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 Ads is rolling out Conversion Value Bidding for Standard Shopping campaigns. Google Merchant Center for Agencies has new security roles. Google Ads API will disallow the creation of Smart Campaigns on August 3rd. Google Ads hosted leads form went live for some. Google Business Profiles added and removed a new messaging feature. And I posted the weekly SEO video recap, covering the June 2026 spam update.

• New: Google Ads Maximize Conversion Value Bidding For Standard Shopping
  Google Ads seems to be rolling out Maximize Conversion Value bidding within Standard Shopping campaigns. You might see under the Budget and bidding optimization setting for your Standard Shopping campaigns, the bid option for "Maximize conversion value."
• Google Merchant Center For Agencies New Security Controls
  Google announced new security controls for Merchant Center for Agencies, specifically around user access controls for admins and standard roles. Ginny Marvin, the Google Ads Liaison, said that these changes are "to help streamline workflows and improve security."
• Google Ads API To Disallow Creation Of Smart Campaigns After August 3
  The Google Ads API will stop allowing advertisers to create Smart Campaigns on August 3, 2026. Google has been transitioning from Smart Campaigns to Performance Max campaigns for years now.
• Google Business Profiles Adds Message Button With AI Agent
  Google has added the messages button back to the Google Business Profile dashboard within Google Search. Google use to have a feature like this but I believe removed it but now it is possibly coming back.
• Google Ads Hosted Forms Leads Form Now Live
  Earlier this month, we covered Google's announcement of the Google-hosted lead form. Well, now it is going live for some advertisers in their Google Ads advertiser accounts.
• German Google Chairs
  What are these chairs? I spotted them at the Google Germany office from a photo uploaded to Instagram. Any ideas?
• Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google June 2026 Spam Update Hits Hard, Google Ads Strength Match Labels, AI Reporting Access & More
  This week, Google released the June 2026 spam update, Google said it was a normal spam update but it does feel like this one started a bit earlier and was a big one. Yes, we covered on Sunday what we thought...

• 25 AEO, GEO, LLM SEO facts (to stop you from wasting money on something that doesn’t work) 1. AI visibility can refer to mentions or citations. (Mentions = being named by AI in the answer, citations = being linked). 2. SEO directly influences AI citations. Want to show up, Harpreet on X
• Just need to unseat Google and become the #1 search engine by November so I’ll have time to play, Michael Schechter on X
• The top 10 websites in the world in search traffic, May 2026, Similarweb on X
• I expect most principles will remain the same. A website that's useful for users, will generally also be useful for agentic browsers. Some details will undoubtedly evolve (and new basics - such as ... not blindly blocking agentic browsers ... will come into play), but in the end, it's still users., John Mueller on Bluesky
• You can only specify one x-default, but you can specify the same page for multiple country / language versions (or even use the same page as the x-default)., John Mueller on Bluesky
• (61) Are we spending too much time creating new content?, BlackHatWorld

• Google gives Demand Gen new AI creative and reporting tools
• Google Ads API v24.2 adds AI transparency, stronger security and new reporting
• Google introduces new Merchant Center agency roles
• Your AI salesforce is already selling your brand. The question is who trained it.
• How to win competitor traffic with Demand Gen and negative-intent conquesting
• How to use Google query expansion to improve content visibility
• What if you were held accountable for your AI slop?

AI & LLMs

• How ChatGPT Actually Picks Sources (I Read the Network Traffic, Not the Outputs), Suganthan
• Chinese A.I. Models Gain Ground on Anthropic and OpenAI, New York Times
• Read our white paper on a pragmatic approach to AI governance in America., Google Blog
• Watch for misleading AI data, the biggest PR win in search, and GEO is volatile, Content Caffeine #69
• Codex Remote GA and DigitalOcean plugin, ChatGPT Release Notes

Industry & Business

• Anthropic Veterans’ Startup Seeks to Help Scientists Develop Their Own AI, Wall Street Journal
• Google Must Disclose DOJ Probe Docs In £14B Class Action, Law360
• Google Revamps New AI Coding Strike Team Amid Struggle to Catch Up With Anthropic, The Information
• Google Strikes Tough Negotiating Stance With Publishers on AI Licensing, The Information
• Trump Administration Asks OpenAI to Stagger Release of New Model Over Security Concerns, The Information
• California State Government Launches AI Job Loss Tracker as Layoff Fears Grow, Bloomberg
• OpenAI, Microsoft Sued by Publishers for Scraping Articles, Bloomberg Law News
• Apple Is Paying Google $1 Billion a Year for AI. Here's Who the Real Winner Is., The Motley Fool

Links & Content Marketing

• 8 Behavioral Science Tactics To Convert More Customers, Content Marketing Institute
• AI Link Building: The Signal AI Search Engines Care About Most, The Upper Ranks
• Keeping Data-Driven Content Fresh Was a Monthly Slog. So We Taught an Agent to Do It., Ahrefs
• I rebuilt our content update pipeline in Claude Code. Here‘s why., Semrush

Local & Maps

• Apple Maps Ads Are Coming: What Advertisers Need to Know, Brainlabs
• EP 262 - The $300 Billion Review Fraud Problem (And How the FTC is Fighting It), Near Media
• Our Best Local SEO Tips to Rank Higher in 2026, WordStream
• 23 Local Developments You Need to Know About From Q2 2026, Whitespark

Other Search

• I finally made Google News useful by ignoring half of it, Android Police
• Google Play updates let U.K. developers do more and pay less., Google Blog
• 100 things to try with your Gemini for Home voice assistant, Google Blog
• DuckDuckGo's AI Feature Is Telling Users That Trump Died of Rabies Earlier This Month, Futurism
• Google Finance updates: New app, portfolios, Google Blog
• Study notebooks in the Gemini app, Google Blog

PPC

• Google Ads Updates Custom Labels. Now Available for Demand Gen Campaigns, feedarmy.com
• What's So Hard About Google Ads Anyway?, Group Twenty Seven
• Boost Demand Gen campaign performance with June’s Drop, Google Blog

Search Features

• Google’s World Cup counterattack highlights shift in search market, Digiday
• How we're updating the YouTube Shorts experience, YouTube Blog

SEO

• Stop Measuring AI Search Like SEO: Here’s What To Track Instead, Moz
• The Problem With Using AI for SEO/GEO Advice, Jenny Munn
• The Impact of Schema on AI Search Performance, seoClarity
• The Parrot Problem: Why AI Search has a second dimension marketers can’t ignore, Profound
• Search Console Data Always Breaks Around Algorithm Updates - Here's the Proof, Vijay Chauhan
• Stop writing blog posts and calling it SEO, Product Led SEO

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