This week, we covered the first core update of 2026, the February 2026 Discover core update. Meanwhile, there is an ongoing super-heated and volatile Google search rankings. Google has nothing to share about the recent unconfirmed ranking updates. Google said its search algorithms, spam detection, spam policies did not fundamentally change with AI Search. Google spoke about its top crawling challenges in 2025. Google posts more details on its file limits for Googlebot crawling. I posted the monthly Google webmaster report in February. Bing announced the global roll out of what it calls multi-turn search. ChatGPT readies its ads with ad code in the results. Google is showing a lot of ads in the local pack now. Mike Ryan did a report on invalid clicks across the Google Ad Network. Google Ads is replacing its contact support form with an AI agent. Google Ads has a new multi-party approval process for enhanced security. Google AdSense has new reporting for browser, hosting app and operating system breakdowns. OpenAI prepared ads in ChatGPT with ad code. Microsoft Advertising tests magazine answer card formats. Microsoft announced the Publisher Content Marketplace for compensating publishers for the use of its content in AI. Plus, Google announced earnings, it was its biggest quarter yet. That was the search news this week at the Search Engine Roundtable.
Sponsor: BruceClay one of the founding fathers of the SEO space, doing search marketing optimization since 1996. Bruce Clay is big into SEO training, check out seotraining.com to learn more and check them out at bruceclay.com. Also, check out their new product, Prewriter.ai – this tool empowers writers to write better and more efficiently, so check it out.
Make sure to subscribe to our video feed or subscribe directly on iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or your favorite podcast player to be notified of these updates and download the video in the background. Here is the YouTube version of the feed. For the original iTunes version, click here.
Search Topics of Discussion:
- 0:00 – Introduction
- 0:57 – February 2026 Google Discover Core Update Rolling Out – Local Impact
- 3:02 – Google Search Ranking Volatility Heats Up Big Time Starting On February 2nd
- 3:22 – Google Hit Self-Promotional Listicles In Recent Unconfirmed Updates?
- 4:13 – Google On Recent Google Search Ranking Volatility – No Insights To Share
- 4:40 – Google: Search Algorithms, Spam Detections & Policies Don’t Fundamentally Change With AI Search
- 5:22 – Google’s Top Crawling Challenges In 2025
- 5:47 – Google AI Overviews Bug Removes Links & Citations
- 6:21 – Googlebot File Limit Is 15MB But 64MB For PDF & 2MB For Other File Types
- 6:58 – February 2026 Google Webmaster Report
- 7:12 – Bing Multi-Turn Search Rolls Out Worldwide
- 7:47 – Bing Unshipping Frankenstein Recipes In Search
- 8:18 – ChatGPT With Top Stories & More Visual Knowledge Panels
- 8:34 – Google Vastly Increases Local Pack Ads Placement
- 9:03 – Google Ad Network Invalid Clicks Report: Fraud vs Accidental
- 9:33 – Google Ads Replacing Support Form With AI Agent
- 10:06 – Google Ads Multi-Party Approval Aims To Stop Hijacking Ads Accounts
- 10:45 – Google AdSense Reports Gain Browser, Hosting App & Operating System
- 11:05 – OpenAI Prepares ChatGPT Code To Allow Ads?
- 11:23 – Microsoft Advertising Tests Magazine Answer Card Ad Format
- 11:54 – Microsoft Publisher Content Marketplace – Pay For AI To License Content
- 12:11 – Google Ad Revenue Up 14% – Google’s Biggest Revenue & Ad Revenue Yet
- 12:40 – Conclusion
Please do subscribe on YouTube or subscribe via iTunes or on your favorite RSS reader. Don’t forget to comment below with the right answer and good luck!
The content at the Search Engine Roundtable are the sole opinion of the authors and in no way reflect views of RustyBrick ®, Inc
Copyright © 1994-2026 RustyBrick ®, Inc. Web Development All Rights Reserved.
This work by Search Engine Roundtable is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License. Creative Commons License and YouTube videos under YouTube’s ToS.
