INDEPENDENT MINDS. SHARED AMBITION.

Newsfeed

Find the original sources, practical reading and people behind the collective. These links open the full public pages.

1,808 pages · Page 9 of 19

  • Google starts rolling out Pics for image creation and editing

    Google announced Pics, an image creation and editing product built on Nano Banana, with access rolling out over the coming weeks to AI Pro and Ultra subscribers, as well as most Workspace business customers.

  • Google posts further policy updates for August

    Google logged two more changes in its policy change log. For you, this means regulated verticals face fresh requirements, so check each policy against your markets.

  • Google posts official LLMs.txt documentation on the Chrome Developers site

    Chris Long has flagged that Google has officially published an LLMs.txt page on the Chrome Developers site, describing how the file helps AI agents understand a site's primary content. The documentation notes that, without the file, agents may spend more time crawling a site to understand its structure and primary content, and also describes LLMs.txt as an emerging protocol.

  • Google Posts repeat option now officially live in Google My Business

    Barry Schwartz has confirmed that the Google Business Profile Posts repeat option: which allows businesses to republish or repeat an existing post: is now officially live.

  • Google product ratings now appearing on YouTube Shorts

    Arpan Banerjee has spotted Google product rating annotations surfacing directly on YouTube Shorts placements. The star rating overlay brings Shopping-style social proof to the Shorts format, providing products with an additional trust signal when a viewer engages with a short-form video ad.

  • Google Products tab now shows per-campaign performance breakdown

    Google Ads now lets you click a product title under the Products tab to see every campaign where that product is active and how it performs in each. You can compare performance between Standard Shopping and Performance Max at the product level.

  • Google publishes a leaders' brief on retail peak in the AI era

    Google has released a leaders' brief and livestream on preparing for the retail peak season in the AI era. It features practitioner panels and research on what Google calls the "AI winning mindset" for growth.

  • Google publishes a resource on optimising sites for AI agents

    Chris Long has flagged a new Google resource on building "agent-friendly websites" on the WebDev resources page. The page treats AI agents as a new type of visitor that takes screenshots, uses the accessibility tree, and combines visual cues with semantic HTML to navigate sites: and provides specific guidance for sites that want to be navigable by agentic AI.

  • Google publishes official enhanced conversions for leads implementation checklist

    Google has released a comprehensive checklist for implementing enhanced conversions for leads correctly. The guide covers prerequisites, including customer data terms acceptance and auto-tagging, website tagging requirements for PII collection, data preparation with SHA-256 hashing and normalisation standards, and the data import process.

  • Google publishes official guidance on optimising for generative AI search

    Google has published its first major piece of official guidance on optimising websites for generative AI features on Google Search: including AI Overviews, AI Mode, and the broader generative AI experiences. Aleyda Solís and Charly Wargnier have both flagged the publication as having practitioner framing: this is the canonical reference Google has been deferring to for over a year, finally formalising what Google expects from websites that want to be cited or surfaced in AI-generated responses.

  • Google quietly opens up AdSpace Agent, connecting the full Google ad stack

    Benjamin W. has flagged that the Google Marketing Solutions team has published AdSpace Agent as an open-source agentic marketing assistant on GitHub. The agent connects to Google Ads (via GAQL), DV360, Campaign Manager 360, YouTube, Merchant Centre, BigQuery, and Search Ads 360, with proper OAuth flows and a modular toolset architecture.

  • Google rebrands brand-safety inventory categories

    Google has renamed the brand-safety "Inventory Type" categories within the Content Suitability settings, as Aleksejus Podpruginas flagged. The older "Expanded" and "Standard" labels are retired in favour of clearer names: Maximum inventory (formerly Expanded), Moderate inventory (formerly Standard), and Limited inventory (formerly Limited).

  • Google reduces HTML crawl limit from 15MB to 2MB

    Google reduced its HTML file crawl limit from 15MB to 2MB on February 5, 2026, an 86.7% reduction. Content beyond 2MB will not be indexed.

  • Google reduces the minimum audience size to 100 users across all networks and segment types.

