Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…
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Daily Search Forum Recap: February 23, 2026
Discover how the December 2025 core update impacted 4 sites and the factors that contributed to their improvement. The post 4 Sites That Recovered From Google’s December 2025 Core Update – What They Changed appeared first on Search Engine Journal .
As AI Mode enables on-platform transactions, ecommerce visibility now depends on schema completeness, feed accuracy, and third-party validation. The post Agentic Commerce Optimization: A Technical Guide To Prepare For Google’s UCP appeared first on Search Engine Journal .
Google’s John Mueller said that if Google is not convinced that there are new and important content to index on your site, then it won’t use the sitemap file on your site. Just because you have a sitemap file, it does not mean Google will index all the pages in that file.
See more here:
Google Won’t Use Sitemap Files If Its Not Convinced Of New/Important Content
Google’s John Mueller said a spike/increase in impressions within Google Search Console does not cause any specific problems within Google Search. There are a number of posts where some users are seeing a surge in impressions within Google Search Console but clicks and traffic have not changed.
Read this article:
Google: A Spike In Impressions Doesn’t Cause Problems For Search
Microsoft is testing a new user interface for the Bing Copilot AI responses. The new interface shows these link and references cards both inline and on the right.
Link:
Bing Tests New UI For AI Responses With New Links & References
We’ve seen Google use AI for local panel descriptions, menus and more. But now Google is also using AI to generate a list of services a local business offers.
Originally posted here:
Google Business Knowledge Panels With AI Generated Services
Google is now (past few weeks?) sending out emails when it detects fake or incentivised reviews on your Google Business Profile. Google also says it has removed the fake or incentivised reviews that were identified.
See the original post here:
Google Email: Fake Or Incentivised Reviews Found On Your Business Profile
The Google Search Console page indexing report seems to be missing a chunk of data. The missing data is from December 15th and earlier, but we do have data from December 15th (14th) through today.
More here:
Google Search Console Page Indexing Report Missing A Chunk Of Data
Feb 26
23
Google’s John Mueller points to site content as the reason for Search Console sitemap error messages The post SEO Fundamental: Google Explains Why It May Not Use A Sitemap appeared first on Search Engine Journal .
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SEO Fundamental: Google Explains Why It May Not Use A Sitemap via @sejournal, @martinibuster