This week in search November 13, 2026

Google released the November 2026 core update on November 10, according to its Search Status Dashboard. Google said the update applies globally and to all languages, and that the rollout may take up to 2 weeks. Search Engine Journal says it is the third core update this year. It notes that a full rollout would finish around November 24. The following week includes US Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Google made Gemini 4 Hydrogen available to all Search users globally. Google’s Robby Stein said on X it is the default model in AI Mode and is used for the hardest AI Overview questions. Google says it improves query fan-out and connects people to a broader range of helpful links. Search Engine Journal noted that November AI Mode and AI Overview citation data spans the change. The Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) guide explains query fan-out.

OpenAI launched Businesses in ChatGPT in beta. Its Business Hub lets a business claim its listing, manage its information and see insights. OpenAI says the insights show the number of mentions and website clicks a business receives. A tooltip says clicks don’t confirm website visits or conversions. Business Agents start with eligible ecommerce and online service businesses in the US. The guide Businesses in ChatGPT and how to add your business covers the Insights report.

Google is testing a count of the sites an AI Overview references at the bottom of the response, Brodie Clark reported. Hovering over the count shows the full list of citations. Clark said the experiment’s earlier placement was at the top of the AI Overview. Barry Schwartz wrote that the move may make sources harder to find. Glenn Gabe said definition searches now appear to show AI Overviews fully expanded by default.

Google launched multiturn ads in AI Mode in the US. The ads show on responses to follow-up queries and carry a Sponsored label. Barry Schwartz saw more ads on the third and fourth follow-up queries. Search Engine Journal reports that Google is also bringing AI Mode ads to 10 more countries in English. SEJ’s Brooke Osmundson notes that advertisers can’t separate out AI Mode performance in reporting.

Yahoo said Yahoo Scout has left beta and now underpins all of Yahoo Search. Yahoo says Scout has delivered more than 3 billion answers since it launched in Q1 2026. The new Yahoo Search lets users pivot between traditional search results and a Yahoo Scout AI answer. Search Engine Roundtable reports it is available on desktop and mobile web in the US, UK, Europe and Switzerland.

Google published a Search Central page on identifying Google Search traffic in web analytics and server logs. It says Google Search uses the origin referrer policy. Under that policy the Referer header carries only the scheme and host, and it never carries the search query. The page lists the Referer values for the web and the Google app. It also explains why analytics visits can differ from Search Console clicks.

Google’s Cherry Prommawin and Gary Illyes wrote that crawler traffic can spike after a site moves behind a CDN. Google’s crawlers read faster responses as a hardware upgrade and ramp up requests. A new CDN starts with a cold cache, and the origin remains the bottleneck. They advise allowing verified bots and pre-warming caches. For an overloaded origin, they suggest 429 or 503 for a few hours, or one to two days at most.

Google’s John Mueller answered a Bluesky question about sites with a large share of pages marked Crawled or Discovered, currently not indexed. He said this is usually a sign Google’s quality systems are unconvinced about the site. He added that making a site smaller on its own doesn’t significantly raise its overall quality. A tiny number of indexed pages, he said, suggests a severe technical issue or that Google isn’t convinced about the site overall.