The SEO Update by Yoast – February 2026 Edition

Watch Carolyn Shelby and Alex Moss as they unpack the most important SEO news, algorithm shifts, and industry developments – so you can focus on what actually moves the needle.

Topics and sources

SEO & AI news

1. Search engines expand AI reporting and websitecontrols
   • Bing Webmaster Tools testing new AI Performance report
   • Our approach to website controls for Search AI features
2. Debate grows over markdown, AI agents, andthe future of machine-readable content
   • Introducing the Codex app
   • Some provocative AI thoughts​
   • Google’s Mueller calls markdown-for-bots idea ‘a stupid idea’
   • Cloudflare’s new markdown for AI bots: whatyou need to know
   • Google & Bing: markdown files messy & causes more crawl load
3. Is Google finally cracking down on self-promotional listicles?
4. Building toward a sustainable content economy for the agentic web
5. Meta AI redies Avacado, Manus agent and OpenClaw integration
6. ChatGPT rolls out ads​
7. WebMCP is available for early preview​
8. Bing Webmaster Tools rolls out AI performance report (with new design)
9. Google AI mode launches UCP-powered checkout
10. OpenClaw, OpenAI and the future​

Also in the news…

1. OpenAI to charge based on ad view impressions, not clicks
2. ChatGPT’s lead shrinks as Gemini surges in AI traffic war
3. Traffic from SEO is only down -2.5% YoY
4. UK announces Meta-backed AI team to upgrade public services
5. Introducing Yahoo Scout, a new AI answer engine
6. Bing multi-turn search is now available worldwide
7. It’s official: WordPress.com has a Claude connector
8. Google’s February 2026 Discover core update
9. Introducing Claude Opus 4.6
10. Grokipedia seeing decline in Google search visibility