Daily Search Forum Recap: August 3, 2026

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.

We are seeing Google Search ranking volatility starting on August 1st and kicking up today, August 3rd. Microsoft has confirmed it is working on bringing filtering capabilities to the Bing Webmaster Tools performance reports. I posted the big monthly Google Webmaster Report. Google Business Profiles has an updated help document on how to protect against fraudulent calls and texts. Google Trends now lets you compare up to 400 search terms across 8 groups of terms and up to 50 terms in each group. Google Search is testing asking searchers to sign in to verify they are humans and not bots conducting the searches. Microsoft will be retiring the Bing Webmaster Tools SOAP/POX APIs on August 31, 2026. Google fixed a bug with its search tools over the weekend.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google Search Ranking Volatility Hits August 1st to August 3rd
  I am seeing signs of another Google Search ranking update with a lot of volatility hitting this past weekend again. This one started on Saturday, August 1st, and has continued thus far through today, August 3rd. Both the third-party tracking tools are showing a spike and there is chatter within the SEO community about a lot of this ranking shuffling.
• Bing Webmaster Tools Page & Query Level Filtering Coming To Reports
  Microsoft has confirmed it is working on bringing filtering capabilities to the Bing Webmaster Tools performance reports. Right now, there is no way to add a filter for any of the metrics in the report. Of course, you can download the data and do what you want with it, but there is no native filter box in the reporting interface.
• Google Trends Lets You Compare 220% More Search Terms
  Google Trends now lets you compare up to 400 search terms across 8 groups of terms and up to 50 terms in each group. Previously, it was 125 search terms across 5 groups of terms and up to 25 terms in each group. That is a 220% increase, if my math is correct.
• Google Business Profiles Protect From Fraudulent Calls and Texts Updated
  The Google Business Profile help page on Help protect against fraudulent calls and texts has been updated. It now includes how to identify legitimate texts over WhatsApp and RCS messages, it also updated a lot of the examples of the types of calls and messages you get, plus more.
• Google Search Tests Sign In To Verify Searches Are Human (Not Captcha)
  Google Search is testing asking searchers to sign in to verify they are humans and not bots conducting the searches. I don't think Google has done this before, geneally when Google tries to verify human versus bot activity, Google will serve a captcha and has done so for many years. But this test is asking the searcher to sign in.
• Bing Webmaster Tools SOAP/POX APIs To Be Retired On August 31, 2026
  Microsoft will be retiring the Bing Webmaster Tools SOAP/POX APIs on August 31, 2026. If you use these legacy APIs you should begin to migrate to the JSON/HTTP (REST) API version.
• Google Search Filter By Recent Broken (Fixed)
  If you try to filter you Google Search or Google News tab results by the recent search tools option, it simply won't work. If you try to select the "Tools" and then "Recent" options, including the past hour option, it won't listen to that filter and it won't filter the content by the last hour.
• Google 'Super G' 15 Foot Statue Gets Gradient Design
  Google put a Google 'G' statue with the new gradient Google logo design outside of the Bay View office. This is a 15-foot-tall statue; it is pretty massive.

Other Great Search Threads:

