The changes that matter to advertisers, with the sources behind them and a practical next step. Pick a topic and catch up at your own pace.
Industry
Google will stop serving third-party rates in Hotel Ads from 30 September 2026, after which affected campaigns will no longer run. Performance Max for Travel Goals continues to serve on Search, Display, and YouTube.
Google Merchant Center
Khushal Bherwani has flagged Google testing a 3D product view that animates the product and returns it to its original position as the user scrolls. It adds motion to the product presentation in the results.
OpenAI
OpenAI has introduced ChatGPT Work, powered by Codex and GPT-5.6, which can act across a team's apps and files and run multi-hour workflows from research through to documents, presentations, and reports. It positions ChatGPT as an agent that returns finished work rather than answers.
Industry
Chris Long has flagged Google now showing AI Overviews on brand queries, drawing from sources such as LinkedIn and news articles. Brand searches that once returned a clean listing may now open with an AI summary.
Google Merchant Center
Google is dropping the "Next" name, so the platform you use today is now simply Google Merchant Centre. The change covers documentation, emails, and the interface, and rolls out over several weeks.
BigQuery
Google has added multi-level aggregation to BigQuery SQL, letting you nest one aggregate function inside another in a single query, as flagged by Luka Cempre on the GA4 export. It removes the subquery workarounds analysts used for aggregate-of-aggregate calculations.
Microsoft Advertising
Khushal Bherwani has flagged Bing analysing price history inside the product detail window and labelling some items as a good time to buy. The cue sits with the product before the shopper decides.
Industry
Jack Rowbotham has flagged that OpenAI's GPT-5.6 model family is rolling out in Microsoft 365 Copilot across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Chat, and Cowork. Copilot may select it automatically, and users can pick it in the model selector where available.
Industry
Mike Ryan has flagged that, from 1 July, the EU will apply a €3 fee per item to low-value packages that were previously exempt under de minimis rules, affecting marketplaces such as Temu and SHEIN. The UK still allows de minimis, so some sellers may shift budget there.
Google Search Console
Google is rolling out a new Search Console property type, "platform properties," letting you register Instagram, TikTok, X, or YouTube and see how that content performs in Google Search and Discover. It reports clicks, impressions, top posts, and the search terms that surface your social and video content.
Google Search Console
Google has added a control in Search Console to include or exclude your site's content from AI features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode, under Settings and Search generative AI. Excluding removes all AI-feature visibility, and child properties inherit the parent setting.
OpenAI
Sam Altman has proposed giving the US administration a 5% stake in OpenAI, worth roughly $42.6bn at the latest reported valuation. The proposal would encourage other US AI companies to follow.
Anthropic
Anthropic has introduced Claude Sonnet 5, its most agentic Sonnet model. It plans, uses tools such as browsers and terminals, and runs autonomously at a level previously requiring larger models.
ChatGPT Ads
Google has published a database showing how frequently any schema type is used across the web. SEO teams can research the adoption of structured data directly.
Anthropic
Anthropic has restored global access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 after the June export-control suspension. Fable returns with its capabilities reduced by stricter safety filters, and early benchmark tests report notable drops in performance on coding tasks.
Anthropic
Anthropic has launched Claude Science, an AI workbench for research and analysis in beta. It ships pre-configured with access to more than 60 optional scientific databases.
Google Trends
Google Trends now overlays previous-period data on the interest chart, with chips showing change against preceding weeks, months, or years. Directional demand reads get faster.
Google Search Console
A Search Console notice flagged that a page on a UK site had been delisted from name-based search results in European versions of Google. It shows EU right-to-be-forgotten requests being sent to site owners as formal notices.
ChatGPT Ads
WhatsApp usernames are coming for all users, and businesses can already reserve theirs. Usernames replace phone numbers as the public point of contact.
ChatGPT Ads
ChatGPT Ads now pre-generates ad variations and adds them to existing campaigns after the advertiser reviews and approves them. Approval is currently required before anything goes live.
ChatGPT Ads
Meta will charge for WhatsApp Business API conversations that were previously free, with the 24-hour free reply window ending on 1 October. Meta Business Agent AI messages change pricing from 1 August.
Google Ads
Google confirms that third-party rates become unavailable after 30 September 2026. Affected hotels need a direct price feed, an appropriate Google Ads link and recreated campaigns to retain the relevant Hotel Ads activity.
Industry
Wijnand Meijer has revisited a long-running placement-hygiene problem: kids' content, such as Baby Shark, reappearing in placement reports no matter how often it is excluded. Exclude one cartoon channel, and another takes its place the following month, with new ones going live daily.
Industry
Ruben Runneboom has shared two feed-management pointers for Google Merchant Centre. He calls the relatively new popularity_rank attribute one of the most interesting Merchant Centre additions in years, since it lets advertisers send Google a much stronger signal about which products matter most.
Google Business Profile
Google is bringing back Google Business Profile messaging, this time with an AI chatbot, flagged by Darren Shaw. The chatbot can answer questions about a business drawn from its Business Profile, and reportedly its website, then hand the conversation off to the business owner when human input is needed.
Industry
Google has released the June 2026 spam update to Search, announced on the Google Search Central account. Described as a normal spam update, it rolls out across all languages and locations and may take a few days to complete.
Industry
Google's Brendon Kraham has stated that good SEO remains the foundation for visibility in AI experiences, flagged by Glenn Gabe. Kraham said Google's generative AI features are rooted in the same core ranking and quality systems as traditional Search, and because those AI experiences retrieve up-to-date content from the existing search index, the best formula for success remains foundational SEO.
Industry
SERP Alert has flagged the first sighting of Google's new autocomplete display: announced at I/O: appearing within AI Mode. The previews Google showed had the feature surfacing in the global search bar with coloured autocomplete, and this is the first time it has been spotted live inside AI Mode, suggesting wider rollout may follow.
Industry
Microsoft has added Skills to Microsoft 365 Copilot in Excel, flagged by Jack Rowbotham. Teams can teach Copilot a repeatable workflow once, then have it follow that process on demand: prebuilt, custom, and developer/partner skills are supported.
BigQuery
Google has launched update-based triggers in BigQuery, flagged by Johan Strand and Luka Cempre. Scheduled queries can now run when a table changes, rather than only on a schedule, so aggregated tables update as soon as new data lands in the warehouse, not waiting for the next scheduled run.
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