    Google has lowered the minimum audience size requirement from 1,000 to 100 active users for all networks (Search, Display, YouTube) and all segment types, including Remarketing and Customer Lists. The threshold for segments to appear in Audience Insights has also dropped to 100 users.

  • Related-search suggestions appear inside sponsored Google results

    Anthony Higman shared a Google Search screenshot showing related-search suggestions inside the sponsored-results area. The observation raises a practical question about how people move between a paid result and another search, without establishing a general rollout.

  • Google relaxes product landing page out-of-stock requirements

    Google has updated product landing page requirements for Google Shopping, walking back the strict "grey out the add-to-cart button" rule for out-of-stock products. Emmanuel Flossie has flagged the change in its practical scope: the requirement is no longer strict; advertisers are not categorically required to use the greyed-out option; and other compliant treatments of the out-of-stock state are now acceptable.

  • Google releases a database of schema usage statistics

    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.

  • Google releases Ads API Developer Assistant v3.0.0

    Google has released version 3.0.0 of its Google Ads API Developer Assistant, announced on the Google Ads Developer Blog. The major release builds on the assistant's shift from code generation toward automated diagnostics and structured troubleshooting, helping developers query and manage campaigns in natural language, generate production-ready code, and identify failure states without manual log-diving.

  • Google releases Agent Skills for advertising and measurement

    Google has launched a set of Agent Skills for Google Advertising and Measurement in its public skills repository on GitHub, announced on the Google Ads Developer Blog. Agent Skills are token-efficient, modular instruction sets that turn AI coding assistants into Google Ads and measurement specialists: for example, guiding an agent through setting up Google Ads API credentials and a client library inside an agentic IDE.

  • Google releases Data Manager API v1.5 with full user list management

    Google has released v1.5 of the Data Manager API, introducing end-to-end user list management and expanded audience ingestion capabilities. The UserListService now allows advertisers to manage the complete lifecycle of user lists: create, retrieve, update, and delete: entirely through the API, providing full control over audience management workflows without leaving the programmatic environment.

  • Google releases Scene Machine, an open-source tool that turns product images into video ads

    Google has released Scene Machine, an open-source tool that turns product or service images into video ads, shared by Floris van de Peppel of Google's Strategic Partnerships team. Built on Google Cloud and powered by Google AI, it offers a workflow to iterate, compose, and export video ads at scale, designed for advertisers who need creative variety for Performance Max and Demand Gen but want to avoid the time and cost of traditional video production.

  • Google releases the June 2026 spam update

    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.

  • Google renames Smart Bidding strategies, decoupling Target CPA and Target ROAS

    Google is updating how bidding strategies are labelled to clarify the difference between volume-focused and target-focused goals, announced on the Google Ads Developer Blog. Target CPA and Target ROAS are being decoupled from Maximise conversions and Maximise conversion value, reverting to their previous standalone naming.

  • Google renames YouTube campaign objective to "YouTube reach, views and engagements"

    Google has rebranded the "Awareness & Consideration" campaign objective to "YouTube reach, views and engagements." The new label better reflects the discrete goals available within YouTube campaigns: reach for broad visibility, views for content consumption, and engagements for interaction: rather than collapsing them under a vague funnel metaphor.

  • Google rolls out /goto? redirects across Search-result links

    Google is routing Search-result clicks through encrypted google.com/goto redirect URLs as an anti-abuse measure, hiding the final destination from the browser's hover preview. Derek Perkins reported a near-complete rollout across several residential IP providers, and Barry Schwartz obtained Google's confirmation.

  • Google rolls out real-time policy reviews for Responsive Search Ads

    Google has launched real-time policy reviews for Responsive Search Ads, flagged by Nona Grigoryan. As advertisers write an ad, instant per-field checks catch editorial issues such as typos and capitalisation before the ad is saved.

  • Google rolls out the Gemini 3 model for AI Overviews in Search globally

    Google now uses its Gemini 3 model to power AI Overviews in Search worldwide. The update improves responses to complex queries and enables users to continue conversations via AI Mode for follow-up questions.

