Wednesday, September 16, 2026

Google published guidance for Search profile badges as the platform shifts toward following creators and publishers.

Meta rolled out no-code tooling for WhatsApp Business users to deploy third-party AI agents.

Google released a Search profile badge that site owners can embed to let visitors follow them directly from their website.

Ahrefs tracked 963 domains after AI Overviews rolled out in France and found the most-exposed sites lost 23.1% of click-through rate within nine days.

Google made Search Profiles available to U.S. creators and websites with 10,000 followers, down from an earlier threshold.

Google simplified Search Profiles with a new article design, unified login system for managing multiple profiles, and lowered the follower threshold to 10,000.

Google reduced Search profile eligibility from 100,000 to 10,000 followers and added multi-account login and design improvements.

OpenAI is testing a new ad format in ChatGPT that launches a sponsored business agent when users click an ad.

MIT, Anthropic, and OpenAI issued similar warnings about evidence and documentation within five days, signaling a shift in how SEOs should approach content strategy.

Google is expanding AI shopping tools including performance measurement, YouTube ad agents, and improved commerce protocols ahead of holiday shopping.

HubSpot unveiled a major platform redesign centered on AI agents that coordinate specialized tasks based on business context rather than requiring users to select individual tools.

Google made AI performance insights generally available in Merchant Center and eased Universal Commerce Protocol integration.

Traditional Google search and SEO remain the dominant revenue driver for ecommerce stores, but AI Overviews are expanding rapidly in shopping queries and may be cannibalizing organic click-through rates.

Google Images now uses AI to suggest new collections and folders for saving photos, marked with a Gemini icon.

Google is testing direct links from product listings to merchant sites instead of opening an in-SERP side panel.

Google published new help documentation for its multi-source conversions beta feature in Google Ads.

Bing is testing left-sidebar shopping filters in its search results to align more closely with Google's interface.

Google's John Mueller indicated that Search Console's position and impression metrics for AI mode, AI Overviews, and standard search will evolve alongside those features themselves.

Google AI researcher Jeff Dean discusses the design decisions and philosophy behind Gemini's development.

Google Search Central is hosting a three-day deep-dive conference in Barcelona from September 30 to October 2, 2026.