Welcome to this week’s Pulse: Updates affect how Google measures its AI surfaces, what its anti-spam rules cover, and where AI recommendations then send traffic.
This is what matters to you and your work.
Google rolls out June 2026 anti-spam update
Google began rolling out the June anti-spam update on June 24.
Highlights: Google announced the rollout of its search health dashboard, noting that it could take a few days. This comes after Google clarified in May that its anti-spam policies include efforts to manipulate generative AI responses in search, such as purchasing or changing quotes.
Why it matters
Keep an eye on ranking changes throughout the rollout before jumping to conclusions, as spammy updates may take a few days to sort out. Trying to manipulate or buy quotes for AI responses now falls under the same rules as old spam tactics. Tactics designed for game AI previews or AI mode may be treated as spam under the same policy.
What SEO Professionals Say
Shushrita M.an independent SEO consultant, warned against overreacting while the update takes hold:
A sudden decline doesn’t automatically mean your content is “bad.” The correct answer is to identify the page types, queries, and directories affected, and then look for a consistent pattern. SEO recovery starts with diagnosis, not panic.
Read our full coverage: Google begins rolling out June 2026 anti-spam update
Mueller clarifies what counts as an AI impression
Search attorney John Mueller clarified how Google measures impressions in the updated Generative AI report in Search Console.
Highlights: Mueller explained to Nicola Agius, director of SEO and discovery at Reach PLC, that impressions indicate when links to your pages appear in AI previews or in AI mode. However, links hidden behind an extension are only counted when a user opens them. The report does not currently provide click data.
Why it matters
AI impressions count based on how many times links appear, not how often your content shaped a response. If something is hidden behind a click to expand, it may be underestimated until you click on it, so a low number doesn’t mean your content is missing.
Read our full coverage: Google’s Mueller explains how AI search impressions are counted
AWR Data Shows Desktop CTR Increases as Mobile Decreases
The latest benchmark data from Advanced Web Ranking indicates that desktop click-through rates are increasing, while mobile click-through rates have declined in the top position.
Highlights: Advanced Web Ranking, a rank tracking company, released benchmark click data from the first quarter of 2026 showing that desktop and mobile are moving in opposite directions. Mobile’s top position fell about 2.2 percentage points, while desktop’s gains were generally lower than third place.
Why it matters
Focus on the distribution of devices here. Gains on desktop aren’t enough to offset months of weakness on mobile, so this indicates a quarter divergence rather than a full reversal. Look at your own desktop and mobile click-through rates separately before drawing conclusions from a combined figure.
Read our full coverage: Google Desktop CTR Rises While Mobile Falls, Report Says
Similarweb combines AI recommendations with brand search
According to Similarweb’s report, branded search captures the majority of traffic that follows a ChatGPT recommendation, highlighting the downstream impact of AI visibility.
Highlights: Similarweb, an analytics company, reported that 55.9% of downstream traffic came from branded search after users were exposed to a ChatGPT recommendation. The data, from a U.S. desktop panel across the financial, travel and beauty industries, measures branded search as the path by which AI suggestions lead to site visits.
Why it matters
The report’s authors suggest that brand search is a way to gauge the impact of AI recommendations, making it interesting to track brand demand alongside rankings. When AI mentions your name, people typically search for you directly rather than clicking on a link, making branded query volume a useful indicator of your visibility.
What SEO Professionals Say
Aleyda SolisSEO and AI research consultant and founder of Orainti, highlighted the blind spot of measurement in data:
AI influence can happen without a click, and that’s why measuring AI search impact solely through “AI referral traffic” is not enough.
She added that standard attribution does not answer:
Our current attribution models have a blind spot: AI-influenced demand often arrives through Search and Direct, not through AI referrals.
Read our full coverage: AI-recommended brands saw 2.5x more visits to their sites: Similarweb
Google says it doesn’t evaluate third-party SEO tools
Brendon Kraham Google has stated that effective SEO aligns with good GEO and that Google does not evaluate external SEO tools or providers.
Highlights: Brendon Kraham, Google’s vice president of search and commerce for Global Ads Solutions, said work that improves search visibility results in generative experiences. He added that Google does not evaluate third-party SEO tools or providers and that these tools do not have access to Google’s internal metrics.
Why it matters
Discount claims from any tool or vendor claiming they have a special way to determine how Google ranks AI responses. Google has clarified that no such access is available. Focus on effective SEO strategies rather than searching for a separate GEO playbook.
What SEO Professionals Say
Cyrus Shepardwho founded Zyppy SEO, agreed with the slogan but pushed the opposite:
Google says: “good SEO is good GEO”. I don’t disagree. But the same advice doesn’t always work in reverse. There are a lot of things AI-savvy SEOs are doing now that they probably would never do if AI never existed.
Read our full coverage: Google says SEO tools don’t have access to its internal metrics
Theme of the week: rules and counters are written together
This week, Google shared more details about how AI search is evaluated and regulated, while independent data revealed what users actually do with it.
The spam update is rolling out gradually, in accordance with Google’s policies regarding manipulation of AI responses. Mueller explained how impressions are counted, while Kraham confirmed that no special vendor access is given to Google metrics. AWR and Similarweb complemented this by providing insights into how clicks are split between desktop and mobile, as well as showing how branded search captures traffic generated by AI recommendations.
The most reliable way to interpret a figure from this week is to consider it provisional.
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Featured image: PeopleImages/Shutterstock
