If you’ve had a busy Q3 and you need to catch up on some search essentials, we’ve compiled this roundup of the most important developments - presented as quick, digestible bullet points.

SEO

• Google's August and September 2026 Spam Updates: Google rolled out a spam update from August 18–21, followed by another beginning September 23. Both targeted spam policy violations globally, while Google's newly revealed SAFE system highlights its growing use of AI to identify manipulative content and coordinated spam networks. Read more
• Google AI Mode gets increasingly personal: Users can now connect Google Calendar to AI Mode, allowing search results to be tailored around personal preferences and schedules. As search becomes more individualised, traditional keyword rankings may become a less reliable measure of overall visibility. Read more
• AI Overviews push organic results further down: Google began displaying fully expanded AI Overviews as default for some searches, with prompts directing users into AI Mode. Read more 
• More business information is appearing directly in AI Overviews: Potentially reducing engagement with Google Business Profiles. Read more
• Google increasingly cites its own properties in AI Mode: Google.com became AI Mode's second-most cited domain, with citations increasing 8.4x between mid-April and June. Business Profiles and Product Knowledge Panels drove much of this growth, making accurate, optimised Google-owned listings increasingly important. Read more
• Cloudflare's AI crawler controls create SEO risks: New controls allow website owners to restrict AI crawlers by purpose, but misconfigurations can inadvertently block Googlebot and prevent content from being indexed. Businesses should review their settings carefully to avoid losing organic visibility.
• Google AI Mode expands automated search monitoring: AI Mode's information agents became available to all users, enabling automated monitoring of product availability, company announcements and other developments. Businesses with accessible, clearly structured content could benefit from this new discovery pathway. Read more

Paid Media

• Google Ads changes bidding for budget-limited campaigns (Aug 17): Google adjusted target-based bidding to pursue conversions closer to advertisers' specified CPA or ROAS targets, rather than prioritising only the cheapest opportunities. Advertisers should review their targets to maintain control over acquisition costs. Read more
• Google Ads expands AI Max automation: Campaigns using automatically created assets or campaign-level broad match settings were migrated to AI Max from September 1. Read more
• Microsoft Advertising rolls out AI Max globally: Microsoft's AI-powered search campaign features became available worldwide, introducing expanded query matching, automated ad copy and landing page selection. Advertisers should monitor traffic quality as automation takes on more campaign decisions. Read more
• Google Ads introduces tighter account security: Google began testing restrictions preventing users with personal email addresses from performing sensitive account actions, including access changes and account linking. Affected advertisers may need to use corporate email accounts for administration. Read more

Data & Analytics

• Google Search Console introduces multimodal search reporting: A new filter identifies pages receiving traffic from image-led searches, including Google Lens and Circle to Search. Although query-level data isn't provided, businesses can use these insights to understand and improve their visibility in visual search. Read more
• Google Ads introduces AI-powered dashboards: New dashboards are appearing in selected accounts, enabling advertisers to generate performance visualisations through natural language prompts. Read more
• Google Ads AI Max reporting consolidation: New consolidated reporting brings search queries, AI-generated creative and landing pages into one view, giving advertisers greater insight into automated campaign decisions. Read more
• Google Ads updates conversion measurement guidance: Updated documentation outlines a 7–14 day Smart Bidding learning period, warning that changes to budgets, targets or goals can reset optimisation. Advertisers should avoid unnecessary adjustments while campaigns are learning. Read more

Platform Updates

• Google introduces Tell Maps: Google's AI-powered Maps feature lets contributors submit local updates conversationally. While not yet available in the UK, it could make local search results more contextual and increase the importance of reputation monitoring. Read more
• Google tests LLM-powered search rankings: Google DeepMind is exploring Autoregressive Ranking (ARR), an experimental system designed to improve search relevance through deeper contextual understanding. Although not ready for deployment, it signals a continued shift towards semantic relevance and entity clarity. Read more
• Google tests paying publishers for AI-generated answers: Google's AI Contribution Pilot explores compensating publishers whose content helps generate responses in Gemini, AI Overviews and AI Mode. Payments are reportedly equivalent to roughly 0.1% of publishers' advertising revenue. Read more

Content Trends

• Self-serving listicles still influence AI Overviews: Google has not yet fully addressed self-serving listicles as a way of manipulating AI Overviews and other AI-generated summaries. Our advice is to avoid this tactic. Read more
• B2B content for influencing day zero decision-making: Where B2B businesses target buyers with group-decision-making processes, making the shortlist requires content that addresses each individual of the buying committee.

What we’re watching

• The increasing popularity of multimodal search: Google's new Search Console reporting for image-led searches, including Google Lens and Circle to Search, highlights the growing importance of discovery beyond typed queries. We'll be watching how visual search evolves and what it means for SEO strategy.
• The specificity of modern conversational search: Google reports that AI Mode queries are three times longer, on average, than traditional searches, reflecting a move towards more detailed, contextual questions. With AI search adoption growing, we're watching how this changes content discovery and user behaviour.
• AI agents taking search beyond the results page: Google's information agents can now monitor topics and surface relevant updates on a user's behalf. As these capabilities develop, businesses may need to optimise for AI systems researching, comparing and even buying on a user’s behalf. See our intro to agentic AI for more information.

TDMP insight

One of Q3's biggest challenges is how businesses measure the impact of AI-driven search. As users increasingly discover brands through AI Overviews, conversational responses and visual search, traditional metrics like keyword rankings and organic traffic are becoming less effective at capturing the full picture.

At TDMP, we're already adapting how we approach measurement, optimising and customising GA4 reporting to better understand traffic and engagement originating from AI search experiences. This means looking beyond visibility alone to understand how these emerging discovery channels contribute to meaningful website interactions and commercial outcomes.

As search continues to evolve, businesses will need a clearer understanding of where their audiences are finding them, how they're interacting with their content and which channels are genuinely driving value. That's the direction we're working towards.

Signals from Q3 2026 - Where Search is headed

Google's continued investment in AI Mode, multimodal search and information agents points means that many of the traditional visibility metrics and even search engine rank itself are becoming less meaningful.

Looking ahead to 2027, the challenge for businesses will be understanding where, how and why your brand is being discovered, and whether that visibility translates into measurable business results. Businesses that adapt their content, technical foundations and reporting to reflect these changes will be better positioned as search continues to evolve.

Need to optimise for the Search of today and tomorrow? Let’s talk.