Daily Search Forum Recap: September 18, 2026

Google dropped free product listings and carousel formats from Google Search in the European Economic Area, one of several search changes reported in the September 18, 2026 Search Engine Roundtable recap. Google also began testing an AI Mode button in the search bar on the search results page, while Bing started asking some searchers to verify they are human before showing results. Google additionally updated Merchant Center to support product reviews via API, required adult product labels in ecommerce feeds, and posted a help document on commerce audience sharing in Google Ads.

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 dropped the free product listings from the EEA regions of Google Search. Google Merchant Center API now supports product reviews. Google requires you to label adult products in your feed. Google Ads commerce audience sharing is available. Google added local businesses to the supplier and aggregator search units. Google is testing an AI Mode button in the search bar. Bing is also asking you to verify you are human. And I posted the weekly SEO Video recap. Search Engine Roundtable Stories: - Google May Be More Successful In Blocking Scrapers & Tracking Tools https://www.seroundtable.com/google-blocking-scrapers-and-tracking-tools-42118.html Google may be more successful in blocking AI scrapers, search scrapers and third-party tracking tools since around September 13th or so. This coincides with the September 4th and September 12th reversals we reported, and it also aligns with the methods Google has been using to block non-human behavior in its search results recently. - Search News Buzz Video Recap: Unusual Google Search Ranking Volatility, Ad Tech Monopoly Remedies, AI Contribution Publisher Payouts & More https://www.seroundtable.com/video-09-18-2026-42112.html This week we covered the first week or so of Google’s unusual ranking volatility only to see things spike up in a big way this week as well - something is up. Google’s remedies are out for its ad tech monopoly ruling. Google has an AI contribution pilot for paying publishers... - Google Search Bar Results Page Testing AI Mode Button https://www.seroundtable.com/google-search-bar-testing-ai-mode-button-42110.html Google is now testing adding the AI Mode button to the search bar when you are inside the search results page. Google has the AI Mode button almost everywhere else, but now we are seeing it added to the search bar, within the search results page, not just the home page. - Bing Also Asking To Verify You Are Human Before Showing Search Results https://www.seroundtable.com/bing-verify-you-are-human-42102.html Microsoft Bing is also asking some searchers to verify they are human before showing them search results. Google is doing this a lot, in various forms, and now Bing was spotted doing this. - Google Ads Commerce Audience Sharing Help Document https://www.seroundtable.com/google-ads-commerce-audience-sharing-42109.html Google has posted a new help document in the Google Ads help area named About commerce audience sharing through Google Ads. It explains that "Commerce audience sharing allows commerce partners, such as retailers or marketplaces, to share first-party data segments with their advertising partners, such as brands or sellers." - Google Merchant Center API Now Supports Product Reviews https://www.seroundtable.com/google-merchant-center-api-supports-product-reviews-42101.html Google updated the upload a product reviews data source to Merchant Center help document to now say that you can do this via the Merchant Center API. Previously, the document said, "API isn’t currently supported for product reviews data sources." Now it says, "Add product reviews using API." - Google Now Requires You Label Adult Products In Ecommerce Feeds https://www.seroundtable.com/google-adult-products-labels-42116.html Google has updated its guidelines for sites with explicit content to now specify that ecommerce sites must "label adult products in ecommerce feeds or markup." There is also a new section at the bottom of the help document titled, "For Google Shopping features." - Google Search Drops Free Product Listings From European Economic Area https://www.seroundtable.com/google-drops-free-product-listings-eea-42113.html Google Search has dropped the free product listings and carousel formats from the European Economic Area EEA . This change is part of what the European Commission forced Google to do in these regions under the Digital Markets Act. - Google Supports Local Business Queries In Aggregator & Supplier Search Units https://www.seroundtable.com/google-local-business-query-units-42115.html Google has added local business query support to the aggregator and supplier units within Google Search. Google updated both the aggregator unit and supplier unit documentation to add "and local businesses" sprinkled throughout those documents. - Mikey Mouse, Goofy & Donald Duck Wearing Googlewear https://www.seroundtable.com/photos/mikey-mouse-goofy-donald-duck-wearing-google-42038.html This is AI but it really caught my eye. Here you have Mikey Mouse, Goofy & Donald Duck wearing fancy Google suits and clothing. I am not sure what the cyber cab is doing in the background, but it is AI, so... Other Great Search Threads: - Not sure what this means... but Web Guide is now right at the top of the SERP, when it used to be under some other non-Web Guide content. Every search now has Web Guide results starting from the top of the SERP. Again, I don't know if that means something is happening with Web Guide https://x.com/glenngabe/status/2099946107602440210?s=46&t=9VuTI-rbvN3Kx7iAmNiszw , Glenn Gabe on X - Read the thread from @jason kint. Not a good look for OpenAI... Tough to even read some of the quotes. Eager to see how this all plays out. "Straight from OpenAI's Brockman and Microsoft's Nadella - 'doom loop' for the entire web \ as they vacuum up and substitute the work of jour… https://x.com/glenngabe/status/2100634327616770381 , Glenn Gabe on X - Pages get de-indexed by strange canonical content : r/bigseo https://www.reddit.com/r/bigseo/comments/1wimgy2/pages get deindexed by strange canonical content/ , Reddit - Critical metrics are going down, and I won't meet the end-of-year goals at this pace. I need your help. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/johnmu critical-metrics-are-going-down-and-i-wont-activity-7506288588255498240-KBDY/ , John Mueller on LinkedIn - I think this kind of thing is only testable like this "at the moment". There are a bunch of "everything llms.txt" sites out there now that try to check all domains for the llms.txt file and link to it from their site. So when a crawler sees their site, they see the links, and follow them. https://bsky.app/profile/johnmu.com/post/3mvqdmbyeuk2u , John Mueller on Bluesky - We’ll start to roll out Search profiles to new markets soon. Your Knowledge Panel is automatically generated using information from different sources across the web, including your Search profile, so it can’t be edited directly. That also means the bio in your Search profile https://x.com/rmstein/status/2100715239079903560 , Robby Stein on X Search Engine Land Stories: Other Great Search Stories: AI & LLMs - CC is an AI agent for families and groups https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/google-labs/cc-expanding-to-groups/ , Google Blog - Globally, More People Expect AI to Cause Job Loss Than Growth https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2026/09/17/globally-more-people-expect-ai-to-cause-job-loss-than-growth/ , Pew Research Center - Measurements for understanding the pace of AI development inside frontier labs https://www.anthropic.com/institute/measuring-pace-of-ai-development , Anthropic - OpenAI staff knew the ‘existential threat’ AI posed to publishers, New York Times claims https://www.ft.com/content/3df8edae-ae3b-4f56-83a3-40602edc17a3 , Financial Times Sub - AI Safety Debate Intensifies as Ng Dismisses Extinction Risk Concerns https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-17/ai-pioneer-andrew-ng-calls-extinction-fears-science-fiction , Bloomberg - Agent swarms, alignment, & recursive self-improvement https://www.dwarkesh.com/p/noam-brown , Noam Brown - ChatGPT for Word https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6825453-chatgpt-release-notes chatgpt-for-word , ChatGPT Release Notes Analytics - Cookie Consent Management in 2026: Why Your Banner Isn’t Enough And How to Check in 2 Minutes https://measureu.com/cookie-consent-management/ , MeasureU Industry & Business - Google Must Make Tech More Compatible With Rivals, Judge Rules https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/google-must-make-tech-compatible-rivals-judge-rules , The Information - Google’s ad tech remedies decoded https://digiday.com/media-buying/googles-ad-tech-remedies-decoded-what-changes-what-doesnt-and-what-will-take-years/ , Digiday - Google announces new agreement for first-of-a-kind green steel plant https://blog.google/company-news/outreach-and-initiatives/sustainability/google-stegra-green-steel/ , Google Blog - How Google is drafting AI chatbot laws around the country https://www.npr.org/2026/09/18/nx-s1-5968878/ai-chatbots-safety-regulation-google , NPR Links & Content Marketing - How To Get Great Content Without Asking Your SMEs To Write https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/content-marketing-strategy/content-subject-matter-experts , Content Marketing Institute Local & Maps - Google Maps on Android Auto Is Finally Getting the Most Basic Customization Feature https://www.autoevolution.com/news/google-maps-on-android-auto-is-finally-getting-the-most-basic-customization-feature-275697.html , Autoevolution - Tesla Just Gave Google Maps on Android Auto a Big Boost With Forecasted Supercharger Availability https://www.autoevolution.com/news/tesla-just-gave-google-maps-on-android-auto-a-big-boost-with-forecasted-supercharger-availability-275729.html , Autoevolution - Drive with “Forgotten Island” on Waze. https://blog.google/waze/waze-forgotten-island/ , Google Blog Other Search PPC - Search Ads & Holiday Planning: 2026 Strategies and Actions https://www.jumpfly.com/blog/search-ads-holiday-planning-2026-strategies-and-actions/ , JumpFly - Video Dubbing Tool Available in Asset Studio https://ppcnewsfeed.com/ppc-news/2026-09/video-dubbing-tool-available-asset-studio/ , PPC News Feed - Advertisers Still Make 1 in 10 Google Ads Changes by Hand: Findings From 72,358 Accounts https://www.optmyzr.com/blog/google-ads-manual-work-study/ , Optmyzr - Get your brand AI-ready for the holidays https://about.ads.microsoft.com/en/blog/post/september-2026/four-foundations-to-get-your-brand-ai-ready-for-the-holidays , Microsoft Advertising - Pinterest unveils Visual Search Ads and new Performance tools https://newsroom.pinterest.com/news/new-pinterest-visual-search-performance-ads/ , Pinterest Newsroom - Merchant Center Explains How to Update Product Videos Faster https://ppcnewsfeed.com/ppc-news/2026-09/merchant-center-explains-how-update-product-videos-faster/ , PPC News Feed - The end of Google Ads bid suppression era. https://smarter-ecommerce.com/blog/en/google-ads/google-ends-its-bid-suppression-era-what-it-means-for-your-roas/ , Smarter Ecommerce Search Features - Google Homepage tests new hover animation on + icon https://searchenginewatch.com/google-homepage-tests-new-hover-animation-on-icon/ , Search Engine Watch SEO - The SEO Bug Hiding Inside Perfectly Valid Hreflang Tags https://hackernoon.com/the-seo-bug-hiding-inside-perfectly-valid-hreflang-tags , HackerNoon - Google Site Wide Ranking Factors Decoded: Unmasking QualityNsrNsrData New Site Rank https://www.hobo-web.co.uk/google-site-wide-ranking-factors-decoded-unmasking-qualitynsrnsrdata-new-site-rank/ , Hobo - There Is No "Accuracy" in AI Search Tracking - Only Precision https://ipullrank.com/accuracy-vs-precision , iPullRank Feedback: Have feedback on this daily recap; 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