Top SEO News
Google's Robots.txt Tool Still Essential After 30 Years
Martin Splitt and John Mueller explain how robots.txt remains a flexible way to control website crawling after three decades of use.
The Search relations team details how this simple text file lets site owners customize crawler access without needing programming knowledge.
Google Launches Gemma 3: Most Powerful Single-GPU AI Model Yet
Google announces Gemma 3, Google DeepMind's newest collection of open AI models built from Gemini 2.0 technology.
The models support 140 languages, offer 128k token context windows, and outperform competitors while running on a single GPU, accompanied by ShieldGemma 2 for image safety applications.
Google Expands AI Search with New Mode and Gemini 2.0 Upgrade
Robby Stein, VP of Google Search, announces that Google's AI Overviews are now powered by Gemini 2.0 and reaching over a billion users, with expanded access for teens and non-signed-in users.
Google is also introducing an experimental AI Mode that offers more advanced reasoning capabilities for complex questions, currently being tested with Google One AI Premium subscribers.
DOJ Proposes Four Remedies to Break Google's Search Monopoly
The U.S. Department of Justice and State Attorneys General have filed a revised proposal to address Google's illegal monopoly in search and text advertising.
The filing recommends separating Chrome from Google's business, limiting default search engine payments to companies like Apple, preventing Google from favoring its own products in search results, and mandating transparency in Google's advertising practices.
SE Ranking - THE Rank Tracker 😱
SE Ranking (together with Cora Volatility Tool) is the best rank tracker out there.
SE Ranking allows you to track rankings not only in Google but also in Bing, YouTube and other search engines.
It also lets you track visibility and rankings in AI Overviews.
And that's not everything...
|
|
Get FREE access to SE Ranking for 30 days with this unique offer.
|
Cool SEO Resources
SEO Game-Changer → Google Index Bot Automates Indexing Checks
Ryan introduces the Norzer Google Index Bot, a free open-source Python tool that automatically monitors your website's Google indexing status.
This time-saving solution fetches URLs from your sitemap, checks their indexing status via Google Search Console API, and emails you clear reports, eliminating tedious manual checks and helping small businesses stay visible in search results.
7 Mistakes That Skew Your Traffic Drop Diagnosis [Slides]
Below you can download for free my slides from the Agency Fast Track 2025 conference where I was talking about the main mistakes people make when doing a website traffic/rankings drop analysis.
Google & AI
Google Maintains Search Dominance Despite ChatGPT Hype
Danny Goodwin reports that Google Search is 373 times larger than ChatGPT's search function, contradicting claims about AI chatbots eroding Google's market share.
According to Rand Fishkin's analysis, Google handled 5 trillion searches in 2024 (93.57% market share) while ChatGPT's search-like queries accounted for just 0.25% of the market, with Google searches actually growing 21.64% year-over-year.
Google Reveals Search Volume Hits 5 Trillion Annually After 9-Year Silence
Danny Goodwin reports that Google now processes more than 5 trillion searches per year, the first such update since 2016 when Google claimed "more than 2 trillion" annual queries.
This translates to approximately 158,548 searches per second, with Google also noting that commercial queries have increased since the introduction of AI Overviews..
Aleyda Solis Shares First Look at Google's AI Mode Test Features
Aleyda Solis gained early access to Google's new AI Mode and identifies five key observations. The feature expands on AI Overviews with better structured answers and visible blue links to sources, performing well for informational queries but struggling with commercial searches.
Google Tests New AI Mode in Labs for US Users
Brodie Clark gained early access to Google's new AI Mode, available only to US-based Gemini Advanced users. The feature appears as the first tab in search results and allows users to continue their queries in a chat window, with citations displayed similar to AI Overviews.
Cora SEO Tool Will Make You a Powerful SEO 💪
Cora SEO Software has completely transformed my approach to SEO.
It analyzes thousands of factors and pinpoints exactly which ones impact rankings, and how much you need to compete with top-ranked sites.
Don't just take my word for it – try it yourself!
As a special offer for my newsletter subscribers, you can get a lifetime deal with 25% OFF plus free unlimited training with Ted Kubaitis.
|
From Olga Zarr
AI Content Creation – The Fine Line Between Helpful Tool and SEO Disaster
I offer a candid assessment of using AI for content creation and explain that while tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini may seem like content superpowers, using them on autopilot produces instantly recognizable generic content that damages brand credibility and SEO.
“Crawled – Currently Not Indexed” In Google Search Console?
When you see pages under “Crawled – Currently Not Indexed” it means Google’s crawler visited your page but decided not to add it to the search index. The page might get indexed later, or it might remain unindexed. According to Google, there is no need to resubmit the URL for crawling.
"Discovered – Currently Not Indexed" In Google Search Console
Unlike “Crawled – Currently Not Indexed”, where Google has already crawled the page but chosen not to index it, the pages in “Discovered – Currently Not Indexed” haven’t even been crawled yet. Not every page needs to be crawled and indexed immediately. Some pages will naturally stay in this status, and that’s fine.
SEO Tips
And here are a few SEO tips.
Demystifying Google Analytics and Search Console data
Screaming Frog SEO Spider Assistant 🐸
I'm a custom Screaming Frog knowledge assistant created specifically for Olga Zarr's SEO Audit Mastery course students. You don't need to buy the course to use it and learn all about mastering Screaming Frog SEO Spider. 😁
From Top SEO Minds
GenAI Is Creating an Ocean of Mediocrity in Online Content
Barry Adams examines how generative AI is dramatically reshaping the bell curve of online content quality. He explains that LLMs are trained on all available content without qualitative measures, producing inherently mediocre results that lack information gain or new insights.
DeepSeek vs. ChatGPT vs. AI Overviews: Which AI model handles YMYL topics best?
SE Ranking analyzes how DeepSeek, ChatGPT, and Google AI Overviews handle YMYL (Your Money Your Life) topics across health, politics, finance, and legal categories.
The study reveals ChatGPT delivers the most factual, disclaimer-rich responses with a 100% response rate, while DeepSeek offers more detailed but sometimes biased or censored content, particularly on politically sensitive subjects.
19 Studies Reveal AI Overviews' SEO Impact in Kevin Indig's Meta-Analysis
Kevin Indig presents a comprehensive "meta-analysis" of 19 independent studies examining Google's AI Overviews and their effects on search traffic.
His synthesis addresses five critical questions: how frequently AI Overviews appear, what triggers them, their impact on click-through rates, how to rank within them, and how content creation should adapt in response to these new SERP features.
The AI Revolution Is a Money-Losing Con
Edward Zitron exposes the unsustainable economics of generative AI, revealing OpenAI lost $9 billion while making just $4 billion in 2024. He argues the entire industry lacks viable business models, with massive compute costs making every AI interaction unprofitable, even for paying customers.
Despite media hype, user adoption is minimal outside OpenAI, with competitors like Claude attracting just 2% of ChatGPT's user base while burning billions in venture capital.
Google Search in 2024: Lily Ray Details Winners and Losers
Lily Ray, VP of SEO Strategy & Research, provides an analysis of how Google search results evolved in 2024 amid competition from LLMs like ChatGPT and Claude.
Her research identifies which sectors gained visibility (including eCommerce, government sites, social media platforms, and recipe sites using AI-powered programmatic SEO) and which suffered losses (content publications, travel blogs, and certain eCommerce players).
Glenn Gabe Speculates How Google Will Track AI Mode in Search Console
Glenn Gabe explores how Google might track the new AI Mode in Search Console once it exits beta status. Gabe predicts all links in AI Mode responses will likely receive position #1 ranking (similar to AI Overviews), with impressions counted when links become visible on screen.
AI Revolutionizes Keyword Research
Rachel Hernandez shows how artificial intelligence dramatically speeds up the keyword discovery process by analyzing vast amounts of data in seconds. AI tools help marketers identify emerging search trends before they peak and understand user intent more deeply than traditional methods.
Marie Haynes Decodes Google's Content Relevancy Signals
Marie Haynes analyzes how Google determines content relevancy and helpfulness after the March 2024 core update. She breaks down Google's five key ranking signals: meaning, relevance, quality, usability, and context.
"Data tells you what. Intuition tells you why. Great SEO needs both."
That's all I have for you today! See you in the next episode!
Best,
P.S. Do you want me to share a specific article or resource in the newsletter? Do you want me to give a shout-out to some SEO? Let me know by replying to this e-mail!