SEO Tools and Resources

Google Ads introduced customer lifecycle features in Performance Max, which will let you bid more aggressively for lapsed customers and track acquisition costs more precisely. PMax is also getting new image tools to boost creative flexibility. Customer Lifecycle management expands. Retention goals are now widely available, giving you the power to bid more strategically for lapsed users. For former customers: You can identify high-value former customers and prioritize who sees your ads and when. For new customer acquisition: In “new customer only” and “new customer value” modes, you will see a dedicated column in campaign reporting that displays customer acquis…

Even the most old-school PPC managers can’t deny it anymore: Performance Max is capable of amazing things. It does require a certain level of setup (like good-quality data inputs) and a different mindset than Search and Shopping, but it’s no longer the struggling tech we knew from the beta four years ago. Let me give you an example. Years ago, when working with retailers selling products from many different brands, you’d typically make a separate Shopping campaign for each one. Try that with Performance Max, and you’ll force it into doing something it’s not built for. And performance certainly won’t be at max. Consolidation is the name of the ga…

Google is launching new Performance Max controls and reporting: audience exclusions, expanded reporting, and budget forecasting tools. What’s new. Google announced a mix of “steering updates” and “actionable insights” for PMax: First-party audience exclusions: You can exclude customer lists to shift spend toward net-new customer acquisition instead of repeat conversions. Budget reporting: A new in-platform report projects end-of-month spend and shows how daily budget changes impact performance. Full audience reporting: You get detailed breakdowns by demographics, including age and gender. Network segmentation: You can segment placement reports by network…

Google now lets you use AI to generate backgrounds for the images you add within Google Posts in your Google Business Profiles. “When creating a post for your customers in the Maps app, you can create an engaging AI-generated background for the photos you plan to use in the post,” Victoria Kroll from Google wrote. This is similar to the AI-generation image features Google has for shopping ads, product studio, even in products in Business Profiles and more. How it works. To add an AI-generated background, tap “Transform with AI” when adding a photo to your post in Maps on iPhone, select a theme, and generate. To create a post with an AI-generated background …

Google’s Preferred Sources now supports all languages, not just the English language. “Preferred Sources is now rolling out globally in all supported languages,” Google wrote on its blog this morning. “This feature gives you more control over the news you see on Search by letting you choose the outlets and sites you want to appear more often in Top Stories,” Google added. In December, Google rolled out preferred sources globally but it only supported English. Now it supports all languages globally as well. Stats. Google added some interesting data including: “Readers are twice as likely to click through to a site after marking it as a Preferred Source”…

Advertisers can now tap into Promoted Pins on Maps as part of their Demand Gen campaigns. These pins leverage existing image assets and appear in key spots on Maps, like Browse, Directions, and Entity/Place Details modes. How it works. Existing image assets from campaigns can be repurposed for these pins. Pins show up in Maps when users browse areas, search for directions, or check out specific places. The move aims to increase visibility in these “browse-worthy” moments, helping to convert digital interest into physical visits. Why we care. Promoted Pins are designed to drive more foot traffic and in-store sales by putting businesses in front of users as …

Google has published a new guide on how to optimize for Google’s generative AI features, like AI Mode, AI Overviews and more. A lot of this content is put together from previous communication from Google but all in a neat new help document named Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search. What’s in the document. The document covers the following topics: SEO is relevant for generative AI search, follow Google’s best practices for SEO. Create valuable, non-commodity content for your audience Provide a unique point of view Create non-commodity content that’s helpful, reliable and people-first Organize content in a way that helps yo…

Google published a new help document outlining how passkeys work in Google Ads — a timely move as advertisers face a rise in account hacks and phishing attempts. What’s happening. The new help page explains how passkeys function as a passwordless, phishing-resistant login method in Google Ads, and clarifies when they’re required — including for sensitive actions like user access changes and account linking updates. The documentation walks advertisers through device requirements, setup steps and security considerations. Why we care. Ad accounts are increasingly being targeted by attackers, with compromised logins leading to budget theft, campaign disruptio…

Google published a new help page detailing how its Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) works — offering merchants clearer guidance on how checkout flows operate across Google properties. What’s happening. The documentation explains how UCP and its UCP-powered checkout enable a native “Buy” button that moves the transaction directly onto Google surfaces, while merchants remain the seller of record. To activate the feature, merchants must implement the native_commerce attribute in Merchant Center. Payments run through stored Google Wallet credentials, and processors must support Google Pay tokens. Why we care. UCP was first introduced as part of Google’s agentic …

Google withdrew its antitrust complaint against Microsoft after EU regulators opened a new probe into Azure under the bloc’s tough tech rules. Driving the news. Google pulled its 2024 complaint—centered on Microsoft’s allegedly anti-competitive cloud licensing practices—just as the European Commission launched fresh investigations into whether Azure and Amazon Web Services fall under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Google says the withdrawal doesn’t mean it’s backing down. What they’re saying. “We filed our antitrust complaint…to give voice to our customers and partners,” said Giorgia Abeltino, Google Cloud Europe’s head of public policy. She added that Google stil…

Google is now advertising its own AI features inside Google Ads — a rare move that puts promotion directly into advertisers’ workflow. What’s happening. Users are seeing promotional messages for AI Max for Search campaigns when they access campaign settings panels. The notifications appear during routine account audits and updates It functions essentially as an internal advertisement for Google’s own tooling Why we care. The in-platform placement shows Google’s push to accelerate AI adoption among advertisers, moving beyond optional rollouts to active promotion. This promotional tactic also suggests Google may increasingly nudge advertisers toward AI-p…

Google is expanding its customer lifecycle capabilities in Google Analytics, launching new audience templates and dynamic remarketing features designed to make high-value targeting and re-engagement easier for advertisers. Driving the news. Google has introduced two new suggested audience templates in GA to help advertisers instantly build lifecycle segments: High-Value Purchasers — powered by purchase count or lifetime value, with Google adding a new LTV percentile field so marketers can isolate their top-tier customers. Disengaged Purchasers — defined by days since last purchase, giving Google a built-in way to help brands re-engage lapsed buyers. Google…

Google Ads’ Demand Gen campaigns – once thought of as mid-funnel discovery tools – are evolving into full-funnel, conversion-focused campaigns, with YouTube at the core. Why we care. Marketers are under pressure to prove ROI across channels. Demand Gen now blends social-style ad formats with Google’s AI-driven targeting, giving advertisers new ways to drive sales, leads, and app installs from audiences they can’t reach elsewhere. What’s new: Target CPC bidding: Advertisers can now align Demand Gen with social campaigns for apples-to-apples budget comparisons. Channel controls. Run ads only on YouTube, or expand to Display, Discover, Gmail, and even Maps. …

Google is directing its quality raters to flag pages with auto or AI-generated main content – and rate them as lowest quality, according to Google’s Senior Search Analyst and Search Relations team lead John Mueller, speaking at Search Central Live in Madrid. This was shared by Aleyda Solis today on LinkedIn: This change was part of the January 2025 update of the Search Quality Rater Guidelines. In case you missed anything else from that update, here’s a recap of the most significant changes from the latest version. 1. Google introduces a new definition: Generative AI With its latest Search Quality Rater Guidelines update, Google added a definition and f…

Google rolled out brand inclusion controls for Standard Shopping campaigns, a long-requested feature that gives advertisers direct control over which brands appear in their Shopping ads — without the need for complex workarounds. How it works: The new feature lets advertisers add or remove brand lists directly within the ad group targeting section of both Performance Max and Standard Shopping campaigns. Marketers can now define exactly which brands to include or exclude, preview the setup, and apply changes — all within the Google Ads interface. Why we care. Until now, brand targeting tools were only available in Performance Max and AI Max, leaving Standard Sh…

Google Discover has publisher profile pages. They live at profile.google.com/cp/ and appear when someone taps a publisher’s name on a Discover card. These pages aren’t new. They launched in August 2025 with the Follow button rollout, and by November 2025 Google’s documentation referred to them as “source overviews.” For most of the 47,000+ publishers we monitored, the pages are auto-generated: a name, follower count, social links pulled from the Knowledge Graph, recent posts, and a footer label that reads “Profile generated by Google.” Since March 2026, though, something changed for a small subset of publishers. A group gained access to enhanced profiles: custom b…

Google introduced a new prediction model to better evaluate the quality of landing page experiences for search ads. This update is designed to reduce frustrating ad experiences and make it easier for users to find the information they need without unnecessary backtracking. Driving the news. Google’s new model improves its ability to predict whether a landing page provides a seamless experience. The focus is on reducing “unexpected destinations” by evaluating whether pages offer easy navigation to relevant content. Ads leading to hard-to-navigate pages are now less likely to appear in search results. Why we care. This update encourages advertisers to prioritize…

