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Lead DevelopmentFACT · 4/5•6 Oct '26•Via Horizont

Google's AI Search Ads Plans Revealed

Google is focusing its advertising efforts on AI Overviews and AI Mode rather than its Gemini app. Dan Taylor, VP Global Ads at Google, explains the new logic of AI search, emphasizing that ads must align more closely with users' answers. The article details how Google plans to integrate Search Ads into these AI-driven search features, signaling a shift in ad placement strategies.

•Google will not introduce ads in the Gemini app for now.
•Google focuses ads on AI Overviews and AI Mode.
•Dan Taylor, VP Global Ads, discussed AI search advertising plans at DMEXCO 2026.

Entities:Google

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FACT · 5/525 Sept '26· Via GrowByData

New Blog Posts: AI Search Visibility Gap Analysis and Healthcare Marketers Tracking

The blog page now features new articles published on September 25, 2026: 'AI Search Visibility Gap Analysis: When AI Cites You But Doesn't Name You' and 'What Healthcare Marketers Need to Track in 2026'. Additional new posts include 'The AI Search Visibility Landscape Is Bigger Than Your Competitor List' (Sept 24), 'Google Shopping MAP Violations: An Analysis of 617,958 Reseller-SKU Observations' (Sept 23), and 'Google's "What Customers Love" AI Summaries Are Adding a New Layer to Search Ads' (Sept 18).

GrowByData

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FACT · 4/515 Sept '26· Via techcrunch

AI search marketing startup Profound raises $180M Series D at $1.8B valuation

Profound, a marketing software startup that helps brands appear in AI search results, announced a $180 million Series D funding round at a $1.8 billion valuation, just seven months after its $96 million Series C. The round was co-led by Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins, with participation from existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, and South Park Commons. The company, which launched two years ago as an analytics platform, now focuses on generative engine optimization (GEO) and answer engine optimization (AEO), helping businesses understand how AI systems influence consumer brand discovery. Profound reports revenue growth of 3x in the past six months and serves over 1,000 enterprise customers, including Comcast, The Estée Lauder Companies, and Walmart. The funding will likely support expansion and product development in the rapidly growing AI search optimization space.

•Profound raised $180 million in Series D funding.
•The valuation is $1.8 billion, making Profound a unicorn.
•Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins co-led the round.

Profound Sequoia Capital Kleiner Perkins Lightspeed Venture Partners Khosla Ventures Comcast Estée Lauder Companies Walmart

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FACT · 4/53 Sept '26· Via https://martechseries.com/feed/

EU Classifies ChatGPT as Search Engine; Brands Need AI SEO/GEO Tools

On August 31, 2026, the European Commission formally designated ChatGPT a "Very Large Online Search Engine" under the Digital Services Act, placing it in the same regulatory category as Google and Bing. With over one billion weekly active users, ChatGPT's classification underscores the shift of product discovery toward AI-generated answers. Azoma, an Agentic Commerce Optimisation platform, released an analysis showing that each AI agent (ChatGPT, Gemini, Amazon Rufus, Walmart Sparky, etc.) cites different source mixes, meaning no single AI SEO or GEO strategy works everywhere. Brands are advised to adopt tools that offer prompt-level visibility tracking, citation-source analysis, competitive benchmarking, and optimization workflows for content and product data. Traditional SEO alone is insufficient because AI platforms produce synthesized recommendations before users visit brand sites. The EU decision legitimizes AI search, making AI SEO and GEO essential for brand visibility.

•European Commission designated ChatGPT a Very Large Online Search Engine on August 31, 2026 under the Digital Services Act.
•ChatGPT surpassed one billion weekly active users globally as of August 2026.
•Azoma analysis (Q2 2026) shows varying citation patterns: ChatGPT cites 41% earned media and 37% retailer, while Gemini cites 41% retailer and 37% earned media.

OpenAI Google Microsoft Amazon Walmart Perplexity

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FACT · 4/525 Aug '26· Via Digiday

AI search reduces advertisers' organic web traffic

Analysis of Brainlabs' Google Analytics data for 54 advertisers finds organic web sessions fell an average of 10.5% after Google’s AI "Overviews" became common, while sessions from AI platforms rose sharply. Although 46 of 54 clients saw declines (140.1M to 125.4M sessions), AI referrals produced higher-quality engagement: AI-driven key events rose 335% and the key-event conversion rate from AI referrals was 1.5x that of organic search. Impact varied by sector (fitness, fintech, insurance, CPG hit hardest; retail and beauty less affected). ChatGPT accounted for the largest share of AI referrals, according to referenced usage data.

•Brainlabs analyzed Google Analytics data for 54 clients and found overall sessions fell 10.5%, from 140.1 million to 125.4 million.
•46 of Brainlabs' 54 clients experienced a decline in organic web traffic after Google Overviews became common.
•Sessions from AI platforms increased by 163% over the measured timeframe while AI-driven key events rose 335%.

