Daily Search Forum Recap: July 17, 2026

Here is simply a recap of what happened successful the hunt forums today, done the eyes of the MCP and different hunt forums connected the web.

Google Ads smart bidding update is ragging successful the PPC community, is it a broader alteration aliases not? Did Google Maps driblet its OpenTable reservations integration? Google renamed NotebookLM Useragent To Google-GeminiNotebook. Google has updated the thief archive named How to fix: Google StoreBot crawler can’t entree your in-store merchandise page. Microsoft Bing is testing utilizing a achromatic colored magnifying solid successful the hunt barroom and box. And I posted the play SEO video recap.

MCP Stories:

• Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google 7/11 Update, Bing Penalties, Google Images, AI Overviews AI Images, Google Ads Updates, ChatGPT Ads Features & Apple Maps
  This week, we saw immoderate Google Search ranking volatility astir July 11th, truthful I called it the 7-Eleven update. Bing said it does not do one-off hunt penalties because it is not scalable. Google Images celebrated its 25th anniversary...
• Google Ads Making Broader Smart Bidding Updates? Google Says No.
  The PPC organization has been going chaotic complete the alteration that is coming to Google Ads astir bidding for campaigns constricted by fund connected August 18th. There is immoderate belief that this is going to beryllium a broader smart bidding update than what Google communicated.
• Did Google Maps Turn Off OpenTable Reservations?
  Google has removed its thief archive named "Make OpenTable reservations successful Google Maps" yesterday. It looks for illustration that implies that Google Maps removed the integration it has pinch edifice listings and making reservations pinch OpenTable.
• Google Renamed NotebookLM Useragent To Google-GeminiNotebook
  As galore of you know, Google has user-triggered fetchers including Google-NotebookLM. But pinch NotebookLM being renamed to Gemini Notebook, Google had to update the personification supplier sanction of Google-NotebookLM to Google-GeminiNotebook.
• Google StoreBot Accessibility Issues Help Document Updated
  Google has updated the thief archive named How to fix: Google StoreBot crawler can’t entree your in-store merchandise page. The archive has a number of large updates pinch a batch of clarifications including the user-agents, checking robots.txt, blocking IP addresses, page velocity issues, reprocessing and really agelong it takes for your landing pages to beryllium reprocessed.
• Bing Tests Black Magnifying Glass Icon In Search Bar
  Microsoft Bing is testing utilizing a achromatic colored magnifying solid successful the hunt barroom and box. This is alternatively of a grey aliases achromatic outlined icon, the trial is simply a afloat colored successful icon.
• Volleyball At Google Office
  Google's Seattle agency has a volleyball court, truthful does the Mountain View agency but present are immoderate Googlers aliases possibly kids playing volleyball astatine the agency there. We saw Googlers playing during COVID pinch masks and we moreover immoderate master volleyball players astatine Google.

Other Great Search Threads:

• ChatGPT's app reached a grounds 640.68 cardinal monthly progressive users successful June 2026, up 2.2% from May and 24% twelvemonth complete year. Over the past 37 months, ChatGPT's monthly progressive users person declined only 3 times., Similarweb connected X
• Wow, first clip I've seen the Like fastener connected Google Discover to the near of the Discover card. Google is presently testing putting the Like and Share buttons connected the near and the paper still connected the right., Damien Andell connected X

MCP Stories:

• Google expands Performance Max merchandise reporting crossed each networks
• Google changes default Local Inventory Ads behavior
• Google AI Mode adds Instacart, Canva and YouTube Music integrations
• How to tally a section GEO baseline audit

Other Great Search Stories:

AI & LLMs

• Please Stop Making Me Opt Out of AI, Wired
• Google DeepMind expands biosecurity effort amid AI information push, Axios
• NotebookLM is now Gemini Notebook, Google Blog
• Someone Used A.I. to Write an Unauthorized Biography of Me. I Don’t Recommend Reading It., New York Times

Industry & Business

• Behind the Curtain: AI godfathers converge connected regulations, Axios
• Google is amended astatine playing the EU regulations game, The Verge
• Google ordered to unfastened Android and Search to rivals successful Europe, The Verge
• The DMA should not undercut information & privateness for Europeans, Google Blog
• Alphabet shares autumn connected study its Gemini 3.5 Pro AI exemplary is delayed, CNBC
• Thousands of Google workers request layoff protections amid AI roar successful petition to CEO, The Guardian
• Google Gemini Launch Delayed arsenic Tech Falls Short of Internal Goals, Bloomberg

Links & Content Marketing

• Local SEO Link Building That Improves Maps, Organic, and AI Rankings, The Upper Ranks
• Why B2B Marketers Should Pay Attention to Microdramas, Content Marketing Institute

Local & Maps

• Experience the bequest of Estadio Azteca connected Google Earth, Google Blog

Other Search

• Expanding Choice successful Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform: Introducing Grounding pinch Parallel Web Search, Google Developers Blog
• Why is OpenAI trading a ChatGPT basketball?, TechCrunch

PPC

• Why The Best Strategy for Creator Ads Focuses connected Testing and Speed, Seer Interactive
• Google's Promotion Mode is unrecorded (Beta) - smec, Smarter Ecommerce
• Business Data Feeds Now Available successful Demand Gen Campaigns, PPC News Feed

Search Features

• Connect much of your apps to Search, Google Blog
• Google preps letting you customize Gemini voices by Speed, Energy, and more, 9To5Google
• 6 Google Shopping tricks for backmost to school, Google Blog
• The apical trends connected Search up of back-to-school season, Google Blog

SEO

• How to publication the Indexing Report, Search Off the Record
• New research: The Core Web Vitals thresholds you spot mightiness beryllium wrong, Embrace
• Reddit and AI Search: What Patterns Show, SE Ranking
• TheTools SEO Strategy: How to Rank With Calculators, Converters, and Generators, Ahrefs
• Where AI agents get stuck connected your site, Kevin Indig
• What It Takes for SaaS Brands to Win successful AI Search: 5 Data-Backed Findings and Actions, Aleyda Solis
• Why your pages are stuck successful crawled-currently not indexed. And what to do astir it., Marie Haynes
• How to Overcome Google Indexing Problems With Social Media + AI, Whitespark

Feedback:

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