Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.
The Google May 2026 core update was super heated over the weekend, this might be the tailend of this update. Google Ads has a new invalid activity credit report. Google begins testing healthcare ads in AI Mode. Google Ads branded searches controls are available for AI Max. Google Ads is testing a leads management feature. Google AI Mode and AI Overviews tests a sliding carousel for link cards. And Google has a Disco ball for a Doodle today.
Search Engine Roundtable Stories:
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Google May 2026 Core Update Hits Hard Saturday - May 30th
The Google May 2026 core update seemed to have hit some sites in a very big way yesterday, Saturday, May 30, 2026. As a reminder, the May 2026 core update was announced on May 21, 2026, and then that following weekend, we saw some significant ranking volatility, and then again, this past weekend, we saw even more volatility. I suspect the update will be completed in the next few days. -
Google Begins Limited Test Of Healthcare Ads In AI Mode
Google has confirmed it is doing a small test of healthcare-related ads in AI Mode. Ginny Marvin, the Google Ads Liaison, said this on LinkedIn when asked if the rumors of Google testing ads in AI Mode for healthcare a few weeks ago were true. -
Google Hosted Forms Leads Screen In Google Ads
Google Ads has a new leads section under the Conversions section that shows Google-hosted form leads for the past 60 days. This will give you the lead's name, stage, date submitted, email, phone, the form contents and more. -
Google AI Mode & AI Overviews Sliding Carousel For Link Cards
Google is testing a new way to show citation link cards within AI Overviews and AI Mode. In this test, if you click on a citation bubble, Google opens a carousel at the bottom of the screen that you can swipe left or right on to see the links to publisher sites. -
Google Ads New Branded Searches Controls For AI Max
Google Ads is rolling out branded searches controls to some advertisers within AI Max. This allows advertisers to control how your ads appear in searches that include brand names. -
Google Ads Invalid Activity Credit Report - New Help Document
Google added a new help document to the Google Ads help documentation section named About the Invalid Activity Credit Report. I am not sure if the report is new, or if it is just that the help document is new - but either way, this is a report advertisers should be looking at frequently enough. -
Google Disco Ball Doodle
Google's Doodle today is an animated Disco ball, titled "The Art of Disco." Google wrote, "In celebration of Pride Month, today's Doodle celebrates the art of disco by shining a light on the LGBTQ+ artists who helped create space for everyone on the dance floor." -
Newspaper Wallpaper At Google
Here is a photo from the Google office in Germany of one of the conference rooms with newspapers all over the walls. I guess this is the news room?
Other Great Search Threads:
- I felt a disturbance in the SEO force this morning. It shook me a bit... I immediately knew that millions of sites started publishing llms.txt files and markdown files. And that happened recently. I knew I must reach out to Yoda..., Glenn Gabe on X
- The price needs to be a number, so what you have there wouldn't be considered valid., John Mueller on Bluesky
- I just made the robots.txt manager for WordPress I've always wanted. Now on to the next plugin., Jon Henshaw on LinkedIn
- LLMs.txt: Google saying two different things?, Reddit
Search Engine Land Stories:
- The latest jobs in search marketing
- Google appears to be testing new branded search controls in AI Max campaigns
- Matt McGee on the Wild West days of SEO
- Google Ads launches built-in lead management dashboard
- How to train Claude to sound like your brand
- How to structure paid social creative testing for better performance
- Beyond RAG: Why every AI search platform is now agentic and what that means for your content
- Why your B2B PPC metrics may be lying to you
Other Great Search Stories:
AI & LLMs
- AI Overviews is the most undertracked AI search: 500,000 prompts show why, Peec AI
- Gemini 3.5 Flash : Fast Answers Are Not the Same as Honest Answers, Search Engine World
- Hands-On With Gemini Spark: I Gave It Access to My Life and It Friend-Zoned My Boyfriend, Wired
- How to use Lighthouse to test your website for agentic readiness, Marie Haynes
- Retiring OpenAI o3 and GPT-4.5, ChatGPT Release Notes
- Watch Google Deepmind's Parada on Robotics Technology, Bloomberg
- You Can Finally Measure Content Alignment. That’s the Dangerous Part., Duane Forrester Decodes
Analytics
- Full URL in GA4, KRM Digital Marketing
Industry & Business
- Founders seize on Indian court ruling to revive criticism of Google's ad business, TechCrunch
- The Billionaire Coding Genius Making the Tough Decisions at OpenAI, Wall Street Journal
Links & Content Marketing
- How Content Marketers Misuse GenAI, Practical Ecommerce
- The New Reality of Marketing Careers: What You Need To Know, Content Marketing Institute
Local & Maps
- Google is Suspending eXp Realty Agents, Sterling Sky
- Yandex updates Maps with walkable routes, International Search News
- 335,520 Deleted Google Reviews Analyzed (2026 Update), Localo
- Google Maps helped me discover my own neighborhood was lying to me, Android Police
SEO
- AI "hacks" Are Fucking Up Your SEO - Same As It Ever Was, Nikki Pilkington
- FAQ SEO: How To Optimize FAQ Pages for Search Visibility, Shopify
- Google Zero: The Search Traffic Cliff Publishers Cannot Ignore, Search Engine World
- SEO Myth Debunked: Guest Posting Is Dead!, Nikki Pilkington
PPC
- Demand Gen in Commerce Media Suite Now Available for 2026, PPC News Feed
- Set It, Forget It, Regret It: What’s Really Happening Inside Your Google Ads Account?, SearchLab Digital
- Checkout Links, Google
- Merchant Center Migration to Merchant API Deadline Reminder, PPC News Feed
- Data Manager API now supports sending events to Google Marketing Platform destinations and IP ingestion for Google Ads Customer Match, Google Ads Developer Blog
- Display & Video 360 API will start supporting Demand Gen resources on June 10, 2026, Google Ads Developer Blog
- Standardizing Reach Metrics with Total Co-view in the Google Ads API, Google Ads Developer Blog
- The “What” and “Why” on Meridian: Ads DevCast E6, Google Ads Developer Blog
Other Search
Feedback:
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