Weekly SEO and Marketing Recap: Sept 05, 2026

Hey — Ali here 👋

Search Console finally shows AI impressions for every site — still no clicks. Google kept AdX and rewrote the auction rules instead.

LET’S GET STARTED →

Lead Story

Your AI Search Report Card Is Live. Clicks Still Missing.

As of 31 Aug, Google finished rolling Search Console’s generative AI performance report and the AI feature opt-out to every website worldwide. The phased launch that started in early June is done.

The report shows how often your URLs appear inside AI Overviews, AI Mode, and generative AI in Discover. Dimensions: impressions, pages, countries, devices (Search only), dates. No click data. No query data. AI impressions still sit inside overall Performance totals — this tab just carves out a view.

The toggle lets you block your site from grounding those AI surfaces. Sites that opt out will not get traffic or impressions from generative AI features. Google says it is not a ranking signal for classic web results. Main UK CMA control obligations kick harder from 3 Dec 2026; page-level opt-out is not required until 3 Mar 2027. Between now and December you hold a domain-wide switch and an impressions count you cannot price.

Do this: open Search Console → Performance → generative AI view. Screenshot top AI-impression URLs. Do not flip the opt-out until you know what those impressions are worth to you. Leaving it on keeps visibility you cannot yet monetize cleanly. Flipping it removes you from the surface Google is expanding fastest.

👉 Search Engine Land → · ppc.land → · SERoundtable →

🔍 SEO

Gemini 3.8 Flash Landed in AI Mode. Citations Got Thinner.

Robby Stein (VP Product, Google Search): Gemini 3.8 Flash is in AI Mode for Google AI Pro & Ultra subscribers worldwide. Tap (+) in the model menu. Same path as 3.7 Flash — paid first, free later.

Early operator feedback on SER (3 Sep): 3.8 Flash is less link / citation friendly than prior models. Gagan Ghotra tested top-of-funnel queries with no citations. Glenn Gabe posted more examples. Treat “being named” and “being linked” as different jobs this week.

👉 SEL → · SER →

GA Showed Zero Traffic on Sept. 1. Your Site Probably Did Not.

Widespread GA4 bug: many accounts showed no data for Tuesday 1 Sep (Dana DiTomaso also flagged Aug 31 processing). Google had not confirmed on the Ads publisher status page when SEL published. This is a reporting scare, not a traffic death. Cross-check Search Console and server logs before you rewrite a money page.

👉 Search Engine Land → · SER →

Ranking Recovery After a Spam Hit Can Take Many Months

John Mueller on Reddit: if your drop lines up with a broader spam update, fixing the issues can still take many months before you see the effects. Disavow processing is incremental — often 3–6 months, not weeks. August spam update completed 21 Aug. Measure from that date. Do not “refresh” a recovery after 10 days.

👉 Search Engine Journal →

Google News Tab Content Is Blinking In and Out

Publishers report URLs crawled, indexed, and in web results but missing from the News tab, then appearing much later. Barry replicated it as random. Not on the Search Status dashboard. If News is a channel for you, do not treat a blank News tab alone as a deindex.

👉 SERoundtable →

Search Status last updated 3 Sep 2026, 18:00 PDT: No incidents. Last closed ranking event is still the August spam update, complete 21 Aug 01:49 PDT.

💰 Media buying

Google Keeps AdX. First Look, Last Look, and Unified Pricing Go.

Judge Leonie Brinkema, 2 Sep (Eastern District of Virginia). Monopoly finding from April 2025 stands. No forced sale of AdX or DFP. Behavioral remedies instead: real-time AdX bids to rival ad servers, unified pricing rules deprecated (publishers can set different floors per bidder again), first look and last look banned on open-web display. Opinion sealed 14 days. Brussels still has a structural question open after a €2.95B fine.

Publisher / Ad Manager operators: expect auction mechanics to change, not a sudden AdX disappearance. Advertisers on open web: re-check path and floor strategy when floors per bidder return.

👉 ppc.land → · SEL → · SER →

FTC Says Amazon Charged Full Bids 79% of the Time

FTC + 22 states sued Amazon 31 Aug over an undisclosed soft reserve. Claim: advertisers paid their full bid 79% of the time; alleged $20B in surcharges across 1.2M advertisers. If you buy Amazon ads, screenshot bid vs clear price this week and keep the paper trail.

