Search digestJanuary 2026
Google clarified preferred-source controls, retired one rich-result type, and widened a regional carousel.
January was a documentation-led month: retire a search appearance only when it has actually ended, keep regional feature scope explicit, and treat publisher preference controls as an audience feature rather than a ranking lever.
Product change
Practice problem rich results ended
Google removed its practice-problem structured-data documentation on January 6 because the type was no longer shown in Search. Remove it from a roadmap or validation checklist if it exists only to earn that appearance; do not remove other useful on-page semantics merely because this one enhancement ended. Primary source.
Product change
A regional carousel widened
On January 21 Google added food delivery, car hire and bus booking queries to the South African structured-data carousel beta. This is a regional availability expansion, not global eligibility; eligibility and user geography must be checked before a team changes markup. See the primary source.
| Change | Site-owner response |
|---|---|
| Retired practice-problem result | Remove feature-specific monitoring; retain valid general markup where it serves users. |
| South African carousel expansion | Check country and query eligibility before treating it as a global SERP opportunity. |
Action
Preferred-source guidance arrived
Google added documentation on preferred sources for publishers on January 30. The practical task is editorial: build a recognisable publishing relationship and make it easy for an audience to choose the source it wants, rather than expecting a technical switch to create preference. See the primary source.
Action
What to check on your own site
- Remove obsolete practice-problem rich-result monitoring from implementation plans.
- Keep country-specific feature eligibility separate from global structured-data policy.
- Treat preferred-source work as audience, editorial and brand work; measure it independently from rankings.
Sources
- Latest Google Search documentation updates — Google Search Central (January 30, 2026)