeing recovery following mitigation efforts.
“We’ve identified the problem and are seeing recovery from our mitigation efforts,” the company said in a status update. “We will continue to monitor and update.”
Earlier, at 9:45 a.m. EDT, Shopify said it was actively investigating the incident.
Between the lines. Because Shopify powers millions of online stores, even short disruptions can have immediate revenue implications for merchants, particularly when checkout functionality is affected.
For brands running promotions, product launches or high-traffic campaigns, any interruption to storefront access or payment processing can translate into lost sales and customer frustration.
What to watch. Shopify said services were recovering following mitigation efforts, but merchants will likely continue monitoring performance and order activity until the company confirms the incident has been fully resolved.
The outage also serves as a reminder of how dependent many ecommerce businesses have become on a small number of platform providers for critical commerce infrastructure.
First spotted. This alert was spotted by Senior Paid Media Manager Ayisha Yousef who shared the error message she came across on LinkedIn.

A Shopify outage disrupted storefronts, checkouts, admin access and Retail POS, potentially affecting merchants' ability to manage stores / process sales.

Shopify outage disrupts stores, checkouts and admin access

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/The-new-PPC-skill-set-From-keyword-manager-to-system-optimizer.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="The new PPC skill set-From keyword manager to system optimizer" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/The-new-PPC-skill-set-From-keyword-manager-to-system-optimizer.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/The-new-PPC-skill-set-From-keyword-manager-to-system-optimizer-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/The-new-PPC-skill-set-From-keyword-manager-to-system-optimizer-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/The-new-PPC-skill-set-From-keyword-manager-to-system-optimizer-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>AI-driven Google Ads is changing the PPC role from campaign execution to signal design, conversion architecture, and system guidance.


The old PPC skill set was built around control: define the keywords, choose the match types, set bids, write tightly aligned ad copy, and structure campaigns so the algorithm behaved the way you wanted.
The best ad managers of the past were great at Excel and pivot tables. Execution was the product and the differentiator for agencies and PPC experts. The more precisely you could control the variables, the better you were at the job, and that approach worked for the first decade of PPC.
Google Marketing Live (GML) 2026 made the next phase of PPC much harder to ignore. The biggest updates point to a shift from tactical control to system optimization, from keyword management to signal design, and from campaign setup to machine-aligned strategy.
The skills AI-driven Google Ads rewards
AI Max for Search is now out of beta. Smart Bidding Exploration is expanding into Shopping. Demand-led budget pacing will automate when your budget gets deployed. Business agent for leads can now qualify prospects directly inside a search conversation before anyone clicks your ad. Ads are showing up inside AI Mode conversations, matched not to keywords, but to conversational context Google’s AI interprets in real time.
The execution layer is being replaced outright. Selin Song, president of Google Customer Solutions, stated it directly during the keynote:
“But things are changing. Execution is becoming a commodity and will no longer be a competitive advantage.”




Here’s what the new skill set looks like.

  
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Input design: The new keyword research
You need to know what inputs to give the system so it can find the right people on your behalf.
AI Max for Search, now out of beta and rolling out broadly, is a new Google Ads feature that uses a combination of broad match, keywordless targeting, text customization, and final URL expansion to find queries your keyword list never would’ve surfaced.
According to Google’s internal data, accounts using AI Max with text customization and final URL expansion see an average of 7% more conversions or conversion value at a similar CPA/ROAS.
That number is easy to wave away. What’s harder to ignore is the underlying mechanic: AI Max is finding converting queries your keyword list missed. The system has more access to user context than any keyword list you build, and it’ll keep getting better at using that access.
That means the skill is no longer “What keyword should I target?” It’s “What inputs do I need to give this system so it reaches the right people?”
That includes:
Your conversion data: Smart Bidding can only optimize toward what you tell it matters. If your conversion actions are wrong, incomplete, or proxy metrics that don’t reflect business outcomes, the system is solving the wrong problem, and that’s the ad manager’s fault.
Your product and feed data: For Shopping and ecommerce, Conversational Attributes — new Merchant Center feed attributes announced at GML for AI Mode surfaces — let you supply Q&A pairs, related products, and popularity signals. The AI uses that data to represent your products inside AI-generated responses. Thin feeds generate thin results. Rich feeds give the system something to work with, and as an ad manager, you need to optimize your feed with those questions at the center of the strategy.
Your audience signals: New Customer Acquisition modes, also updated at GML, now include a “new prospects mode” that uses automated exclusions to reach brand-unaware users by filtering out people who’ve visited your site, searched your brand, or engaged with your content. This kind of upstream decision — who are we trying to reach? — shapes how the system operates. That’s not a campaign setting. It’s a strategic decision that now falls within the ad manager’s role.
If you’re still clinging to keyword lists as your main targeting strategy, you’re operating in a world that no longer exists. Today’s systems force you to think through business decisions, signal design, and the inputs steering automation.
Dig deeper: 10 keys to a successful PPC career in the AI age



Value signal architecture: The new bid management
The old version of bid management was about moving numbers. Then came automated bidding that factored in signals we couldn’t see. The job became deciding when a maximize strategy made sense versus when a target-based strategy was the better lever for the business.
That work isn’t gone, but the responsibility has expanded. Now it’s about how well you feed the system signals like first-party data, audience quality, and conversion value accuracy.
As Smart Bidding optimizes toward conversion values, you need to factor in a new layer of considerations.
Demand-led budget pacing, announced at GML and coming globally soon, will automate when your budget gets deployed throughout the day based on predicted demand signals. The system captures more on peak days, reduces spend on slower days, all within your monthly limits. You don’t control the pacing. You set the parameters the pacing operates within.
That means you also need to think through the economics of the offer. For example, if your store sells both electronics (10% margin) and home décor (55% margin), and you don’t model margin into your conversion values, Google may pace aggressively on days when electronics sell well even though those sales barely break even.
Product value adjustments, currently in global pilot, push this even further. You can now tell Google’s AI that a specific product, brand, or category should be weighted higher or lower in the auction. 
That helps nudge Smart Bidding toward actual business priorities instead of raw conversion value. You can optimize toward profit, seasonal sell-through, and best-sellers across Performance Max and Shopping campaigns without changing campaign structure.
The skill here is knowing what to signal, not how to set a bid. That requires clarity about:
Margins: Which products can you afford to be aggressive on? Which low-margin items make aggressive bidding too expensive?
Inventory position: What needs to move in the next 30-60 days?
Lifetime value: Which products bring in repeat buyers? Which attract one-time purchasers?
Cash flow timing: Where do you need revenue now versus where can you afford to be patient?
Journey-aware bidding, also newly out of beta, extends this to lead gen. You can now feed Google’s AI your full conversion journey, not just the final conversion event, and Smart Bidding will optimize across every stage of the funnel.
But to use it effectively, you need a fully instrumented conversion journey and a way to connect customer value back to the ad platform.
System prompting: The new copywriting
Here’s the skill with no real historical analog in PPC, and one of the most underestimated announcements from GML.
AI Brief, powered by Gemini, lets you guide AI Max for Search, Performance Max, and AI Max for Shopping using plain language. You write a brief describing your brand, your customer, your tone, and what to avoid. Google’s AI uses that brief in real time to shape how your campaigns find and represent you.
This isn’t copywriting or keyword strategy. It’s something closer to system prompting: the skill of giving AI enough context to act on your behalf without over-constraining it or leaving it to invent who you are.
Learning to prompt AI seems straightforward on the surface, but it isn’t. It requires attention, iteration, and a willingness to refine your thinking as you go.
Writing a brief that steers the system requires paid ads managers to understand things many advertisers haven’t had to articulate before:
What makes this brand sound wrong?
What searches are technically relevant but strategically damaging?
What does the ideal customer look like in language specific enough to be useful?
Google’s example at GML was Cedar Pantry, a wellness grocery delivery brand. Its brief specified a tone that had to be “warm, calm, and confident, and never promotional,” while explicitly excluding price-driven language like “cheap,” “deal,” “fast,” and “bulk.”
One paragraph. Specific. Defensible. That brief shapes every impression the AI serves.
The practitioners who’ll be good at this aren’t necessarily the best keyword builders. They’re the ones who can distill brand strategy into operating instructions for a system that doesn’t already know the client.
And the strongest PPC experts will do that while maintaining confidence in the expertise they’ve spent years developing.
Dig deeper: The new PPC playbook: From media buyer to profit engineer



Budget architecture: The new budget management
Daily budget management used to be a significant part of the job. Watch pacing. Adjust if you’re under-delivering. Cap spend if you’re burning too fast. Build rules. Check in daily, all while managing the low-level stress of targeting that’s either limiting or overexposing your ad budget.
That’s compressing fast. Campaign total budgets, now generally available globally, let you set a fixed total spend with a defined start and end date. Google’s internal data says advertisers using it saw a 66% average reduction in manual budget adjustments compared to daily budgets.
The manual work has been automated. But a feature that looks great on paper raises a real question: How does a campaign using campaign total budgets perform compared to one using a daily budget?
That’s the part no GML announcement slide answers. Based on what I know about the ad auction, campaign total budgets likely work by forecasting demand across the entire flight and dynamically pacing spend based on predicted value, not daily ceilings.
It’s a prediction-led pacing model. From my experience, campaign total budget campaigns will almost always serve more aggressively on predicted high-value days, while daily budget campaigns will serve more consistently across all days.
That shifts the skill set toward interpreting auction behavior in a predictive system. It’s no longer “this is how the auction works.” It becomes “this is how the auction reacts” when pacing, budgets, and signals shift.
Demand-led budget pacing removes the daily pacing question entirely. The AI decides when to spend based on demand signals. You don’t control the daily rhythm, but you do set the ceiling and the objective.
What you still control is the architecture: how many campaigns share a budget, which budget parameters align with which objectives, and when to give the system room to operate versus when to constrain it.
Missed opportunity reporting, now generally available, provides visual insights into where bid and budget constraints are limiting growth opportunities. The data is there. The question is whether you can interpret it and make structural decisions from it.
Screenshot of new missed opportunity report 



Budget architecture is now the skill, not spreadsheet management and daily budget adjustments.
Measurement literacy: The new quality score management
Quality Score used to be the proxy for account health. CTR, ad relevance, and landing page experience were the three signals that told you whether your ads aligned with what users were searching for.
That proxy still matters today. But the upstream measurement question has become bigger and more complex.
Journey-aware Bidding requires conversion imports that reflect your actual funnel, not just the bottom of it.
Smart Bidding Exploration, which now shows 27% more unique converting users on average, only finds those users because it pulls signals from a broader range of performance data. The system’s ability to expand reach depends entirely on the quality of the signals you feed it.
Business Agent for Leads, also announced at GML, pushes this even further. An AI agent can now qualify leads directly inside a search conversation before anyone ever touches a landing page.
The leads those agents capture need to feed back into your bidding system for Smart Bidding to learn from them. That feedback loop doesn’t happen automatically. It requires integration, instrumentation, and someone who understands how conversion data shapes bidding behavior.
The skill is no longer optimizing toward Quality Score. It’s asking:
What data does this system need upstream to make good decisions downstream?
Do we have that data?
How do we work with business partners to align that data with the ad account?
Dig deeper: In Google Ads automation, everything is a signal in 2026




	
	
