SEO Daily News Recap for Thursday, July 16, 2026
Organic SEO & Search News
Meta AI adds additional safety measures – Updates include parental alerts when children engage in self harm or suicide-related chats with the artificial intelligence tools.
Why your pages are stuck in crawled-currently not indexed. And what to do about it – Marie Haynes – In most cases, Google has classified pages as “crawled-not currently indexed” due to quality issues.
Google On Discovered vs Crawled Not Indexed Quality Issues & AI-Generated Content – Google experts discuss how quality issues and low-quality AI-generated content impact indexing and trust.
Paid Search & Platform Innovations
X updates its engagement bait detection – The platform is using Grok’s artificial intelligence system to remove accounts that solicit engagement from its creator revenue share program.
Google Ads Turning On Local Inventory Ads By Default For Shopping Campaigns – Google will enable Local Inventory Ads as default for eligible Shopping campaigns.
Google To Merge Google Shopping Ads & Free Listing Policies – Google will consolidate Shopping ads and free listings policies into a single document in September 2026.
General Digital Marketing
4 types of content decay and how to fix each one – Learn how to differentiate between pages needing a refresh or a new strategy to combat content decay.
Web Push advertising in 2026: Market trends and challenges – Explore how Web Push advertising is evolving through compliance, traffic quality, and market growth.
Google’s job Indexing API isn’t the shortcut you think it is – Understand the nuances of notification, crawling, and indexing with a free tool to assess API performance.
Dive into our detailed sections for more insights and updates.
Organic SEO & Search News
SEO Daily News and Algorithm Updates
X updates its engagement bait detection
The platform is using Grok’s artificial intelligence system to remove accounts that solicit engagement from its creator revenue share program.
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Social Media Today – Latest News
Daily Search Forum Recap: July 16, 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.
Google spoke about indexing issues because of content quality issues and some AI-generated content. Apple Maps Ads has banned home service ads from its platform…
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Search Engine Roundtable
Technical SEO
Why your pages are stuck in crawled-currently not indexed. And what to do about it. – Marie Haynes
I have had a number of site owners reach out to ask for help with indexing issues lately. In most cases, I am finding that Google has classified their pages as “crawled-not currently indexed” in the page indexing report in Google Search Console. In almost every case I’ve examined these pages have quality issues. They […]
What It Takes for SaaS Brands to Win in AI Search: 5 Data-Backed Findings and Actions – International SEO Consultant, Author & Speaker | Aleyda Solis
Which pages help ChatGPT and Google AI Mode build their SaaS related answers? Which third-party sources reinforce those answers? And once a user (or increasingly an AI agent) decides to continue, where does the measurable referral actually go? To answer these questions, I analyzed 15 leading SaaS brand and domain ecosystems across three US subverticals, … What It Takes for SaaS Brands to Win in AI Search: 5 Data-Backed Findings and Actions
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SEO Blog by Aleyda
Google On Discovered vs Crawled Not Indexed Quality Issues & AI-Generated Content
Google’s John Mueller and Martin Splitt spoke about the Google Search Console indexing report in its latest Search Off the Record podcast. One item was on how quality issues, including low-quality AI-generated content, can result in those pages not being trusted and not being indexed by Google. That might lead to the page indexing report showing a "crawled – currently not indexed" status, in some cases.
Source:
Search Engine Roundtable
Google Says You Are Better Off Without Lastmod Dates When They Are Incorrect
Gary Illyes from Google said that you are better off not using a lastmod date in your XML Sitemap if those dates are wrong. He said on Bluesky, "probably better off without the lastmods. at least you save a few bytes."
Source:
Search Engine Roundtable
Google Manufacturer Center Removes Manual Update & Add Products
Google sent out an email to those who use the Google Manufacturer Center to remind them that the ability to manually add or update products directly in Manufacturer Center has been removed. Instead, Google said use the Manufacturer Center API or upload a product file.
