Google updates, AI search changes and search industry data, tracked daily by the Keywords Everywhere team.
Every confirmed core and spam update: live rollout status, full history back to Panda, and what each one means.
Updated 7th Jul 2026Where Google's AI answers show up, how often, what they do to clicks, and every major change since launch.
Updated 7th Jul 2026Google's conversational AI search: availability by country and platform, feature rollouts, and what it means for traffic.
Updated 9th Jul 2026In a letter to the French press, Google committed to launching AI Mode and AI Overviews in France by September 23, 2026, with a publisher opt-out, AI-traffic transparency and neighboring-rights compensation.
Google's second spam update of 2026 completed in 2 days 1 hour. Google called it a normal spam update, not targeted at link spam or site reputation abuse.
The first Search agent from I/O 2026 has shipped: information agents watch a topic around the clock and send updates with links when something new appears. Ultra subscribers only at launch, in every AI Mode language and market, with AI Pro to follow this summer.
After a Chrome Canary flag routed address-bar searches to AI Mode, Google Search VP Rajan Patel called it an error and said Google does not plan to make AI Mode the default for Chrome search.
The CMA ordered Google to let publishers opt out of AI Overviews, AI Mode and Discover without losing search rankings, the first binding remedy anywhere. A Munich court separately ruled Google directly liable for false AIO claims.
Search Console's new Generative AI performance reports show impressions for AI Overviews, AI Mode and Discover AI, rolling out UK-first, alongside a new control to block content from Google's AI features.
The second core update of 2026 finished on June 2 after 11 days 21 hours, with trackers reporting heavy ranking volatility around May 23, May 30 and the final day.
Google merged AI Overviews and AI Mode into a single integrated search experience worldwide, with Gemini 3.5 Flash as the default model and a redesigned AI search box.
A year after US general availability, AI Mode passed 1 billion monthly users with queries more than doubling every quarter; Gemini 3.5 Flash became the global default and AI Mode merged with AI Overviews into one flow.
Seer Interactive's 5.47 million query dataset shows organic CTR on searches with an AI Overview recovering from 1.3% in December 2025 to 2.4% in February 2026, and brands cited inside an AIO earning about 120% more clicks per impression.
The first classic core update of 2026 finished April 8 after 12 days 4 hours. During the rollout John Mueller confirmed core updates can deploy step by step rather than all at once.
Google expanded Search Live, the voice and camera conversation mode, from the US and India to every AI Mode country and language, running on Gemini 3.1 Flash Live.
The fastest rollout ever documented on the Search Status Dashboard: begun March 24, complete March 25, 19 hours 30 minutes end to end.
Canvas, AI Mode's side-panel workspace for writing, coding and app-building, left Search Labs and became available to all US users, powered by Gemini 3.
Across nine industries, BrightEdge measured AI Overviews on roughly 48% of tracked queries, up 58% year over year, with healthcare at 88% and education at 83%.
Google shipped a core update specifically for Discover, a first, aimed at improving feed quality for US English users, with wider expansion promised later.
Google added 53 languages to AI Mode in one release, bringing it to just under 100 languages and roughly a billion more people.
The EPC filed a formal EU antitrust complaint against Google over AI Overviews and AI Mode, the second publisher complaint after the Independent Publishers Alliance and alongside the Commission's open Article 102 investigation.
Ahrefs' updated study of December 2025 data finds the top organic result loses 58% of its clicks when an AI Overview is present, up from 34.5% a year earlier; the same day Alphabet reaffirmed 2 billion plus monthly AIO users.
Alphabet's Q4 2025 earnings said daily AI Mode queries per US user doubled since launch, queries run about three times longer than traditional searches, and roughly 1 in 6 are voice or image.
Google made Gemini 3 the default model behind AI Overviews globally and added a mobile handoff that carries an overview into an AI Mode conversation with full context.
A new mobile handoff carries an AI Overview answer into an AI Mode conversation with context, which Google framed as one fluid experience across the two surfaces.
An opt-in Personal Intelligence setting lets AI Mode draw on a user's Gmail and Photos for tailored answers, launching for US English Pro and Ultra subscribers first.
Google removed or restricted AI Overviews on some health queries after a Guardian investigation found misleading and potentially harmful medical advice, repeating its May 2024 quality playbook.
The third and final core update of 2025 completed on December 29 after just over 18 days.
Google expanded ads inside AI Overviews beyond the US to 11 more countries including Australia, Canada, India, Indonesia and Singapore, for English-language queries.
Gemini 3 Flash became the default AI Mode model globally, and Gemini 3 Pro opened to everyone in the US through the Thinking with 3 Pro picker.
Semrush's refreshed study of more than 10 million keywords charts AI Overview prevalence rising from 6.49% in January 2025 to a 24.61% July peak, then easing to 15.69% by November 2025.
The European Commission opened a formal abuse-of-dominance investigation into whether Google builds AI Overviews and AI Mode on publisher and YouTube content without fair compensation or a real way to refuse.
Google expanded Gemini 3 Pro in AI Mode to nearly 120 countries and territories in English for AI Pro and Ultra subscribers, two weeks after its US debut.
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