Google Is Adding Business Profile Tools To The Gemini App
Google is adding a direct Google Business Profile connection and Business notebooks to the Gemini app, rolling out this month.
About
See short video versions of news stories on YouTube and TikTok. Matt G. Southern is the Senior News Writer at Search Engine Journal, where he’s covered Google, SEO, and AI for over 13 years.
Articles
Google Search Sends 23% Of Queries To The Open Web
New data shows most U.S. Google searches end without a click, with a shrinking share of traffic reaching websites outside Google’s ecosystem.
Claude Is The Fastest-Growing AI Traffic Source, Per New Data
Claude referral traffic has grown almost 4x this year, making it the fastest growing among AI platforms, though still the smallest source.
US Publishers Demand Common Crawl Stop Scraping Their Content
Digital Content Next sent Common Crawl a cease and desist letter demanding it stop scraping publisher content and remove protected material from its datasets.
More News Sites Default To Blocking AI Crawlers
Reuters and Time now block AI bots by default, allowing only approved crawlers through allowlists, as more publishers add friction to AI content scraping.
Reddit Gained Top Positions In Every Niche After May Core Update
SE Ranking found Reddit gained top 3 share across all 20 niches after Google’s May core update, with smaller moves in YMYL categories.
AI Mentions May Not Translate To Trust, New Analysis Suggests
Getting your brand into AI-generated answers may not be enough if the narrative isn’t believable. A new analysis modeled believability across seven AI platforms.
Google Ask Maps Updates – How They Impact Your Business Profile
Google’s Ask Maps transforms local search by requiring complete business profiles to answer complex queries with multiple conditions.
Google Gives Sites AI Search Opt-Out, But Not The Data To Use It
Google is beginning to let websites opt out of AI search, but the click data needed to make that decision isn’t available yet.
Google Analytics Is Adding Google Business Profile Data
Google has documented a native link between Google Business Profile and Google Analytics, bringing local metrics like calls and directions into GA reports.
Google Tests AI Search Data, UK Requires Opt Out – SEO Pulse
Google tests AI visibility reports and an opt-out toggle as the UK requires new publisher controls for AI search features.
Google’s May Core Update Favored Pages That Match Intent
Aleyda Solis analyzed US and UK SISTRIX data from Google’s May core update, finding visibility patterns tied to source type and market fit.
Google Launches Search Profiles, Here’s How You Can Get One
Google launches Search profiles, giving eligible creators a customizable page for articles, social posts, and followers. U.S.-only at launch.
Google Must Let Websites Opt Out Of AI Search Features In UK
The UK’s CMA has imposed a new conduct requirement on Google Search, letting publishers opt out of AI features and requiring clearer content attribution.
Google Tests Dedicated AI Search Reports In Search Console
Google is testing Search Console controls and reports for AI Search visibility, including AI-specific impressions data for some UK sites.
Microsoft Web IQ Gives AI Agents Bing Grounding APIs
Microsoft announced Web IQ, a set of grounding APIs that connect AI agents to Bing’s index. Pricing and general availability remain unclear.
Google’s May Core Update Complete After Volatile Rollout
Google’s May core update finished rolling out on after nearly 12 days. SEO professionals described the update as heavier than March.
GPT-5.5 Update Changes How ChatGPT Cites Sources
SISTRIX data from German-language ChatGPT responses shows citation patterns changed after GPT-5.5 appeared. The company compares it to a core update.
How Reviews Drive Business Results Beyond Marketing
A study found star ratings alone didn’t predict small business performance. Active ORM did. Here’s what that means as AI narrows local visibility.
What Google’s I/O Demos Reveal About Business Search Visibility
Many Google I/O demos ended in transactions, bookings, or task completion. The consumer path is clear, but business visibility isn’t.
Google AI Overview Data Looks Different For Commercial Queries
AI Overview tracking can tell very different stories depending on the prompts, query types, and markets included in the sample.
Google Expands Preferred Sources, Pichai Addresses AI Overviews
Google brings Preferred Sources into AI Overviews and AI Mode, iPullRank measures Gmail’s pull on AI Mode brand visibility, and new ad formats arrive.
Google Preferred Sources Hit 345K, Expand Into AI Search
Google says users have selected 345,000 Preferred Sources, which now appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode alongside new link carousels.
YouTube Adds Auto-Detection For AI-Generated Content
YouTube is moving AI disclosure labels to more visible spots and adding automatic detection for undisclosed photorealistic AI content on videos.
Gmail Content Shows Brand Visibility Boost In AI Mode
iPullRank tested Gmail and Photos signals in opted-in AI Mode Personal Intelligence accounts. Gmail showed the strongest brand visibility lift.
Google CEO Admits AI Overviews ‘More Opinionated Than It Should Be
Pichai reviewed a live AI Overview and called it “more opinionated than it should be.” He also addressed bounce clicks and publisher traffic.
Google Says AI Mode Can Now Scale Faster Across Languages
In a post-keynote interview, Google’s Liz Reid told NDTV that AI Mode’s multilingual models have made it easier to expand across countries and languages.
Reddit CEO Says LLMs ‘Would Not Exist’ Without Reddit Data
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman calls user content “modern oil” for AI, discusses deals with Google and OpenAI, and outlines why some companies face lawsuits.
Pichai Says Google Is ‘A Bit Behind’ On Agentic Coding
Sundar Pichai says Google is “a bit behind” in agentic coding, citing a lack of developer-facing products as one reason for the gap.
Google I/O Didn’t End SEO. The Risk Is Somewhere Else
Google I/O triggered panic about the death of Search. The risk is economic, not technical, and both sides of the debate are getting it wrong.