Google is warning publishers that a new way of counting display ad impressions could reduce their reported totals from February 17, 2027. That means a website could keep its audience and still record fewer impressions after the switch. Google’s documentation confirms the date.

The change, called Begin-to-Render, moves the counting point from when an ad starts downloading to when it has loaded and begun rendering on the user’s device. An ad abandoned before rendering will no longer qualify.

Google’s guidance for advertising buyers says the switch covers banner inventory on desktop, mobile web and connected TV across AdSense and Ad Manager. Native, app and video inventory already uses compatible measurement. Google describes the new approach as a stricter basis for billing that aligns with industry standards.

For publishers, there is another consequence worth watching: some performance figures could improve without the business earning more.

Google calculates impression RPM, or revenue per thousand impressions, by dividing estimated earnings by impressions and multiplying by 1,000. A smaller impression count changes that calculation.

Consider this hypothetical example, calculated using Google’s formula:

In this example, impression RPM rises 12.5% while earnings fall 10%. These are illustrative numbers, not a forecast of Google’s rollout.

The calculation shows why a higher RPM alone would be insufficient evidence that advertisers are paying more for the same inventory. Publishers will be comparing periods with different counting rules.

Page RPM, which uses page views as its denominator, offers another useful check alongside total earnings and traffic. It avoids the direct arithmetic effect of dividing revenue by a newly reduced ad-impression count.

The new standard also needs to be distinguished from viewability. An ad beginning to render does not establish that a reader saw it.

Google’s separate Active View measurement generally requires at least half an ad’s area to appear on screen for at least one second to count as viewable. An ad can render farther down a page without the visitor ever scrolling to it. Begin-to-Render therefore offers advertisers a stronger delivery signal, but it does not prove attention or engagement.

Publishers using Ad Manager can estimate the counting gap now. Google recommends comparing “Ad server impressions” with “Ad server begin to render impressions,” using a reporting period starting after August 12, 2026. Its preparation guidance also identifies extra creative assets and additional partners in the delivery chain as potential causes of slower rendering.

The rollout requires no activation. Our practical recommendation is to record the changeover in performance reports and compare earnings, page views and impression RPM together. A lower impression count will need investigation; a higher RPM will need context.

The post Google warns AdSense publishers their impression counts could drop appeared first on Search Engine Watch.

Source:: searchenginewatch.com

Automattic has put Matt Mullenweg on paid leave and appointed chief financial officer Mark Davies as interim CEO. But the change at the company behind WordPress.com leaves Mullenweg leading the wider WordPress project. 404 Media first reported the board’s decision on September 9.

WordPress executive director Mary Hubbard moved to clarify that distinction after the news broke. She said the project’s leadership and direction were unchanged.

“Matt continues to lead our project, and I remain Executive Director,” Hubbard wrote.

For businesses running WordPress websites, that means the leadership change has a narrower reach than it might initially appear.

Automattic operates WordPress.com and products including WooCommerce and Jetpack. WordPress itself is open-source software maintained by a community of contributors, including Automattic employees. Businesses can run it through other hosting providers without becoming WordPress.com customers.

Appointing a new Automattic CEO therefore does not automatically replace the person leading the software project.

The practical significance of that separation became clear during Mullenweg’s dispute with hosting company WP Engine in 2024.

In a September 25 announcement on WordPress.org, Mullenweg said WP Engine’s servers would lose free access to its resources. He explicitly listed update servers, the plugin directory and the theme directory among the services WP Engine would need to provide itself.

The dispute brought decisions about shared WordPress infrastructure directly into a conflict involving a commercial hosting provider. WP Engine later obtained a preliminary injunction, as The Verge reported.

Hubbard’s statement indicates that the current boardroom change has not brought a corresponding change in WordPress project leadership.

Mullenweg also retains a role inside Automattic. According to 404 Media’s reporting on internal staff messages, Davies said the founder would remain on the board and participate in decisions.

Mullenweg told employees he opposed being put on leave and had received the resolution only 50 minutes before the meeting. He alleged that Davies and board members had coordinated behind his back. Automattic confirmed the leave and interim appointment to the publication, saying the board backed Davies. Its statement did not give a reason for the decision.