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A few things that still hold
The skill set is shifting. The fundamentals haven’t changed.
Conversion tracking is still nonnegotiable
Everything above — including AI Brief, Journey-aware Bidding, Smart Bidding Exploration, and Product Value Adjustments — operates on conversion data. If your tracking is broken or measuring the wrong thing, you’re giving the system a bad problem to optimize. Fix the measurement before touching the strategy.
Campaign structure still communicates intent
AI Max, Performance Max, and Smart Bidding Exploration have more room to operate in consolidated account structures with enough data to learn. Fragmented campaign architecture that made sense for manual bidding often works against AI learning now.
The brief you write is only as good as the thinking behind it
AI Brief doesn’t replace brand strategy. It amplifies it. If you don’t know what the client’s brand stands for or what searches would damage it, the brief will be vague, and the AI will behave vaguely.
Human oversight isn’t optional
The new skill set doesn’t remove you from the loop. It moves you to different points in the loop — upstream in the inputs, midcampaign in the signals, and downstream in the measurement. The job of the PPC practitioner is still to be the person who knows what the system should be doing and whether it’s doing it.
Skills that matter even more now
Asking better questions is now a core technical skill.
Predictive systems behave like mirrors. They reflect the clarity, structure, and intent of the questions you ask. If your questions are vague, the system’s behavior will be vague. If your questions are diagnostic and grounded in business reality, the system has something meaningful to optimize toward.
You need to know how to interrogate the system:
What signal is it prioritizing? 
What changed in the environment? 
What does it believe is high‑value right now?
The quality of your questions shapes the quality of the system’s decisions.
Communicating system behavior to stakeholders is now part of the job
As execution becomes automated, the practitioner’s value shifts toward interpretation: explaining why the system behaved the way it did, what inputs shaped that behavior, and what adjustments come next. Stakeholders don’t see the signals, the pacing model, or the predictive logic. They see outcomes.
The role of the PPC expert is to translate volatility into meaning, model decisions into strategy, and system behavior into business language.
This isn’t a soft skill. It’s a survival skill in an environment where the work is increasingly invisible.

  
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The shift is already here
GML 2026 didn’t preview a future version of Google Ads. It confirmed the version we’re already operating in.
The practitioners who thrive now aren’t the ones who can recite how Google Ads used to work. They’re the ones who understand what the system needs to make good decisions and can provide those inputs clearly, consistently, and strategically to meet business goals.
The job has already shifted from keyword manager to system optimizer.
Dig deeper: What’s next for PPC: AI, visual creative and new ad surfaces

AI-driven Google Ads is changing the PPC role from campaign execution to signal design, conversion architecture, and system guidance.

The new PPC skill set: From keyword manager to system optimizer

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/How-Google-Display-exclusions-guide-AI-driven-optimization.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="How Google Display exclusions guide AI-driven optimization" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/How-Google-Display-exclusions-guide-AI-driven-optimization.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/How-Google-Display-exclusions-guide-AI-driven-optimization-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/How-Google-Display-exclusions-guide-AI-driven-optimization-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/How-Google-Display-exclusions-guide-AI-driven-optimization-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Accidental clicks, bot traffic, and low-quality placements contaminate campaign data. Strategic exclusions help keep optimization on track.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/How-Google-Display-exclusions-guide-AI-driven-optimization.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="How Google Display exclusions guide AI-driven optimization" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/How-Google-Display-exclusions-guide-AI-driven-optimization.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/How-Google-Display-exclusions-guide-AI-driven-optimization-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/How-Google-Display-exclusions-guide-AI-driven-optimization-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/How-Google-Display-exclusions-guide-AI-driven-optimization-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p><a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-display-network-explained-456796">Google Display Network</a> (GDN) placement exclusions have long been treated as basic account hygiene. You block spammy, inappropriate, or low-conversion placements to protect brand safety and avoid wasting budget on junk traffic.</p>



<p>That often meant maintaining massive lists of junk URLs and mobile app categories to keep ads off clickbait blogs, kids’ mobile games, and other low-quality inventory.</p>



<p>But GDN exclusions don’t just block bad placements anymore. They also influence the signals Google uses to optimize automated campaigns.</p>



<p>Here’s how to use placement exclusions to steer campaigns away from low-quality traffic and bad conversion signals.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-legacy-blueprint-hygiene-and-budget-conservation">The legacy blueprint: Hygiene and budget conservation</h2>



<p>To understand the strategic shift, you first need to understand why blocking placements mattered in traditional <a href="https://searchengineland.com/guide/what-is-paid-search">PPC</a>. Placement exclusions historically served two purposes: brand integrity and cost control.</p>



<p>You don’t want your high-end B2B software or consumer brand appearing next to extreme political rants, adult content, or clickbait farms.</p>



<p>GDN spans millions of sites and apps. A massive share of that inventory consists of high-click, zero-conversion black holes, like flashlight apps or mobile puzzle games where users accidentally click banner ads.</p>



<p>Legacy strategies also recognized that even high-quality sites like The New York Times or CNN could become budget killers. For direct-response advertisers focused on immediate ROI rather than broad brand awareness, a single premium placement could consume thousands of dollars with little to no conversion intent behind it.</p>



<p>The traditional fix was straightforward. Build massive static lists of 70,000-plus excluded URLs, block all mobile apps, and review the “Where Ads Showed” report monthly to eliminate outliers. </p>



<p>While those tactics remain necessary foundational steps, they only scratch the surface of how data operates in AI-driven advertising.</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-ai-changed-the-rules-of-the-gdn">How AI changed the rules of the GDN</h2>



<p>In modern Google Ads setups, Smart Bidding algorithms like Target CPA and Target ROAS acquire customers at a predictable cost, serving ads only to searchers who fit those parameters. Combined with broad or <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-display-network-optimized-targeting-turn-off-447054">optimized targeting</a>, Google’s AI doesn’t just passively serve ads where you tell it to. It actively hunts for signals.</p>



<p>The AI analyzes who clicks, who converts, and where those actions happen. It then builds predictive models to find more placements like them. That creates a dangerous cycle when bad data enters the system.</p>



<p>If your campaigns lack strategic exclusions, Google’s AI will naturally gravitate toward the cheapest, highest-volume inventory available for testing. A flood of accidental clicks from mobile apps or low-quality click-fraud sites can initially appear to be a positive signal due to high CTRs. </p>



<p>The algorithm may then double down on those placements, burning through your budget before recognizing the traffic produces zero conversions. By the time the system learns the placements are unqualified, your monthly budget is already gone.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-ads-placements-guide-websites-apps-youtube-462050">Google Ads placements: Your guide to targeting websites, apps, and YouTube</a></em></strong>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-moving-from-hygiene-to-strategy-guardrails-for-the-algorithm">Moving from hygiene to strategy: Guardrails for the algorithm</h2>



<p>Strategic exclusions aren’t just about saying, “I don’t want my ad there.” They help direct the algorithm away from low-quality inventory and toward better signals.</p>



<p>By shaping where AI can and can’t operate, you inject human intent back into automated systems.&nbsp;</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-campaign-intent-mapping">Campaign intent mapping</h3>



<p>Instead of applying one blanket exclusion list across your account, use exclusions to shape campaign psychology.</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>For top-of-funnel brand awareness campaigns:</strong> Keep premium placements, such as major news outlets and industry blogs, active. Exclude niche, low-quality directories so your budget pushes the AI toward high-visibility, reputable sites.</li>



<li><strong>For bottom-of-funnel direct-response campaigns:</strong> Do the opposite. Exclude costly, broad-reach premium websites and force Google’s machine learning to focus on specific, content-rich, long-tail blogs where users actively research niche topics with high conversion intent.</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-preempting-smart-bidding-exhaustion">Preempting Smart Bidding exhaustion</h3>



<p>AI models need data to learn, but learning costs money. If you launch an automated campaign fully open to the Google Display Network, the AI will spend the first 14 to 30 days testing random placements.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Applying robust, prebuilt exclusion lists at launch helps you skip that expensive trial-and-error phase and gives Google’s AI a head start on higher-quality inventory.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-fighting-signal-poisoning-in-lead-gen">Fighting ‘signal poisoning’ in lead gen</h3>



<p>Click bots and spam form fills are an AI nightmare. When a bot scrapes a GDN site, clicks your ad, and submits a fake form on your landing page, Google’s AI interprets it as a successful conversion.</p>



<p>The algorithm then optimizes toward more users and sites like it, contaminating your entire data pool. Strategic placement exclusions at the account level act as a firewall, cutting off low-quality inventory where these bots thrive and helping your AI optimize around clean, human traffic.</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-advanced-tactics-for-managing-exclusions">Advanced tactics for managing exclusions</h2>



<p>To move beyond manual audits, adopt a more sophisticated framework.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-leverage-automated-scripts">Leverage automated scripts</h3>



<p>Don’t wait for monthly reviews to catch budget drains. Deploy Google Ads scripts that monitor placement data daily.</p>



<p>For example, you could set a trigger to automatically exclude any placement that spends more than 1.5 times your target CPA within seven days without generating a conversion.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-block-mobile-apps">Block mobile apps</h3>



<p>Unless your KPI is mobile app downloads, block mobile app categories at the account level.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Google’s AI favors app placements because they generate high click volume and low CPCs, but those clicks rarely translate into meaningful business revenue.&nbsp;</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-use-content-suitability-settings">Use content suitability settings</h3>



<p>Google’s advanced content suitability settings align placements with broader trends, cultural shifts, and legal sensitivities, especially if you run campaigns internationally.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-ads-display-keywords-453802">Google Ads Display Keywords: Everything you need to know</a></em></strong>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-taking-back-the-reins">Taking back the reins</h2>



<p>AI-driven campaigns perform better when strategic guardrails shape how Google’s algorithm learns and optimizes.</p>



<p>Basic account hygiene keeps your campaigns clean, but strategic placement exclusions also shape campaign performance. By removing low-quality inventory, limiting bad data, and steering Google’s Smart Bidding toward higher-intent leads, you can turn a simple blocklist into a meaningful performance advantage.</p>



<p>You can start with this comprehensive <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NuGE0EuVPL-oJ3EVSy6hVNbCLow9hugcrMj1ZQddM1g/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website exclusion list</a>.</p>

Google Display Network (GDN) placement exclusions have long been treated as basic account hygiene. You block spammy, inappropriate, or low-conversion placements to protect brand safety and avoid wasting budget on junk traffic.
That often meant maintaining massive lists of junk URLs and mobile app categories to keep ads off clickbait blogs, kids’ mobile games, and other low-quality inventory.
But GDN exclusions don’t just block bad placements anymore. They also influence the signals Google uses to optimize automated campaigns.
Here’s how to use placement exclusions to steer campaigns away from low-quality traffic and bad conversion signals.
The legacy blueprint: Hygiene and budget conservation
To understand the strategic shift, you first need to understand why blocking placements mattered in traditional PPC. Placement exclusions historically served two purposes: brand integrity and cost control.
You don’t want your high-end B2B software or consumer brand appearing next to extreme political rants, adult content, or clickbait farms.
GDN spans millions of sites and apps. A massive share of that inventory consists of high-click, zero-conversion black holes, like flashlight apps or mobile puzzle games where users accidentally click banner ads.
Legacy strategies also recognized that even high-quality sites like The New York Times or CNN could become budget killers. For direct-response advertisers focused on immediate ROI rather than broad brand awareness, a single premium placement could consume thousands of dollars with little to no conversion intent behind it.
The traditional fix was straightforward. Build massive static lists of 70,000-plus excluded URLs, block all mobile apps, and review the “Where Ads Showed” report monthly to eliminate outliers. 
While those tactics remain necessary foundational steps, they only scratch the surface of how data operates in AI-driven advertising.

  
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How AI changed the rules of the GDN
In modern Google Ads setups, Smart Bidding algorithms like Target CPA and Target ROAS acquire customers at a predictable cost, serving ads only to searchers who fit those parameters. Combined with broad or optimized targeting, Google’s AI doesn’t just passively serve ads where you tell it to. It actively hunts for signals.
The AI analyzes who clicks, who converts, and where those actions happen. It then builds predictive models to find more placements like them. That creates a dangerous cycle when bad data enters the system.
If your campaigns lack strategic exclusions, Google’s AI will naturally gravitate toward the cheapest, highest-volume inventory available for testing. A flood of accidental clicks from mobile apps or low-quality click-fraud sites can initially appear to be a positive signal due to high CTRs. 
The algorithm may then double down on those placements, burning through your budget before recognizing the traffic produces zero conversions. By the time the system learns the placements are unqualified, your monthly budget is already gone.
Dig deeper: Google Ads placements: Your guide to targeting websites, apps, and YouTube



Moving from hygiene to strategy: Guardrails for the algorithm
Strategic exclusions aren’t just about saying, “I don’t want my ad there.” They help direct the algorithm away from low-quality inventory and toward better signals.
By shaping where AI can and can’t operate, you inject human intent back into automated systems. 
Campaign intent mapping
Instead of applying one blanket exclusion list across your account, use exclusions to shape campaign psychology.
For top-of-funnel brand awareness campaigns: Keep premium placements, such as major news outlets and industry blogs, active. Exclude niche, low-quality directories so your budget pushes the AI toward high-visibility, reputable sites.
For bottom-of-funnel direct-response campaigns: Do the opposite. Exclude costly, broad-reach premium websites and force Google’s machine learning to focus on specific, content-rich, long-tail blogs where users actively research niche topics with high conversion intent.
Preempting Smart Bidding exhaustion
AI models need data to learn, but learning costs money. If you launch an automated campaign fully open to the Google Display Network, the AI will spend the first 14 to 30 days testing random placements. 
Applying robust, prebuilt exclusion lists at launch helps you skip that expensive trial-and-error phase and gives Google’s AI a head start on higher-quality inventory.
Fighting ‘signal poisoning’ in lead gen
Click bots and spam form fills are an AI nightmare. When a bot scrapes a GDN site, clicks your ad, and submits a fake form on your landing page, Google’s AI interprets it as a successful conversion.
The algorithm then optimizes toward more users and sites like it, contaminating your entire data pool. Strategic placement exclusions at the account level act as a firewall, cutting off low-quality inventory where these bots thrive and helping your AI optimize around clean, human traffic.
Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.
 
				
				
			
See terms.
		
Advanced tactics for managing exclusions
To move beyond manual audits, adopt a more sophisticated framework.
Leverage automated scripts
Don’t wait for monthly reviews to catch budget drains. Deploy Google Ads scripts that monitor placement data daily.
For example, you could set a trigger to automatically exclude any placement that spends more than 1.5 times your target CPA within seven days without generating a conversion.
Block mobile apps
Unless your KPI is mobile app downloads, block mobile app categories at the account level. 
Google’s AI favors app placements because they generate high click volume and low CPCs, but those clicks rarely translate into meaningful business revenue. 
Use content suitability settings
Google’s advanced content suitability settings align placements with broader trends, cultural shifts, and legal sensitivities, especially if you run campaigns internationally.
Dig deeper: Google Ads Display Keywords: Everything you need to know



Taking back the reins
AI-driven campaigns perform better when strategic guardrails shape how Google’s algorithm learns and optimizes.
Basic account hygiene keeps your campaigns clean, but strategic placement exclusions also shape campaign performance. By removing low-quality inventory, limiting bad data, and steering Google’s Smart Bidding toward higher-intent leads, you can turn a simple blocklist into a meaningful performance advantage.
You can start with this comprehensive website exclusion list.

Accidental clicks, bot traffic, and low-quality placements contaminate campaign data. Strategic exclusions help keep optimization on track.

How Google Display exclusions guide AI-driven optimization

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/The-overlooked-business-value-of-SEO-and-affiliate-alignment.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="The overlooked business value of SEO and affiliate alignment" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/The-overlooked-business-value-of-SEO-and-affiliate-alignment.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/The-overlooked-business-value-of-SEO-and-affiliate-alignment-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/The-overlooked-business-value-of-SEO-and-affiliate-alignment-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/The-overlooked-business-value-of-SEO-and-affiliate-alignment-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>SEO and affiliate teams affect the same revenue, rankings, and LLM visibility. Alignment can reduce costs and strengthen brand performance.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/The-overlooked-business-value-of-SEO-and-affiliate-alignment.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="The overlooked business value of SEO and affiliate alignment" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/The-overlooked-business-value-of-SEO-and-affiliate-alignment.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/The-overlooked-business-value-of-SEO-and-affiliate-alignment-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/The-overlooked-business-value-of-SEO-and-affiliate-alignment-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/The-overlooked-business-value-of-SEO-and-affiliate-alignment-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>In most companies, <a href="https://searchengineland.com/guide/what-is-seo">SEO</a> teams and <a href="https://searchengineland.com/guide/affiliate-marketing-for-beginners">affiliates</a> — third parties that advertise your products or services for a commission — often operate in silos. The SEO team usually manages rankings, content, and organic traffic, while the affiliate team manages partner relationships, negotiates placements, and tracks commissions. But rarely do the two sit in the same room to coordinate their impact on the business.</p>



<p>Cross-functionality is key for a growing business. Working with other departments helps me better understand what success looks like to other teams in the company, and it pulls me out of my SEO bubble so I can see the wider business goals. I also learn about new initiatives and how to leverage them for SEO growth.</p>



<p>Coordination between the SEO and affiliate teams is especially important. So let’s talk about brand protection, LLM visibility, tooling, and more, and why a tighter collaboration between these two will improve efficiency, save money, and boost your business.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-protect-your-brand-and-search-terms">Protect your brand and search terms</h2>



<p>When working with affiliates, it’s important to protect your brand and rank for search terms that are rightfully yours and not to let an affiliate control them. With my clients, whatever has an impact on organic performance is my or the SEO team’s responsibility.</p>



<p>For example, here are some high-intent conversion terms that use discount codes as part of a marketing strategy:&nbsp;</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>[brand] + discount code</li>



<li>[brand] + promo code</li>



<li>Plus dozens of other variants</li>
</ul>



<p>You don’t want to let terms like these slip away. When affiliates rank for your terms, they can send back your own branded traffic and sales and charge you a commission for it.</p>



<p>This can be a disaster, resulting in hefty amounts of affiliate commissions, and it can easily be avoided.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/affiliate-networks-need-use-case-454387">The best affiliate networks by need and use case</a></em></strong>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-to-reclaim-your-rankings">How to reclaim your rankings</h2>



<p>Brands can lose branded conversions to their own affiliates as well. Take Trainline, a train ticket buying platform, as an example.&nbsp;</p>



<p>At the time of writing, the term &#8220;trainline promo code&#8221; has 17,000 monthly searches in the UK. Trainline has a dedicated page for the promo, but it&#8217;s not properly optimized to rank for the term. As a result, the site ranks on and off and loses branded traffic and conversions to its own affiliates.</p>



<p>In this case, the solution is simple: a targeted tweak in the meta title, H1, and body copy will better reflect the relevant terms.</p>



<p>By reclaiming those rankings, we</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Increased organic revenue for the organic channel.</li>



<li>Reduced affiliate spending.</li>



<li>Increased profitability for the entire business.</li>
</ul>



<p>Another example: One of the brands I manage lost significant Share of Voice for a high-intent branded discount codes page to affiliates. Our response was a strategic content update. One day after it went live, the page shot from 14% to 31% Share of Voice.</p>



<p>These are successes for the business as a whole, not just SEO. And that’s what SEO should be about — insights that lead to business growth.</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-seo-and-affiliate-teams-can-work-together-to-compound-returns">How SEO and affiliate teams can work together to compound returns</h2>



<p>Traditionally, affiliates produce content that favors reputational signals: “Best of” articles, comparison articles, category roundups, and more.&nbsp;</p>



<p><a href="https://searchengineland.com/seo-guide-large-language-models-413227">LLMs</a> give significant weight to reputational signals. For example, being mentioned across multiple &#8220;Best of&#8221; articles in your specific niche signals to LLMs that you are good at what you do. And if a lot of authoritative sources in your niche mention you as one of the go-to brands, that reputational signal will compound.</p>



<p>It’s important to educate your affiliate team so your brand will be included in these types of articles. This has two benefits:&nbsp;</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>It will give your affiliate visibility, leading to direct traffic and conversions from affiliate placements.</li>



<li>It will give you LLM visibility, boosting reputational signals that feed into how AI models perceive and recommend your brand.</li>
</ul>



<p>On a technical note, affiliate tracking URLs — the parameterized versions of your pages that affiliate platforms generate — need to be handled correctly to avoid indexing issues. This is a great example of an issue that lives on the boundary between SEO and affiliate teams.</p>



<p>The solution is to no-index these, which Google sees as a directive and respects. (A common approach is to add a canonical tag pointing to the clean, non-parameterized version of the page, but I have seen canonicals ignored, resulting in affiliate tracking URLs flooding the index.)</p>



<p>To monitor this, I use SEOTesting, which sends automated alerts whenever new URLs get indexed and start receiving impressions. If an affiliate tracking URL slips through, I can catch it fast and act before it becomes a bigger indexing problem.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/incrementality-affiliate-marketing-471635">What incrementality really means in affiliate marketing</a></em></strong>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-collaborate-with-affiliates-today">Collaborate with affiliates today</h2>



<p>SEO and affiliate teams often operate in silos, but each has a direct impact on the other. Affiliates can outrank you and cost you money. But they can also help you build LLM visibility, and those equipped with SEO data can make better decisions for the whole business.</p>



<p>The closer these two teams work together, the better the outcomes are for everyone, and most importantly, the business.</p>

In most companies, SEO teams and affiliates — third parties that advertise your products or services for a commission — often operate in silos. The SEO team usually manages rankings, content, and organic traffic, while the affiliate team manages partner relationships, negotiates placements, and tracks commissions. But rarely do the two sit in the same room to coordinate their impact on the business.
Cross-functionality is key for a growing business. Working with other departments helps me better understand what success looks like to other teams in the company, and it pulls me out of my SEO bubble so I can see the wider business goals. I also learn about new initiatives and how to leverage them for SEO growth.
Coordination between the SEO and affiliate teams is especially important. So let’s talk about brand protection, LLM visibility, tooling, and more, and why a tighter collaboration between these two will improve efficiency, save money, and boost your business.
Protect your brand and search terms
When working with affiliates, it’s important to protect your brand and rank for search terms that are rightfully yours and not to let an affiliate control them. With my clients, whatever has an impact on organic performance is my or the SEO team’s responsibility.
For example, here are some high-intent conversion terms that use discount codes as part of a marketing strategy: 
[brand] + discount code
[brand] + promo code
Plus dozens of other variants
You don’t want to let terms like these slip away. When affiliates rank for your terms, they can send back your own branded traffic and sales and charge you a commission for it.
This can be a disaster, resulting in hefty amounts of affiliate commissions, and it can easily be avoided.
Dig deeper: The best affiliate networks by need and use case




  
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How to reclaim your rankings
Brands can lose branded conversions to their own affiliates as well. Take Trainline, a train ticket buying platform, as an example. 
At the time of writing, the term “trainline promo code” has 17,000 monthly searches in the UK. Trainline has a dedicated page for the promo, but it’s not properly optimized to rank for the term. As a result, the site ranks on and off and loses branded traffic and conversions to its own affiliates.
In this case, the solution is simple: a targeted tweak in the meta title, H1, and body copy will better reflect the relevant terms.
By reclaiming those rankings, we
Increased organic revenue for the organic channel.
Reduced affiliate spending.
Increased profitability for the entire business.
Another example: One of the brands I manage lost significant Share of Voice for a high-intent branded discount codes page to affiliates. Our response was a strategic content update. One day after it went live, the page shot from 14% to 31% Share of Voice.
These are successes for the business as a whole, not just SEO. And that’s what SEO should be about — insights that lead to business growth.
Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.
 
				
				
			
See terms.
		
How SEO and affiliate teams can work together to compound returns
Traditionally, affiliates produce content that favors reputational signals: “Best of” articles, comparison articles, category roundups, and more. 
LLMs give significant weight to reputational signals. For example, being mentioned across multiple “Best of” articles in your specific niche signals to LLMs that you are good at what you do. And if a lot of authoritative sources in your niche mention you as one of the go-to brands, that reputational signal will compound.
It’s important to educate your affiliate team so your brand will be included in these types of articles. This has two benefits: 
It will give your affiliate visibility, leading to direct traffic and conversions from affiliate placements.
It will give you LLM visibility, boosting reputational signals that feed into how AI models perceive and recommend your brand.
On a technical note, affiliate tracking URLs — the parameterized versions of your pages that affiliate platforms generate — need to be handled correctly to avoid indexing issues. This is a great example of an issue that lives on the boundary between SEO and affiliate teams.
The solution is to no-index these, which Google sees as a directive and respects. (A common approach is to add a canonical tag pointing to the clean, non-parameterized version of the page, but I have seen canonicals ignored, resulting in affiliate tracking URLs flooding the index.)
To monitor this, I use SEOTesting, which sends automated alerts whenever new URLs get indexed and start receiving impressions. If an affiliate tracking URL slips through, I can catch it fast and act before it becomes a bigger indexing problem.
Dig deeper: What incrementality really means in affiliate marketing



Collaborate with affiliates today
SEO and affiliate teams often operate in silos, but each has a direct impact on the other. Affiliates can outrank you and cost you money. But they can also help you build LLM visibility, and those equipped with SEO data can make better decisions for the whole business.
The closer these two teams work together, the better the outcomes are for everyone, and most importantly, the business.

SEO and affiliate teams affect the same revenue, rankings, and LLM visibility. Alignment can reduce costs and strengthen brand performance.

The overlooked business value of SEO and affiliate alignment

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/What-to-do-now-that-AIOs-turned-search-into-reading-sessions-featured-image.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="What-to-do-now-that-AIOs-turned-search-into-reading-sessions-featured-image" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/What-to-do-now-that-AIOs-turned-search-into-reading-sessions-featured-image.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/What-to-do-now-that-AIOs-turned-search-into-reading-sessions-featured-image-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/What-to-do-now-that-AIOs-turned-search-into-reading-sessions-featured-image-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/What-to-do-now-that-AIOs-turned-search-into-reading-sessions-featured-image-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Search intent still shapes content strategy, but AI Overviews now shape how users behave on the SERP itself.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/What-to-do-now-that-AIOs-turned-search-into-reading-sessions-featured-image.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="What-to-do-now-that-AIOs-turned-search-into-reading-sessions-featured-image" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/What-to-do-now-that-AIOs-turned-search-into-reading-sessions-featured-image.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/What-to-do-now-that-AIOs-turned-search-into-reading-sessions-featured-image-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/What-to-do-now-that-AIOs-turned-search-into-reading-sessions-featured-image-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/What-to-do-now-that-AIOs-turned-search-into-reading-sessions-featured-image-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Intent still tells you what to write. But when an AI Overview (AIO) lands on the SERP, users no longer behave the same way as classic search.&nbsp;</p>



<p>In this memo:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>AIO compresses five distinct search intents into one reading pattern, and the 20-year SEO assumption it breaks.</li>



<li>What winning the “second impression” looks like for product, category, and blog pages.</li>



<li>The one-slide explanation that reassures stakeholders the content team&#8217;s last three years were not wasted <em>(premium)</em>.</li>



<li>A Claude skill that audits your meta descriptions against the competitors sharing your SERP <em>(premium)</em>.</li>
</ul>



<p><a href="https://www.growth-memo.com/embed?transparent=1" rel="noopener noreferrer">View embedded content</a>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-new-mental-model-of-search-intent">The new mental model of search intent</h2>



<p>Last week, I shared how Eric Van Buskirk of <a href="https://clickstream.cc/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Clickstream Solutions</a> and I analyzed anonymized clickstream data from approximately 846,000 U.S.-based Google search sessions.</p>



<p>The most significant finding? The time-on-page for a user on the SERP is no longer dependent on search intent when an AIO is present. The AIO compresses search intent behavior to look similar across intent types.&nbsp;</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Old mental model of search intent:</strong> Navigational searches are “fast.” Informational ones are “slow.” Time-on-SERP follows intent, and SERPs without an AIO clearly show this pattern (similar to classic search pre-AI outputs), demonstrated by 12% of navigational searches vs. 32% of local searchers still being on the SERP after 21 seconds.</li>



<li><strong>New mental model of search intent:</strong> There is barely a difference in how long users spend time on SERPs between user intents when there is an AIO present. 42-48.5% of users are still on the SERP after 21 seconds across all the 5 major intents.</li>
</ul>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="2040" height="1208" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/AI-Overviews-keep-searchers-on-SERPs-longer.png" alt="AI Overviews keep searchers on SERPs longer" class="wp-image-479247" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/AI-Overviews-keep-searchers-on-SERPs-longer.png 2040w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/AI-Overviews-keep-searchers-on-SERPs-longer-768x455.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/AI-Overviews-keep-searchers-on-SERPs-longer-1536x910.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 2040px) 100vw, 2040px" /></figure>
</div>


<p>From “<a href="https://www.growth-memo.com/p/users-behave-differently-in-ai-overviews" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The same user behaves differently in AIOs vs. AI Mode</a>” (bold added):</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p><strong><em>At 21 seconds into a session without an AIO, only 12% of navigational searchers are still on the page. 32% of local searchers are. </em></strong><em>In classic search, time-on-page has always followed intent: navigational users leave fast because they know where they&#8217;re going, local users stay because the SERP is dense with maps and listings, informational users fall somewhere in between.</em>



<p><em>With an AIO present, the spread compresses to barely 6 points. </em><strong><em>All five intent types</em></strong><em>(informational, local, navigational, transactional, video) </em><strong><em>cluster between 41.9% and 48.5% time-on-page at 21 seconds</em></strong><em>.</em>
</blockquote>



<p>Notice how much longer average SERP sessions are — almost 4x! So, we can conclude that AI Overviews don’t just compress user intent but also prolong the time users spend with search results.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The reason? <em>Additional context.</em> Direct answers from the AIOs provide more information and take longer to read. The intent behind the initial query matters less.</p>



<p>This is the gap between links and answers in the new AIO-filled SERP. In the past, giving users a list of (10 blue) links meant the user was responsible for verifying accuracy and finding the information after the click through. Therefore, Google gets user feedback from their behavior.&nbsp;</p>



<p>But when Google (or other LLMs) gives the answer directly, that onus is on the answer engine.</p>



<p>Bing’s blog, “<a href="https://blogs.bing.com/search/May-2026/Evolving-role-of-the-index-From-ranking-pages-to-supporting-answers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Evolving the role of the index</a>,” brings this to a point:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p><em>Grounding an AI–generated answer introduces a fundamentally different constraint: </em><strong><em>The system is no longer just pointing to information, it is using it.</em></strong><em> The goal shifts from “fetch the best documents” to “fetch the best information to synthesize into a reliable, verifiable answer.”</em>
</blockquote>



<p>Lastly, it also means there is utility in tracking branded prompts more diligently and making sure LLMs return the desired information about a brand. Just like companies bid on their brand as a defense mechanism, they should monitor branded prompts, not just product- or painpoint-related ones.</p>



<p><strong>Heads up: </strong><em>The </em><a href="https://www.growth-memo.com/i/176171733/bonus-resource-stakeholder-slide-deck-template-and-open-questions" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Adapting for AI-Mode Based Search deck</em></a> <em>gives directors a validated, data-backed story to present to executives who keep asking what changed. Find it in the </em><a href="https://www.growth-memo.com/p/exclusive-growth-premium-resources" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Premium Subscribers Resource Library</em></a><em>.</em>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-this-matters">Why this matters</h3>



<p>For 20 years, what you searched told Google and SEOs how you&#8217;d behave. Type a brand name (navigational search), and you&#8217;re in and out in seconds. Search &#8220;best CRM for startups&#8221; (comparison search), and you settle into a set of comparison pages. Intent sorted everyone.</p>



<p>The AIO erased that tell. By dropping a block of answer text at the top of the page, it pulls every searcher into a reading session, no matter why they came. The brand-name searcher reads the AIO. The product researcher reads another. Both slow down, both stay, both behave alike on the SERP page. <em>That</em> flattening is the intent compression.</p>



<p>Most Google users never chose this, because most Google users are not AI early adopters. They meet AI through Google’s search results as Google <s>forces</s> guides them into AIOs and AI Mode at the top of the results. AI is changing its search behavior passively and without searchers’ explicit consent. Many Google users might not even realize they’re using AI, and that’s one reason we’re seeing <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/26/duckduckgo-installs-are-up-30-as-users-reject-being-force-fed-googles-ai-search/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">growing installs</a> of DuckDuckGo.</p>



<p>Google reports <a href="https://search.google/pdf/google-about-AI-overviews-AI-Mode.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more than 1.5 billion people</a> use AI Overviews, so this is not an edge case. It&#8217;s how the web is searching now.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-winning-the-second-impression-looks-like">What winning the second impression looks like</h2>



<p>The <a href="https://www.growth-memo.com/p/users-behave-differently-in-ai-overviews" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AI Overviews vs. AI Mode behavior analysis</a> revealed the significance and optimization opportunity of the second look. The second impression is what searchers see on the back-scroll, after they&#8217;ve already passed your listing once. It’s like a double-take made by a grocery shopper in the cereal aisle who has dozens of options: The shopper scans every box in view, then circles back to reread the one that caught their eye.</p>



<p>Metadata is the trigger for selecting search results. Rich snippets catch attention early on, but they might not be enough to convert users to a click, especially if new search behavior has shifted to include a thorough reading of the SERP <em>and</em> a second scroll up. What can earn the click is what shows up next to your listing on that second pass, and it has to be relevant and trustworthy.</p>



