It is time for the big Google Webmaster report, the November 2026 edition, where I recap all the big changes Google made organically in Google Search. Of course, the big one is that Google completed its September 2026 spam update in October, and we also saw several unconfirmed Google algorithm updates as we wait for Google to roll out the next core update.
Google had a rough earnings call, delivering 25% revenue growth to $127.6 billion, but missing Wall Street profit expectations due to heavy AI infrastructure spending and slowing growth in core search advertising. Google also, on the business front, had that AI Overview lawsuit dismissed.
AI Overviews are now showing up on 80% of Google searches, even for typos and no results. Google announced link updates to AI Overviews but will those links drive clicks, a new small study looks at that. Argon 4 powers some of AI Mode now and Universal Search is live in the U.S.
On the SEO front, Google updated its documentation to say factcheck and review all AI content, updated its helpful content docs around EOT/SA for main content and warned about faking authorship. Google also warned on tools at UCG spam, Google may be issuing more manual actions, gave us data on crawling, indexing and serving and so much more. Google Search Console added country filters, plus a lot more.
Google Discover will be a concierge at some point. Google Search Profiles is expanding and Google shared subscriber data. Google is rolling out the new Google Business Home and is rolling out new advanded performance reports, added third party ordering controls and AI-powered messaging. Also, Google Business Profile review appeals are delayed.
It was a busy month, below are some of the more important headlines - I hope I didn't miss any. Also, if you missed last month, check out the October 2026 Google webmaster report.
Google Updates:
- Google September 2026 Spam Update Has Finished Rolling Out
- Phase Two Of The Google September 2026 Spam Update Hits On 9/30
- Unconfirmed Google Search Ranking Update: Volatility & Chatter Spike
- Google Search Ranking Volatility Gets Heated October 24th
- Google Search Ranking Volatility & Chatter Heats Up October 20 & 21
- Google Search Ranking Volatility & Chatter Spike Today
- Over 80% Of Google Searches Have AI Overviews & Growing
- Google AI Overviews For Typos & No Search Results
- Google Updates Links In AI Mode & AI Overviews Again, Won't Show Click Data
- Google AI Overviews & AI Mode 0.9% Click-Through Rate, Opt Out Study Says
- Gemini 4 Argon In Google Search Via AI Mode
- Is Google Testing Dropping Citations Cards From AI Overviews?
- Google Removes AI Overviews Labels On Some AI Overviews
- Google Adopts New AI Training Control
- Google Search Generative AI Control Page Adds Top-Level Domain Details
- Universal Cart Launches In Google Search (U.S.)
- Nano Banana 2.1 In Google AI Mode In Search
- 3 New Studies Suggest AI Visibility & Search Not Worth Investing In
- Google: Manually Factcheck & Review AI-Generated Content For Accuracy
- Google Helpful Content Doc With New Main Content & EOT/SA Sections
- Google Warns Against Deceptive Authorship Information Within Content
- Google Warns Tools On User-Generated Spam Guidance & More
- Google Search Spam Updates Use AI To Find AI Spam & More
- Google Search Issuing More Google Manual Action Penalties?
- Google Search Data On Crawling, Indexing & Serving Timelines
- Google Search Console Performance Report Multi-Select Country Filters
- Google's John Mueller: Eventually Systems Will Catch The AI Spam & Tricks
- Google Updates Control What You Share With Google Search With Existing Options
- Google Updated Its URL Structure Best Practices For Hyphens In URLs
- Google's Gary Illyes: AI Made Bot Impersonation Worse
- Google Downplays The Importance Of Fresh Index Reporting
- Google Does Not Show All Spammy Links In Search Console
- Google Reveals The UGC Fresh Data Program
- Google Search Crawl Rate Doc Adds Retry-After HTTP & More
- Google Search On URLs: Ranking Factor, Hyphens vs Underscores & Emojis
- Google Search On PDFs: Conversion, Links, HTML, Ranking, Limits, Crawling...
- Google Explains Why 404 Errors Aren't Scary
- Googlebot Must Follow Redirects From Homepage To Favicon, Updated Doc Say
- Google On robots.txt Rules For AI Crawlers, Emojis, International URLs & More
- Google On Taking Sites Down When Fixing The Emergency PHP Exploit - PHP2Shell
- Google Updated Indexing API Quota Details & More
- Google On Large Product Aggregator Websites
- Google Search Showing Sites Old Domain Fourth Months After Domain Move?
- Google Search May Be Bringing Back 100 Search Results Parameter
- Google AI Mode Tests Blending All Products With Sponsored Products
- You Can Now Build Apps For Google Search: Connected Apps Platform
- Google Discover To Transform Into Hyper-Personalized Concierge
- Google Search Profiles Expand To India & Canada With Brazil Coming Soon
- Google Email Shares Number Of Preferred Source Subscribers
- Google Business Home - New Google Business Profiles Home
- Google Business Profiles Tests New Advanced Performance Reports
- Google Business Profiles Finally Adds Third-Party Ordering Controls
- Google Business Profiles AI-Powered Messaging Expands
- Google Business Profiles Review Appeals Are Delayed Again
- Google Business Profiles Adds Facebook Messenger M.me Links
- Google Local Panel Gains WhatsApp Button
- Google Business Profiles Asking Businesses For EIN
- Google Business Profiles Verification With Government ID
- Google Search Tests Layout Change For Local Knowledge Panel
- Google Moves Google Posts Higher Up On Local Panel
- Google Ad Revenue Up 10.5% With Overall Revenue Up 25%
- Google: Ads In AI Mode Earning Less Than Traditional Search Ads
- Google AI Overview Lawsuit Dismissed Over No Agreement With Publishers
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