👉 ppc.land →

LSA Accounts Unlinked From Business Profiles Mid-Migration

1 Sep bug: Local Service Ads accounts detached from Google Business Profiles without advertiser action. Ginny Marvin confirmed a bug (not the migration itself). Parallel: LSA dashboard folding into a PMax-style flow inside Google Ads — 14 days notice before your migration date; historical impressions/clicks/spend do not transfer — export now. From 1 Oct 2026, Google starts charging for unanswered calls >20 seconds in business hours (key-press routing excepted).

👉 ppc.land context → · SER LSA bug →

Automated Promotion Assets Are Live in Google Ads

New automated promotion assets for Search and Performance Max with location assets. Audit what Google auto-attaches before a “50% off” you never approved hits a brand query.

👉 PPC News Feed →

AI Max auto-upgrade job is in flight (1–30 Sep). If a Search campaign still shows surprise STM / Text Customization flips, screenshot and decide keep vs kill Broad Match. Ads showing Under Re-Review (SER 3 Sep) = eligible but limited audience — check the breakdown before you pause.

📣 Affiliate marketing

YouTube Lets US Creators Tag Amazon Inside the Player

Eligible US creators in YPP + US Shopping affiliate, with Amazon Influencer or Associates linked, can tag Amazon products on Shorts, long-form, and livestreams. Not the full catalog. Catch: Amazon purchase reporting is aggregated — daily revenue/clicks/sales, not which video or SKU. Auto-tagging can mis-match; review in Studio.

👉 YouTube blog →

ShopMy Dedup Guidance Put Other Networks at Risk

archived ShopMy guidance told brands to prioritize ShopMy and cancel duplicates in the other network (~527 overlapping merchants via FMTC). Impact/Awin/Rakuten terms generally do not allow reversing solely because ShopMy also recorded the order. Current ShopMy docs say brands validate; archived page is gone. If you run on both ShopMy and a classic network, audit merchant dedupe rules before Q4.

👉 Affiverse →

X Money Becomes the Only US Creator Payout Rail

US creators on Original Content Rewards and subscriptions lose alternative cashout methods — X Money only. Last earn day on the old rev-share was 7 Sep; OCR opens 8 Sep. If you pay creators in X money, confirm wallets before Monday.

👉 Social Media Today →

🤖 AI

Google Expands Merchant Center AI Performance Insights

Merchant Center AI performance insights expanded past the US to Australia, Canada, India, and New Zealand (SER 3 Sep). Shopping advertisers in those geos: open the AI report next to the new Search Console AI tab and compare what each surface counts.

👉 SERoundtable →

📅 Event Spotlight — MIFF 2026

MENA INDUSTRIAL FUTURES FORUM — AL KHOBAR, SAUDI ARABIA

The industrial sector is moving toward smarter systems, stronger security and more sustainable operations — and MIFF 2026 brings together the people shaping that shift.

Taking place in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, the forum will bring together executives, technology providers and industry specialists from Oil & Gas, Energy, Utilities and Heavy Industries for two days of discussions, partnerships and business opportunities.

When: 06–07 October 2026
Where: Al Khobar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The event expects 1,000+ delegates, 50+ exhibitors, 30+ industry experts and 15+ strategic partnerships, making it a key meeting point for companies building the next generation of industrial solutions.

👉 Learn more → www.mifforum.com

👀 Worth Watching

X creator last earn day on the old rev-share is 7 Sep. Original Content Rewards open 8 Sep. US payouts move to X Money only.

Alcohol ads policy rewrite still lands 30 Sep (mixers in; 0% in Egypt/India/Indonesia needs special application — account risk).

PMA toolbar standard: vote window from 1 Sep; if it passes, effective 1 Jan 2027.

👉 Hello Partner →

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Get $99 USD off your first payment with code AFFMAVEN.

👉 Try SellerForge →

📰 From the AffNinja blog

9 Best Mobile Ad Networks 2026

Publisher-side mobile fill and eCPM lineup for anyone locking Q4 inventory — not a “which pop to scale” buyer piece. Pair it with Monday’s gaming networks post if you run both.

Also this week on the site: AdPlexity coupon codes and Multilogin pricing

👉 Mobile ad networks → · Conferences →

😂 Meme of the Week