<p>Different page types require different relevance and trust indicators.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1624" height="1112" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/The-second-impression-has-3-playbooks.png" alt="The second impression has 3 playbooks" class="wp-image-479249" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/The-second-impression-has-3-playbooks.png 1624w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/The-second-impression-has-3-playbooks-768x526.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/The-second-impression-has-3-playbooks-1536x1052.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1624px) 100vw, 1624px" /></figure>
</div>


<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-product-detail-pages-pdp">Product detail pages (PDP)</h3>



<p>Users compare star ratings, review count, price, and stock status.</p>



<p>Three things to control outside the meta:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Product schema</strong> with aggregateRating, review, offers, and availability. Miss any one of these, and a competitor&#8217;s listing renders fuller than yours.</li>



<li><strong>Review count is a comparison field.</strong> 47 reviews next to a competitor&#8217;s 2,300 loses on the second pass even if your description is sharper. Review velocity is a competitive moat.</li>



<li><strong>Multiple images in the schema array</strong> so Google has options for different SERP layouts.</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-category-detail-pages-cdp">Category detail pages (CDP)</h3>



<p>Category pages compete with the AIO&#8217;s own list. If the AIO already enumerated 5 options, your category page has to look like the place where the user goes to actually choose between them.</p>



<p>Three things to control outside the meta:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>ItemList schema on the category page</strong> so Google can render product carousels in the SERP. A carousel takes more vertical space than a single listing and dominates the back-scroll.</li>



<li><strong>Filter and sort UI visible in the SERP preview.</strong> Google sometimes surfaces sitelinks for category facets (&#8220;by price&#8221; or &#8220;by brand&#8221;). Internal linking to those facets makes them eligible.</li>



<li><strong>Page count and depth.</strong> A category page with 12 products competes badly against one with 240. The second impression carries an implicit <em>&#8220;Is this comprehensive?&#8221; </em>check.</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-blog-content">Blog content</h3>



<p>The AIO has already given the user the answer. To earn a possible <a href="https://www.growth-memo.com/i/163392865/top-takeaways-for-operators" target="_blank" rel="noopener">validation click</a> or at least a thorough second impression for your brand, what the user is looking for is credibility on who said it and when.</p>



<p>Two things to control outside the meta:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Visible datePublished or dateModified in the SERP.</strong> A 2024 article next to a 2026 article likely loses, whether the user considers the description or not.</li>



<li><strong>Article schema with a named author field</strong> that links to a sameAs URL (LinkedIn, author bio page). This makes the author an entity Google can resolve, which matters for E-E-A-T scoring even if no visible card renders.</li>
</ul>



<p><em>The </em><a href="https://www.growth-memo.com/i/188880019/for-premium-subscribers-your-ai-seo-change-management-plan" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>AI SEO Change Management Plan</em></a> <em>alone saves directors 10+ planning hours for retraining your team against current best practices, </em><strong><em>but Premium is only $150/year.</em></strong> <a href="https://www.growth-memo.com/p/exclusive-growth-premium-resources" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>See the full library.</em></a>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-intent-compression-means-for-operators">What intent compression means for operators</h2>



<p>The last three years of intent-based content work produced the right pages for the right queries. What&#8217;s shifting is one prediction layer on top of that strategy: how long users stay, where they look, when they click.</p>



<p>That layer is now AIO-driven, not intent-driven. User search intent still drives what your brand needs to write, but it is no longer a good estimate of <em>how</em> users will behave on a SERP page.</p>



<p>Therefore, more optimization work moves to the SERP, focusing how your listing reads against the AIO and the results around it, separate from the intent logic that decides <em>what</em> the page content should be to answer the query.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Your core optimization efforts don’t change. A content team built around intent clusters keeps its cluster map intact. What gets updated is the optimization pattern per page (meta descriptions, title tags, the second-impression framing from <a href="https://www.growth-memo.com/i/198815058/7-optimize-for-clickability" target="_blank" rel="noopener">finding 7 shared last week with Premium subscribers</a>), not the underlying taxonomy or content strategy.</p>



<p><em><em>This post first appeared on the author’s website and is republished here with permission.</em></em>


Intent still tells you what to write. But when an AI Overview (AIO) lands on the SERP, users no longer behave the same way as classic search. 
In this memo:
AIO compresses five distinct search intents into one reading pattern, and the 20-year SEO assumption it breaks.
What winning the “second impression” looks like for product, category, and blog pages.
The one-slide explanation that reassures stakeholders the content team’s last three years were not wasted (premium).
A Claude skill that audits your meta descriptions against the competitors sharing your SERP (premium).
View embedded content



The new mental model of search intent
Last week, I shared how Eric Van Buskirk of Clickstream Solutions and I analyzed anonymized clickstream data from approximately 846,000 U.S.-based Google search sessions.
The most significant finding? The time-on-page for a user on the SERP is no longer dependent on search intent when an AIO is present. The AIO compresses search intent behavior to look similar across intent types. 
Old mental model of search intent: Navigational searches are “fast.” Informational ones are “slow.” Time-on-SERP follows intent, and SERPs without an AIO clearly show this pattern (similar to classic search pre-AI outputs), demonstrated by 12% of navigational searches vs. 32% of local searchers still being on the SERP after 21 seconds.
New mental model of search intent: There is barely a difference in how long users spend time on SERPs between user intents when there is an AIO present. 42-48.5% of users are still on the SERP after 21 seconds across all the 5 major intents.




From “The same user behaves differently in AIOs vs. AI Mode” (bold added):
At 21 seconds into a session without an AIO, only 12% of navigational searchers are still on the page. 32% of local searchers are. In classic search, time-on-page has always followed intent: navigational users leave fast because they know where they’re going, local users stay because the SERP is dense with maps and listings, informational users fall somewhere in between.



With an AIO present, the spread compresses to barely 6 points. All five intent types(informational, local, navigational, transactional, video) cluster between 41.9% and 48.5% time-on-page at 21 seconds.




Notice how much longer average SERP sessions are — almost 4x! So, we can conclude that AI Overviews don’t just compress user intent but also prolong the time users spend with search results. 
The reason? Additional context. Direct answers from the AIOs provide more information and take longer to read. The intent behind the initial query matters less.
This is the gap between links and answers in the new AIO-filled SERP. In the past, giving users a list of (10 blue) links meant the user was responsible for verifying accuracy and finding the information after the click through. Therefore, Google gets user feedback from their behavior. 
But when Google (or other LLMs) gives the answer directly, that onus is on the answer engine.
Bing’s blog, “Evolving the role of the index,” brings this to a point:
Grounding an AI–generated answer introduces a fundamentally different constraint: The system is no longer just pointing to information, it is using it. The goal shifts from “fetch the best documents” to “fetch the best information to synthesize into a reliable, verifiable answer.”




Lastly, it also means there is utility in tracking branded prompts more diligently and making sure LLMs return the desired information about a brand. Just like companies bid on their brand as a defense mechanism, they should monitor branded prompts, not just product- or painpoint-related ones.
Heads up: The Adapting for AI-Mode Based Search deck gives directors a validated, data-backed story to present to executives who keep asking what changed. Find it in the Premium Subscribers Resource Library.



Why this matters
For 20 years, what you searched told Google and SEOs how you’d behave. Type a brand name (navigational search), and you’re in and out in seconds. Search “best CRM for startups” (comparison search), and you settle into a set of comparison pages. Intent sorted everyone.
The AIO erased that tell. By dropping a block of answer text at the top of the page, it pulls every searcher into a reading session, no matter why they came. The brand-name searcher reads the AIO. The product researcher reads another. Both slow down, both stay, both behave alike on the SERP page. That flattening is the intent compression.
Most Google users never chose this, because most Google users are not AI early adopters. They meet AI through Google’s search results as Google forces guides them into AIOs and AI Mode at the top of the results. AI is changing its search behavior passively and without searchers’ explicit consent. Many Google users might not even realize they’re using AI, and that’s one reason we’re seeing growing installs of DuckDuckGo.
Google reports more than 1.5 billion people use AI Overviews, so this is not an edge case. It’s how the web is searching now.
What winning the second impression looks like
The AI Overviews vs. AI Mode behavior analysis revealed the significance and optimization opportunity of the second look. The second impression is what searchers see on the back-scroll, after they’ve already passed your listing once. It’s like a double-take made by a grocery shopper in the cereal aisle who has dozens of options: The shopper scans every box in view, then circles back to reread the one that caught their eye.
Metadata is the trigger for selecting search results. Rich snippets catch attention early on, but they might not be enough to convert users to a click, especially if new search behavior has shifted to include a thorough reading of the SERP and a second scroll up. What can earn the click is what shows up next to your listing on that second pass, and it has to be relevant and trustworthy.
Different page types require different relevance and trust indicators.




Product detail pages (PDP)
Users compare star ratings, review count, price, and stock status.
Three things to control outside the meta:
Product schema with aggregateRating, review, offers, and availability. Miss any one of these, and a competitor’s listing renders fuller than yours.
Review count is a comparison field. 47 reviews next to a competitor’s 2,300 loses on the second pass even if your description is sharper. Review velocity is a competitive moat.
Multiple images in the schema array so Google has options for different SERP layouts.
Category detail pages (CDP)
Category pages compete with the AIO’s own list. If the AIO already enumerated 5 options, your category page has to look like the place where the user goes to actually choose between them.
Three things to control outside the meta:
ItemList schema on the category page so Google can render product carousels in the SERP. A carousel takes more vertical space than a single listing and dominates the back-scroll.
Filter and sort UI visible in the SERP preview. Google sometimes surfaces sitelinks for category facets (“by price” or “by brand”). Internal linking to those facets makes them eligible.
Page count and depth. A category page with 12 products competes badly against one with 240. The second impression carries an implicit “Is this comprehensive?” check.
Blog content
The AIO has already given the user the answer. To earn a possible validation click or at least a thorough second impression for your brand, what the user is looking for is credibility on who said it and when.
Two things to control outside the meta:
Visible datePublished or dateModified in the SERP. A 2024 article next to a 2026 article likely loses, whether the user considers the description or not.
Article schema with a named author field that links to a sameAs URL (LinkedIn, author bio page). This makes the author an entity Google can resolve, which matters for E-E-A-T scoring even if no visible card renders.
The AI SEO Change Management Plan alone saves directors 10+ planning hours for retraining your team against current best practices, but Premium is only $150/year. See the full library.



What intent compression means for operators
The last three years of intent-based content work produced the right pages for the right queries. What’s shifting is one prediction layer on top of that strategy: how long users stay, where they look, when they click.
That layer is now AIO-driven, not intent-driven. User search intent still drives what your brand needs to write, but it is no longer a good estimate of how users will behave on a SERP page.
Therefore, more optimization work moves to the SERP, focusing how your listing reads against the AIO and the results around it, separate from the intent logic that decides what the page content should be to answer the query. 
Your core optimization efforts don’t change. A content team built around intent clusters keeps its cluster map intact. What gets updated is the optimization pattern per page (meta descriptions, title tags, the second-impression framing from finding 7 shared last week with Premium subscribers), not the underlying taxonomy or content strategy.
This post first appeared on the author’s website and is republished here with permission.

Search intent still shapes content strategy, but AI Overviews now shape how users behave on the SERP itself.

What to do now that AI Overviews turned search into reading sessions

<div><img width="1920" height="1097" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/google-search-console-controls-report-1920.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/google-search-console-controls-report-1920.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/google-search-console-controls-report-1920-768x439.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/google-search-console-controls-report-1920-1536x878.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>These features are rolling out to subset of website owners in the UK and will expand it to more in the future.

<div><img width="1920" height="1097" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/google-search-console-controls-report-1920.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/google-search-console-controls-report-1920.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/google-search-console-controls-report-1920-768x439.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/google-search-console-controls-report-1920-1536x878.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Google is rolling out new Search Generative AI performance reports within Google Search Console and is also testing the ability to block your content from showing up in AI Mode and AI Overviews with a &#8220;toggle&#8221; within Search Console.</p>



<p><strong>Search Generative AI Performance report. </strong>Google Search Console, as <a href="https://www.seroundtable.com/google-search-console-ai-contribution-41153.html">expected</a>, is rolling out a new report to give you some data, but not all, on how well your content and websites are performing within the AI responses, AI Mode and AI Overviews, within Google Search.  The reporting includes impressions, pages, countries, devices and dates but does not include click data.  Yea, Google won&#8217;t be telling us how many searchers click from AI responses in Google Search to our sites &#8211; there is no surprise there.</p>



<p>Google <a href="https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/new-controls-website-owners">said</a>:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>We’re also starting to roll out new insights for website owners in Search Console about the appearance of their pages in generative AI Search features. These insights include impressions metrics and information about which pages appear in AI responses and in what countries. We&#8217;re continuing to work with website owners to understand what insights will be most helpful to inform their strategies, and we’ll introduce additional metrics over time.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>



<p>Google <a href="https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2026/06/gen-ai-performance-reports">shared</a> more details on the metrics you will get from this new report, they include:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Impressions</strong>: How often URLs from your site appeared in generative AI features in Search and Discover.&nbsp;</li>



<li><strong>Pages</strong>: Check which URLs appeared within AI features.</li>



<li><strong>Countries</strong>: Understand your visibility on a country basis.</li>



<li><strong>Devices</strong>: Identify the devices people are using when seeing your website (available for Search results).</li>



<li><strong>Dates</strong>: Monitor your performance over time with hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly granularity.</li>
</ul>



<p>I asked about click data and a Google spokesperson told me, &#8220;We&#8217;re continuing to work with website owners to understand what insights will be most helpful to inform their strategies, and we’ll introduce additional metrics over time.&#8221;</p>



<p>This new report is rolling out to a subset of website owners in the UK at first and will expand globally at some point in the future. </p>



<p>Here is a screenshot of this report from Google:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="2048" height="1571" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/generative-ai-features-performance-report.png" alt="" class="wp-image-479323" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/generative-ai-features-performance-report.png 2048w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/generative-ai-features-performance-report-768x589.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/generative-ai-features-performance-report-1536x1178.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" /></figure>



<p>For more details on this report, see this Google <a href="https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/16984139">help center document</a>.</p>



<p><strong>AI blocking controls. </strong>Google also said it is adding a &#8220;new toggle&#8221; within Google Search Console to allow sites to block their content from showing in AI search features such as AI Overviews, AI Mode or AI Overviews in Discover.  Google wrote, &#8220;website owners can decide if they want their site to appear in and help ground responses in our generative AI Search features.&#8221;</p>



<p>Google noted that &#8220;sites that opt out will not receive traffic or impressions from our generative AI features.&#8221; However, this control will not be used as a ranking signal for search results outside of these generative AI Search features, so it should not negatively impact your site on core web search.</p>



<p>Google added that this control is just for a subset of website owners in the UK. Google will expand access to more site owners in the future, after sufficient testing is completed.  Google <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-may-give-sites-a-way-to-opt-out-of-ai-search-generative-features-468063">did promise</a> these controls were coming after some <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-faces-eu-antitrust-complaint-over-ai-overviews-458123">backlash from the EU</a>, so now they are starting to roll out.</p>



<p>Early studies showed that <a href="https://searchengineland.com/1-3rd-of-publishers-say-they-will-block-google-search-ai-generative-features-like-ai-overviews-468107">1/3rd of SEOs</a> would block Google from showing their content in AI search features.</p>



<p><strong>UK requirement/law. </strong>Google was forced to do this by the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-secures-fairer-deal-for-publishers-and-improves-google-search-services-in-uk">UK government</a>, which is why this was released first in the UK only. Google does say this will be expanded but right now, it is only available in the UK. The CMA wrote:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Google will now also have to allow publishers to opt-out of allowing their content to be used for the ‘fine-tuning’ of AI models. This provides publishers with confidence that they will have control over the full range of AI use-cases of their content.</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>Why we care. </strong>Site owners and publishers have been asking for controls over if and how their content is shown in Google&#8217;s AI features since Google launched these a couple of years ago.  Well, now Google is rolling out such a feature to some users today.  It is unclear how soon everyone will gain access to these controls, but they should come to all eventually.</p>



<p>Plus, we have been asking Google for AI Search reporting since day one as well. This is Google&#8217;s first step towards that, shortly after <a href="https://searchengineland.com/bing-webmaster-tools-ai-performance-report-468751">Bing Webmaster Tools released</a> its AI performance report.  Neither Google or Bing&#8217;s reports have click data, and we don&#8217;t expect them ever to, but for now, at least Bing&#8217;s report is global while Google&#8217;s report is a subset of UK site owners.</p>


Google is rolling out new Search Generative AI performance reports within Google Search Console and is also testing the ability to block your content from showing up in AI Mode and AI Overviews with a “toggle” within Search Console.
Search Generative AI Performance report. Google Search Console, as expected, is rolling out a new report to give you some data, but not all, on how well your content and websites are performing within the AI responses, AI Mode and AI Overviews, within Google Search.  The reporting includes impressions, pages, countries, devices and dates but does not include click data.  Yea, Google won’t be telling us how many searchers click from AI responses in Google Search to our sites – there is no surprise there.
Google said:
We’re also starting to roll out new insights for website owners in Search Console about the appearance of their pages in generative AI Search features. These insights include impressions metrics and information about which pages appear in AI responses and in what countries. We’re continuing to work with website owners to understand what insights will be most helpful to inform their strategies, and we’ll introduce additional metrics over time. 
Google shared more details on the metrics you will get from this new report, they include:
Impressions: How often URLs from your site appeared in generative AI features in Search and Discover. 
Pages: Check which URLs appeared within AI features.
Countries: Understand your visibility on a country basis.
Devices: Identify the devices people are using when seeing your website (available for Search results).
Dates: Monitor your performance over time with hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly granularity.
I asked about click data and a Google spokesperson told me, “We’re continuing to work with website owners to understand what insights will be most helpful to inform their strategies, and we’ll introduce additional metrics over time.”
This new report is rolling out to a subset of website owners in the UK at first and will expand globally at some point in the future. 
Here is a screenshot of this report from Google:




For more details on this report, see this Google help center document.
AI blocking controls. Google also said it is adding a “new toggle” within Google Search Console to allow sites to block their content from showing in AI search features such as AI Overviews, AI Mode or AI Overviews in Discover.  Google wrote, “website owners can decide if they want their site to appear in and help ground responses in our generative AI Search features.”
Google noted that “sites that opt out will not receive traffic or impressions from our generative AI features.” However, this control will not be used as a ranking signal for search results outside of these generative AI Search features, so it should not negatively impact your site on core web search.
Google added that this control is just for a subset of website owners in the UK. Google will expand access to more site owners in the future, after sufficient testing is completed.  Google did promise these controls were coming after some backlash from the EU, so now they are starting to roll out.
Early studies showed that 1/3rd of SEOs would block Google from showing their content in AI search features.
UK requirement/law. Google was forced to do this by the UK government, which is why this was released first in the UK only. Google does say this will be expanded but right now, it is only available in the UK. The CMA wrote:
Google will now also have to allow publishers to opt-out of allowing their content to be used for the ‘fine-tuning’ of AI models. This provides publishers with confidence that they will have control over the full range of AI use-cases of their content.
Why we care. Site owners and publishers have been asking for controls over if and how their content is shown in Google’s AI features since Google launched these a couple of years ago.  Well, now Google is rolling out such a feature to some users today.  It is unclear how soon everyone will gain access to these controls, but they should come to all eventually.
Plus, we have been asking Google for AI Search reporting since day one as well. This is Google’s first step towards that, shortly after Bing Webmaster Tools released its AI performance report.  Neither Google or Bing’s reports have click data, and we don’t expect them ever to, but for now, at least Bing’s report is global while Google’s report is a subset of UK site owners.

These features are rolling out to subset of website owners in the UK and will expand it to more in the future.

Google Search Console AI performance reports and controls to block your content in AI responses

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/01/google-search-g.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Google Search" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/01/google-search-g.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/01/google-search-g-768x432.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Google's Invalid Activity Credit Report gives advertisers a clearer view of refunded spend from invalid clicks and traffic.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/01/google-search-g.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Google Search" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/01/google-search-g.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/01/google-search-g-768x432.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Google published new documentation highlighting its Invalid Activity Credit Report, bringing renewed attention to a little-known tool that helps advertisers track refunds issued for invalid clicks and interactions.</p>



<p><strong>The big picture</strong>. It&#8217;s unclear whether the Invalid Activity Credit Report itself is new as advertisers have seen several of those metrics, like invalid click rate before. However, the help document makes it clear the report gives advertisers a more detailed view of credits issued for invalid traffic across Search and Performance Max campaigns.</p>



<p id="h-how-it-works"><strong>How it works. </strong>Google says it uses automated systems to detect and block invalid traffic before advertisers are charged. But some invalid activity is identified only after billing has occurred.</p>



<p>When that happens, Google may issue credits to advertisers for the associated spend.</p>



<p>While those credits already appear in billing and transaction histories, the Invalid Activity Credit Report provides a more detailed breakdown of:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Credited clicks</li>



<li>Credited interactions</li>



<li>Credited spend</li>



<li>Campaign-level impact</li>



<li>Adjusted performance metrics after credits are applied</li>
</ul>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="2048" height="1241" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/google-ads-invalid-acitibity-credit-report-78fkbpSq-scaled.png" alt="" class="wp-image-479293" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/google-ads-invalid-acitibity-credit-report-78fkbpSq-scaled.png 2048w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/google-ads-invalid-acitibity-credit-report-78fkbpSq-768x465.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/google-ads-invalid-acitibity-credit-report-78fkbpSq-1536x931.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" /></figure>



<p><strong>Why we care. </strong>The Invalid Activity Credit Report provides a clearer picture of how much campaign spend is being refunded due to invalid clicks and traffic, helping advertisers better understand their true performance and costs. </p>



<p>The new help documentation also raises awareness of a reporting tool that many advertisers may not know exists, making it easier to audit traffic quality and verify Google&#8217;s fraud protection efforts.</p>



<p id="h-why-google-created-it"><strong>Why Google created it.</strong> According to Google, the report is designed to provide a clearer picture of campaign performance after invalid traffic adjustments.</p>



<p>The company says the report helps advertisers:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>View adjusted costs, clicks and interactions after credits are applied.</li>