Brainlabs Ahrefs Google OpenAI Anthropic Perplexity Microsoft Sensor Tower

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FACT · 4/513 Aug '26· Via otterly.ai

Introducing Agent Analytics: A First Step Towards End-to-End AI Search Tracking

AI bots are already on your website. GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, OAI-SearchBot: they crawl your pages every single day to feed the answers ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google’s AI surfaces give to millions of users. And here’s the uncomfortable part: you almost certainly can’t see any of it. That’s why today I’m super excited to introduce …

Otterly.AI

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FACT · 4/57 Aug '26· Via techcrunch

Airbnb tests AI search, says AI speeds product delivery

Airbnb told investors that AI is accelerating its product development and is beginning tests of an AI-powered search feature. CEO Brian Chesky said AI has reduced time from concept to launch by up to 60% and increased shipped features by nearly 80% compared with the same six months a year earlier. The company uses AI across search, sign-up, checkout, payments and host onboarding, and has expanded an AI customer-support bot (launched in North America in 2025) to over 50 languages. About 45% of issues that start with the AI agent are resolved without human intervention, lowering support cost per booking by 16% year‑over‑year. Airbnb reported Q2 revenue of $3.6 billion (up 17% YoY) and adjusted EBITDA of $1.3 billion (up 21%).

•Airbnb said AI has reduced its time from concept to launch by as much as 60%.
•Compared to the same six months last year, Airbnb increased the number of features and improvements shipped this year by nearly 80%.
•Airbnb is beginning tests of an AI-powered search with an opt-in toggle supporting natural-language queries and more visual results.

Airbnb TechCrunch The Next Web Signal

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FACT · 4/55 Aug '26· Via Adweek

Publishers Pull Back from Google AI Search

Publishers and creators are reacting differently to the rise of AI-driven search: several publishers and publisher-facing services are preparing to block or delist crawlers used for search indexing and AI training, while some creators are leaning into AI search exposure. Beginning September 15, Cloudflare’s site-security software will default to blocking such crawlers for new publishers and free-tier users; publishers using Cloudflare include Financial Times, Condé Nast and The Atlantic. USA Today and creator network Beehiiv told Adweek they were preparing to delist Google. Google has been increasing AI investment even as its search and ads arm still grows; the company reported roughly $5.9 billion negative free cash flow. Studies cited show publishers receive a small share of AI-referral traffic, and companies including OpenAI and Microsoft are licensing publisher content or building publisher marketplaces.

•Beginning September 15, Cloudflare’s site security software will default to blocking crawlers that scrape for search indexing and AI training for new publishers and free-tier users.
•Publishers using Cloudflare named in the article include Financial Times, Condé Nast and The Atlantic.
•USA Today and creator network Beehiiv told Adweek they were preparing to delist Google.

Google Cloudflare Financial Times Condé Nast The Atlantic USA TODAY Co.beehiiv OpenAI News Corp Microsoft Insider Vox Media Reddit AP

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FACT · 4/55 Aug '26· Via techcrunch

Shopify: AI Search Boosts Traffic and Sales, Not Replacing Google

Shopify said AI-driven search is acting as a complement to traditional search and has materially increased traffic and orders for merchants. On its Q2 earnings call, President Harley Finkelstein said AI-referred traffic and orders to Shopify stores tripled year-over-year, and that traditional search remains a large and growing source of buyer traffic. Shopify reported Q2 revenue up 36% year-over-year to $3.6 billion and gross operating profit up 31% to $1.71 billion, beating analyst expectations. The company noted half of AI-referred sessions land directly on product pages (2.5x traditional search) and that 75% of AI-attributed purchases occurred outside its top 100 categories. Shopify also built connectors to multiple AI tools and agents to support merchant integrations.

•Shopify reported Q2 revenue of $3.6 billion, up 36% year-over-year.
•Gross operating profit rose 31% to $1.71 billion in Q2.
•Shopify said AI-driven traffic and orders to its stores tripled year-over-year in Q2.

Shopify Google OpenAI Anthropic Perplexity Manus AI Replit Vercel Lovable

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FACT · 4/530 Jul '26· Via AdExchanger

Reddit Q2 Beats Estimates, Investors Worry About AI Search

Reddit reported strong Q2 2026 results: total revenue of $805 million (up 61% year‑over‑year), advertising revenue of $762 million (up 64%), and net income of $253 million (up 183%). The company gave Q3 revenue guidance of $860–$870 million. Despite beating expectations, shares fell more than 10% after-hours as CEO Steve Huffman warned search referrals were “choppy” and traffic became more volatile later in the quarter; he nevertheless defended Reddit’s long-term growth plan and emphasized retention-focused product work. Executives and analysts signaled concern that AI-driven search summaries from major providers may be diverting logged-out referral traffic. Reddit said it is evaluating future licensing decisions after a 2024 data-licensing relationship with Google (roughly $60M/year), and U.S. daily active uniques slipped slightly to 53.2 million.

