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Google Search On PDFs: Conversion, Links, HTML, Ranking, Limits, Crawling... October 13, 2026
Google's Martin Splitt and John Mueller just posted a Search Off the Record podcast on the topic of PDFs, it is named PDFs in Search: Indexing, AI & Pitfalls. It goes over how PDFs are converted for crawling and indexing, how Google processes links, images, what are the file limits and do they rank in […]
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
Gemini 4 Argon In Google Search Via AI Mode October 13, 2026
Google announced Gemini 4 Argon a couple of weeks ago and today announced that it is now an option in Google Search via AI Mode for Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers globally.
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
Topics Portfolio In Bing Webmaster Tools AI Reports October 13, 2026
Microsoft Bing just announced a new addition to the AI performance reports in Bing Webmaster Tools named Topics Portfolio. Topics Portfolio shows you the "presence is distributed across themes, how much demand each theme represents, how competitive each theme is and where your site has room to grow."
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
Daily Search Forum Recap: October 13, 2026 October 13, 2026
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today...
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
Google Search Showing Sites Old Domain Fourth Months After Domain Move? October 13, 2026
I spotted a thread on Reddit that seemed off from an SEO perspective. A site owner said he switched to a new domain four months ago, Google indexed and served the new domain but then all of a sudden, Google started to show the old domain again four months after the migration.
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
Google May Show Pharmaceutical & Drug Ads In AI Mode & AI Overviews October 13, 2026
Google may show "certain pharmaceutical products" and pharmaceutical drugs within ads in AI Mode and AI Overviews. A Google spokesperson told Adweek it has "recently expanded to include certain pharmaceutical products" within these surfaces.
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
Google Discover To Transform Into Hyper-Personalized Concierge October 13, 2026
Google posted a new job posting to hire a Principal, UX, Search Discover who will lead efforts to transform Google Discover into a "proactive, hyper-personalized concierge experience."
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
Google Merchant Center Videos Stuck In Preview Processing October 13, 2026
There are reports of an error in Google Merchant Center with video uploads getting stuck in the "preview processing" status. This causes the videos to look static both in your product listings in Google Search and other surfaces.
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
Google Search Console Performance Report Date Picker Not Working October 13, 2026
The date picker in the performance reports in Google Search Console seems to be currently broken. The end date seems to be stuck in 1969 and when I try to change it, it says "Date can't be after 1969-12-31."
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
New Google Local Dietary Attributes: Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Halal & Kosher October 13, 2026
Google is rolling out new dietary attributes for local restaurants within Google Business Profiles. Google added gluten-free, dairy-free, halal and kosher attributes, in addition to vegetarian and vegan attributes that were already there.
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
Google Ads Data Strength Best Practices Updated October 13, 2026
Google has revamped its Data Strength Best Practices help document with much greater emphasis on sending more first-party data and identifiers, using Data Manager correctly, adopting AI-powered campaigns, and supporting its recommendations with performance statistics. It is a big update to the document.
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
The Industry Mourns The Loss Of Nick Wilsdon - Loved By Industry October 12, 2026
I am sad to report that Nick Wilsdon has passed away yesterday, October 11, 2026. Nick Wilsdon has been in the SEO industry for over two decades and was a close friend to many in the search marketing industry.
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
Daily Search Forum Recap: October 12, 2026 October 12, 2026
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today...
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
Third-Party Google Rank Tracking Struggling Now October 12, 2026
Google seems to be successfully blocking enough of the attempts of scrapers from trying to scrape data from its search results page over the past few weeks than it has in a long time. We reported this a few weeks ago, and I am surprised to see that many tools still struggle with Google Search […]
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
Google Ads Tests Using Google AI For Goals & Assets October 12, 2026
Google is testing using AI to come up with suggested goals and assets for your Google Ads campaigns. Google has confirmed this is a current test.
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)