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Daily Search Forum Recap: August 19, 2026 August 19, 2026
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today...
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
ChatGPT Ads Expanding To 31 European Countries August 19, 2026
OpenAI announced it is expanding its ChatGPT Ads service and product to 31 European countries. These countries include Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Austria.
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
Google: We Do Not Roll Out Updates Prior To The Announcement August 19, 2026
Google's John Mueller reiterated what Google has said numerous times already, that Google does not wait to announce the update. When Google begins rolling out the search update, whether a core or spam update, it will announce it shortly after it starts. Google does not wait a day or two to announce the update is […]
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
Google Search Video Carousel Showing Less Often August 19, 2026
Google seems to be showing the video carousel within Google Search a lot less often. Semrush had the video carousel showing up in Google Search at just over 30% of queries but now it is under 20% of the time. Some other data shows it dropping even worse.
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
Google Ads Bidding Option For Customer Retention Loyalty Program Members August 19, 2026
Google Ads is now letting you bid more using the customer retention option named "Loyalty program members." This gives you the option to (a) Bid higher for loyalty program members and (b) Show member benefits to loyalty program members in eligible countries.
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
Google Business Profiles Testing Revamped Q&A Feature August 19, 2026
Google seems to be testing a revamped and updated Q&A feature for Google Business Profiles (GBP). There is an added Q&A button in the GBP dashboard in Google Search and a flow that prompts you with yes or no responses for questions tailored to your business.
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
Google Trends Gains Explore Maps & Regional Breakdown August 19, 2026
Google Trends has added two new features this morning, explore maps and regional breakdown. Google said it "designed new interactive maps for clearer data storytelling...
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
Google Analytics Real Time Outage Seems To Be Resolving August 19, 2026
Google Analytics seems to have had an outage starting at about 4 am ET this morning. The real-time analytics report within Google Analytics was not showing users all of the data. The issue now seems to be resolving a couple of hours later.
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
Google August 2026 Spam Update Has Been Unleashed August 18, 2026
Google has just announced the release of the August 2026 spam update and said it should only take a few days to roll out. This is a global update and is expected to impact all languages. This only impacts sites that spam, but with any update, there may be collateral damage.
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
Daily Search Forum Recap: August 18, 2026 August 18, 2026
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today...
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
You Can Now Edit Your Handle On Google Search Profiles August 18, 2026
As expected, Google is now enabling those with Google Search Profiles to edit their handle, their short name. This is available by going to your Google Search Profile, click Edit profile and then next to your @handle, click Edit.
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
Bing Related Searches For With Underline Hyperlink August 18, 2026
Bing is testing underlining and maybe hyperlinking the word in the related searches for section of the search results. Normally, that section is not underlined, but for some reason, Bing is testing underlining the query.
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
ChatGPT Ads Switching Advertisers On Load August 18, 2026
Sometimes when you look at the ads within OpenAI's ChatGPT, you might notice an ad from one advertiser first loads and then it quickly blinks and loads a different advertiser. I suspect this is a bit of a deficiency with the ad server, but I am not certain.
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
Google AdSense Will Stop Euro-Denominated Check Payments August 7 August 18, 2026
Google is dropping support for Euro-denominated check payments for AdSense publishers after August 7, 2026. Google wrote this as a note in this document saying, "Effective August 7, 2026, Google will no longer support Euro-denominated check payments. If you're receiving payments via USD-denominated checks, you can continue to do so."
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)
Google Search Will Eventually Support HTTP QUERY Method August 18, 2026
Gary Illyes from Google said Google Search will eventually support the new HTTP QUERY method. He said as the "ecosystem catches up" Google will then support the HTTP QUERY method.
barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz)