Hi there!
Long time, no see!
I've been MIA for the past few weeks - locked in my office recording 120+ videos for the biggest project of my career.
Today, I'm back with a new video on AI and SEO in 2025:
I spent the last 3 months tracking AI's real impact on search. What I found? The "AI apocalypse" everyone's freaking out about is mostly noise. Yes, AI Overviews changed the game - but not how you think.
Here's why I'm really emailing you:
I've decided to open enrollment one last time for my complete SEO + AI career transformation bundle. It's designed to give you a repeatable system for this new era.
The doors close this Friday (Aug 1) at midnight.
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Key dates for this offer are as follows:
- August 1, 2025: Final enrollment for this bundle offer ends.
- August 15, 2025: Full access to the 120+ video SEO Audit Mastery course is granted. 60+ videos available NOW.
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[Click here to see the full offer details]
Now, let's move on to this week's key developments in SEO and AI...
Now, let's dive into this week's most important SEO and AI developments...
AI and SEO News
Core Update Finishes but Volatility Persists
Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable noted that Google's June 2025 core update finished rolling out on July 17, yet ranking volatility remained unusually high for days. Industry chatter and tools like Semrush, SimilarWeb and Wincher showed continued turbulence, prompting SEOs to monitor closely. People reported varied experiences during the update, with some sites surging and others plummeting.
ChatGPT May Use Google Snippets
Barry Schwartz highlighted tests by Abhishek Iyer and Aleyda Solís showing that ChatGPT appears to pull Google SERP snippets when its own data lacks answers. ChatGPT returned definitions identical to those shown in Google search results, suggesting it "falls back" on Google.
AI-Organized Web Guide Debuts
On Google's blog, Ajith Rajan introduced an experimental Web Guide in Search Labs that uses a custom version of Gemini to group search results by topic. The tool issues related searches (query fan-out) and displays categories like "subject introduction" or "deep dive." Initially limited to the "Web" tab, Google is testing whether to expand it to all results.
AI Try-On and Price Alerts Roll Out Shannon Q. at Google announced AI-powered shopping features: users can upload a full-body photo to virtually try on clothes and can set price alerts specifying size and color. Another feature launching this fall will generate outfit and room design inspiration using vision match technology. Google also expanded deals displays and improved visual search tools.
Programmatic SEO Sparks a Deindexing Saga
Roger Montti wrote about a site owner who created 50,000 AI-generated pages targeting long-tail queries, only to see the site deindexed for thin content. After rebranding and focusing on fewer, higher-quality pages, traffic returned. The story warns that programmatic SEO isn't a quick fix.
Content Tips from Google's Mueller and Splitt
In an interview, John Mueller and Martin Splitt told Search Engine Journal that writing content for users is more important than chasing rankings. They advised getting feedback from real customers and asking how they found you. Splitt said writing for yourself is different from writing for others, and content should answer questions clearly instead of piling on fluff.
How Long Does SEO Take?
John Mueller explained that SEO results vary depending on the scale of changes, and improvements aren't immediate. Small text tweaks may be crawled quickly, but significant structural changes take longer. He cautioned against expecting overnight success and recommended monitoring progress consistently.
Debate Over Blocking AI Training on Websites
Chris Grant at O'Brien Media discussed whether businesses should allow AI models to train on their site content. The piece outlines pros such as exposure and cons such as misuse, and mentions O'Brien's AI Access Control service for blocking AI crawlers. Grant suggests site owners weigh these factors before deciding.
Normal SEO Gets You into AI Overviews
Gary Illyes told attendees at Search Central Live that there's no special "AI SEO"; traditional best practices suffice to appear in Google's AI Overviews. This statement counters hype around "LLMO" or "GEO" and reassures SEOs to stick with fundamentals. The comment was reported by Barry Schwartz.
Google Opens Trends API
Daniel Waisberg announced that Google released an alpha Trends API, offering five years of search interest data and multiple aggregation options. Researchers, journalists and developers can apply to get access to research trends, track competitors and create data-driven content. The API aims to democratize trend analysis.
CSS Doesn't Affect Rankings
A Search Off the Record podcast confirmed that CSS class names don't influence SEO. John Mueller and Martin Splitt explained that pseudo-elements like :before and :after are not indexed, oversized CSS files hurt performance, and meaningful images should use <img> tags, not CSS backgrounds. Keeping CSS crawlable helps search engines render pages properly.
Best Practices for Show/Event Pages
John Mueller answered a question about old show or event pages, suggesting that if a page still provides useful context it should be kept, but if not, it's better to 404 or redirect it. He likened shows to products: maintain pages only when users might still look for them.
OpenAI Crawls llms.txt
Barry Schwartz reported that although Google says no AI system uses llms.txt, log files show OpenAI regularly fetching the file. Gary Illyes reiterated that Google doesn't support the protocol, but other AI companies like Anthropic and Pinecone have documentation on it. The story highlights confusion over emerging standards for AI crawling.
Alphabet Earnings Show AI Traction
Barry Schwartz summarized Alphabet's Q2 results: Google's ad revenue rose 10.4% year-over-year, YouTube ad revenue jumped 13%, and overall revenue climbed 13.8%. Sundar Pichai said AI features like AI Overviews have over 2 billion monthly users and that AI Mode has 100 million users in the U.S. and India. The upbeat earnings indicate strong adoption of AI products.
AI Browsers Threaten Traditional Search
A PRUnderground release quoted Damon Burton, founder of Optimized Artificial Intelligence, saying that OpenAI and Perplexity are launching AI-native browsers that integrate chat, search and shopping. Burton remarked that AI will "rewrite" digital visibility; Perplexity's Comet browser provides summaries and instant context. He urges brands to prepare content that's structured, semantic and agent-readable for AI assistants.
SEO Breakthroughs: Social Posts Indexed & Mobile UX Matters
Techosoft's team summarised July updates: since July 10, public posts from Instagram and Facebook are now surfaced by Google and other search engines, emphasising the need to optimise social content. They reminded readers that the June core update rewarded high-quality, intent-driven content and that mobile-first UX and Core Web Vitals remain strong signals. They also mentioned AI & answer engine optimisation and new pay-walled AI Mode features.