  • Google's AI shopping insights report begins rolling out across five markets

    Google's AI shopping insights report: the Merchant Centre reporting suite previewed at GML: is now rolling out, flagged by Arpan Banerjee. The report shows a brand's share of voice on AI surfaces against similar brands across AI Mode, AI Overviews, and Gemini, a shopping funnel breakdown spanning discovery, evaluation, and purchase, product term insights revealing which terms shoppers use in AI conversations and the brand's share of voice for each, and an attribute completeness score that pinpoints which products are missing the specs AI surfaces look for.

  • Google's August spam update completes in under three days

    Google's August 2026 spam update began on 18 August and completed on 21 August, applying globally and across languages. Organic volatility during that window should be separated from paid-media changes and routine demand movement.

  • Google's I/O autocomplete display appears in AI Mode

    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.

  • Google's March 2026 core and spam updates both roll out simultaneously

    Google released a core update on March 27 and a spam update on March 25, with both rollouts active within 48 hours of each other. The core update is designed to surface more relevant and satisfying content across all site types, with the rollout expected to take up to two weeks.

  • Google's "new prospects" mode appears in live accounts for true cold-audience targeting

    The new prospects bidding mode announced at GML is now surfacing in real accounts, and practitioners are testing how strict it actually is. Maggie Humphrey and Arpan Banerjee both dug into the setting this week.

  • Google's official vibe-coding course goes live

    Google released an official course on vibe coding: describe the app you want and build it with AI. For you, this means the skill agencies keep improvising now has a canonical curriculum, so put junior team members through it.

  • Google's pre-GML practitioner guidance: four tips to get more from ad creatives

    Ahead of Google Marketing Live, Google has published practitioner guidance on getting more value from ad creatives inside Google Ads, surfaced by Ginny Marvin (Product Liaison). The four recommendations cover the full creative lifecycle.

  • Google's Tag Gateway for advertisers adds Amazon CloudFront support

    Google's Tag Gateway for advertisers now supports Amazon CloudFront as a CDN option, effective 3 June 2026, flagged by Matteo Zambon. The gateway routes Google tag traffic through an advertiser's own domain or CDN infrastructure before it reaches Google's servers, improving first-party data collection, match rates, and resilience against browser restrictions and tracking prevention.

  • Google's "Top Pages" sitelink appears in Search results

    Arpan Banerjee has spotted a new "Top Pages" sitelink surfacing in Google Search ads. The format groups an advertiser's most relevant pages into a single sitelink-style unit, expanding the ways Google can present those sitelinks beneath the main ad.

  • Google says good SEO is good GEO

    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.

  • Google says stronger YouTube creative can more than double ROI

    New Google guidance cites Nielsen research attributing 49% of campaign ROI to creative and Ekimetrics analysis finding that stronger creative can more than double YouTube ROI. The recommendations include using human voices, introducing the brand early, designing for the platform, and avoiding misleading interface elements such as fake buttons.

  • Google says the budget-limited bidding change is not a broader update.

    Ahead of the 17 August change for budget-limited campaigns, Google's Ads Liaison, Ginny Marvin, confirmed that the update only affects budget-constrained campaigns using a target and is not a broader Smart Bidding change. She added that it will not result in any changes to spending, and that a campaign whose target is reset to its current achieved average should continue to perform as it does now.

  • Google tests collapsed sitelinks behind a count indicator

    Arpan Banerjee spotted Google hiding extra ad assets behind a “+2” indicator, and Barry Schwartz independently reproduced the collapsed sitelink treatment.

  • Google Search box gets its biggest upgrade in 25 years

    Google announced what it calls the biggest upgrade to the Search box in more than 25 years at Google I/O. The new AI-powered Search box dynamically expands so users can describe what they need in more detail, suggests better ways to formulate questions (beyond traditional autocomplete), supports multimodal inputs (text, images, files, videos, Chrome tabs), and preserves context as users explore through AI Overviews and AI Mode follow-up questions.

  • Google Search Central: median mobile homepage now 2.3MB: triple its 2015 size

    Google Search Central has flagged that the median mobile homepage has reached 2.3MB: three times its 2015 size. A new podcast episode covers HTML bloat and its implications for the 2MB Googlebot fetch limit, identifying hidden bloat sources including JSON-LD and inline SVGs, and noting that faster networks do not resolve the processing overhead large pages impose on crawling and rendering.

  • Google Search Console gains generative AI performance reports

    Google has begun rolling out Search Generative AI performance reports in Search Console, including dedicated reports for Search and Discover, to help sites understand their visibility within Search's generative AI features. Google Search Central confirmed the rollout, which will roll out to a subset of websites first so Google can test and gather feedback before a wider release.

  • Google Search gains information agents and improved agentic experiences

    Google announced new information agents at I/O: letting users delegate ongoing research tasks like price monitoring directly to Search. Sander Roose's read: pricing transparency shifts from reactive to proactive, with every shopper getting a personal scraper running 24/7.

  • Google’s Search generative AI control becomes available worldwide

    Google confirms that its Search generative AI control reached all websites on 31 August, allowing site owners to exclude their content and links from AI Overviews, AI Mode and supported generative features in Discover.

  • Google Search is now powered by Gemini 3.5 Flash globally

    Google announced at I/O that AI Mode is now using Gemini 3.5 Flash globally as its default model. The model upgrade brings improved reasoning capability, faster response generation, and broader language coverage to AI Mode users worldwide.

  • Google plans Search language targeting changes for September

    Google plans to remove campaign-level language targeting from Search in late September. Performance Max's Search inventory is affected; other channels retain the setting.

  • Google sets deadlines for Content API to Merchant API migration

    Google mandates migrating from the Content API to the new Merchant API, with deadlines of February 28, 2026, for Beta users and August 18, 2026, for Content API users. Check your setup in Settings > Data Sources > Primary Sources.

  • Google shares 2026 Ads & Commerce vision: AI Mode ads, Direct Offers, and UCP checkout

    In her third annual letter, Google VP Vidhya Srinivasan outlined the 2026 roadmap for Ads & Commerce. Google is testing a new shopping ad format in AI Mode that surfaces sponsored retailers alongside organic recommendations.

  • Google ships a free, fully local AI voice dictation app

    Google has released Google AI Edge Eloquent, a free and fully open-source voice dictation app that runs on-device locally using the Gemma 4 12B model, flagged by Shubham Saboo. Unlike the paid dictation tools it competes with, it processes audio on the device so voice data never leaves it, and it offers real-time transcription that strips filler words and fixes mid-sentence restarts, plus a personal vocabulary dictionary that can learn project names and jargon.

  • Google Shopping Ads expand to 15 new European markets in two phases

    Google has announced that Shopping Ads are expanding into 15 new European markets across two waves. The first phase, timed for Back to School, covers Cyprus, Luxembourg, Moldova, North Macedonia, Malta, and Liechtenstein.

  • Google Shopping ads now appear in the Images tab on mobile

    Matteo Braghetta has spotted sponsored product ads appearing directly inside Google's Images tab on mobile search results, displayed as sponsored image and text units clearly labelled as "Sponsored." The placement is distinct from standard Search and Shopping placements, reaching users in discovery mode rather than transactional intent.

  • Google Shopping Ads testing product title and image A/B testing in Merchant Centre

    Google is testing a new A/B testing feature for Shopping Ads within Google Merchant Centre Next. The Experiments tab under Products allows select merchants to run experiments on product titles and images.

  • Sponsored products appear without product images

    A screenshot shared by Arpan Banerjee shows sponsored product cards in mobile Google results displaying titles, prices and calls to action without visible product images.

  • Google Shopping checkout links reach six more countries

    Emmanuel Flossie has flagged that Google Shopping checkout links are now available in Indonesia, France, Mexico, Argentina, Israel, and Australia. The links send ready-to-buy shoppers straight to your cart or checkout on mobile and tablet devices, rather than to the product page.

