GEO news
What is changing in AI search. Each item is a summary with a link to the outlet that reported it.
Google pushes Gemini 4 Hydrogen into Search during November core update
Google has rolled out what it calls its biggest model update to Search so far, Gemini 4 Hydrogen, and did so in the middle of a core update.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable
OpenAI opens Businesses in ChatGPT to website submissions via Business Hub
OpenAI has launched Businesses in ChatGPT in beta, letting companies submit their details through a Business Hub to claim or create a profile. The feature went live on 10 November 2026.
Source: Search Engine Journal
Brands warned against letting AI visibility tools set their search strategy
Marketers are being urged to keep ownership of their AI search strategy rather than handing it to one of the many visibility tools now on the market.
Source: Search Engine Journal
Affiliate links still count as Google moves checkout into AI Mode and Gemini
Google's Universal Commerce Protocol lets US shoppers complete a purchase inside AI Mode in Search and the Gemini app without ever visiting the retailer's site.
Source: Search Engine Journal
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
Walmart is ChatGPT's most-mentioned brand, named in 95,605 US answers
Walmart is the brand ChatGPT names most often in the United States, appearing in 95,605 answers, nearly double the count for second-placed Target. The figures come from an analysis of 5,516,381 US ChatGPT answers across all topics, counted through Ahrefs Brand Radar.
Source: Ahrefs Blog
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
OpenAI opens ChatGPT Business Hub with click data for brands
OpenAI has launched Businesses in ChatGPT in beta, a hub where companies can claim their business, manage their information and see how people engage with them inside ChatGPT. The company says the product reaches the 1.2 billion people who use ChatGPT each week.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable
ChatGPT draws on four information sources, and search is doing more of the work
ChatGPT's answers come from four places: its training data, live web search, saved memories and the user's approximate location. Which one carries the answer depends on the question.
Source: Ahrefs Blog
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
OpenAI building ChatGPT business tools for analytics and citations
OpenAI is developing a business-facing tool for ChatGPT that works along the lines of Google Search Console, letting companies claim their business and track how they appear in AI answers.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable
AI referral traffic is tiny but converts five times better, analysis finds
AI assistants send very little traffic to websites, but the visitors they do send convert at roughly five times the rate of ordinary search users.
Source: Search Engine Journal
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
Semrush adds Gemini filtering to AI Visibility Toolkit as mentions outpace citations
Semrush has published a guide to tracking brand visibility in Google's Gemini app, alongside a Gemini filter in its AI Visibility Toolkit that separates mentions, citations and cited pages for the platform.
Source: Semrush Blog
OpenAI's publisher partners now take 12.5% of ChatGPT citations
OpenAI has signed licensing deals with more than 20 publishers since 2023, and those partners are taking a growing share of the links ChatGPT shows users.
Source: Ahrefs Blog
Ahrefs ranks the 25 most prolific AI search researchers
Ahrefs has published a ranking of the 25 people producing the most original research on AI search, built by screening a longlist of 87 candidates and counting the studies each had published since 2023.
Source: Ahrefs Blog
