GEO news
What is changing in AI search. Each item is a summary with a link to the outlet that reported it.
Google adds multi-account management and longer headlines to Search profiles
Google has updated Search profiles, the verified pages that let publishers pull their social accounts, recent articles and links into one shareable space. Media organisations that run several publications can now claim and manage profiles for all of their sub-brands from a single
Source: Google Blog (Search)
Google cuts European search quality over DMA rules
Google has said it made its largest reduction in search quality in Europe as a result of the Digital Markets Act, according to a video recap of the week's search news. The company also published a document detailing regional differences in the Google Search experience.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable
Google DeepMind Tests Unified Ranking Model for Search
Google DeepMind researchers have proposed replacing the two-stage ranking architecture behind search with a single large language model. The paper, written with academics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Texas at Austin, sets out a method called
Source: Search Engine Journal
Le Monde Says AI Overviews Haven't Cut Its Audience
Le Monde has not seen a sudden drop in audience since Google launched AI Overviews in France, according to chief executive Louis Dreyfus. He said that apart from normal seasonal variation, the group's readership has held steady, and that the 33% to 38% search-traffic loss cited b
Source: Search Engine Journal
Google Merchant Center AI Performance Insights adds AI search metrics
Google has added three new reporting sections to the AI Performance Insights report in Merchant Center. The additions are AI Search intent, AI Search terms and AI attributes, and they follow the report's launch in July and its expansion to more regions earlier this month.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable
Study: People Use Google and AI Assistants Together
Similarweb found that 95% of ChatGPT users also appear in Google's audience, a share that held steady from September 2025 through May 2026 even as visits to generative AI platforms grew 70% year over year. The firm reads the overlap as AI being added to search rather than replaci
Source: Search Engine Journal
Gemini 3.8 Flash rolls out in Google Search
Google has moved AI Mode in Search onto Gemini 3.8 Flash, its newest model, roughly two weeks after the same surface was running Gemini 3.7 Flash. The upgrade is live for Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers, who can pick the model from a selector inside AI Mode.
Source: Search Engine Land
Google updates site reputation policy
Google is changing how it enforces its site reputation policy inside the European Economic Area. From August 30, manual actions taken under the policy will have a different effect for searches made in the EEA than for searches made elsewhere.
Source: Google Search Central Blog
Google Adds Hotel Booking to AI Mode
Google has begun rolling out hotel booking inside AI Mode in Search for U.S. users in English. Travellers describe their trip and hotel preferences in the conversation and get back a visual list of options with guest reviews and comparison details. Eligible reservations can be co
Source: Search Engine Journal
Google AI Mode Adds Flight Price Tracking, Miles Rates and Hotel Booking
Google has added three travel features to AI Mode in Search. Users can track flight prices, see the cost of flights and hotels in points or miles, and book hotels without leaving the conversational interface.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable
Google AI Mode adds flight price tracking and hotel booking
Google has added flight price tracking and hotel booking to AI Mode, its conversational search experience, moving the product beyond answering questions into handling parts of trip planning itself.
Source: TechCrunch AI
AI Mode Queries Are 3X Longer: Why Your Page Should Lead With The Answer
A year of AI Mode data shows that users are asking longer, more conversational questions, with query length tripling compared to traditional search. This shift suggests that content should lead with the answer rather than follow a narrative arc.
Source: Search Engine Journal
Google Brings Generative UI to AI Overviews
Google has begun rolling out generative UI inside AI Overviews, moving a capability that until now only appeared in AI Mode into the larger of its two AI search surfaces. The feature builds custom visual layouts on the fly, and when Google's model decides it would help, an intera
Source: Search Engine Journal
AI Overviews appear in over half of French searches after launch
Google's AI Overviews appeared on 52.63% of French searches in the first month after the feature launched on 22 July, according to an analysis of 100,000 keywords across 20 niches. That is nearly twice the first-month coverage recorded when AI Overviews rolled out in Germany, Spa
Source: SE Ranking Blog