  • Google Shopping image overlays are now being approved, with CTR uplifts observed

    Ruben Runneboom has reported that Shopping image overlays: long prohibited under Google's product image policies: are now being approved and serving without issue across multiple ecommerce accounts. His colleague tested overlays extensively after noticing they no longer triggered disapprovals and observed strong CTR uplifts on images with subtle additional contrast, context, or urgency.

  • Google Shopping changes local inventory defaults and controls

    Eligible Shopping campaigns are moving towards Local Inventory Ads enabled by default, with an inventory filter replacing the previous local-products control.

  • Google Shopping product images: 500×500px minimum enforced from January 2027

    Arpan Banerjee has flagged that Merchant Centre is already showing warnings for non-compliant product images under a new label: "Image too small for upcoming enforcement." From 31 January 2027, all product images must be at least 500×500 pixels.

  • Google tests sale countdown labels in Shopping ads

    Google has confirmed a very early Shopping-ad experiment that adds a label showing the days remaining in a sale; no broad availability or advertiser control is established.

  • Google Shopping tab now displays sponsored ads inside the free listing grid

    Google has begun displaying sponsored product ads directly within the free listing grid on the Google Shopping tab: a placement previously reserved exclusively for organic listings. Brodie Clark first documented the change on 20 April 2026; SERP Alert followed with broader analysis.

  • Google shows AI Overviews on brand queries

    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 shows publisher review quotes beneath some Search ads

    Google is running a test that places short publisher review quotes beneath some Search ads, spotted live by Sachin Patel, who shared an example reading "Best for Style-Conscious Frequent Fliers" attributed to PCMag. The endorsement sits below the advertiser's own copy, with the publication's name and favicon, visually separating it from the standard ad text.

  • Google significantly updates its Crawl Budget documentation

    Google rewrote its Crawl Budget documentation. Every site starts with a conservative crawl budget that adjusts based on demand and server capacity.

  • Google signs a $30bn deal to rent AI compute from SpaceX

    Google has agreed to pay SpaceX around $920m a month for AI compute capacity, disclosed in an SEC filing and flagged by Endrit Restelica. The arrangement runs from October 2026 through June 2029, totalling roughly $30bn, and gives Google access to approximately 110,000 Nvidia GPUs plus associated CPUs, memory, and infrastructure, with capacity ramping from September at a reduced fee.

  • Google changes Smart Bidding for campaigns limited by budget

    Google's 17 August change affects budget-limited campaigns that outperform their CPA or ROAS targets. Optmyzr modelled possible conversion losses rather than a universal observed result.

  • Google speeds up Ads API Basic Access with brand verification

    Google has launched a pilot that reviews pending Basic Access applications within hours once the linked Google Cloud project is brand verified. Participation is optional, and developers with approved tokens need not act.

  • Google Stitch evolves into an AI-native UI design canvas

    Google Labs has relaunched Stitch as a full AI-native design canvas, allowing users to generate high-fidelity UI from natural language descriptions, images, or code snippets on an infinite canvas. The update introduces a design agent that reasons across an entire project's history, a DESIGN.md file for exporting and importing design systems across tools, and voice interaction for real-time design critique and iteration.

  • Google stops applying site-reputation manual actions inside the EEA

    From 30 August, Google's site-reputation-abuse manual actions no longer affect users in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway, while enforcement remains unchanged elsewhere. Google says affected third-party sections may instead be evaluated independently, and the change follows European Commission scrutiny under the Digital Markets Act.

  • Google plans CRM and Sheets connections for Store Sales

    Google plans to bring Store Sales connections from CRM systems and Google Sheets into Data Manager. Ginny Marvin's announcement was reported by Anu Adegbola on 8 September, with rollout described…

  • Google sunsets third-party rates for hotel ads

    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 Tag Gateway adds one-click Google Cloud Platform integration in beta

    Google Tag Gateway is rolling out a GCP integration that enables one-click deployment via an External Application Load Balancer. The feature allows advertisers to host Google's tagging technologies on a first-party domain, adding resilience against Apple's Intelligent Tracking Prevention and ad blockers.

