AI Overview CTR Fell 61%, But Clicks Didn’t Collapse
Seer Interactive says brand-cited AI Overview CTR fell 61% as impressions grew faster than clicks across cited pages.
About
Matt G. Southern, Senior News Writer, has been with Search Engine Journal since 2013. With a bachelor’s degree in communications, Matt specializes in gathering details, checking facts, and making complex subjects easy to understand. In addition to writing articles, Matt oversees strategy development for SEJ’s news department.
Articles
Google Pushes “Bounce Clicks” Explanation For AI Overview Traffic Loss
Google’s Liz Reid told Bloomberg AI Overviews cut “bounce clicks,” not deeper visits, but Google still hasn’t shared data backing that claim.
Google’s Updates Push Search Further Into Task Completion
Google’s latest Search updates push further into task completion. The reporting surfaces businesses rely on haven’t kept pace.
Google’s Robots.txt Docs Expand, Deep Links Get Rules, EU Steps In – SEO Pulse
Google documents deep link best practices and signals robots.txt doc expansion. The EU proposes Google share search data with rivals and AI chatbots.
Google May Expand Unsupported Robots.txt Rules List
Google may expand its unsupported robots.txt rules list using HTTP Archive data and could broaden how it handles common misspellings of disallow.
OpenAI’s Crawler Docs Now List OAI-AdsBot For ChatGPT Ads
OpenAI’s public crawler docs now list OAI-AdsBot, a bot that may visit pages submitted as ChatGPT ads to check policy compliance and ad relevance.
Google Adds View-Through Conversion Optimization To Demand Gen
Google adds view-through conversion optimization to Demand Gen and expands Commerce Media Suite support.
Google Ads Posts GEO Partner Manager Role
Google posted a GEO Partner Manager role in its ads sales organization, using “Generative Engine Optimization” terminology in an ads-side job description.
ChatGPT Ads Now Offer CPC Bidding Between $3 And $5: Report
Digiday reports an early ChatGPT ads manager build now shows $3-$5 CPC bids for some pilot advertisers, as OpenAI continues expanding its ad tools.
Google Ads Makes Call Recording Default For AI Lead Calls
Google Ads now enables call recording by default for eligible AI-qualified call leads, changing how call conversions are evaluated in the U.S. and Canada.
Google May Have To Share Search Data With Rivals
The European Commission proposed Google share data with rival search engines and qualifying AI chatbots in the EU/EEA.
Google Lists Best Practices For Read More Deep Links
Google has outlined best practices that can increase the likelihood of “Read more” deep links appearing.
AI Adoption Outpaced The PC & Internet: Dive Into The Stanford Report Data
Stanford’s 2026 AI Index covers 400+ pages of data. Here’s what search professionals should take from the adoption numbers, reliability gaps, and transparency decline.
Google Bans Back Button Hijacking, Agentic Search Grows – SEO Pulse
Google targets back button hijacking as a spam violation, says spam reports may trigger manual actions, and expands agentic restaurant booking to more markets.
Google AI Mode in Chrome Gets Side-by-Side Browsing
Google is updating AI Mode in Chrome with side-by-side page viewing and a plus menu for adding tabs, images, and files as context.
ChatGPT Often Retrieves But Rarely Cites Reddit Pages, Data Shows
New Ahrefs data shows Reddit pages appeared often in ChatGPT retrievals but rarely as visible citations.
Gen Z Workers Pick Human-Only Output Over AI-Assisted
Gen Z workers surveyed by Gallup said they would trust work done without AI over AI-assisted output by more than 2-to-1, with the gap widening.
Search Ad Growth Slows As Social & Video Gain Faster
IAB’s annual report shows search ad growth fell while social media and digital video posted stronger year-over-year gains.
Google Chrome Skills Turn Gemini Prompts Into Reusable Workflows
Google is rolling out Skills to Gemini in Chrome on desktop, letting users save prompts as reusable one-click tools and run them across selected tabs.
New Google Spam Policy Targets Back Button Hijacking
Google added back button hijacking to its malicious practices spam policy. Enforcement starts June 15, 2026. Sites have two months to remove offending code.
What Pichai’s Interview Reveals About Google’s Search Direction
Sundar Pichai outlines search as an “agent manager,” signaling a shift from link-based results to task completion and multi-step workflows.
Core Update Done, GSC Bug Fixed, Mueller On Gurus – SEO Pulse
Google’s March core update finished rolling out. A Search Console bug inflated impressions for nearly a year. Pichai warns AI will break software security.
Google March Core Update Left 4 Losers For Every Winner In Germany
SISTRIX analyzed German search results after the March core update and found uneven visibility shifts across categories, with some site types hit harder than others.
What 400 Sites Reveal About Organic Traffic Gains
An analysis of 400+ websites found five characteristics associated with estimated organic traffic gains.
OpenAI, Meta, ByteDance Lead AI Bot Traffic In Publishing
Akamai breaks down which AI bots are hitting publishing, who operates them, and why fetcher bots may pose a more immediate risk.
Google Confirms March 2026 Core Update Is Complete
Google’s March core update finished rolling out. Here’s what to know about the rollout and when to check your data.
Google CEO Says AI Could ‘Break Pretty Much All Software’
Google CEO Sundar Pichai said AI models could expose more software vulnerabilities and agreed it was plausible AI is affecting zero-day exploit markets.
Trust In AI Search Could Drop With Ads, Survey Shows
An Ipsos survey of U.S. adults found 63% say ads in AI search results would reduce trust. Early advertiser data offers limited, mixed signals.
ChatGPT Search Is Citing Fewer Sites, Data Shows
ChatGPT Search is citing fewer websites per response after GPT-5.3 Instant became the default experience.
Google Core Update, Crawl Limits & Gemini Traffic Data – SEO Pulse
Google’s March core update is rolling out. Illyes explains Googlebot’s crawling architecture, and Gemini referral traffic doubles.