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15 articles
A first-month SEO log for a small site in English, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. Google started showing it in search; Bing had read the sitemap and still hadn't crawled the homepage. What we set up on day one, what the early data showed, why Google shows a globe instead of our favicon, where the first links came from, and what we chose not to do.
Google Images just got its biggest redesign in 25 years, replacing the empty search box with a personalized, continuously updated visual discovery feed. For e-commerce sellers, product image exposure shifts from query-driven to feed-driven. This article covers what changed, a practical image SEO checklist, and why the new Collections feature is a purchase intent signal worth paying attention to.
Google's second spam update of 2026 rolled out June 24 to 26. Volatility trackers spiked harder than usual for a spam update, some sites reported organic drops above 25%, and per Search Engine Land the updated spam policies now cover manipulation of AI-generated search responses. How to tell a spam hit from a core update hit, and what recovery actually looks like.
Google added generative AI performance reports to Search Console on June 3 and shipped an opt-out toggle on June 17 that blocks your content from AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Discover AI. Here is what impressions-only data can actually tell you, how to pair it with GA4 referral tracking, and why most e-commerce sellers should leave the toggle alone.
June 2026 Google core update with AI Mode fully live: AI Overviews now cover 48% of queries (up 58% YoY), yet cited sites see 35% CTR lift. But ecommerce buy/best/review queries only trigger AI Overviews 3-4% of the time. Traffic impact breakdown by query type with structured data fix checklist.
You don't need to pay for a technical SEO audit. Google Search Console and Ahrefs Webmaster Tools are free, and Screaming Frog is free up to 500 URLs. This builds the crawl-index-analytics stack from free and low-cost tools, then shows the scale where Sitebulb's reporting earns its price and when Plausible beats GA4.
The May 21 core update is the second of 2026, and early trackers flag e-commerce as a high-volatility category. It landed right after the I/O Search redesign, with AI Overviews and AI Mode both expanding. Here's how to tell if you were hit and how long to wait before reacting.
At I/O 2026 Google shipped its biggest search box redesign in 25 years — it takes text, images, files, video, even Chrome tabs — and launched always-on Search Agents. AI Mode now has 1B+ monthly users. For e-commerce, product imagery, video, and structured feeds now directly decide whether you get found.
On May 15, 2026, Google released its first official AI Optimization Guide and stated plainly: schema markup is not required for AI Overviews. Two years of GEO vendor pitches just got contradicted. What actually decides citation now?
Google's Preferred Sources feature lets users designate trusted websites for AI answers. For ecommerce brands, earning that designation means higher visibility in AI Overviews and AI Mode — a new trust signal that works differently from traditional SEO rankings.
After Google's March 2026 core update, schema markup shifted from a SERP display trigger to an AI citation trust signal. Products with complete structured data — GTIN, attributes, shipping details, return policy — appear in AI-generated answers at 2.5x the rate of products with basic schema.
Google's April core update significantly increased the weight of user engagement signals — dwell time, scroll depth, return visits. 52% of e-commerce sites historically impacted by core updates. E-E-A-T now covers all comparative searches. Here's what to check.
Google's March core update started rolling out March 27 and hit affiliate sites with a 71% average traffic drop, while sites with original data gained 22%. Here's a practical audit checklist for cross-border e-commerce sellers.
Over 68% of Google searches end without a click. When users stop visiting your site, where does traffic come from? Time to rethink the playbook.
Google's AI-generated summaries are eating into organic clicks. Here's what's actually happening, which queries are affected, and what cross-border sellers can do about it now.