Clickolog
Free check-up

Digital briefing, October 18: Sites block AI assistants, PMax search partner setting hits the API

Sites are shutting the door on AI assistants, Meta pulled back a crawling clause, and Google Ads added new controls.

  1. Automation

    Amazon, Delta, and banks are blocking AI assistants from taking actions on their sites #

    According to The Verge, AI assistants like Meta's Muse, xAI's Grok, and OpenAI's Dots and Instinct have been running into blocks on sites such as Amazon, Yelp, Delta Air Lines, JPMorgan Chase, and Charles Schwab in recent weeks. Yelp only allows assistants that pay for a data license, while banks have closed off account access citing security concerns. Meta, meanwhile, has struck deals with retailers like Walmart, Gap, Sephora, and Best Buy to let Muse shop on their sites.

    What it means for your business: If your business runs an e-commerce site, you'll need to decide whether to open your doors to AI assistants or keep them closed — a decision with consequences for both security and customer access.

    Source: The Verge AI — Websites are closing their doors to AI agents

  2. Advertising

    In the October 16, 2026 edition of the Ads Decoded newsletter, Google Ads product liaison Ginny Marvin answered questions about the channel prioritization and budget allocation settings announced on October 14. Marvin wrote that Performance Max advertisers can set spend on the Search Partner Network to 0%, and that these settings are supported in the Google Ads API as of launch. That contradicts Google's help page, which says API support is 'coming soon.'

    What it means for your business: Businesses using Google Ads will now have finer control over which channel their ad budget prioritizes and how much gets spent on search partner sites — though it's still not clear exactly when these settings will become available through the API and Google Ads Editor.

    Source: PPC Land — Google Ads lets PMax advertisers set Search partner spend to 0%, Marvin says

  3. AI

    Meta withdraws clause implying it could crawl business accounts' sites #

    Meta has removed a clause from its commercial terms of use that said it could take content from any site belonging to a business account and use it to develop its AI products. According to TechCrunch and The Verge, lawyers had interpreted this language as giving Meta the right to crawl news sites too and use them for AI training. In an October 17 statement, Meta spokesperson Daniel Roberts said the clause only covered advertising and business products and that it didn't change how web crawlers are used.

    What it means for your business: For businesses with websites, this confirms that Meta still honors the crawling preferences set in your robots.txt file — so nothing changes if you want to restrict access to your site.

    Source: The Verge AI — Meta removes language that may have allowed it to scrape news sites · TechCrunch AI — Meta removes language that raised scraping and AI training concerns

  4. Advertising

    Google brings in logged-in user data to catch missed conversions in Floodlight #

    Google updated its 'Display & Video 360 updates' help page to announce that, starting in November 2026, Floodlight conversion tracking will begin using signals from users signed into a Google account. The change aims to match an ad seen on one device with a purchase made on another device or platform, capturing conversions that previously went untracked. Google says advertisers don't need to take any action; the same update also removes the Brand Control Center page.

    What it means for your business: Businesses reporting through Display & Video 360 or Campaign Manager 360 may see conversion numbers rise starting in November — not because campaign performance improved, but because of this measurement change. Keep that in mind when comparing results to earlier periods.

    Source: PPC Land — Floodlight gains Google signed-in data to recover unattributed conversions