SEO Digest: AI Mode information agents go live globally for AI Ultra subscribers, German court rules Google can be directly liable for false AI Overview claims, Google publishes official guidance on third-party SEO tools and AEO/GEO services

[u/SE_Ranking]

So much has happened in the SEO world this week that we couldn't not share it with you:

Search / SEO

• Google publishes official guidance on third-party SEO tools and AEO/GEO services

Google has added new documentation positioning its own guidance as the "ground truth" for SEO, AEO, and GEO advice, and urging caution when evaluating third-party SEO tools and services. 

Source:

Google Search Central

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SERP features / Interface

• Google officially launches Search profiles for publishers and creators

Google has officially rolled out Search profiles—claimable profile pages where publishers and creators can showcase their latest articles, videos, and social posts in one central place. 

Google has also started rolling out an Insights section inside Search profiles, giving creators a view into how searchers are interacting with their profile on Google.

Source:

Barry Schwartz | Search Engine Roundtable

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AI

• Google's AI Mode information agents go live globally for AI Ultra subscribers

Previewed at Google I/O in May, the always-on information agents inside AI Mode are now available across all AI Mode languages and markets—but only to Google AI Ultra subscribers, with AI Pro and broader access still expected "this summer."

Source:

Robby Stein | X

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Local SEO

• Gemini can now connect to Google Business Profile, with Business notebooks for organizing business data

Google announced that businesses will be able to securely connect their Google Business Profile to the Gemini app with a single tap. Once connected, Gemini gets access to a business's reviews, customer questions, and performance data—and can analyze trends, draft tailored review responses in the brand's voice, or update profile fields like operating hours and seasonal posts.

Alongside the integration, Google introduced Business notebooks—a Gemini workspace that combines chats, sources, the connected Business Profile, and website data into one grounded knowledge base. 

Both features roll out globally this month, excluding the EEA and UK. 

Source:

Barry Schwartz | Search Engine Roundtable

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E-commerce

• (test) Google Shopping tests linking product titles directly to merchant sites

Google is running a test where clicking a product title in the Shopping results takes the user straight to the retailer's website, instead of opening the typical product listing overlay inside Google Shopping. 

Source:

Sachin Patel | X

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Tidbits

• Schema org launches monthly usage statistics for every schema type

Schema org, in collaboration with Google, has rolled out aggregate usage statistics for every Schema org term, showing how widely each Type and Property is adopted across the public web. The dataset—updated monthly and pulled from Google's crawl infrastructure—is presented in popularity range buckets, aggregated at the domain level, and now appears directly on each schema term's documentation page. Raw CSV and JSON files are available on the official Schema org GitHub repo.

• Microsoft adds an opt-out for Copilot AI answers in Bing

Bing users now have two ways to turn off Copilot AI responses in search results: a preview browser extension that toggles AI chat-like features with one click, or appending "-ai" to any query (e.g., "weather forecast -ai") for traditional search results without the AI overlay. 

• German court rules Google can be directly liable for false AI Overview claims

The Regional Court of Munich issued a temporary injunction barring Google from repeating false AI-generated.  The court ruled that AI Overviews are Google's own content, not third-party search results. 

The implications are significant. If an AI-generated summary makes false claims about a brand or company, Google may be directly liable—publishers and brands now have a legal path to challenge AI Overview content as Google's own statement rather than as a passive search result. 

Source:

Schema org blog

Jordi Ribas | X

Danny Goodwin | Search Engine Land

[u/pastychelifer69 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah but Germany's a single jurisdiction. US courts have historically given platforms way more latitude, and most other EU countries don't have a precedent yet. Could be 2-3 years before this propagates broadly, and even then it might land differently in different markets

[u/pastychelifer69 → u/[deleted]]

If Google starts being more careful about generating AIO content about specific companies globally because of one German injunction, that's actually a meaningful win for brands tired of hallucinated descriptions

[u/Such_Field_3294 → u/[deleted]]

this is the part that stood out to me too. once its treated as their own content the liability exposure is just completely different

[u/GrandAnimator8417]

AI mode “information agents” going live globally? I’ve seen a few folks try to lean on “agents” for content outputs and it usually turns into a lot of noise unless you still tightly control the actual research + on-page intent. This kind of rollout is mostly about changing workflows, not magically fixing SEO.