• Google has updated the new design with some tests already conducted on other Discover UIs. For example, here we see the like and share buttons on the left side of the card instead of the right. The publisher name and the sources of the AI ​​summaries are still at the bottom of the card, but before the card title and the AI ​​summary. The date is also displayed next to the publisher. And this new UI also adds "about this result" to the options, Damien Andell on X
• Today's Google Diff... Google Adds Maps Inventory Ads Google added a new FAQ confirming that local inventory ads can appear on Google Maps. The document recommends using local inventory ads for products available in-store or via local pickup, Shauvik Kumar on X
• Holy hell - huge finding in @ThatSearchGuyNL 's newsletter with h/t to @AnthonyHigman about "'Google-owned rich media.' It's hiding in Tools > Shared library > Location manager > Settings." YIKES. Shutting this off in our clients now, Melissa Mackey on X
• Again, that AI translation plan has gone sideways... Those Reddit translations were impacted heavily with the May core update and June spam update -> "While Reddit’s user base has been expanding, investors have expressed concern about the company’s ability to monetize traffic, as, Glenn Gabe on X
• I think there are arguments to be made for either noindex or robotted - it probably depends on the site. It's generally not an issue to just robot them, even if they're indexed just by URL, because they won't appear in normal search results anyway. , John Mueller on LinkedIn
• Re: our statement on Image Generation in Google Earth: “We know that people uniquely trust Google Earth for a reliable view of the world. We’ve seen geospatial professionals using this feature for a range of useful purposes, however we’ve also seen people sharing screenshots of..., News from Google on X
• AdSense Earnings and Observations - August 2026, WebmasterWorld

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google publishes its first dedicated guide for YouTube audio ads
• Google Analytics adds campaign diagnostics for missing aggregate identifiers
• OpenAI appears to be building chatbot-native ads that launch AI agents
• Why every SEO team now needs a social topical map
• AI makes SEO faster, but human expertise still wins
• AI shopping starts with your product feed, not your product page
• Why separating brand and non-brand campaigns improves ROAS

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• Gemini Spark now uses Chrome auto browse, AI Pro goes global, 9To5Google
• AI labels to be compulsory on authentic-looking content under EU rules, The Guardian
• Siri AI could come with a paywall for power users, TechCrunch
• DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 scores 50 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 10 points above previous DeepSeek V4 Flash, Artificial Analysis
• How to keep your AI conversations as private as possible, ZDNET
• OpenAI finds evidence other AI agents escaped containment as it widens hacking probe, Reuters
• AI-generated label becomes mandatory in the EU for companies, Euronews
• EU Icons for labelling AI-generated content, European Commission

Analytics

• What Are Metrics and Dimensions in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)?, Online Tech Tips

Industry & Business

• Microsoft R&D jobs drop for second straight year as total headcount falls for first time in a decade, GeekWire
• OpenAI Cuts ChatGPT Prices as Sam Altman Cites Customer Cost Concerns, Wall Street Journal
• Amazon completes $50bn investment in OpenAI, Financial Times (Sub)
• Reddit keeps its strange DMCA fight over Google search results alive, Ars Technica
• The OpenAI and Anthropic AI Hacking Sprees Are a Messy New Legal Frontier, Wired

Links & Content Marketing

• Create Brand-Worthy AI Visuals, Content Marketing Institute

Local & Maps

• 4 reasons why I switched to this Google Maps alternative, Android Authority
• How I use Google Maps to time travel, avoid bad air, and survive zero service, Tom's Guide
• Kosovo is now on Google Street View, Google Blog

PPC

• Data Manager API updates: RemoveAllAudienceMembers method, ingestion field warnings, expanded address data, Google Ads Developer Blog
• AI-Generated Labeling Feature for Videos, PPC News Feed
• Video Campaign Upgrade to Support Multiple Formats, PPC News Feed
• Help Page Released for Text Disclaimers in Search Ads, PPC News Feed
• Microsoft Advertising Launches Monthly Product Newsletter, PPC News Feed

Search Features

• Google is aiming to close feature gaps on Gemini desktop, Testing Catalog
• Google voice redesign merges AI Mode, Search Live on Android, 9To5Google

SEO

• The SEOs Guide to Agentic Commerce – Whiteboard Friday (Miracle Inameti-Archibong), Moz
• Lose Google and you lose AI search, SearchPilot
• AI Search Is a 3rd-Party Citation Problem With an On-Page Corroboration Base: The Data Across SaaS, Ecommerce and Finance, Aleyda Solis

Feedback:

Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick or @seroundtable, on Threads, Mastodon and Bluesky and you can follow us on Facebook and on Google News, add as a preferred source on Google and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or just contact us the old fashion way.