GEO news
What is changing in AI search. Each item is a summary with a link to the outlet that reported it.
Google Gemini Stopped Attaching UTM Parameters To Cited URLs
Google has stopped appending UTM parameters to the links Gemini cites in its answers. The tags, which carried utm_source=gemini, appeared in early September and then disappeared around 28 September, according to tracking by Natzir that was shared on X.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable
New asset: AI Search Visibility Pitch Deck
A new pitch deck aimed at helping marketers make the budget case for AI search visibility has been published, intended for use before attribution and measurement catch up with spending on generative engine optimisation.
Source: Growth Memo
Microsoft splits Bing AI controls into training and grounding settings
Microsoft has introduced separate Bing controls that let site owners decide independently whether their content trains AI models and whether it is used to generate AI answers.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable
Half of AI citations vanish by the next day, but most come back
Roughly 37,500 citations across five AI tools were tracked daily for 20 days to find out what happens to the sources that drop out of AI answers.
Source: Ahrefs Blog
Google May Be Pulling Citation Cards From AI Overviews
Google appears to be testing the removal of the citations card that normally sits alongside AI Overviews on desktop search results.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable
OpenAI's hidden Aura safety check can block sites from ChatGPT browsing
OpenAI runs a central site-safety check, referred to internally as Aura, that decides whether its browsing agents may connect to a website at all.
Source: Search Engine Journal
Pages cited by AI assistants more likely to answer the question up front, study finds
Pages that AI assistants cite open with a direct answer to the question more often than pages they pass over, according to an analysis of 193,507 AI answers from ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and AI Overviews.
Source: Search Engine Journal
Google AI Mode passes 1 billion monthly users as it absorbs AI Overviews
Google's AI Mode has passed 1 billion monthly active users, Sundar Pichai said at Google I/O in May 2026, calling it "our biggest upgrade to Search ever".
Source: Ahrefs Blog
STAT's Tom Capper: track brand mentions, not citations, in AI answers
Brands measuring their presence in AI answers should treat mentions and recommendations as the outcome, with cited URLs as supporting evidence rather than the headline metric, according to Tom Capper, Director of Search Product Strategy at STAT.
Source: Search Engine Journal
Brands ChatGPT rarely names without search stay rare even when cited pages mention them
Brands that ChatGPT seldom names when answering without search results tend to stay seldom named when it does search, even when those brands appear on many of the pages it cites.
Source: Search Engine Journal
AI Overviews now appear on more than 80% of Google searches
AI Overviews now appear on more than 80% of Google searches, up from roughly 50% in June last year and about 15% the year before, according to data from Semrush, SE Ranking and seoClarity.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable
Google AI Overviews citation cards begin showing AI-written summaries
Google appears to be testing or rolling out AI-generated summary snippets inside the citation cards that sit alongside AI Overviews in Search.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable
