Gary Illyes clarified how Google handles hreflang and alternate URLs during canonicalization, explaining that these alternate versions aren’t indexed in the traditional sense. This came up in a LinkedIn thread started by Faiez Javaid, who asked: “If Google is choosing by itself one /lang/ as canonical and ignoring others showing in GSC as not indexed, […]

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Bing is testing new “See more” and “Visit site” buttons appearing for sponsored results. We spotted this yesterday, with these buttons showing up for the Forbes website specifically. This looks like a recent test from Bing, though we couldn’t find it appearing for other websites at this time. Clicking the button takes users to the […]

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Google is now testing a change that displays the websites name directly under sponsored results. Normally, sponsored results just carry the “Sponsored Results” heading, but this test adds a subheading “from website icon and website name.” For example, when searching for ‘SEO,’ three sponsored results appeared, and under the main ‘Sponsored Results’ heading, we saw […]

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Border images are an overlooked feature. One neat fact is that border image slices can run across entire borders on an element, and animating it creates beautiful effects.

Animating CSS border-image originally handwritten and published with love on CSS-Tricks. You should really get the newsletter as well.

Smashing Magazine’s in-person conferences are back and returning to the wonderful city of Freiburg next month, September 7–10.

SmashingConf Freiburg 2026, September 7-10 originally handwritten and published with love on CSS-Tricks. You should really get the newsletter as well.

Google is testing sitelinks appearing in ads in AI Mode. This is the first time we’ve seen this style of ad the links aren’t clickable, but they appear alongside the ad in a format similar to traditional sitelinks, which is why we’re referring to them as such. Here is a screenshot of how they look. […]

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Bing is testing clickable, underlined text within the descriptions of its organic search results. When clicked, this text doesn’t take you to the website’s landing page like you might expect instead, it redirects you to a new search query within Bing’s own results. Here is a screenshot of how it looks. This suggests Bing may […]

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Google keeps rolling out changes to its Shopping and sponsored results ads. Last week, we saw AI-generated descriptions being tested in shopping ads, along with underlined links appearing in sponsored results. Now we’ve spotted another test: a blue hyperlink within sponsored ads that, when clicked, takes you to the same landing page as clicking the […]

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Google appears to be testing a more AI-focused version of its homepage for people who are not signed into a Google Account. The homepage adds Create images, Ask about files, and Brainstorm below the search box instead of the usual Google Search button, while an AI Mode button appears inside the search field. We spotted […]

The post Google’s classic Search button is gone in a new AI-first homepage appeared first on Search Engine Watch - SEO, AI Search, PPC News & Analysis.

AI slop is low-value content made wholly or substantially with generative AI and released with too little human judgment, verification, craft, or accountability. It is commonly produced because speed, scale, traffic, engagement, or cost reduction matters more to the publisher than usefulness to the person receiving it. That definition includes the disposable articles clogging search […]

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In my career spanning over 20 years in SEO, publishing, and content, I’ve used, as you might guess, quite a lot of SEO tools. Even when I had stepped away from the day-to-day activity and handed my duties over to an SEO manager, I was still interested in the advances in SEO tools Now, after […]

The post Serpstat review: what we learned after using it for a year appeared first on Search Engine Watch - SEO, AI Search, PPC News & Analysis.

In recent years, Google has made significant changes that have particularly impacted publishers and other content creators. At the same time, we’ve witnessed the rise of alternative search engines. Although Google continues to dominate the market, there are many reasons you might consider exploring other options. We’ve compiled and tested a list of alternatives in […]

The post 11 best alternative search engines to Google in 2026 appeared first on Search Engine Watch - SEO, AI Search, PPC News & Analysis.

There's a lot of nuance to the <dialog> element, a seemingly little piece of web architecture. I've got some notes from digging into it.

Using and Styling the Dialog Element originally handwritten and published with love on CSS-Tricks. You should really get the newsletter as well.

A few notes and takeaways from the 2026 State of CSS survey results, including a nice CSS-Tricks cameo!

2026 State of CSS, Devs Surveys originally handwritten and published with love on CSS-Tricks. You should really get the newsletter as well.