Welcome to our latest SEO Trends & Insights. Each month, our specialist SEO team analyses the shifting search landscape, algorithm updates, and emerging behaviours to bring you the insights that matter most. Stay ahead with expert commentary, actionable recommendations, and the trends shaping performance right now.
Google rolls out February 2026 Discover core update and updates Discover guidelines
Google has released a February 2026 “Discover core update” that targets how content is surfaced in Google Discover, beginning 5 February 2026 for English-language users in the United States and expected to take up to two weeks, with broader country/language expansion planned later. The stated aims are to show more locally relevant content, reduce sensational and clickbait-style content, and prioritise in-depth, original, timely reporting from sites demonstrating expertise in their areas. In parallel, Google updated its “Get on Discover” documentation to more explicitly discourage clickbait and sensationalism and to add clearer emphasis on delivering a great page experience, reinforcing that publishers should align editorial and presentation choices with these quality and user experience expectations to compete in Discover visibility.
Why we care: Discover can be a major organic traffic driver, and this update signals that Google is tuning distribution towards local relevance, authenticity, and expertise signals rather than engagement-bait tactics.
Google rolls out February 2026 Discover core update and updates Discover guidelines
Google has released a February 2026 “Discover core update” that targets how content is surfaced in Google Discover, beginning 5 February 2026 for English-language users in the United States and expected to take up to two weeks, with broader country/language expansion planned later. The stated aims are to show more locally relevant content, reduce sensational and clickbait-style content, and prioritise in-depth, original, timely reporting from sites demonstrating expertise in their areas. In parallel, Google updated its “Get on Discover” documentation to more explicitly discourage clickbait and sensationalism and to add clearer emphasis on delivering a great page experience, reinforcing that publishers should align editorial and presentation choices with these quality and user experience expectations to compete in Discover visibility.
Why we care: Discover can be a major organic traffic driver, and this update signals that Google is tuning distribution towards local relevance, authenticity, and expertise signals rather than engagement-bait tactics.
ChatGPT begins testing ads as AI platforms and Google outline diverging approaches to AI advertising
OpenAI has started testing ads in ChatGPT in the United States from 9 February 2026, limited to logged-in adult users on the Free and Go tiers, with no ads shown on Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, or Education. Ads are described as clearly labelled and separated, and OpenAI states they do not influence ChatGPT’s answers; advertisers also do not receive access to chats, chat history, memories, or personal details, with only aggregated reporting such as views and clicks. Ads may be selected based on the conversation topic and, if a user enables personalisation, may also draw on past chats, memory, and ad interactions inside ChatGPT. Industry analysis positions ChatGPT ads as collapsing the traditional separation between SEO and paid media, and highlights that OpenAI and Google are signalling competing visions for how advertising should work in AI-first interfaces.
Why we care: As ads move into conversational, context-rich AI search, visibility is likely to be shaped by a blend of relevance, intent, and UX conventions that do not map neatly to classic search ads or organic rankings.
Microsoft rolls out multi-turn search in Bing
Microsoft has rolled out “multi-turn search” globally in Bing, introducing a Copilot follow-up search box that appears at the bottom of the search results page as users scroll. The feature is designed to let searchers ask follow-up questions while retaining context from the prior query, supporting a more conversational, iterative search flow without restarting the search journey.
Why we care: Multi-turn, context-aware search can change how users refine queries and where they click, as discovery shifts from single-query SERPs to extended, assistant-led sessions.
Want to understand what these changes actually mean for your organic performance in 2026? Now’s the moment to review how your content, structure and measurement stack hold up in AI-driven search.
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