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Google confirmed a data logging bug in the Search Console Generative AI performance report that caused a decrease in impressions between November 9 and November 11, 2026.

Google has made Gemini 4 Hydrogen the default model in AI Mode worldwide and is using it for the hardest AI Overview questions.

Google says its Search has received a major upgrade powered by the Gemini 4 Hydrogen model, which it describes as faster with better understanding, query fan-out, linking, and visual responses.

Google Ads Editor 2.14 turns on AI Max by default for new Search campaigns, enables Final URL expansion by default, and removes the local inventory toggle for Shopping advertisers.

Every Google Search user now gets the Gemini 4 Hydrogen model, priced like Flash, after Pro and Ultra subscribers received the Argon version in AI Mode on October 13.

Four sponsored placements appeared in a single Google AI Mode answer for retail shoppers, two weeks after Google said AI Mode earns less.

Google is testing moving the source icons in AI Overviews from the top to the bottom, which could make sources harder to find and reduce clicks to websites.

Microsoft says Bing users can still turn off AI search features, now by installing a browser extension or adding -ai to a query, after removing the in-settings option.

Google is letting booking platforms that get VSS approval and supply a POI feed appear in an aggregator unit for things-to-do queries in the EEA, while attractions and tour operators can enter a separate supplier unit via crawling, but only alongside the aggregator unit.

The IAB has introduced the AI-Era Attribution Blueprint, a framework that classifies conversions as human-owned, AI-assisted, or AI-executed and sets rules for who can claim credit for them.

Andreessen Horowitz says AI agent traffic grew eightfold in two months, and that firms need to court these agents; October data from HUMAN customer sites shows Meta's Muse made 59% of agent requests and OpenAI 30%.

Chrome, which holds a 68.81% share, now feeds users into Google's AI Mode, a feature its own code limits to Google search users, and it is unclear whether rules in Washington, Brussels or London can reach those buttons.

Google is testing a new "Found on site" label on sponsored results in Google Ads, shown with a magnifying glass icon and a site link.

Bing now hides AI answers when -ai is added to a query, and the same switch is tied to making Bing the default search engine in Chrome.

Anthropic has banned fake websites built with Claude that are aimed at gaming AI-generated answers, while loosening some other usage restrictions.

Only 10 of the top 50 English-language news sites grew traffic, with NYT up 11% while News18 fell 58% and Hindustan Times fell 50%.

Google's Gemini in Chrome's side panel can draw on up to 10 open tabs, including retailers' product pages, to feed its answers.

NIQ swung to a $35.8m profit, its first since its July 2025 IPO, and Google will add NIQ data on 265m products to its Shopping Graph.

Google says Analytics and Search Console click counts differ because publishers receive only the domain in the referrer, not the query, and Discover and Images clicks share that same referrer.

Salesforce research finds 76% of shoppers don't want AI agents buying for them, with only 19% of personal AI agent users having used one at checkout.

The Internet Licensing Collective, formerly RSL, is launching a collective AI content licensing model with Yahoo as its first licensee, letting publishers of all sizes be paid based on how their content is used in Yahoo's AI search engine Scout.

SparkToro's analysis finds visits per web user fell 29.2% by Q3 2026, putting pressure on publishers even as the number of users grew.

Gemini 4 Carbon is available in AI Mode only to subscribers of the $99.99 Google AI Ultra plan, while the cheaper Argon model is priced at $2 input and $10 output per million tokens for developers.

Google plans to bring Adobe tools into AI Mode for search users and add an Adobe agent to Gemini Enterprise for businesses, with no dates or prices announced yet.

Google's own benchmark report puts Claude Fable 5.2 at 73.3% against Gemini 4 Carbon's 71.9% across 200 visual office tasks, a gap the report treats as noise.