Daily Search Forum Recap: February 20, 2026

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…

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Search Engine Roundtable

Merchant Center flags feeds disruption

An incident affecting Feeds on the Google Merchant Center status dashboard could disrupt product listings and Shopping ad performance.

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Search Engine Land

The December 2025 core update: Observations on 4 sites that did well – Marie Haynes

The December 2025 core update had a significant impact on a large number of sites. Each of the sites below that have done well are either long term clients, past clients or sites that I have done a site review for. While we can never say with certainty what changed as the result of a […]

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SEO Blog by Marie Haynes Consulting

OpenAI ChatGPT Ads From Expedia Spotted In The Wild

As you know, OpenAI said they would release ads in ChatGPT and then about ten days ago, said the ads went live for a limited number of users. Since then, we have not seen reports of anyone seeing ads in the wild within ChatGPT until now.

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Search Engine Roundtable

Google Updates Google Business Profile Review Policies

As I noted in my story yesterday about Google reviews dropping out, Google has updated the Google Business Profiles review policies, the Prohibited & restricted content section.

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Search Engine Roundtable

Google Discourages Force Indexing Your Pages To Search

Google’s John Mueller said that he discourages large sites from force indexing its pages to Google Search. He said on a comment on LinkedIn, "I strongly recommend not relying on trying to force indexing."

Source:
Search Engine Roundtable

Video: Google Volatility Heated All Week, Google Reviews Vanishing, AI Overview & AI Mode Links Updated, Google Ads News and more

For the original iTunes version, click here.

This week, we covered that Google Search has been super volatile all week long. Google’s John Mueller said they don’t really have a bad title black filter in search. It seems a lot of businesses are complaining that Google reviews are disappearing. Google also updated its review policies…

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Search Engine Roundtable

Analysing and Reconstructing Site Architecture Using Breadcrumbs: A Practical SEO Guide – Screaming Frog

Analysing site architecture is one of the most important — and often most challenging — aspects of technical SEO, particularly for large websites. In many projects, SEO professionals rely on signals such as URL folder structures, crawl depth, or internal linking graphs to understand how a site is organised. However,…

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Screaming Frog

How to vibe-code an SEO tool without losing control of your LLM

Vibe coding isn’t just prompting. Learn how to manage context windows, troubleshoot smarter, and build an AI Overview extractor step by step.

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Search Engine Land

AI agents in SEO: A practical workflow walkthrough

A practical look at how AI agents like n8n automate SEO workflows, from scraping to structured delivery – and where they fall short.

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Search Engine Land

AI Mode: Features & Ranking

Analyze early data from Google’s AI Mode in STAT. This study of 40,000 keywords reveals a mere 12% overlap with traditional organic rankings and explores how the verbose, text-heavy nature of AI Mode is shifting the search landscape.

Source:
moz (en-US)

This press release strategy actually earns media coverage

Want to maximize the impact of your next press release? Use this framework to turn announcements into phenomenal results for your clients.

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Search Engine Land

14 GEO Conferences to Attend in 2026

Planning your 2026 conference calendar? Here are 14 must-attend GEO, AEO, and AI search events for marketers and SEOs, from Brighton to Singapore.

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SEO Blog by Ahrefs

Emina Demiri talks surviving firing your biggest client

Emina Demiri reveals how firing their biggest client — worth 70% of agency revenue — taught them hard lessons about client concentration.

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Search Engine Land

What’s next for PPC: AI, visual creative and new ad surfaces

Google and Microsoft liaisons explain why dynamic ad surfaces, distinct assets and smarter AI inputs will define the next era of paid media.

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Search Engine Land

Google Sponsored Places Search Ad Unit

Google may be testing a new ad unit named Sponsored Places. I think this is new, I mean, have any of you seen this before in the search results? Instead of it saying "Sponsored results" or a local pack with sponsored listings.

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Search Engine Roundtable

Google Ads Budget Pacing For Ad Scheduling Updated

Google sent out an email to some Google Ads advertisers about changes coming to Google Ads budget pacing for ad scheduling. These changes go into effect on March 1, 2026.

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Search Engine Roundtable

Google Ads shows how landing page images power PMax ads

Google Ads now gives advertisers clearer visibility into how Landing Page Images may be automatically turned into creatives in PMax campaigns.

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Search Engine Land

How to use GA4 and Looker Studio for smarter PPC reporting

Unify GA4 and ad platform data into dashboards that pace spend, flag wasted budget, and reveal what’s really driving performance.

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Search Engine Land

Google now attributes app conversions to the install date

Google’s app conversion attribution just shifted from ad click to install date — and it could meaningfully improve Smart Bidding performance.

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Search Engine Land

Digital Marketing Manager (SEO/SEM)

Job Description The Digital & Social Marketing Center of Excellence (CoE) is responsible for driving enterprise-wide digital performance by strengthening customer relationships, increasing brand visibility and equity, accelerating purchase decisions, and optimizing marketing investment. The Digital Marketing Manager is a centralized role reporting to the Director of Digital & Social Marketing. This role partners closely […]

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In-house SEO jobs – SEOjobs.com

Digital Marketing Manager (SEO & Paid Media)

Job Description Shaka Wear is a premium streetwear brand built on authenticity, quality, and cultural impact. Known for our heavyweight basics and iconic street silhouettes, we’ve grown from local staple to global name — driven by a loyal community and a powerful online presence. We’re looking for a Digital Marketing Manager (In-Person) who can take […]

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In-house SEO jobs – SEOjobs.com

Digital Marketing Manager (SEO/SEM

Job Description To be a team member at Dobbs Tire and Auto you must be dedicated to supporting the company’s mission, vision, and values. OUR MISSION: To be the leader in the automotive tire and service aftermarket industry in every market that we operate in providing premier service to our guests. POSITION TITLE: Digital Marketing […]

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In-house SEO jobs – SEOjobs.com

SEO Specialist – Full time Contract

Overview You will be working with an internal team that functions as an SEO helpdesk for a large international client in the hospitality sector with over 120 locations worldwide. The helpdesk receives a wide range of SEO-related requests from internal senior members and locations via email daily, and it is their responsibility to triage, process, […]

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SEO Agency Jobs – SEOjobs.com

Senior SEO Analyst

Job Description Salary: Up to 80K Position: Senior SEO Analyst Company: Mason Interactive Job Overview: As a Senior SEO Analyst at Mason Interactive, you will take a leading role in optimizing search engine performance for our diverse clientele. This position requires an individual who can combine deep technical SEO knowledge with creative problem-solving to enhance […]

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SEO Agency Jobs – SEOjobs.com