SEO Daily News Recap for Thursday, July 23, 2026
Organic SEO & Search News
Will Meta’s massive AI bet pay off? – The company has invested hundreds of billions of dollars into developing artificial intelligence models, but the market’s response hasn’t matched owner Mark Zuckerberg’s enthusiasm for the tech.
The “TikTokification” of Search: Why the Creator Model Is Replacing the Ranking Model – Your rankings are holding. Your traffic isn’t. The problem isn’t your SEO. It’s the model. Here’s how search is adopting creator platform logic.
Google fined €460 million over self-preferencing Search and €430 over Google Play – The European Commission under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) has fined Google about $1 billion.
Technical debt in SEO: When to fix vs. when to ignore – Every crawl uncovers thousands of issues. Learn to separate urgent blockers from low-priority tasks with a repeatable prioritization system.
EU Fines Google $1 Billion Under DMA For Search Dominance & More – The European Union has fined Google €890 million (about $1 billion) for breaches of the Digital Markets Act. Specifically, over anti-competitive behavior with Google Search and Google Play.
Paid Search & Platform Innovations
Google Ads automation makes governance a competitive advantage – Better business signals, guardrails, and feedback loops keep Google’s automation focused on the outcomes that drive business value.
Google Ads API v25 adds YouTube metrics and loyalty campaign goals – Google Ads API 25 expands measurement capabilities, introduces retention-focused goals, and new ways of managing objectives.
AI Max spotted in Google Standard Shopping campaigns – AI Max in Standard Shopping campaigns suggests advertisers could gain AI-powered query matching, dynamic ad copy, and more.
Google Ads API Version 25 Now Out – Google has released version 25 of the Google Ads API, this is a major release with dozens of updates.
OpenAI ChatGPT Ads Manager Gains Conversions Value Tooltips – OpenAI has added a new tooltip to the conversions column within the ChatGPT Ads Manager. This tooltip shows the conversion values for View Through Attribution (VTA) and Click Through Attribution (CTA).
General Digital Marketing
Google Discover Testing Rounded Corners – Google is testing using rounded corners for the stories and cards that show up in the Google Discover feed.
Google Review Not Posted – Content Not Posted Email Notice – Google is now sending out notifications when a review is not posted after
Dive into our detailed sections for more insights and updates.
Organic SEO & Search News
SEO Daily News and Algorithm Updates
Daily Search Forum Recap: July 23, 2026
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…
Source:
Search Engine Roundtable
Google fined €460 million over self-preferencing Search and €430 over Google Play
The European Commission under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) has fined Google about $1 billion.
Source:
Search Engine Land
EU Fines Google $1 Billion Under DMA For Search Dominance & More
The European Union has fined Google €890 million (about $1 billion) for breaches of the Digital Markets Act. Specifically, over anti-competitive behavior with Google Search and Google Play.
Source:
Search Engine Roundtable
Google Discover Testing Rounded Corners
Google is testing using rounded corners for the stories and cards that show up in the Google Discover feed. Google normally shows the images for the stories as rectangles but now we are seeing Google round out the corners and add white borders to the edges of the images.
Source:
Search Engine Roundtable
Google Updating Hotel Search In EU Based On DMA
Google may be rolling out updates to its hotel search results based on the European Commission’s requirement for Google to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Despite Google not being a fan of the requirement, it seems Google needs to make changes to its search results as a result.
Source:
Search Engine Roundtable
Large Publishers Strongly Considering Blocking Google Search
Several large publishers are strongly considering blocking Google Search entirely after clicks from Google Search have continued to decline, and the exchange of value in having Google consume its content is no longer translating into enough clicks from Google Search.
Source:
Search Engine Roundtable
Technical SEO
ChatGPT gains access to Yelp reviews, ratings, and photos
Yelp will feed real-time local data into ChatGPT, including reviews, photos and quote requests, with branded links back to its platform.
Source:
Search Engine Land
Technical debt in SEO: When to fix vs. when to ignore
Every crawl uncovers thousands of issues. Learn to separate urgent blockers from low-priority tasks with a repeatable prioritization system.
Source:
Search Engine Land
SEO Tools and Data Analysis
OpenAI ChatGPT Ads Manager Gains Conversions Value Tooltips
OpenAI has added a new tooltip to the conversions column within the ChatGPT Ads Manager. This tooltip shows the conversion values for View Through Attribution (VTA) and Click Through Attribution (CTA).
Source:
Search Engine Roundtable
Local SEO
Google Review Not Posted – Content Not Posted Email Notice
Google is now sending out notifications when a review is not posted after a user tries to submit a review on a Google local business profile. The notice says "review not posted," and adds "Our automated systems removed this content because it seems that the content may not follow our Maps content policies."
Source:
Search Engine Roundtable
AI and Machine Learning in SEO
Will Meta’s massive AI bet pay off?
The company has invested hundreds of billions of dollars into developing artificial intelligence models, but the market’s response hasn’t matched owner Mark Zuckerberg’s enthusiasm for the tech.
Source:
Social Media Today – Latest News
How to prepare for Google’s DSA sunset and move to AI Max
AI Max changes how Google targets searches, creates ads, and selects landing pages. See what to monitor and control during the migration.
Source:
Search Engine Land
Content Marketing and Strategy
Creating and Promoting Were Never the Same Decision – SparkToro
I’ll admit I’m kind of a thinkboi (gender neutral). I’m often more interested in the philosophies behind marketing — how we pick our campaigns, which
Source:
SparkToro
Career Development and Industry Trends
The worst thing you can be in an SEO job interview is forgettable
SEO skills are now the baseline. Learn how side projects, experiments, and other tangible work can make you more memorable.
Source:
Search Engine Land
User Experience and SEO Optimization
The "TikTokification" of Search: Why the Creator Model Is Replacing the Ranking Model
Your rankings are holding. Your traffic isn’t. The problem isn’t your SEO. It’s the model. Here’s how search is adopting creator platform logic.
Source:
moz (en-US)
Paid Search & Platform Innovations
Paid Search and Advertising
Google says AI Max unlocks billions of new monetizable searches
Google says AI-driven intent matching boosts conversions, expands ad opportunities, and reshapes how advertisers reach complex queries.
Source:
Search Engine Land
Google Ads automation makes governance a competitive advantage
Better business signals, guardrails, and feedback loops keep Google’s automation focused on the outcomes that drive business value.
Source:
Search Engine Land
Google Ads API v25 adds YouTube metrics and loyalty campaign goals
Google Ads API 25 expands measurement capabilities, introduces retention-focused goals, and new ways of managing objectives.
Source:
Search Engine Land
AI Max spotted in Google Standard Shopping campaigns
AI Max in Standard Shopping campaigns suggests advertisers could gain AI-powered query matching, dynamic ad copy, and more.
Source:
Search Engine Land
Google Ads API Version 25 Now Out
Google has released version 25 of the Google Ads API, this is a major release with dozens of updates. This update includes changes to campaigns, planning, reports, conversions, and more. Google now breaks down the change log based on breaking changes, features and updates (that do not break anything) and more.
Source:
Search Engine Roundtable
