Yahoo! Scout - Yahoo's Official Return To Search With AI

February 2, 2026

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Good morning.

Today’s roundup:

1) Apple acquires secretive Israeli AI startup Q.ai for $1.5 billion.

2) Meta soars after proving AI spend while Microsoft struggles to please.

3) Yahoo! Scout – Yahoo’s Official Return To Search With AI.

After three years of Yahoo dropping hints at its return to search, Yahoo has announced Yahoo! Scout – its new AI search engine feature that is embedded within Yahoo Search, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports and so on – as well as at scout.yahoo.com.

4) Google now lets users jump from AI Overviews into AI Mode conversations.

5) Gemini 3 Powering Google AI Overviews Globally.

6) Google Exploring Ways To Allow Sites To Opt Out Of AI Overviews & AI Mode.

7) AI local visibility is up to 30x harder than ranking in Google: Report.

8) Google Searches Plunge As AI Alters Online Discovery.

9) Chrome Updated With 3 AI Features Including Nano Banana.

10) Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance Report Beta.

11) Microsoft Advertising Launches Ad Preview Hub.

12) LinkedIn Continues to Add Users, Revenue.

More insights to explore…

Google Ads API Version 23 Now Available.

NEW Research: AIs are highly inconsistent when recommending brands or products; marketers should take care when tracking AI visibility.