  • Google removes beta labels from Akamai and Fastly tag gateway setup

    Google’s setup guidance for tag gateway for advertisers on Akamai and Fastly no longer carries the beta notices, a documentation change spotted by Hana Kobzová.

  • Google Tag Gateway expands with new CDN integrations

    Google Tag Gateway: the first-party server-side tagging architecture: is expanding with new in-UI integrations to Google Cloud (beta), Fastly, Akamai, Webflow, Duda, and Cloudflare. The integrations enable advertisers to upgrade tags to serve from their site's own server without retagging, improving measurement signal performance and resilience while adding confidential computing by default.

  • Google Tag Gateway for Advertisers launches in beta with Fastly integration

    Google has launched the Google Tag Gateway for advertisers in beta, available via integration with Fastly CDN through Google Tag Manager. The gateway allows the Google tag to load from the advertiser's domain rather than a Google domain, and forwards measurement events from the advertiser's domain to Google: improving signal recovery and data privacy.

  • Google Tag Gateway lets advertisers cloak their GTM container ID

    Paolo Bietolini has flagged a new Google Tag Gateway feature that lets advertisers cloak the GTM container ID served to the browser. The feature: released around 8 May: serves the GTM script under a custom domain rather than the standard googletagmanager.com path, hiding the container ID from competitive scrapers and ad-blocker fingerprinting.

  • Google Tag Gateway now supports Akamai as a CDN

    Google Tag Manager release notes confirm that Google Tag Gateway for advertisers can now be configured with Akamai as the content delivery network. This integration gives you control over your data flow and improves the accuracy of Google Analytics reporting.

  • Google Tag Gateway vs. server-side tagging: When do you need it, and when do you not?

    Google Tag Gateway (GTG) serves Google tags from your own domain to bypass ad blockers and extend cookie lifetimes. However, GTG only works for Google tags, while server-side tagging (SST) supports all tags and offers a custom loader.

  • Google Tag Manager adds a guided setup for Google Ads conversions

    Vivek Gupta has flagged a new Guided Setup card in Google Tag Manager that auto-creates the tags, triggers, and variables for Google Ads purchase-conversion tracking, currently in beta. It aims to cut the manual steps behind a common setup.

  • Google Tag Manager adds tag-type filtering.

    Google Tag Manager now lets you filter the tag list by tag type, with multiple filters applied at once, such as viewing only GA4 and Microsoft Clarity tags. Search previously acted as a rough filter, but this works by type directly.

  • Google Tag Manager details the Google Tag Gateway for advertisers

    Google has published documentation on the Google Tag Gateway for advertisers in the Tag Manager help centre on Google Cloud Platform. The gateway routes Google tag requests through an advertiser's own first-party infrastructure on Google Cloud, improving measurement resilience against ad blockers and browser restrictions while keeping data collection first-party.

  • Google Tag Manager fixes containers installed on the wrong path

    Simo Ahava has flagged that Google Tag Manager now automatically restores full capabilities to containers installed on the /gtag/ path rather than /gtm/, which previously ran only Google tags. A GTM container ID (GTM-XXXX) in either snippet now unlocks all tags, while a Google tag ID, such as G- or AW-, still permits only Google tags.

  • Google Tag Manager moves inside Google Ads: biggest GTM update in years

    Google has confirmed that Google Tag Manager is moving inside Google Ads as part of a tagging system overhaul that Simo Ahava calls the most significant GTM update in years. The integration arrives in two waves.

  • Google Tag Manager publishes details on the upcoming container update

    Google has released a support page detailing the upcoming Google Tag / Google Tag Manager container update, flagged by Simo Ahava. A GTM container will now function as a fully operational Google Tag in itself, and any additional Google Tags added as destinations will benefit from optimised loading, shared settings, and a mutual permissions model.

  • Google Tag Manager rolls out its interface update

    Google is rolling out the updated Google Tag Manager interface, with further changes announced to follow. Workflows stay familiar, but layouts and navigation shift.

  • Google tells site owners to add all domain variants to the Change of Address tool

    Google has updated its documentation to advise that, for domain migrations, site owners should add all domain variants to the Change of Address tool, flagged by Barry Schwartz. The guidance is a small but practical clarification for anyone moving a site between domains, where missed variants can cause signals to transfer incompletely.

