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.
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
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.
The Top 6 Search Engines Market Share & The AI Search Engines To Watch
Declining Google share and rising AI search usage signal a shift in where discovery happens and how SEO teams should allocate resources.
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.
AI Leads All Reasons For U.S. Job Cuts In March, Report Says
AI led all cited reasons for U.S. job cuts in March at 25% of the total, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Google Explains Googlebot Byte Limits And Crawling Architecture
Google’s Gary Illyes published a blog post explaining how Googlebot works as one client of a centralized crawling platform, with new byte-level details.
Google: Pages Are Getting Larger & It Still Matters
Google’s Gary Illyes and Martin Splitt discuss page weight growth, the 15MB crawl limit, and whether structured data is adding bloat to web pages.
New AI Jobs Index Ranks 784 Occupations By Loss Risk
Tufts index projects 9M U.S. jobs at risk from AI. Writers and Authors, Computer Programmers, and Web and Digital Interface Designers top the risk list.
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.
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.