Search News: Google AI Mode Updates, Discover Changes, Google Ads API Twice Monthly, ChatGPT Drops UTMs
Local businesses can get a clearer view of search visibility by checking Google Business Profile accuracy, watching AI Mode changes and treating outside rank data as a signal rather than a final measurement. Google is also changing Discover, the Ads API and ChatGPT advertising, while OpenAI reports rapid growth in the ChatGPT ads market.
What changed in Google AI Mode?
Google launched Gemini 4 Argon and placed it in AI Mode. Google also updated links in AI Mode and AI Overviews, but according to Search Engine Roundtable, Google won’t show click data for those links. The company is testing a left sidebar for AI Mode on the main Google Search results page.
AI Overviews are also appearing for queries with typos when there are no traditional search results. For a local business, this means the search page can still present an AI-generated response when a customer’s query does not match the usual wording or returns no standard results.
How is Google Discover changing?
Google said Discover is becoming a hyper-personalized experience with more of a concierge function than a fixed content feed.
What did Google say about URLs, PDFs and domain moves?
Google answered questions about URLs and PDFs, including ranking factors, hyphens and underscores in URLs, emoji handling, PDF conversion, link extraction, HTML rendering, ranking, file size limits, and crawling behavior.
Google also responded to a complaint about a site that moved to a new domain and still had visibility problems four months later.
What changed for Google Ads?
Google Ads is rolling out channel prioritization and budget allocation controls. A new report also brings search terms and ad combinations into one view.
According to Search Engine Roundtable, Google said poor image quality won’t stop products from showing in Ads or Search. The company also introduced new vehicle top ads, also called automotive model feeds, and is testing the use of Google AI for setting goals and assets.
The Google Ads API will move from monthly updates to twice-monthly updates. Version 26 of the Ads API is available.
What changed for Google Business Profiles?
Google launched its Universal Cart in the U.S.
Business Profiles also received local dietary attributes for gluten-free, dairy-free, halal and kosher offerings.
What changed in Bing?
Bing is experimenting with Microsoft-Decision-1 inside Bing Copilot. Bing Webmaster Tools also launched a Topics Portfolio within its AI reporting section, giving webmasters a structured view of the topics Bing associates with their sites.
Bing is testing a large single sponsored ad unit at the top of search results.
What changed for ChatGPT advertising?
ChatGPT appears to have dropped UTM parameters from its results.
OpenAI is assigning dedicated ChatGPT Ad Manager representatives to advertisers. The company also said in a published account of its ad stack that ChatGPT Ads reached a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate less than 200 days after launch, with more than 100,000 advertisers running ads since launch. OpenAI described the ads system as using stateful ad sessions, a post-trained language model and a separate ad-selection process intended to keep ads from influencing ChatGPT answers.
OpenAI said the system remembers information across turns and conversations, uses context to select and rank ads, and runs ad selection separately from answer generation to maintain ChatGPT’s neutral voice.
What should local businesses do about rank-tracker data?
Google appears to be sending fake results and paywalls into third-party tracking systems, which the source says is interfering with keyword tracking. Consider the available information and avoid depending on one measurement alone.
Rank position across a service area is what a geo-grid report shows. SEOScanPro’s GEO Grids can map positions across individual towns and suburbs, which gives a local business a more detailed view than one citywide average.
What to do now
- Check your Business Profile. Confirm that the business name, services, contact details and dietary attributes are accurate. Add gluten-free, dairy-free, halal or kosher only when they describe the business accurately.
- Monitor your website after technical changes. Review the site after a domain move or other technical update. If visibility changes, compare the issue across the website, Search and your reporting data.
- Cross-check rank reports. Treat sudden position swings as a prompt to verify the result. Check the same query in Google Search and review whether the report shows an obvious change in the website or Business Profile.
- Review local content for natural queries. Pay attention to the wording customers use, including common misspellings. AI Overviews may appear for typo queries that do not return traditional results.
- Check advertising integration updates for changes that may affect your workflow and reporting.
FAQ
Why are Google rank trackers showing unreliable data?
The source reports that Google appears to be sending fake results and paywalls to third-party tracking tools, which can interfere with keyword rank checks. Local businesses should cross-check sudden position changes with Google Search and their own website data.
How often will the Google Ads API release updates now?
The Google Ads API is moving from monthly releases to twice-monthly releases. Version 26 of the Ads API is available.
What changes did ChatGPT make to its ad links?
ChatGPT appears to have dropped UTM parameters from its results, which can affect how advertisers track and attribute clicks. OpenAI also stated that more than 100,000 advertisers had run ads on ChatGPT less than 200 days after launch.
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- Google Search Console Links Report Not Updated In A Month – LocalSEOBot
- Inside Google Maps: 72 Ranking Signals and the Architecture Behind Local Search – LocalSEOBot
SEOScanPro
SEOScanPro runs a full technical audit of a site and shows the measured result behind every check. Open the geo grid tool.