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THE WEEKLY ROUNDUP
2 OCTOBER 2026 · ISSUE 01

Radu Tyrsina

Good to be back
in your inbox.

Hi, I’m Radu, Search Engine Watch’s new owner and publisher. We’re bringing this newsletter back with the search and AI stories worth your time. And I’d love you to join us for what comes next.

Radu Tyrsina

Owner & Publisher, Search Engine Watch

COMING THIS OCTOBER · FREE ONLINE SERIES

Answer Engine Strategies

Let’s talk about what’s working in AI search.

I’m bringing together people doing the work to share what they’ve tried, what’s delivered results and what hasn’t.

Real examples, research and time for your questions. No sales pitches.

We’re aiming for October 27.
Date and speakers to be confirmed.

Keep me posted →

Free to attend. We’ll email you when the details are ready.

Google beats Rolling Stone publisher’s lawsuit over AI search

TOP STORY

Google beats Rolling Stone publisher’s lawsuit over AI search

A US judge dismissed Penske Media and Chegg’s lawsuits over Google’s use of their content in AI search. Wanting search traffic, the court said, doesn’t prove Google forced a content deal.

Read the full story →

FEATURED GUIDES

7 free AI SEO optimization techniques I recommend after testing them for 50 clients

7 free AI SEO optimization techniques I recommend after testing them for 50 clients

How to improve your visibility in Google AI Overviews, AI Mode and ChatGPT Search, starting with the pages you control, with worked examples and a practical order of effort. Read More

22 black hat SEO techniques to avoid, ranked by potential damage

22 black hat SEO techniques to avoid, ranked by potential damage

Mass-produced content, manufactured links and deceptive pages can leave a business with a far bigger cleanup job than its SEO budget. What to recognise, what the consequences mean, and what to do instead. Read More

AI SEO tools for small business: 3 free options I’d start with

AI SEO tools for small business: 3 free options I’d start with

Thousands of new companies claim to do AI SEO for you, but we believe these 3 free tools are a good start: Google Search Console, Microsoft Clarity and Bing Webmaster Tools. Read More

ALSO THIS WEEK

Publishers want Congress to stop AI bots pretending to be human

Publishers want Congress to stop AI bots pretending to be human

More than 300 publishing executives were set to lobby for the Stealth Bot Prohibition Act, which would make AI crawlers say who they are and what they do with your content. Read More

AI shopping answers keep sending customers to the big chains, study finds

AI shopping answers keep sending customers to the big chains, study finds

A study of about 460,000 ChatGPT and Google AI answers found small stores often show up in the sources, but rarely become the first recommendation. Read More

Google removes useful EU search features, then asks Europeans to blame Brussels

Google removes useful EU search features, then asks Europeans to blame Brussels

Search chief Nick Fox blames the Digital Markets Act for Europe losing price checks and hotel-date filters. Google’s own documentation shows comparison sites can still get richer results. Read More

Google, Booking.com and Expedia unveil a draft rulebook for AI hotel bookings

Google, Booking.com and Expedia unveil a draft rulebook for AI hotel bookings

The Universal Commerce Protocol’s first lodging draft sets out how AI assistants should handle reservations, while contributors flag duplicate bookings and cancellation terms. Read More

Google tells publishers to check AI’s facts before hitting publish

Google tells publishers to check AI’s facts before hitting publish

Google’s updated guidance on AI-generated content now tells site owners to fact-check every piece by hand before it goes live. Read More

QUICK HITS

Shopify opens checkout to AI shopping agents

AI assistants can now place orders once the buyer approves, with no setup needed from merchants.

Google AI Mode now showing more blog carousels

Sites that publish regularly get another way to show up inside AI Mode answers.

Google unveils a faster way to power query fan-out

Google’s R4T framework ran 12 to 20 times faster in tests.

Google Maps now requires sign-in to read more reviews

Reading or sorting more reviews now asks you to sign in, possibly to stop AI tools and bots scraping them.

That’s the week. Know someone who’d find this useful? Forward it on.

Radu and the Search Engine Watch team

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