Daily Search Forum Recap: October 5, 2026

Google Ads will automatically identify and extract high-quality promotions from advertisers' websites and apply them directly to Search and Performance Max campaigns with linked location assets starting October 12, 2026, according to an email Google Ads sent to some advertisers. OpenAI also announced it will test a new visual ad format during image generation in ChatGPT later this month in the US with an initial group of advertisers, and Google Ads introduced a beta AI campaign localization tool that uses generative AI to localize entire Search campaigns for new languages and regions. Google Search Console will soon add dark mode, announced by Google Senior Software Engineer Ariel Kroszynski at Google Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 in Barcelona, while Gary Illyes presented Google Search data on average crawling, indexing and serving timelines.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable https://www.seroundtable.com and other search forums on the web. Google explained why it is doing more spam updates and spoke about the new quality pillars. Gary Illyes from Google reportedly presented new data from Google Search on how long Google for crawling, indexing and serving on average. Google Search Console will soon roll out dark mode capabilities. Google Ads has a new AI campaign localization tool for Search campaigns beta . Google Ads sent an email notifying some advertisers that it will automatically identify and extract high-quality promotions from your website and apply them directly to your campaigns starting on October 12, 2026. Google may be testing the three dots for about this site, twice, it seems like a bug. Search Engine Roundtable Stories: - Google Search Spam Updates Use AI To Find AI Spam & More https://www.seroundtable.com/google-search-spam-updates-ai-42226.html Google spoke at the three-day Google Search Central Live Deep Dive event in Europe about why it has rolled out so many spam updates in 2026, according to John Campbell's recap at We Are Roast. He said that Google has been doing more spam updates because there is so much more new content than before. He also said Google is using AI to catch more spam. - Google Search Data On Crawling, Indexing & Serving Timelines https://www.seroundtable.com/google-crawling-indexing-serving-data-42225.html Gary Illyes from Google reportedly presented new data from Google Search on how long Google for crawling, indexing and serving on average. This is broken down by process, withing crawling, indexing and serving and shows the typical timeframe versus the slowest timeframe. - Dark Mode Coming To Google Search Console https://www.seroundtable.com/google-search-console-dark-mode-42224.html Google will soon support dark mode in Google Search Console. Ariel Kroszynski, a Senior Software Engineer at Google, announced this at the Google Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe 2026 in Barcelona last week. - Google Ads To Automated Promotions For Search & PMax Campaigns Soon https://www.seroundtable.com/google-ads-automated-promotions-october-12-42223.html Google Ads sent an email notifying some advertisers that it will automatically identify and extract high-quality promotions from your website and apply them directly to your campaigns starting on October 12, 2026. This is called automated promotions and only applies to Search and Performance Max campaigns with linked location assets. - Google Ads With Doubled About This Ad Button https://www.seroundtable.com/google-ads-double-dots-42222.html Google seems to have a bug of sorts where sometimes it can show the three dots about this ad or search result button twice, instead of just once. I can replicate this for some queries but not all. - OpenAI To Test Visual ChatGPT Ad Format During AI Image Generation https://www.seroundtable.com/openai-visual-chatgpt-ad-format-42229.html OpenAI announced "new visual ad format in ChatGPT" that it will be testing "later this month in the US with an initial group of advertisers." The new visual ad format is an "ad format during image generation in ChatGPT." So if you ask ChatGPT to make an image for you, it will show a special ad for that process. - Google Ads AI Campaign Localization Tool Beta https://www.seroundtable.com/google-ads-ai-campaign-localization-tool-42221.html Google Ads has a new AI campaign localization tool for Search campaigns beta , at least according to a new help document I found late last week. "You can use the AI campaign localization