GEO news
What is changing in AI search. Each item is a summary with a link to the outlet that reported it.
Google's November core update lands as ChatGPT opens click data to businesses
Google has started rolling out its November 2026 core update, with ranking volatility also recorded around 8 and 9 November.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable
Google's AI Overviews: fewer sources cited, more shopping queries covered
Google's AI Overviews have shifted substantially through 2026, with the average number of sources cited per answer falling from a spring peak of 16.31 in April to 7.66 in October, roughly half the earlier level and close to the 6.82 recorded in November 2024.
Source: SE Ranking Blog
OpenAI adds intelligent bidding and cost targets to ChatGPT Ads
OpenAI has updated ChatGPT Ads with intelligent bidding, new cost targets, finer geographic targeting for product feed campaigns and more flexible product set filters. The changes were announced in the company's weekly ChatGPT Ads update email.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable
ChatGPT Ads swaps Max Bid and Max CPC for average cost targets
OpenAI is retiring the maximum bid and maximum CPC caps in ChatGPT Ads and replacing them with average cost targets. Advertisers building conversion campaigns can set a Target CPA from 9 November, and click campaigns can use a Target CPC.
Source: Search Engine Journal
ChatGPT starts showing ads while it generates images
OpenAI has begun serving ads inside ChatGPT during image generation, roughly a month after announcing the format.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable
Google AI Mode multiturn ads go live on follow-up queries
Google's multiturn ads are now appearing in AI Mode, showing sponsored results against follow-up questions rather than only the first query in a conversation.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable
Bing puts ads at the top of AI Mode answers
Microsoft has begun placing ads at the top of Bing's AI Mode results, the assistant formerly known as Copilot Search. Both standard search ads and shopping ads appear above the generated answer, and the sponsored labels are faint enough that they are easy to miss at a glance.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable
Google says AI Mode queries arrive earlier and earn less, as paid search shifts up the funnel
Google's Shivani Mohan, vice president of data science and user experience research for Search, told advertisers on 28 October that people are now bringing much longer, more detailed questions to Google, including types of query they would never previously have thought to ask.
Source: Search Engine Journal
ChatGPT's paid traffic is worth far less than Google's
Paid ChatGPT traffic earns advertisers far less than paid Google Search, according to a working paper from researchers at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management and the Vienna University of Economics and Business.
Source: MarTech
ChatGPT search reaches 20% of Google's query volume, OpenAI says
OpenAI has put ChatGPT's search volume at roughly a fifth of Google's, a figure that lands alongside a wider set of changes to how AI answers surface brands and ads.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable
OpenAI Swaps Max Bid and Max CPC for Target CPA and Target CPC in ChatGPT Ads
OpenAI has told advertisers in ChatGPT Ads that from Monday 9 November they can set a cost target in Ads Manager when creating a campaign or updating an existing one.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable
Google AI Mode Now Serves Up to Four Ads Per Query
Google is now displaying as many as four ads inside AI Mode responses for a single query, up from the one to three that users typically saw. Sachin Patel captured a screenshot of a four-ad AI Mode result, which circulated on Search Engine Watch.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable
