Google Gemini Sends More Traffic To Sites Than Perplexity: Report
Google Gemini more than doubled its referral traffic to websites in two months while ChatGPT declined from its peak, SE Ranking data shows.
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.
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Google Tests AI Headlines, Rolls Out Spam Update – SEO Pulse
Google tests AI headline rewrites in Search, completes the March spam update in under 20 hours, and adds AI content labeling to structured data docs.
Google Begins Rolling Out March 2026 Core Update
Google has started rolling out the March 2026 core update. The rollout may take up to two weeks to complete.
Google Takes Search Live Global With Gemini 3.1 Flash Live
Google expands Search Live to 200+ countries, powered by its new Gemini 3.1 Flash Live model with multilingual voice and camera search in AI Mode.
Google Adds AI & Bot Labels To Forum, Q&A Structured Data
Google updated its Discussion Forum and Q&A Page structured data docs with new properties, including a way to label AI- and machine-generated content.
Google’s March 2026 Spam Update Is Already Complete
Google has finished rolling out the March 2026 spam update. The update applies globally and to all languages, with rollout taking a few days.
Bing AI Dashboard Maps Grounding Queries To Cited Pages
Bing’s AI Performance dashboard now maps grounding queries to cited pages, letting you connect AI citation data to specific URLs on your site.
Google Tested AI Headlines In Discover. Now It’s Testing Them In Search
Google is testing AI headline rewrites in Search using similar language to the earlier Discover test that became a feature.
Google AI Mode Goes Personal, Crawl Limits Clarified – SEO Pulse
In SEO Pulse: Google opens Personal Intelligence to free users, Illyes clarifies crawl limits, and new data adds context to AIO and traffic trends.
Google Expands UCP With Cart, Catalog, Onboarding
Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol adds cart management and catalog access, highlights identity linking support, and begins simplifying Merchant Center onboarding.
Search Referral Traffic Down 60% For Small Publishers, Data Shows
Chartbeat data shows search referral traffic fell 60% for small publishers over two years, compared with 22% for large publishers, per an Axios report.
Google AI Overviews Cut Germany’s Top Organic CTR By 59%
SISTRIX analyzed over 100 million German keywords and found AI Overviews reduce the position one click rate from 27% to 11%. Impact varies by industry.
Google Removes ‘What People Suggest,’ Expands Health AI Tools
Google confirmed it removed “What People Suggest” from health searches. Additionally, the company announced new AI health tools for YouTube.
Google AI Mode’s Personal Intelligence Now Free In U.S.
Google is expanding Personal Intelligence to free U.S. users in AI Mode, connecting Gmail and Photos to search. Gemini app and Chrome rollout starting.
What’s Hot, What’s Not: AI Search Changes In Q1 2026 [Recap]
At SEJ Live, we sorted Q1’s AI search changes into what’s hot and what’s not. Here’s what we covered and where to watch it.
AI Search Barely Cites Syndicated News Or Press Releases
Data from 4M AI citations shows syndicated press releases barely register in AI answers. Editorial content and owned newsrooms fare better.
3 CMS Platforms Control 73% Of The Market & Shape Technical SEO Defaults
CMS defaults now influence more of the web’s technical SEO than most consultants ever can, reshaping where optimization work creates real value.
Google Discover Core Update Data: Local Publishers Lost Reach
New third-party data shows local publishers lost national reach after Google’s Discover core update.
AI Mode Data, Ask Maps & Branded Queries Go Live – SEO Pulse
In SEO Pulse: AI Mode keeps more links inside Google, Maps adds conversational discovery, and Search Console rolls out automated brand segmentation.
ChatGPT’s Default & Premium Models Search The Web Differently
An analysis of ChatGPT conversations found the default and premium models cite almost entirely different sources for the same queries.
Google Maps Launches AI Conversational Search With Ask Maps
Google Maps launches Ask Maps, a Gemini-powered conversational feature for local discovery in the U.S. and India, plus a navigation overhaul in the U.S.
B2B Buyers Trust Peers Over AI Chatbots, Report Finds
A survey of B2B decision-makers found peer recommendations are trusted nearly twice as much as AI chatbots, and white papers rank last for perceived value.
Amazon Wins Preliminary Injunction Against Perplexity’s Comet
A federal judge granted Amazon a preliminary injunction barring Perplexity’s Comet AI agent from accessing Amazon accounts and ordering data destroyed.
3 AI Search Changes Every Marketer Needs A Plan For In Q2
AI search changed how people find you, click on you, and convert. Here’s what the Q1 data says and how to build your Q2 plan.
Marketers Report Highest Rates Of AI ‘Brain Fry,’ Report Finds
A study of U.S. workers finds 14% report “brain fry” from AI overuse. Marketing had the highest rate at 26%.
Google’s Liz Reid Says LLMs Unlock Audio And Video Indexing
Google’s head of Search described how multimodal LLMs help Google understand audio and video, and discussed a direction for subscription-aware search.
Google AI Mode Cites Itself More Often, With More Organic Links
Google’s AI Mode self-citations tripled in nine months. SE Ranking data shows that more links now lead to organic search results, not business profiles.
AIO Citations Diverge From Rankings, Bing Rewrites Rules – SEO Pulse
In SEO Pulse: AI Overview citations drift further from traditional rankings as AI search expands and platforms clarify how content appears in AI answers.
NanoClaw Creator Loses SEO Battle To Impostor Website
NanoClaw’s creator says Google ranks a fake website above his project’s real site despite 18K GitHub stars, press coverage, and structured data setup.
Google Removes JavaScript SEO Warning, Says It’s Outdated
Google removed its JavaScript accessibility guidance from help documents, saying the advice is outdated and noting it has rendered JavaScript for years.