<li>Reduce the need for manual reconciliation between billing credits and campaign performance.</li>



<li>Better understand how Google&#8217;s invalid traffic protections affect individual campaigns.</li>
</ul>



<p id="h-how-to-access-it"><strong>How to access it. </strong>Advertisers can find the report through the Report Editor in Google Ads.</p>



<p>From the Template Gallery, users can select &#8220;Invalid Activity Credit Report: Search &amp; PMax&#8221; to generate a report populated with standard campaign metrics alongside new columns for credited clicks, credited interactions and credited amounts.</p>



<p>Additional adjusted performance metrics can also be added to reflect campaign results after credits have been applied.</p>



<p id="h-what-to-watch"><strong>What to watch.</strong> <a href="https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/16826168?hl=en">The report</a> could become a valuable auditing tool for advertisers running large Search and Performance Max budgets, particularly those monitoring traffic quality and investigating discrepancies between reported performance and billing.</p>



<p>As AI-powered campaign automation continues to expand, visibility into invalid traffic and refunded spend is likely to become an increasingly important part of campaign management.</p>


Google published new documentation highlighting its Invalid Activity Credit Report, bringing renewed attention to a little-known tool that helps advertisers track refunds issued for invalid clicks and interactions.
The big picture. It’s unclear whether the Invalid Activity Credit Report itself is new as advertisers have seen several of those metrics, like invalid click rate before. However, the help document makes it clear the report gives advertisers a more detailed view of credits issued for invalid traffic across Search and Performance Max campaigns.
How it works. Google says it uses automated systems to detect and block invalid traffic before advertisers are charged. But some invalid activity is identified only after billing has occurred.
When that happens, Google may issue credits to advertisers for the associated spend.
While those credits already appear in billing and transaction histories, the Invalid Activity Credit Report provides a more detailed breakdown of:
Credited clicks
Credited interactions
Credited spend
Campaign-level impact
Adjusted performance metrics after credits are applied




Why we care. The Invalid Activity Credit Report provides a clearer picture of how much campaign spend is being refunded due to invalid clicks and traffic, helping advertisers better understand their true performance and costs. 
The new help documentation also raises awareness of a reporting tool that many advertisers may not know exists, making it easier to audit traffic quality and verify Google’s fraud protection efforts.
Why Google created it. According to Google, the report is designed to provide a clearer picture of campaign performance after invalid traffic adjustments.
The company says the report helps advertisers:
View adjusted costs, clicks and interactions after credits are applied.
Reduce the need for manual reconciliation between billing credits and campaign performance.
Better understand how Google’s invalid traffic protections affect individual campaigns.
How to access it. Advertisers can find the report through the Report Editor in Google Ads.
From the Template Gallery, users can select “Invalid Activity Credit Report: Search & PMax” to generate a report populated with standard campaign metrics alongside new columns for credited clicks, credited interactions and credited amounts.
Additional adjusted performance metrics can also be added to reflect campaign results after credits have been applied.
What to watch. The report could become a valuable auditing tool for advertisers running large Search and Performance Max budgets, particularly those monitoring traffic quality and investigating discrepancies between reported performance and billing.
As AI-powered campaign automation continues to expand, visibility into invalid traffic and refunded spend is likely to become an increasingly important part of campaign management.

Google's Invalid Activity Credit Report gives advertisers a clearer view of refunded spend from invalid clicks and traffic.

Google spotlights invalid click credits with new Ads help documentation

<div><img width="1920" height="1097" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/05/google-ai-optimization-1920.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/05/google-ai-optimization-1920.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/05/google-ai-optimization-1920-768x439.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/05/google-ai-optimization-1920-1536x878.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Google has confirmed a test of healthcare ads in AI Mode, offering an early look at how advertising may evolve within AI search.

<div><img width="1920" height="1097" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/05/google-ai-optimization-1920.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/05/google-ai-optimization-1920.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/05/google-ai-optimization-1920-768x439.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/05/google-ai-optimization-1920-1536x878.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Google confirmed it is testing healthcare-related ads in AI Mode, marking the latest expansion of advertising into the company&#8217;s AI-powered search experiences.</p>



<p><strong>The big picture</strong>. The test is currently limited to healthcare advertisers in the U.S. and only applies to English-language queries in AI Mode, according to Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin.</p>



<p>The confirmation comes after weeks of industry speculation that healthcare ads had started appearing within AI-generated search experiences.</p>



<p id="h-what-google-is-saying"><strong>What Google is saying</strong>. Responding to questions on LinkedIn, Marvin confirmed that Google is &#8220;beginning a small test of ads in AI Mode for the healthcare vertical.&#8221;</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1076" height="828" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/linkedin-google-ads-healthcare-ads-response-lFlHGb3V.png" alt="" class="wp-image-479267" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/linkedin-google-ads-healthcare-ads-response-lFlHGb3V.png 1076w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/linkedin-google-ads-healthcare-ads-response-lFlHGb3V-768x591.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1076px) 100vw, 1076px" /></figure>



<p id="h-what-google-is-saying">She added that several campaign types are eligible to participate, including:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Performance Max (PMax)</li>



<li>AI Max with search term matching</li>



<li>Shopping campaigns</li>



<li>Broad match campaigns</li>
</ul>



<p>The same campaign types are also eligible to serve ads in AI Overviews.</p>



<p><strong>Why we care.</strong> Healthcare is one of Google&#8217;s most heavily regulated advertising categories, making this test an important signal for how the company plans to monetize AI-powered search experiences. </p>



<p>If the rollout expands, healthcare marketers could gain access to a new source of visibility in AI Mode, while advertisers in other regulated industries may get a preview of how ads will eventually appear in Google&#8217;s AI-generated results.</p>



<p id="h-the-fine-print"><strong>The fine print</strong>. The initial test comes with creative restrictions.</p>



<p>According to Marvin, the first phase is limited to ads that do not use pinned assets or text disclaimers, narrowing the pool of eligible healthcare creatives.</p>



<p id="h-what-to-watch"><strong>What to watch</strong>. The test is currently small, but advertisers will be watching closely to see whether Google expands eligibility to more healthcare advertisers, additional ad formats, and other regulated industries.</p>



<p>The move could also provide an early indication of how Google plans to balance monetization and user trust as AI Mode becomes a larger part of the search experience.</p>



<p><strong>First spotted.</strong> Senior Strategist Ben Goldman shared that he spotted the test in reply to her GML 2026 takeaways on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7463015175336611840/?dashCommentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_comment%3A%287465140913162612736%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7463015175336611840%29&amp;dashReplyUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_comment%3A%287466141854187749376%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7463015175336611840%29">LinkedIn</a>.</p>


Google confirmed it is testing healthcare-related ads in AI Mode, marking the latest expansion of advertising into the company’s AI-powered search experiences.
The big picture. The test is currently limited to healthcare advertisers in the U.S. and only applies to English-language queries in AI Mode, according to Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin.
The confirmation comes after weeks of industry speculation that healthcare ads had started appearing within AI-generated search experiences.
What Google is saying. Responding to questions on LinkedIn, Marvin confirmed that Google is “beginning a small test of ads in AI Mode for the healthcare vertical.”




She added that several campaign types are eligible to participate, including:
Performance Max (PMax)
AI Max with search term matching
Shopping campaigns
Broad match campaigns
The same campaign types are also eligible to serve ads in AI Overviews.
Why we care. Healthcare is one of Google’s most heavily regulated advertising categories, making this test an important signal for how the company plans to monetize AI-powered search experiences. 
If the rollout expands, healthcare marketers could gain access to a new source of visibility in AI Mode, while advertisers in other regulated industries may get a preview of how ads will eventually appear in Google’s AI-generated results.
The fine print. The initial test comes with creative restrictions.
According to Marvin, the first phase is limited to ads that do not use pinned assets or text disclaimers, narrowing the pool of eligible healthcare creatives.
What to watch. The test is currently small, but advertisers will be watching closely to see whether Google expands eligibility to more healthcare advertisers, additional ad formats, and other regulated industries.
The move could also provide an early indication of how Google plans to balance monetization and user trust as AI Mode becomes a larger part of the search experience.
First spotted. Senior Strategist Ben Goldman shared that he spotted the test in reply to her GML 2026 takeaways on LinkedIn.

Google has confirmed a test of healthcare ads in AI Mode, offering an early look at how advertising may evolve within AI search.

Google begins testing healthcare ads in AI Mode

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/Why-Google-Ads-auctions-now-run-on-intent-not-keywords.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Why Google Ads auctions now run on intent, not keywords" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/Why-Google-Ads-auctions-now-run-on-intent-not-keywords.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/Why-Google-Ads-auctions-now-run-on-intent-not-keywords-768x432.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/Why-Google-Ads-auctions-now-run-on-intent-not-keywords-1536x864.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Google's updated Ads terms expand its use of AI-driven automation, raising advertiser concerns about reduced control and ownership.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/Why-Google-Ads-auctions-now-run-on-intent-not-keywords.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Why Google Ads auctions now run on intent, not keywords" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/Why-Google-Ads-auctions-now-run-on-intent-not-keywords.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/Why-Google-Ads-auctions-now-run-on-intent-not-keywords-768x432.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/Why-Google-Ads-auctions-now-run-on-intent-not-keywords-1536x864.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p id="h-google-is-updating-its-google-ads-terms-of-service-to-reflect-how-advertisers-inputs-can-be-used-across-ai-powered-and-automated-advertising-tools-while-reinforcing-advertisers-responsibility-for-campaign-oversight">Google is updating its Google Ads Terms of Service to reflect how advertisers&#8217; inputs can be used across AI-powered and automated advertising tools, while reinforcing advertisers&#8217; responsibility for campaign oversight.</p>



<p><strong>The big picture</strong>. The changes apply only to Google Ads accounts and do not affect other Google products, including Google Workspace or Cloud Identity. The updated terms take effect July 1st, and require no action from advertisers.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="465" height="781" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/Google-Terms-and-conditions.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-479256"/></figure>
</div>


<p id="h-what-s-changing"><strong>What&#8217;s changing.</strong> Google says the updates are designed to support the growing use of automation and AI within its advertising platform.</p>



<p>Key changes include:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Expanded language explaining how advertiser-provided inputs may be used across Google Ads features to improve campaign performance.</li>



<li>Clarification that information entered into conversational experiences and similar Google Ads tools may be utilized by Google&#8217;s systems.</li>



<li>Updated provisions covering URLs and accounts that advertisers authorize Google to access and crawl for automated campaign setup.</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>Why we care. </strong>The updated terms appear to give Google broader authority to use automated systems and AI to generate, select, and optimize campaign elements on advertisers&#8217; behalf. At the same time, advertisers remain responsible for reviewing and approving those campaigns and any resulting ad assets. </p>



<p>For brands and agencies already concerned about transparency and control in increasingly automated ad platforms, the changes could have implications for governance, compliance, and performance accountability.</p>



<p><strong>Significant shift. </strong>One notable change is the language surrounding automated campaign management.</p>



<p>Previous terms generally stated that Google could provide tools to help advertisers generate targets, ads, or landing destinations, while allowing advertisers to opt in or opt out of many automation features.</p>



<p>The new terms state that:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>&#8220;Customer authorizes Google and its affiliates to serve ads, including through the use of automated program features to format, select, or generate targets, ads, or destinations on Customer&#8217;s behalf.&#8221;</li>
</ul>



