Cloudflare blocks AI crawlers by default, EU files antitrust complaint over AI Overviews, ‘Noindex’ no longer blocks JavaScript rendering, and more

Here’s a quick look at what’s been shaking up search recently — grab your coffee and catch up in a minute.

SERP features / Interface

• AI Overviews power 12.6% of People Also Ask answers

A recent analysis reveals that only 12.6% of Google's "People Also Ask" boxes are now being answered with AI Overviews. While some assumed AI was taking over PAA results, the vast majority—87.4%—still display traditional featured snippets that cite and link to publishers’ websites.

• (test) Google experiments with price snippets directly in search results

Google is testing a new snippet format for product searches: price tags now appear directly in snippets and can specify if the price is low, high, or typical, without needing to click through.

When clicking on the extension, a popup displays specifying that insights are based on the last 90 days, with the rich result appearing differently on mobile.

GSC

• Search Console Insights report gets refreshed with deeper context

A revamped Search Console Insights tab is now part of the main GSC dashboard. It integrates more tightly with the Performance report and introduces time-range comparison, allowing SEOs to quickly view trends versus previous periods. 

The report maintains cards for clicks, impressions, top content, and trending queries—streamlining workflow and helping pinpoint content opportunities. 

AIO / AI Mode

• AI Mode promoted with animated homepage visual

An animated logo on the Google homepage in the U.S. is now highlighting the “AI Mode” search experience. Clicking the animation takes users directly into AI Mode search results.

• (test) AI Mode button appears in Chrome’s address bar on desktop and Android 

A new AI Mode button appears directly in Chrome’s omnibox—on both desktop and Android devices in the U.S. and India. When tapped, this button immediately launches the AI-powered search interface.

Tech SEO

• Cloudflare blocks AI crawlers by default

Cloudflare has made a major shift: now AI-focused bots are blocked by default across all new domains, unless site owners explicitly allow them. 

Alongside this change, Cloudflare is launching a Pay Per Crawl program. Publishers can now charge AI firms for crawler access.

The initiative also includes updates to Cloudflare Radar: site owners can now see how often AI models crawl their pages versus how much referral traffic those crawls generate, helping them make informed decisions about access and pricing.

• ‘Noindex’ no longer blocks JavaScript rendering by Google

Until recently, Google skipped rendering JavaScript on pages marked with noindex. However, new tests show that Google now fully renders noindex pages, executing JavaScript and even fetching dynamic content via POST requests, while still not indexing the page.

This shift means that sites using noindex to block pages may still see those pages rendered and crawled despite being excluded from the index. 

Tidbits

• Bing places Copilot search as default tab in desktop and mobile

Microsoft has updated Bing to make its Copilot-powered search tab the default experience on both desktop and mobile. This change places AI-assisted answers front and center—users now land first in the Copilot tab, while traditional “Search” and “Chat” tabs are pushed to secondary positions.

• EU publishers file antitrust complaint over AI Overviews

A coalition of independent publishers filed an antitrust complaint with the European Commission. They argue that Google misuses its dominance by placing AI Overviews above traditional search results, diverting traffic and revenue from publishers. The groups also criticize the lack of an opt-out option for using their content in these summaries without affecting visibility.