This week: There were several updates in AI Search over the last two weeks. Google rolled out its September 2026 spam update, a standard spam-policy update that brought ranking volatility with it. Bing started testing an "AI Mode" tab. And Google Search Console added a multimodal filter to performance reports.
TL;DR
Google September 2026 spam update rolled out September 24 and may take two weeks, its longest rollout yet. It enforces existing spam policies with no new target. Volatility hit in waves, September 25-26 and again around September 30. (PPC Land)
Bing is testing renaming its Copilot Search tab to "AI Mode," the label Google uses. (Search Engine Roundtable)
Google Search Console added a multimodal filter so you can isolate traffic from Google Lens, Circle to Search, and image search. (Search Engine Journal)
This Week at a Glance
Development | Summary | Recommended Action |
|---|---|---|
Google Sept 2026 spam update | Fourth spam update of the year, on a two-week rollout, enforcing the same spam rules. | Audit content against Google's spam rules; watch AI citations, not just rankings. |
Bing "AI Mode" tab test | Bing is testing renaming its Copilot Search tab to "AI Mode." | Check your brand in Bing's AI answers; let Bingbot crawl your site. |
Search Console multimodal filter | A new filter for image-search traffic from Lens and Circle to Search; no queries. | Open the filter; keep images clear, labeled, and crawlable. |
Google Rolled Out the September 2026 Spam Update
Google started rolling out its September 2026 spam update on September 24, the fourth of the year. It enforces the same spam rules as before, so nothing new is targeted. The one difference is speed: past 2026 spam updates settled in a day or two, but this one may take about two weeks, so rankings can keep moving until it finishes (PPC Land).
The changes came in waves, not all at once: big moves on September 25 and 26, then another around September 30, with Google Discover (the mobile content feed) affected too. Some site owners reported Discover traffic down around 70% that first weekend, though Google published no figures and earlier volatility makes the losses hard to pin on the update alone (Search Engine Roundtable).
The rules it checks are the usual ones: Google's spam policies cover thin content made at scale, sites renting their authority to third-party junk, expired-domain and doorway tricks, and undisclosed paid reviews. Confirm your site does none of these. It matters for AI Search because AI Overviews and AI Mode pull from the same index, so a page demoted in regular search usually loses its spot in AI answers at the same time.
Bing Is Testing an "AI Mode" Tab
Bing is testing a rename of its "Copilot Search" tab to "AI Mode," which would line up its naming with Google's AI Mode. The test was spotted by Sachin Patel, and it follows an earlier Bing test that swapped "Copilot" for "AI Overviews" on its answer summaries (Search Engine Roundtable, Optimixed).
The AI answer view is becoming a primary way to search, not a side feature. Bing matters more than its market share suggests, because ChatGPT's search feature draws on Bing's index. Showing up in Bing's answers is part of showing up in ChatGPT.
Google Search Console Added a Multimodal Filter
Google Search Console added a multimodal filter to its performance reports, letting you isolate traffic from image-based searches: Google Lens, Circle to Search on Android, image uploads to Google Search, and Chrome's "Search this image." It reports impressions, clicks, position, pages, countries, and devices, but no text query data. The filter shows up in both the standard performance report and the generative AI report (PPC Land, Search Engine Journal).
Images and visual content are their own route into AI answers. Google says this is brand-new data that was not previously counted, though some site owners saw text metrics dip around September 10, which leaves some question about whether part of it shifted from existing totals. Either way, a dedicated filter lets you see whether your visual content is pulling its weight, separate from your written pages.
Does a Google spam update change whether AI engines cite my site?
Yes, indirectly. AI Overviews and AI Mode draw from Google's main index and its quality signals. A page that loses visibility in classic search during a spam update usually loses ground in AI answers at the same time, because both pull from the same pool. Check your AI citations during the rollout, not only your rankings.
Is Bing's AI Mode the same as Google's AI Mode?
No. They are separate products on separate search engines that happen to be converging on the same name. Bing's is a rename of its Copilot tab, still in testing. Google's AI Mode is its own live feature. Bing is worth watching on its own terms because ChatGPT search relies on Bing's index.
Does the Search Console multimodal filter show the queries yet?
No, not yet. Google's dimension for this is called Queries, and it is turned off for multimodal traffic, so the standard and Generative AI performance reports show impressions, clicks, position, pages, countries, and devices but not the query behind each visit. For image-based searches there is often no text query to show, since the input is a photo or screenshot. Google may add query data later, since some image searches include typed text, but none is available right now.
More of these go out each week the news warrants it.