Google Adds Built-In Character Counter Widget to AI Overviews

SERoundtable recaps the week's search industry updates including Google's PHP exploit guidance, continued ranking volatility, and platform announcements.

Google is rolling out information agents and a Universal Cart feature that expand how products and information are discovered and purchased directly within Search.

Ahrefs reports that Google serves abnormal or outdated pages to SEO data tools at rates between 5% and 20%, depending on the provider.

Publishers are coordinating across the US and EU to push for legislation requiring AI bots to identify themselves as a defense against scraping.