Meta fined $567 million for failing to protect teens

A New Mexico judge said that the state is facing a youth mental health crisis, and Meta is a key contributor to this.

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Social Media Today – Latest News

TikTok shutters Nashville office, lays off 250 employees

The move impacts the company’s moderation staff and is set to take effect October 5, according to a report from the New York Times.

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Social Media Today – Latest News

New Google help doc details Deal Ends annotations for Shopping ads

A new Google help document explains how experimental Deal Ends annotations highlight eligible Shopping ads with urgency badges.

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Search Engine Land

Google Algorithm update in August 2026? What we know – Search Engine Watch

We’re kickstarting a brand new series here at SEW, where we will do our best to watch and report in search engines’ updates. As you are probably aware, not all of them are announced, only the bigger ones. However, a lot of webmasters, publishers and agencies report ongoing fluctuations and volatility. Tracking potential Google algorithm updates […]

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Search Engine Watch

Daily Search Forum Recap: August 6, 2026

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

We are seeing big changes and swings with the Google Search results, seems like a big unconfirmed Google update. Google had some big AI executive leadership changes with Jeff Dean leaving, Demise Hassabis changing roles and much more…

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Search Engine Roundtable

Google AI Leadership Changes: Jeff Dean & Demis Hassabis

Google announced a number of big changes within its executive AI leadership ranks, including Jeff Dean leaving Google after 27 years, Demis Hassabis stepping down as Google DeepMind CEO to be its chair, and Koray Kavukcuoglu taking over many of his responsibilities. No matter how Google spun it, the stock was down about 4% yesterday from the news.

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Search Engine Roundtable

Google Search Ranking Volatility Heated Into August 5th & 6th

Yes, I reported Google Search ranking volatility over this past weekend, but I am seeing a large increase in the chatter within the SEO community over the past 24 hours or so. The chatter seems consistent with a big Google Search algorithm update that is underway but at this point, Google has not yet confirmed it and may never confirm it.

Source:
Search Engine Roundtable

Google leadership changes with Jeff Dean out, Demis Hassabis role change and more

Jeff Dean has been with Google for over 27 years, and helped build Google Search in the early days through AI Mode.

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Search Engine Land

Google Guide: How To Help Users Find Your Site Through Preferred Sources In Search Results – Search Engine Watch

Google recently rolled out a preferred sources feature on the search results page. read more

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Search Engine Watch

Bing Tests New "Top Source" Section In Search Results – Search Engine Watch

Bing is testing a new section on its search results page called "Top Source." Based on what we’re seeing, read more…

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Search Engine Watch

Meta executive offers data center insights

Rachel Peterson, vice president of data centers, discussed the company’s approach to building and community engagement in an interview posted on the site.

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Social Media Today – Latest News

Google Shows AI Mode Queries In Search Console, Just Not In Generative AI Reports

While the Google Search Console generative AI performance reports do not share query data, you can still try to figure out which queries are from AI Mode versus normal searches. The SEO community has been doing this for years now by looking for more conversational-style queries in your Search Console performance reports.

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Search Engine Roundtable

How to spot an emerging category in search data

Most trends fade. Some become entirely new markets. The difference is visible in search data if you know where to look.

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Search Engine Land

Google to auto-upgrade automatically created assets to AI Max

Google will upgrade eligible Search campaigns to AI Max from Sept. 1, enabling search term matching and text customization.

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Search Engine Land

The demand capture trap that’s making search more expensive

Search can only capture existing demand. Learn why YouTube helps create future buyers, making search campaigns more efficient over time.

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Search Engine Land

Head of Product at X steps down

Nikita Bier is leaving after just over a year, but said in a post on the app that he’s staying on as an advisor.

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Social Media Today – Latest News

YouTube expands shopping affiliate program to the UK

Creators who join will be able to tag products from partner merchants including Wayfair, Currys, Debenhams, Boots, M&S and Etsy.

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Social Media Today – Latest News

Australia’s teen social bans are having little effect

A new report showed that usage hasn’t changed significantly as teens continue to check in by getting around the restrictions.

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Social Media Today – Latest News

How SEO and PPC build trust across search: Case study

A 26-week case study shows how connected search marketing efforts improved visibility, addressed buyer friction, and reduced CPA.

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Search Engine Land

Google explains what advertisers should expect from Smart Bidding changes

Google says its Aug. 17 Smart Bidding update will make budget-limited campaigns more predictable.

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Search Engine Land

New Google Ads help doc outlines corporate email rules

A new Google Ads help document explains how corporate email requirements will affect sensitive account actions during the pilot.

Source:
Search Engine Land

Google Ads Won’t Let Free Email Accounts Make Sensitive Changes

Google Ads is testing a new security feature to disallow free domain email addresses (such as @gmail.com or @yahoo.com) from performing sensitive actions on a Google Ads advertiser account. Google will only allow those using corporate emails to perform such actions.

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Search Engine Roundtable

Google Merchant Center PLA Deal Ends Experimental Annotation

Google has a new specialized feature within Product Listing Ads within Merchant Center named Deal Ends annotation. This is experimental now but works globally, except for EEA+, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. It will add high-impact and real-time urgency signals, such as "3 days left" or "5 hours left" badges, directly below product prices.

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Search Engine Roundtable

Google Ads Does Q&A On August 17 Bidding Update

Ginny Marvin, the Google Ads Liaison, posted a video Q&A on the upcoming bidding update coming on August 17th. As you know, these bidding changes are causing a big stir within the PPC industry and Ginny wanted to answer some questions in a video format.

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Search Engine Roundtable

Microsoft Advertising Exclude Audience Ads Placements Within Performance Max Campaigns

Microsoft Advertising is rolling out a new feature for advertisers to allow you to exclude Audience ads placements within Performance Max campaigns. There is a new setting named "Excluded content terms" within Audience Ads.

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Search Engine Roundtable

Move over Google Shopping: ChatGPT’s ad carousel launch is imminent – Search Engine Watch

ChatGPT ads are becoming much more like Google Shopping. OpenAI is reportedly rolling out a new carousel format that can place several products inside one ad at the bottom of a conversation. Digiday says it verified the format after seeing screenshots. Until now, ChatGPT ads have generally promoted one product at a time. The carousel […]

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Search Engine Watch

Content Prioritization in an AI Search Era: A Framework + Worksheet – International SEO Consultant, Author & Speaker | Aleyda Solis

What type of content is still worth creating when AI platforms can answer queries without sending a click? AI answers are much more likely to fully satisfy the user’s need when they only want a quick explanation, and less likely when they still need proof, current or personalized data, a meaningful comparison, context specific guidance, … Content Prioritization in an AI Search Era: A Framework + Worksheet

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SEO Blog by Aleyda

What 50k Query Fan-Outs Reveal About Brands (+ Free Data!)

What do 50k query fan-outs reveal about LLM bias, brand visibility, and search intent? Explore fresh data on Gemini prompts + download the free raw dataset.

Source:
moz (en-US)

Google tests new "Featured Products" subheading in shopping ads – Search Engine Watch

Google is testing a new subheading within its Sponsored results carousel called "Featured products," with the description "From online or local stores" underneath it.

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Search Engine Watch