Source:
Search Engine Roundtable
Google’s job Indexing API isn’t the shortcut you think it is
Learn the difference between notification, crawling, and indexing, and use a free tool to check whether your API is doing what you expect.
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Search Engine Land
SEO Tools and Data Analysis
YouTube refreshes Studio and updates video guidance
The company is providing more insights via a rebranded analytics portal and also offered clarifications on the removal of unsatisfying or off-putting material.
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Social Media Today – Latest News
The Free Tools SEO Strategy: How to Rank With Calculators, Converters, and Generators
Some of the highest-traffic pages on the internet aren’t articles. They’re tools. Learn how to grow organic traffic with calculators, graders, convertors, and templates.
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General SEO – SEO Blog by Ahrefs
Local SEO
Google changes default Local Inventory Ads behavior
Google is making Local Inventory Ads the default for eligible Shopping campaigns and replacing "Local products" with a new filter.
Source:
Search Engine Land
How to run a local GEO baseline audit
Find out whether AI recommends your business, gets your information right, or favors competitors before investing more in local SEO.
Source:
Search Engine Land
AI and Machine Learning in SEO
Google AI Mode adds Instacart, Canva and YouTube Music integrations
U.S. users can move from planning to checkout, design or listening as Search links AI responses directly with connected services.
Source:
Search Engine Land
Content Marketing and Strategy
TikTok partners with NBA and WNBA
The new deal will offer exclusive in-app content and help the platform better engage with its growing basketball fanbase.
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Social Media Today – Latest News
4 types of content decay and how to fix each one
Some pages need a refresh. Others need a different strategy entirely. Here’s how to tell the difference using data you already have.
Source:
Search Engine Land
E-commerce and Affiliate SEO
Google To Merge Google Shopping Ads & Free Listing Policies
Google announced it will consolidate and merge the Shopping ads and free listings policies into a single Shopping policy sometime in September 2026. Keep in mind, there may be specific ads or free listing policies listed in that consolidated policy document, where some policies only apply to ads and some only to free listings but it will be in a single policy document.
Source:
Search Engine Roundtable
User Experience and SEO Optimization
Meta AI adds additional safety measures
Updates include parental alerts when children engage in self harm or suicide-related chats with the artificial intelligence tools.
Source:
Social Media Today – Latest News
Paid Search & Platform Innovations
Paid Search and Advertising
X adds Grok-powered insights to Ads Manager
The move represents the platform’s latest artificial intelligence integration advance, and could eventually lead to full advertising automation.
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Social Media Today – Latest News
Google expands Performance Max product reporting across all networks
Google has expanded PMax product reporting to include all eligible networks, resulting in a one-time increase in reported metrics.
Source:
Search Engine Land
How to move beyond lead volume in B2B PPC
The longer the sales cycle, the less lead volume tells you. Build a feedback loop that helps Google Ads optimize for qualified opportunities.
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Search Engine Land
Google Ads Turning On Local Inventory Ads By Default For Shopping Campaigns
Google just sent out an email to Google Ads advertisers noting that it will turn on local inventory ads by default in your Shopping campaigns. Google added that you can change this setting by August 31st by using the "inventory filter" instead of the "Local products" setting.
Source:
Search Engine Roundtable
Google Ads Performance Max Product Reporting All Networks
Google Ads updated its Performance Max product level reporting back on June 15th. This report now uses data from all Performance Max networks, rather than the subset it previously pulled from.
Source:
Search Engine Roundtable
Apple Maps Ads Bans Home Service Businesses
Apple has posted new Apple Maps policies where it now says it is prohibiting home services, such as plumbing, electrical, locksmith, HVAC, pest control, roofing, or general contracting services. It also says bail bonds, cryptocurrency ATMs and some medical services are also banned from Apple Maps Ads.
Source:
Search Engine Roundtable
Web Push advertising in 2026: Market trends and challenges
A look at how Web Push advertising is adapting in 2026 through better compliance, stronger traffic quality, and more mature market growth.
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Search Engine Land























