Daily Search Forum Recap: November 2, 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.

Google and Microsoft, as well as OpenAI and Anthropic, are adopting a new AI training protocol for crawling and indexing. Reddit's stock price tanks after the CEO confirmed Google Search traffic declines. Google doesn't seem to think click data makes sense for the AI Performance reports. Google extended ads reps are using AI-generated names and photos. Google Ads has a new promotion offers report. ChatGPT Ads has wider ad formats and more features. And I published the big Google webmaster report for November 2026.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories:

• Google Adopts New AI Training Control
  Google is adopting new AI training controls, under consideration by the IETF, that should simplify and streamline AI training controls for publishers and site owners.
• Microsoft Bing New AI New Controls With AI Training From AI Search Grounding
  Microsoft just announced new Bing AI content controls "offering newer, simpler, and clearer preferences that allow you to make choices about training, grounding, or both while remaining eligible for Bing search results," Krishna Madhavan, Principal Product Manager, Microsoft Bing, wrote.
• Reddit Stock Drops 33% After CEO Confirms Declining Google Search Traffic
  Reddit's stock dropped 36% over the past week after Reddit's CEO, Steve Huffman, confirmed Google Search traffic has been declining for the popular social media site. Of course, every SEO on this planet knew this would happen eventually, and it did.
• Google Ads Strategists Using AI-Generated Fake Names & Profile Photos
  Google Ads Strategists, who are part of the Google Extended Workforce, are using AI-generated profile photos and names when reaching out to advertisers. An email sent from Kassy Garcia from Google to Joe
• Gary Illyes Implies Click Data Not Coming To Google Search Console AI Reporting
  Gary Illyes from Google has implied that click data and query data are likely not coming to the AI performance report in Google Search Console. Gary Illyes wrote that the Search Console team is interested in bringing "data that makes sense" to the report but didn't say clicks or query data was that data that made sense or was useful.
• November 2026 Google Webmaster Report
  t 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....
• Google Ads Promotion Offers Within Promotions
  Google has added a new "Promotions offers" section within the Promotions section in Google Ads. This lets you quickly filter your promotions by these three statuses, offered, expired and invalidated.
• ChatGPT Gets Wider Ads, Multi-Image Ads Expands, Expansion & More
  OpenAI just sent its weekly email update to advertisers announcing the ChatGPT Ads are live in 26 more countries, a new wider standard ad unit format, Multi-image ads are now available in open beta to all advertisers, Shopify integration is now available internationally and Shopify integration is now available internationally.
• Patrick Bäurer Soccer Freestyler At Google Event
  Google has Patrick Bäurer, who is a prominent German professional football freestyler, social media creator, and multi-time Guinness World Record holder, was at a Google YouTube event. He performed some soccer tricks, including this one.

Other Great Search Threads:

• Google Merchant Center’s Brand section looks very different from the screenshots shared when it first launched., Bia Camargo on LinkedIn
• Google Discover is testing thumbs up and thumbs down instead of the like button on Discover cards. Actually, the thumbs up button is the same as the like button; only the icon changes. The thumbs down button is the "see less content like this" action that was previously, Damien Andell on X
• Reddit is skeptical of GEO -> On its Q3 earnings call, Reddit was asked about advertisers seeking to be included in pre-training for LLMs (so they can rank in AI Search). You know, "inauthentic mentions" :) Reddit's response: "We're skeptical of GEO. The reason to come to Reddit, Glenn Gabe on X
• One of my rank trackers told me Yellow Pages is ranking in the top 10 for one of the keywords I'm tracking. I haven't seen that site rank well on Google in a very long time. According to Ahrefs, they are surging lately. Do we think this is real or are the results, Joy Hawkins on X
• To sum up today's news: - Reddit stock is down because of AI answers - Google stock is down because of AI answers - Your web traffic is down because of AI answers Happy to see that worked out well for all parties involved, Cyrus SEO on X
• The auto import from Google to Bing seemed like a good idea at the time, but it can really make a mess of your account nowadays. Good advice here from Menachem, Melissa Mackey on X
• New in Google Discover widgets: "Trivia": "Test your knowledge with interactive quizzes" This will likely offer interactive quizzes, as the name suggests, but I haven't seen any examples of it in the widgets yet, Damien Andell on X

Search Engine Land Stories:

• Google also gives publishers more control over how AI uses their content
• Microsoft Bing gives publishers more control over how AI uses their content
• Core Web Vitals optimization can be a waste of time
• Google AI Overviews are pushing News Boxes out of search results: Study

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• Google's Q3 2026 Earnings Call: Search & AI are merging into one unified product., Marie Haynes
• I Built a Tool to Watch ChatGPT Search, and It Predicted My Next Question, Seer Interactive
• OpenAI to limit weapons information for teens on ChatGPT in violence-prevention push, Reuters
• How an obscure website became a force in America’s election information machine, Washington Post

Industry & Business

• Google AI Overview targeted by French publishers' EU antitrust complaint, MLex
• Google Stock Hammered After Earnings Raise AI Revenue Concerns, Bloomberg
• Google's first data center satellite is online and writing poetry, TechCrunch
• UK's CMA opens investigation into Meta's terms for publishers and advertisers, Reuters
• Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft Lead $3 Trillion AI Spending Pledge, Bloomberg
• Alphabet Is in Talks to Join Trump’s Golden Dome Defense Program, Bloomberg
• OpenAI Raises Less Than Half of $30 Billion Target in Latest Round, Wall Street Journal
• I Spent 30 Minutes With Apple’s CEO. Now I Know Why John Ternus Got the Job, Wired
• OpenAI slashes funding target by $10bn as tech anxieties mount , Financial Times (Sub)

Links & Content Marketing

• How Marketers Can Meet Growing Creative Needs With Content Automation, Forbes
• Brands That Invest in Creators Now Run Always-On Programs, ClickZ

Local & Maps

• Siri AI changed how I use my iPhone while driving, Apple Insider
• I rely on this Apple Maps feature tons of people don't know exists, Apple Insider

PPC

• 2026 Microsoft Advertising Partner Awards: North America winners announced, Microsoft Advertising
• How to Calculate popularity_rank for Google Merchant Center, MerchantCodex
• Google Names 15 Conversions in 30 Days as the PMAX Stability Threshold, PPC News Feed
• Microsoft UET Conversions API Now Accepts Events up to 90 Days Old, PPC News Feed

SEO

• AI Crawler Settings by Host and CDN: Cloudflare, Fastly, Akamai, WP Engine, Shopify, and More, Vanessa Fox
• SEO Tips Jewelers Need to Attract Customers, Yoast
• Complete Reference On Allowing & Blocking LLM Crawlers, Vanessa Fox
• SEO can make or break your website launch. Here’s what you need to do, Alice Rowan

Feedback:

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