For publishers and agencies, the question now is whether Davies changes Automattic’s relationship with the wider WordPress community. A different approach from the company could matter to businesses using its hosting and plugins, while the open-source project continues under Mullenweg’s leadership.

The post WordPress co-founder sidelined by the company he built appeared first on Search Engine Watch.

Source:: searchenginewatch.com

The AI revolution has a growing vacancy: someone to sort out what the AI revolution just handed in.

The Guardian reports that freelancers are increasingly repairing AI-generated work, with some describing the assignments as poorly paid, frustrating and creatively draining.

The market has numbers to go with the complaints. In an August 20 analysis, Upwork said postings seeking people to repair or finish AI output were growing 70% year over year, measured using a trailing 12-month average.

Examples included a client wanting a generic AI-made design improved, and another needing generated illustrations refined for a printed children’s book.

Upwork calls this “AI remediation,” which sounds considerably better in a budget meeting than “we need someone to rescue the thing.”

In a pleasing methodological detail, Upwork classified postings using three AI models. All three had to agree that AI output had created the need for human work.

Even counting the cleanup now has an AI department.

These postings do not establish completed contracts, earnings or net job creation. A growing repair business can coexist with a shrinking market for the work being repaired.

A study published in Management Science found a 21% relative decline in postings for writing and coding jobs vulnerable to automation during the eight months after ChatGPT launched, compared with jobs requiring more manual skills. It also found a 17% decline in image-creation postings following the arrival of image generators. The remaining automation-prone jobs were more complex and offered higher pay.

That research examines an earlier period. It cannot tell us whether today’s cleanup assignments compensate for lost opportunities. Celebrating the repair queue as an employment success would be rather premature.

For content teams, the useful question is how much work remains after the text appears. Our guide to spotting AI slop identifies problems that survive a cosmetic rewrite: unsupported citations, stale information, interchangeable examples and claims of testing with no evidence of a test.

Removing a few robotic phrases will not make an invented source exist. The sentence can sound beautifully human and still be wrong.

Readers have their own ways of objecting. As SEW reported, LinkedIn’s AI slop feedback option has been appearing more widely on comments, allowing users to flag replies they consider empty or automated. That feedback does not automatically remove a comment, but it gives the audience a button for its disappointment.

Google’s guidance on generative AI content similarly emphasizes accuracy, quality and relevance. It acknowledges useful applications for AI while warning that generating many pages without adding value may violate its scaled content abuse policy.

For a business commissioning content, this suggests a less flattering way to calculate AI savings: include the research, checking, editing and approval needed before publication. A draft awaiting four hours of repairs belongs in the work-in-progress column, however confidently the chatbot announced it was finished.

We make a related point in our SEO pricing guide: compare the cost of completing the same job, including the time your own team contributes. When a provider uses AI, ask what the efficiency buys you and who takes responsibility for checking the result.

The post Demand for people to fix AI-generated work is climbing, reports find appeared first on Search Engine Watch.

Source:: searchenginewatch.com

Google is showing the Citations Panel in AI Mode more frequently at the bottom of the page. I tested this across different browsers and saw it appear consistently.

Google first introduced this Citations Panel back in July. At the time, i spotted it when opening free listing products, where the card panel moved to the bottom of the page. Today, i am seeing this same behavior when using AI Mode more broadly citation cards now appearing at the bottom.

Here is a screenshot of how it looks today.

Personally, I like this test. Showing citations at the bottom can help the websites featured there, since each citation includes a title, description, and image for the site. Compared to the standard citation panel, this bottom version is longer and includes more detail, which feels like an improvement.

The post Google moves Citations Panel toward the bottom of AI Mode appeared first on Search Engine Watch.

Source:: searchenginewatch.com

Google is testing a new “Message” option on sponsored ad results. Clicking it takes users directly to Google Messages. This appears alongside sponsored ad sites, and it looks like it could be tied to a new SMS or messaging setting for advertisers.

Here is a screenshot of how it looks.

This could give advertisers another direct way to connect with potential customers straight from a sponsored ad, letting users message a business instead of just visiting the website or calling.

Image Credit: Ivan Radic

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Source:: searchenginewatch.com