Daily Search Forum Recap: August 27, 2026

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Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.

Google is rolling out the new goto tracking redirect URLs in its search results to mess with scrapers and third-party tools. Robby Stein from Google wants you to tell him what you think of AI Mode. Microsoft is testing renaming the Copilot Search AI answer box at the top of the Bing Search results to AI Overviews. Google is testing once again testing swipeable Google Ads sponsored results. Google Ask Advisor to get shared memory across tools soon. Microsoft Advertising, with the release of AI Max globally, has rolled out a new Search term landing page reporting template. Google Ads has released several new Troubleshoot performance fluctuations and changes documents. OpenAI has pinned the Shopping tab to the left sidebar on ChatGPT. And Google has a new Dolly Parton easter egg in its search results.

Search Engine Roundtable Stories: #

Confirmed: Google Search Rolling Out google.com/goto Tracking Parameters Google Search seems like it is rolling out the google.com/goto URL as a passthrough URL within the search results that it began testing in July 2026. This seems like a way for Google to help prevent scraping of its search results by third-party tools and AI companies but Google has not yet commented on this goto URL paramter. -

Tell Google What You Want From AI Mode Robby Stein, Google's Vice President of Product at Google Search, asked on X, "If you could get one feature shipped right now in AI Mode, what would it be?" So now is your chance to reply on X with what you want. -

Bing Tests Renaming Copilot Search Answer To AI Overviews Microsoft is testing renaming the Copilot Search AI answer box at the top of the Bing Search results to AI Overviews. That is the name Google uses for its AI answer results in Google Search. Microsoft is still placing the Copilot logo with the box but trying to use the name "AI Overview" instead of "Copilot Search." -

Google Ask Advisor Soon To Get Shared Memory Across Tools Google posted on X that Ask Advisor, which is in Google Ads, Google Analytics, Google Merchant Center and more Google tools, will soon "maintain shared memory across your Google marketing tools." -

Microsoft Advertising Search Term Landing Page Report For AI Max Microsoft Advertising, with the release of AI Max globally, has rolled out a new Search term landing page reporting template. This report gives advertisers "full insights into all parts of AI Max's performance," said Navah Hopkins, the Microsoft Ads Liaison. -

Google Ads Tests Swipeable Categories For Sponsored Results Again Google is testing once again testing swipeable Google Ads sponsored results, where you can swipe a carousel of categories to potentially change the sponsored results listed below. We saw this for shopping ads in October 2024 and Google has continued to test this since. -

OpenAI Pins Shopping To ChatGPT Sidebar OpenAI has pinned the Shopping tab to the left sidebar on ChatGPT. Clicking on it takes you to a landing page and a dedicated search page focused on shopping. -

Google Ads New Troubleshoot Performance Fluctuations & Changes Google Ads has released several new "Troubleshoot performance fluctuations and changes" across Google Ads, Performance Max, Search campaigns, Display, video, shopping, app, and more. At least I think these documents are new based on my tools, but the Wayback Machine has been offline, so I cannot double verify. -

Google Search Has A Special Dolly Parton Easter Egg 🦋 To commemorate the life of Dolly Parton, Google has released a new easter egg in its search results. If you search for [Dolly Parton] within Google Search... -

Massive Yahoo Signage Here is a photo showing a massive Yahoo sign that I guess can be moved letter by letter because each one is on a stand. This photo was posted on Instagram from the Yahoo office in India a few weeks ago.