•Q2 2026 total revenue: $805 million, up 61% year‑over‑year.
•Q2 2026 advertising revenue: $762 million, up 64% year‑over‑year.
•Q2 2026 net income: $253 million, up 183%; Q3 revenue guidance: $860M–$870M.

Reddit Google OpenAI LightShed Partners

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FACT · 4/527 Jul '26· Via techcrunch

Google’s AI Search Becomes Default, Similarweb Data Shows

A new Similarweb analysis finds Google’s AI-generated answers (AI Overviews) have grown from appearing in 15% to 43% of searches in one year, shifting user behavior toward conversational, in-platform search. Visits to Google’s AI Mode rose from 126 million in June 2025 to 279 million by May 2026. The report shows a large increase in AI responses including citations, but publishers have seen referral traffic declines. Cloudflare has introduced tools that let publishers block AI crawlers or require payment for scraping. ChatGPT desktop queries still show relatively low citation rates (6.8% in the U.S. as of May 2026), though a May 7 update temporarily boosted referrals from ChatGPT to webpages in the U.S.

•Google's AI Overviews increased their presence in search results from 15% to 43% over one year (Similarweb data).
•Visits to Google's AI Mode rose from 126 million in June 2025 to 279 million by May 2026.
•The share of AI responses that include a citation rose more than fivefold during the past year (Similarweb report).

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FACT · 4/522 Jul '26· Via https://martech.org/feed/

Brands Risk Invisibility in AI Search

MarTech reports that AI-referred traffic to brand websites grew 632% in about ten months, but many brand sites are effectively invisible to AI answer engines because they serve empty HTML shells (client-side rendering) while most AI crawlers do not execute JavaScript. Experts from Contentsquare and Gartner recommend server-side rendering and adding machine-readable layers (transcripts, alt text, structured metadata) so AI agents can parse visual assets. The article highlights rising bot traffic and identity gaps on sites, cites Forrester and Imperva data about AI research and bot volumes, and notes Gartner’s projection that up to $15 trillion of B2B spend could flow through AI agent exchanges, urging cross-functional engineering-marketing action and measurement changes.

•AI-referred traffic to brand websites increased 632% in roughly 10 months, according to Contentsquare.
•Many brand websites use client-side rendering (an empty HTML shell filled by JavaScript), and most AI crawlers do not execute JavaScript, leaving those sites invisible to AI answer engines.
•Forrester data cited: 51% of software buyers now start research in an AI chatbot, up from 29% the previous year.

Contentsquare Gartner Cloudflare Forrester Google SEMrush

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FACT · 4/516 Jul '26· Via Adzine

AI search hits UK/US publishers: less inventory, higher eCPMs

A report based on Ozone's analysis of roughly 20 billion premium ad impressions finds that AI-powered search and zero-click answers are reducing referral traffic and programmatic ad supply on the Open Web. Ad requests in Q2 2026 fell year-over-year by about 32–37% in the US and 39–41% in the UK. Publishers are also deliberately filtering low-value bid requests, further shrinking available inventory. Despite lower volumes, average eCPMs rose (approximately 30% in the UK in June and ~7% in the US), partially offsetting revenue declines; overall programmatic spend in the examined publisher group fell ~31% in H1 2026. The shift is prompting publishers and buyers to prioritize inventory quality, first-party data, contextual signals, and attention metrics.

•Ozone analyzed roughly 20 billion ad impressions from premium publishers in the US and UK.
•Ad requests in Q2 2026 fell year-over-year by ~32–37% in the US and ~39–41% in the UK.
•Average eCPMs in June rose about 30% in the UK and about 7% in the US compared with the prior year.

Ozone Digiday ADZINE

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FACT · 4/514 Jul '26· Via DWDL

German media law applies to AI search and chatbots

The Commission for Supervision and Licensing of the State Media Authorities (ZAK) has issued its first rulings finding AI search engines and chatbots — including offerings from Google and Perplexity — are content providers subject to German media law. After commissioning a legal opinion and through proceedings led by Hamburg‑Schleswig Holstein (MA HSH) and Berlin‑Brandenburg (mabb), ZAK concluded AI‑generated answers constitute providers’ own content and therefore cannot benefit from the intermediary liability privilege under the EU Digital Services Act, meaning major services (including ChatGPT-style products) will face media‑law obligations and potential liability under German rules. The decisions require transparent disclosure of how links are selected and placed to preserve journalistic diversity and allow affected providers to seek legal remedies. Article published 2026-07-14.

•ZAK issued orders against AI offerings from Google and Perplexity, classifying AI search engines and chatbots as content providers under German media law.
•ZAK commissioned a legal opinion and concluded AI-generated answers are the providers' own content, so the DSA intermediary liability privilege does not apply.
•Proceedings were led by the Hamburg‑Schleswig Holstein (MA HSH) and Berlin‑Brandenburg (mabb) media authorities.

Google Perplexity die medienanstalten

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