tool to quickly localize entire Search campaigns for new languages and regions using generative AI," Google wrote in the help document. - Googler Kids Hula Hooping https://www.seroundtable.com/photos/google-kids-hula-hooping-42130.html At this Google event, they had a hula hoop area where children of Google employees were able to hula hoop. There is a video on Instagram of them hula hooping. Other Great Search Threads: - Google has launched “Notebooks in AI Mode” in the European Union as well. • Available mobile and desktop web . • Available for free and paying users. https://x.com/oncescuradu/status/2106046617161715957 , Radu Oncescu on X - ChatGPT ads in the first 4 turns of the conversation have 48% higher CTR. See our full report with Graphite on the State of ChatGPT Ads https://x.com/Similarweb/status/2106705157954171332 , Similarweb on X - Bing showing detailed sources for From Sources across section in serp. Before it only shows the using ai source . Now with details like Data from and image from. Previously @rustybrick covered my finding here https://x.com/b4k khushal/status/2106986408904987069 , Khushal Bherwani on X - Just hypnotised by this cute web crawler https://bsky.app/profile/nadyavoynich.com/post/3mwwevde5kk27 , Nadya Voynich on Bluesky Search Engine Land Stories: Other Great Search Stories: AI & LLMs - Finances expands to Free and Go users https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6825453-chatgpt-release-notes finances-expands-to-free-and-go-users , OpenAI - Toward provably private learning from federated data https://research.google/blog/toward-provably-private-learning-from-federated-data/ , Google Research - OpenAI's latest features take direct aim at the app store model https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/29/openais-latest-features-take-direct-aim-at-the-app-store-model/ , TechCrunch - Gemini limiting what models free & AI Plus users can access, more https://9to5google.com/2026/10/03/gemini-model-limits-oct-26/ , 9To5Google - What’s the Future for Pure Math Research in the Age of AI? https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2026/09/whats-the-future-for-pure-math-research-in-the-age-of-ai/ , Stephen Wolfram Writings - Interview with Richard Ho, OpenAI https://morethanmoore.substack.com/p/interview-with-richard-ho-openai , Dr. Ian Cutress - Sam Altman to Decoded: ‘The world should accept some bad things happening’ for the benefits of AI https://www.politico.com/news/2026/10/04/sam-altman-decoded-interview-ai-01106217 , POLITICO Analytics - GTM AI Version Summaries: A Practical Guide https://krmdigital.uk/blog/gtm-versions/ , KRM Digital Marketing Industry & Business - Google Accused of Illegally Killing a Massive Forest for Its New Data Center Project https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/google-accused-illegally-killing-forest-data-center , Futurism - AI Industry Cannot Regulate Itself Alone, Google’s James Manyika Says https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2026-james-manyika-weekend-interview/?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc5MTA0MTMwOSwiZXhwIjoxNzkxNjQ2MTA5LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUTTlLSzlSS1YyVFYwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJEMzU0MUJFQjhBQUY0QkUwQkFBOUQzNkI3QjlCRjI4OCJ9.u-yRXj5OldEL8nTrVyxthWTvxQ8nek0go4FwVqRE75E&leadSource=article-gifting , Bloomberg - How China’s Token Resellers Create an Anthropic Gray Market https://www.theinformation.com/articles/chinas-token-resellers-create-anthropic-gray-market , The Information - How employees forced OpenAI’s president to back down https://www.semafor.com/article/10/02/2026/how-employees-forced-openais-president-to-back-down , Semafor - Apple and Google push states to shield app stores from some lawsuits https://www.politico.com/news/2026/10/04/apple-googlestates-app-stores-lawsuits-01105892 , POLITICO - Anthropic’s Big Charity Bill for Shareholders https://www.theinformation.com/articles/anthropics-big-charity-bill-shareholders , The Information Links & Content Marketing - AI Search Is Changing Keyword Research https://news.designrush.com/ai-search-intent-keyword-research , news.designrush.com Local & Maps - Google confirms updates and fixes for Android Auto media apps https://9to5google.com/2026/10/02/google-android-auto-media-app-updates/ , 9To5Google - Google Business Profile: Should Real Estate Agents Say They're Open 24 Hours/Day? https://www.seosavvyagent.com/blog/google-business-profile-business-hours-real-estate , SEO Savvy Agent - Google Announces Long-Overdue Android Auto Cellular Signal Bar Fix https://www.autoevolution.com/news/google-announces-long-overdue-android-auto-cellular-signal-bar-fix-276506.html , Autoevolution - Google Maps has a big problem with route suggestions; nothing I've tried fixes it https://www.androidpolice.com/google-maps-often-skips-the-best-routes-but-theres-a-simple-way-to-fix-it/ , Android Police Other Search - Apple’s reportedly developing a smart home camera that doesn’t record video https://www.theverge.com/tech/1003877/apple-security-camera-no-video , The Verge - YouTube Shorts recommendations won't surface unoriginal content https://9to5google.com/2026/10/02/youtube-wont-recommend-unoriginal-shorts/ , 9To5Google PPC - AI PPC Agents and the Over-Optimization Trap: Are "Claudgents" Hurting Your Accounts? https://zatomarketing.com/blog/ai-ppc-agents-and-the-over-optimization-trap-are-claudgents-hurting-your-accounts , ZATO Marketing - Landing Page Best Practices: When to Trust Them and When to Question Them https://ppchero.com/landing-page-best-practices-2/ , PPC Hero - Updated Pricing Policies for US Automotive Ads https://ppcnewsfeed.com/ppc-news/2026-10/updated-pricing-policies-us-automotive-ads/ , PPC News Feed - How Seasonality Should Change Your PPC Strategy https://www.koozai.com/blog/pay-per-click-ppc/how-seasonality-should-change-your-ppc-strategy/ , Koozai - MCC Accounts Can Create Google Ads Accounts Without a Campaign https://ppcnewsfeed.com/ppc-news/2026-10/mcc-accounts-can-create-google-ads-accounts-without/ , PPC News Feed - Google Removes the 50-Conversion Learning Period Guidance https://ppcnewsfeed.com/ppc-news/2026-10/google-drops-50-conversion-learning-period/ , PPC News Feed Search Features - Gemini app gains new ‘Map’ tool, replacing '/' with '@' https://9to5google.com/2026/10/02/gemini-app-map-tool/ , 9To5Google - Yahoo sponsored results now showing more blue hyperlinks https://searchenginewatch.com/yahoo-sponsored-results-now-showing-more-blue-hyperlinks/ , Search Engine Watch - AI Overviews Currently Appear for 83% of Branded Searches https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overviews-on-branded-searches/ , Ahrefs SEO - Re-imagining AI Visibility KPIs in a Query Fan Out world https://www.seerinteractive.com/insights/ai-visibility-kpis , Seer Interactive - Winning AI citations isn't the same as winning in search | With Cyrus Shepard https://www.searchpilot.com/resources/blog/winning-ai-citations-isnt-the-same-as-winning-in-search-with-cyrus-shepard , SearchPilot - The Freshness Signal: QDF Query Deserves Freshness - Inside Google’s Battle Against Time, Staleness, and Click Bias https://www.hobo-web.co.uk/the-freshness-signal-qdf-query-deserves-freshness-inside-googles-battle-against-time-staleness-and-click-bias/ , Hobo - Google Discover Publishers ranking in September 2026 https://www.discoversnoop.com/blog/2026/google-discover-publishers-ranking-in-september-2026/ , DiscoverSnoop - Google Now Has the Math to Rank Without an Index, and the Results Page Does Not Survive It https://duaneforresterdecodes.substack.com/p/google-now-has-the-math-to-rank-without , Duane Forrester Decodes - Google Search Central Live Deep Dive, Barcelona - Day 3 Recap https://weareroast.com/news/google-search-central-live-deep-dive-barcelona-day-3-recap/ , We Are ROAST - Prediction: the next massive Google update is around the corner https://lilyraynyc.substack.com/p/prediction-the-next-massive-google?triedRedirect=true , Lily Ray Feedback: Have feedback on this daily recap; let me know on Twitter @rustybrick https://twitter.com/rustybrick/ or @seroundtable https://twitter.com/seroundtable , on Threads https://www.threads.net/@rustybrick , Mastodon https://c.im/@rustybrick and Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/rustybrick.com and you can follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/seoroundtable and on Google News https://news.google.com/publications/CAAiEGcxG7fAnv8WVJaUn-8kyrcqFAgKIhBnMRu3wJ7 FlSWlJ vJMq3?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen , add as a preferred source on Google https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=seroundtable.com and make sure to subscribe to the YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/rustybrick?sub confirmation=1 channel, Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id284443003 , Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/4tFYPk3RmdTfMKG6u074TS , or just contact us the old fashion way https://www.seroundtable.com/contact.php .