  • Google tests a 3D animated product view in results

    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.

  • Google tests a favicon-led advertiser list on sponsored results

    Google is testing a mobile Search format that lists participating advertisers' favicons and domains above sponsored results, with quick action buttons and a "Hide sponsored results" control beneath. For you, this means brand visual identity may matter more in the ad unit itself, so check how your favicon renders before the test widens.

  • Google tests a sponsored card carousel in the Images tab

    Google is testing a sponsored card-style carousel in the Images tab of Search. The format presents sponsored products as a swipeable card carousel within image results, extending where ads appear beyond the standard text and Shopping placements and into image-led browsing.

  • Google tests account creation with pre-built campaign option in MCC

    Google is testing a new "Create an Account with Campaign for Faster Set Up" option when creating accounts within an MCC. For you, this means potentially faster account setup when onboarding new clients who need an immediate campaign structure.

  • Google tests an “Evaluating sponsored results” loading animation

    Google is testing a mobile loading state labelled “Evaluating sponsored results”, accompanied by Google and Gemini branding and placeholder bars. Google told reporters that Gemini is not selecting or loading the ads and that the visual is only signalling status to the user.

  • Google tests "Good Price" labels on Shopping ads

    Google is testing a "Good Price" annotation appearing beneath prices on Shopping ads, flagged by Sachin Patel on X. The label adds a value signal to the listing, telling shoppers the price compares well, alongside related tests including a light-grey background for the "Sponsored results" label and a dotted-underline format for sitelink assets on mobile.

  • Google tests image sitelink assets in Search ads

    Anthony Higman has flagged a new Google Ads test placing image sitelink assets within Search ads. The format pairs sitelinks with images rather than the usual text-only links, giving the sponsored unit a more visual presentation beneath the main ad.

  • Google tests "included or missing words" inside paid ads

    Google appears to be testing the organic "included or missing words" SERP feature directly in paid ads. In the flagged example, the words were present in the ad, suggesting the automated check misread the creative.

  • Google tests LSA profiles with varied trust qualifier displays

    Google is testing Local Services Ads profiles that display different trust qualifiers for the same advertisers. Some profiles show "Passed License Check," others show "Number Of Recent Bookings," "Passed Background Check," or "Has Business Insurance."

  • Google tests new URL treatments on sponsored results

    Google is testing an arrow icon next to sponsored URLs that opens the site in a new window, and a separate "Visit site" button in Search ads. Organic and paid listings are also showing altered URL displays.

  • Google tests Read more links in mobile Search ads

    Google is testing a "Read more" link in mobile Search ads that expands longer descriptions without sending the user to the site. The test was spotted and shared by Khushal Bherwani, so scope and rollout are unconfirmed.

  • Google tests removing addresses from Local Services Ads profiles

    Google appears to be testing Local Services Ads profiles that do not display the business address. The test is visible across multiple practice areas and locations, with some profiles showing the address field while others do not, even though they are connected to Google Business Profiles with active reviews.

  • Google tests "Strongest match" and "Strong match" labels on Search ads

    Google is testing new "Strongest match" and "Strong match" labels on Search ads, flagged by Arpan Banerjee. The labels surface a match-quality signal on sponsored results, indicating how closely an ad is judged to match the query.

  • Google tests "Text Message" button in mobile Local Pack listings

    Darren Shaw of Whitespark has flagged that Google is testing a new "Text Message" button directly in the mobile Local Pack, allowing users to initiate a text conversation with a business from the search results page. The test surfaces alongside wider reports of phone numbers disappearing from Google Business Profiles, raising questions about whether Google is engineering the shift from direct calls to mediated messaging: and whether this functionality will eventually be restricted to paid placements.

  • Google tests third-party endorsements directly in Search Ads

    A new ad extension has been spotted showing third-party endorsement content, such as a PCMag review badge, directly under Search Ads. The feature was first flagged by Sarah Blocksidge and later confirmed by Search Engine Land.