A new version of the Google Ads API is out, bringing a handful of targeted updates across video, app campaigns, and audience planning tools. Key changes in this release. A new VideoEnhancement resource that surfaces whether a video ad is Google-generated or advertiser-provided — giving developers clearer visibility into auto-enhanced creative A new AppTopCombinationView resource providing read-only insights into top-performing asset combinations in App campaigns The ability to disable the hotel feed in Demand Gen campaigns via HotelSettingInfo.disable_hotel_setting A new conversion metric for indirect first in-app installs across Campaign, Customer, and …

Google has released several new AI powered AI shopping search features across AI Mode, the Gemini app and Google Search. “Today we’re introducing a major AI shopping update across Google, just in time for this holiday season,” Google announced. What’s new. Here are quick bullet points on what is new: In AI Mode, you can describe what you’re looking for just as you’d say it to a friend and get an intelligently organized response that brings together visuals and all the details you need (like price, reviews and inventory info), helping you quickly and confidently decide what to buy. Simplify your shopping in the Gemini App . Now Gemini can brainstorm gift ideas,…

Google has released the February 2026 Discover core update, this is a core update specific to how Google surfaces content within Google Discover. Google wrote, “This is a broad update to our systems that surface articles in Discover.” This is first rolling out to English language users in the US, and will expand it to all countries and languages in the months ahead, Google said. What is expected. Google said the Discover update will improve the Google Discover “experience in a few key ways,” including: Showing users more locally relevant content from websites based in their country Reducing sensational content and clickbait in Discover Showing more i…

Google announced the release of its latest AI model update, Gemini 3. “And now we’re introducing Gemini 3, our most intelligent model, that combines all of Gemini’s capabilities together so you can bring any idea to life,” Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai wrote. Gemini 3 is now being used in AI Mode in Search with more complex reasoning and new dynamic experiences. “This is the first time we are shipping Gemini in Search on day one,” Sundar Pichai said. AI Mode with Gemini 3. Google shared how AI Mode in Search is now using Gemini 3 to enable new generative UI experiences like immersive visual layouts and interactive tools and simulations, all generated completely on …

Google released its March 2026 spam update today at 3:20 p.m. It’s the second announced Google algorithm update of 2026, following the February 2026 Discover core update. This is the first spam update of 2026. Google’s most recent spam update was in August 2025. Timing. This update may only “take a few days to complete,” Google said. On LinkedIn, Google added: “This is a normal spam update, and it will roll out for all languages and locations. The rollout may take a few days to complete.” Why we care. This is the second announced Google algorithm update of 2026. It’s unclear what spam this update targets, but if you see ranking or traffic changes in…

Google announced an early preview of WebMCP, which is a protocol for how AI agents interact with websites. “WebMCP aims to provide a standard way for exposing structured tools, ensuring AI agents can perform actions on your side with increased speed, reliability, and precision,” wrote André Cipriani Bandarra from Google. WebMCP enables developers to communicate with LLMs via your website about the actions certain buttons or links take. WebMCP allows websites to explicitly publish a “Tool Contract.” It uses a new browser API (navigator.modelContext). Instead of the AI guessing, the website provides a structured list of tools (e.g., function buyTicket(destination, date…

Google has removed the “design for accessibility” section from within the Understand the JavaScript SEO basics documentation. Google said this was removed because the information was “out of date and not as helpful as it used to be.” The old text said that using JavaScript for page content “may be hard for Google to see.” But Google now says that has not been true for many years, thus why Google removed the section. The old section. The old section read: “Design for accessibility: Create pages for users, not just search engines. When you’re designing your site, think about the needs of your users, including those who may not be using a JavaScript-capable br…

Google removed a Search Engine Land article (Report: Clickout Media turned news sites into AI gambling hubs, published March 26) from its search results after a copyright complaint (that appears, to us, to be entirely false). Meanwhile, a similar DMCA filing led to the takedown of the original Press Gazette investigation. What happened. A DMCA notice filed March 27 claimed Search Engine Land copied content “word for word” and used proprietary images. The complaint led Google to begin removing the article from search results globally. The notice identifies the complainant as “US Webspam,” with no clear public attribution. The context. The removed article re…