<p>The terms also maintain that advertisers remain responsible for the resulting campaigns and ad assets.</p>



<p><strong>What critics are saying. </strong>Not everyone is convinced the changes benefit advertisers. Anthony Higman, founder of AdSQUIRE, argued the updated terms further erode two of what he considers the core pillars of Google Ads: relevance and control. </p>



<p>He pointed to new language authorizing Google to use automated features to format, select, or generate targets, ads, and destinations on an advertiser&#8217;s behalf, while advertisers remain responsible for the resulting campaigns.</p>



<p>Higman also criticized Google&#8217;s broader push toward AI-driven automation, arguing the previous terms gave advertisers more explicit opportunities to opt in or out of automated campaign features. </p>



<p>He said the latest revisions, combined with updates to liability and arbitration provisions in some regions, signal a continued shift of decision-making authority from advertisers to Google&#8217;s systems.</p>



<p id="h-between-the-lines"><strong>Between the lines. </strong>The revised terms place additional emphasis on advertiser responsibility.</p>



<p>Advertisers must:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Ensure they have the necessary rights to any information, content, URLs, or other inputs provided to Google Ads.</li>



<li>Continue reviewing, approving, editing, or removing campaigns and ad assets that may be generated automatically through Google&#8217;s advertising tools.</li>
</ul>



<p id="h-regional-updates"><strong>Regional updates.</strong> Google is also making jurisdiction-specific changes in several markets.</p>



<p>Those include:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Updates to arbitration agreement language in certain regions, including revisions reflecting current legal practices or the removal of arbitration provisions where applicable.</li>



<li>New references to regulatory operating fees and other country-specific charges that may apply to ads served in certain jurisdictions.</li>



<li>In Brazil, revised language clarifying the role of Google BR as the entity authorized to commercially operate and monetize advertising inventory owned by Google LLC.</li>
</ul>



<p id="h-what-s-next"><strong>What&#8217;s next.</strong> The new Google Ads Terms of Service become effective on July 1st.</p>



<p>Advertisers are encouraged to review the updated terms, though no acceptance or account changes are required before the rollout date.</p>






Google is updating its Google Ads Terms of Service to reflect how advertisers’ inputs can be used across AI-powered and automated advertising tools, while reinforcing advertisers’ responsibility for campaign oversight.
The big picture. The changes apply only to Google Ads accounts and do not affect other Google products, including Google Workspace or Cloud Identity. The updated terms take effect July 1st, and require no action from advertisers.




What’s changing. Google says the updates are designed to support the growing use of automation and AI within its advertising platform.
Key changes include:
Expanded language explaining how advertiser-provided inputs may be used across Google Ads features to improve campaign performance.
Clarification that information entered into conversational experiences and similar Google Ads tools may be utilized by Google’s systems.
Updated provisions covering URLs and accounts that advertisers authorize Google to access and crawl for automated campaign setup.
Why we care. The updated terms appear to give Google broader authority to use automated systems and AI to generate, select, and optimize campaign elements on advertisers’ behalf. At the same time, advertisers remain responsible for reviewing and approving those campaigns and any resulting ad assets. 
For brands and agencies already concerned about transparency and control in increasingly automated ad platforms, the changes could have implications for governance, compliance, and performance accountability.
Significant shift. One notable change is the language surrounding automated campaign management.
Previous terms generally stated that Google could provide tools to help advertisers generate targets, ads, or landing destinations, while allowing advertisers to opt in or opt out of many automation features.
The new terms state that:
“Customer authorizes Google and its affiliates to serve ads, including through the use of automated program features to format, select, or generate targets, ads, or destinations on Customer’s behalf.”
The terms also maintain that advertisers remain responsible for the resulting campaigns and ad assets.
What critics are saying. Not everyone is convinced the changes benefit advertisers. Anthony Higman, founder of AdSQUIRE, argued the updated terms further erode two of what he considers the core pillars of Google Ads: relevance and control. 
He pointed to new language authorizing Google to use automated features to format, select, or generate targets, ads, and destinations on an advertiser’s behalf, while advertisers remain responsible for the resulting campaigns.
Higman also criticized Google’s broader push toward AI-driven automation, arguing the previous terms gave advertisers more explicit opportunities to opt in or out of automated campaign features. 
He said the latest revisions, combined with updates to liability and arbitration provisions in some regions, signal a continued shift of decision-making authority from advertisers to Google’s systems.
Between the lines. The revised terms place additional emphasis on advertiser responsibility.
Advertisers must:
Ensure they have the necessary rights to any information, content, URLs, or other inputs provided to Google Ads.
Continue reviewing, approving, editing, or removing campaigns and ad assets that may be generated automatically through Google’s advertising tools.
Regional updates. Google is also making jurisdiction-specific changes in several markets.
Those include:
Updates to arbitration agreement language in certain regions, including revisions reflecting current legal practices or the removal of arbitration provisions where applicable.
New references to regulatory operating fees and other country-specific charges that may apply to ads served in certain jurisdictions.
In Brazil, revised language clarifying the role of Google BR as the entity authorized to commercially operate and monetize advertising inventory owned by Google LLC.
What’s next. The new Google Ads Terms of Service become effective on July 1st.
Advertisers are encouraged to review the updated terms, though no acceptance or account changes are required before the rollout date.

Google's updated Ads terms expand its use of AI-driven automation, raising advertiser concerns about reduced control and ownership.

Google Ads updates terms of service ahead of July 2026 rollout

<div><img width="1920" height="1097" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/microsoft-bing-agent-robot-1920.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/microsoft-bing-agent-robot-1920.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/microsoft-bing-agent-robot-1920-768x439.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/microsoft-bing-agent-robot-1920-1536x878.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Microsoft releases a search service just for AI-agents, because agents search differently from humans.

<div><img width="1920" height="1097" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/microsoft-bing-agent-robot-1920.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/microsoft-bing-agent-robot-1920.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/microsoft-bing-agent-robot-1920-768x439.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/microsoft-bing-agent-robot-1920-1536x878.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Microsoft has released its new grounding API named Web IQ. Web IQ is a &#8220;suite of AI-native grounding APIs built for the agentic era, connecting AI systems and agents to fresh, real-world intelligence from across the web — including web pages, news, images, and videos,&#8221; Microsoft <a href="http://aka.ms/nextgengrounding">announced</a>.</p>



<p><strong>What is Web IQ</strong>. Web IQ is a suite of Microsoft’s AI-native grounding APIs built for the agentic era, for AI-agents work. Web IQ connects AI systems and agents to fresh, real-world information from across the web, including web pages, news, images, and videos. This is powered by Bing&#8217;s index and the its best of how Bing understands the web. </p>



<p>Web IQ utilizes the same API infrastructure operating at inside Microsoft Copilot and many other leading AI systems, including ChatGPT.</p>



<p>But this is not the same APIs that Copilot and ChatGPT initially used when those LLMs launched, it is rebuilt from the ground up to be efficient, fast and of course, relevant, Jordi Ribas, President of Search &amp; AI at Microsoft.  It is used by Bing to show the Copilot answers at the top of the Bing search results for some queries, it is used by ChatGPT for some of its web answers and it is used directly in Copilot for answers.</p>



<p><strong>Search for agents (not humans). </strong>Web IQ provides search results designed for AI-agents, not humans. While Bing Search for humans prioritizes ranking, ranking is less important for agents, Jordi Ribas told Search Engine Land. Agents want to extract the right information from the documents, package it and deliver it quickly.</p>



<p>Agents don&#8217;t just enter a single query and stop searching, like many humans. Agents go deeper and continue to search, fan-out, if you will. &#8220;It required re-architecting the system from the ground up from indexing and retrieval to ranking, passage selection, and orchestration so every layer is aligned around the needs of inference-time grounding,&#8221; Microsoft said.</p>



<p>Because of how often agents search, Microsoft built Web IQ to be efficient and use the fewest tokens as possible. Microsoft said, &#8220;fewer tokens in, better answers out, lower cost per call.&#8221; It is also fast, <br>roughly 2.5x faster than the next best alternative, Microsoft said.</p>



<p><strong>Access</strong> <strong>and availability. </strong>Right now, Web IQ is being used by Microsoft for Copilot and by OpenAI&#8217;s ChatGPT, and other larger LLM platforms.  Microsoft does plan to expand access as it scales. </p>



<p>Microsoft said to express interest in Web IQ, <a href="https://webiq.microsoft.ai/">go to this page</a>.</p>



<p><strong>Why we care. </strong>As the web adapts and begins to support agentic experiences, like AI-agents, these are changes we need to watch careful and be ready to adopt as they become available.</p>



<p>The web is changing, adapting, for AI and so you need to make sure your websites change and adapt along with it.</p>



<p>It doesn&#8217;t mean humans are going away but AI-agents will be coming, if not already, so you need to prepare for this next evolution of the web.</p>


Microsoft has released its new grounding API named Web IQ. Web IQ is a “suite of AI-native grounding APIs built for the agentic era, connecting AI systems and agents to fresh, real-world intelligence from across the web — including web pages, news, images, and videos,” Microsoft announced.
What is Web IQ. Web IQ is a suite of Microsoft’s AI-native grounding APIs built for the agentic era, for AI-agents work. Web IQ connects AI systems and agents to fresh, real-world information from across the web, including web pages, news, images, and videos. This is powered by Bing’s index and the its best of how Bing understands the web. 
Web IQ utilizes the same API infrastructure operating at inside Microsoft Copilot and many other leading AI systems, including ChatGPT.
But this is not the same APIs that Copilot and ChatGPT initially used when those LLMs launched, it is rebuilt from the ground up to be efficient, fast and of course, relevant, Jordi Ribas, President of Search & AI at Microsoft.  It is used by Bing to show the Copilot answers at the top of the Bing search results for some queries, it is used by ChatGPT for some of its web answers and it is used directly in Copilot for answers.
Search for agents (not humans). Web IQ provides search results designed for AI-agents, not humans. While Bing Search for humans prioritizes ranking, ranking is less important for agents, Jordi Ribas told Search Engine Land. Agents want to extract the right information from the documents, package it and deliver it quickly.
Agents don’t just enter a single query and stop searching, like many humans. Agents go deeper and continue to search, fan-out, if you will. “It required re-architecting the system from the ground up from indexing and retrieval to ranking, passage selection, and orchestration so every layer is aligned around the needs of inference-time grounding,” Microsoft said.
Because of how often agents search, Microsoft built Web IQ to be efficient and use the fewest tokens as possible. Microsoft said, “fewer tokens in, better answers out, lower cost per call.” It is also fast, 
roughly 2.5x faster than the next best alternative, Microsoft said.
Access and availability. Right now, Web IQ is being used by Microsoft for Copilot and by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and other larger LLM platforms.  Microsoft does plan to expand access as it scales. 
Microsoft said to express interest in Web IQ, go to this page.
Why we care. As the web adapts and begins to support agentic experiences, like AI-agents, these are changes we need to watch careful and be ready to adopt as they become available.
The web is changing, adapting, for AI and so you need to make sure your websites change and adapt along with it.
It doesn’t mean humans are going away but AI-agents will be coming, if not already, so you need to prepare for this next evolution of the web.

Microsoft releases a search service just for AI-agents, because agents search differently from humans.

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