Search in October 2026: six changes, and which ones need you
Google's AI answers get more links, new Maps rules for businesses, a fast lane for forum posts, Universal Cart and the spam update. What each means for you.
~/search-map/engines
Search engines
The classic results pages, and everything Google and Bing now put around the ten blue links.
GoogleBingDuckDuckGoBrave
## What the platforms say
How results get picked
From each platform's own documentation. Linked so you can check it yourself.
Google ranks pages one by one using many signals, but also uses site-wide signals to understand each page.
Google Search Central: A guide to Google Search ranking systemsDuckDuckGo runs its own crawler, but says its traditional links and images are largely sourced from Bing.
DuckDuckGo Help: Results sourcesBrave Search says every result comes from its own independent index, with no fallback to Google or Bing.
Brave Search API
> so whatGoogle and Brave crawl for themselves and DuckDuckGo leans on Bing. So check you're properly indexed in Bing as well as Google, not just one of them.
## Writing
Tests, guides and takes
Google's AI answers are adding links. Here's how to be the page they point to
Google is adding inline links, an 'official websites' section and bigger related links to AI Mode and AI Overviews. What each change rewards, and what to fix.
Search Console impressions are lying to you: how to spot machine queries
One of our posts had 3,848 impressions in 90 days. Every query Google named for it came from a machine. Here's the coverage ratio check we run now.
Nobody pays for a ranking: why our SEO reports start with revenue
Our first revenue report for an electrician client said £0. SEO hadn't failed. Nobody had logged what a single job was worth. Here's what revenue-first SEO needs.
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