Google & SEO

AI Mode is officially rolling out in the UK

Google has finally confirmed that its AI mode is now rolling out in the UK, having already been live in the US for a few months.

Instead of a list of search results showing links to other websites in blue type, users who choose “AI Mode” will be given an answer written in a conversational style, containing far fewer links to other pages.

While AI Mode continues to be optional, users can still use traditional search.

What does this mean for search strategies?

It means:

• GSC doesn’t yet separate clicks from AI Mode from overall site clicks, making attribution harder than before
• Traditional position 1 or top 10 rankings will lose their impact
• Increased personalisation – users on AI mode will likely receive different results for the same query
• Informational content will see a decline in traffic as queries are answered on the SERPs
• Using PR and earned media will be key in showing up in LLMs and AI overviews

YouTube Shorts introduces AI tools for photo to video

YouTube Shorts has introduced new creation tools to enhance video making. The Photo to video feature turns pictures into animated videos, available now in select countries.

New generative effects transform doodles and selfies with AI-powered visuals. The AI playground offers tools for generating videos, images, and music, accessible in certain regions. All AI creations include SynthID watermarks and labels to ensure transparency.

Google has been testing a zoom functionality on images that feature in search results

Users in the industry have spotted that Google is testing a zoom effect on images that feature in the search result snippets. This looks to occur when you move your mouse cursor over the images.

Barry Schwartz has posted a screen recording example of this in action on X. Check out the video here.

Google announce second Core Update of 2025

Google announced its second Core Update of 2025. This follows the March Core Update, which we noticed that the sites that were hit most were those producing a lot of content programatically via AI.

SEO tracking tools are already detecting fluctuations, even if many site owners haven’t yet noticed changes. This update is expected to roll out over three weeks, longer than the typical two-week period. It’s still too early to see the full impact of this Core Update, however, it’s likely to negatively impact websites with low-quality content.

At Embryo, we’ll continue to monitor the impact on our clients and the wider industry.

Google updated guidelines for sites with explicit content

Google has released updated guidelines for sites with explicit content and what to do if your site is flagged incorrectly.

The update includes:

• Revised guidelines for how explicit content is handled in Search, and covers how SafeSearch works and best practices for websites who do host this type of content.
• Changes to ranking algorithms to target sites that host explicit videos but block Googlebot from accessing the files, and these sites may see a “significant drop in rankings.”

They’ve also updated guidelines around what to do if your site is incorrectly flagged, which can sometimes happen for sites that are subtly suggestive such as lingerie websites or sex education sites. 

Google Marketing Live: GA4 and performance monitoring

Google has just finished its ‘Google Marketing Live,’ and here is what we learned about GA4 and campaign measurements.

Cross-channel insights in GA4 are getting an upgrade, making it easier to track performance across platforms.

The minimum spend for incrementality testing will be reduced from $100K to $5k

A new Bayesian-based testing model means you can run tests in as little as 7 days.

Data Manager will consolidate first-party data from BigQuery, HubSpot, Salesforce, and Shopify, and a new API will facilitate smoother integrations.

They have introduced “Google Analytics experts” for in-depth analysis and strategic advice, and a “Marketing Advisor”, an AI agency assistant that offers step-by-step guidance.

And the big one, a unified view of impressions across both Google platforms and third-party data. This allows you to bridge the gap when understanding the full funnel.

Meet AI Mode – Google’s new expanded search feature

At the annual I/O developer conference, Google announced that it is upgrading its AI features, adding features like AI mode and AI overview.

What is AI Mode?
AI Mode is a new system powered by query fan-out. It breaks down big questions into smaller ones and runs multiple searches simultaneously to give more tailored, helpful results.

It’s designed to do more than answer questions. It can now help with shopping, too, surfacing personalised results like “Oasis tickets within 100 miles of Manchester” (we wish!). You’ll also see features like image results, visual try-ons, and sale alerts.

What does this mean for your website?
AI is quickly becoming the norm, which means optimising your website is more important than ever. Make sure it’s focused on your customers, aligned with search intent, and your content is delivering real value.

New study finds users only read a third of Google’s AI Overviews

A new UX study by Kevin Indig and Eric van Buskirk has revealed some interesting insights about how users interact with Google’s AI Overviews:

• Most users skim AI Overviews: The median scroll depth in AI Overviews is 30%, meaning most users don’t read more than the top third.
• Citations get few clicks: Only 19% of mobile users and 7.4% of desktop users clicked on a citation provided in the AI Overviews.
• Many turn to Reddit for social proof: When users leave the AI Overviews, a third go to Reddit, YouTube, or other forums.

This seems to confirm what many SEOs have feared: that AI Overviews mean a lower click through rate. However, the study’s sample size is small compared to Google Search’s massive scale, which means the insights can’t be used to make any definitive conclusions.

Still, the study’s insights are interesting and a reminder that online visibility is increasingly shifting from clicks to SERP visibility.

Google searches in Safari drop for the first time since 2003

It has been revealed that last month, Google searches in Apple’s Safari browser declined for the first time. Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, says, “[This] has never happened in 22 years.”

What does he think has caused this drop? AI, of course.

During the DOJ’s antitrust trial against Google, he testified, “People are using AI,” and he believes we are seeing a ‘fundamental shift’ in how people search. With AI clawing into the superiority of conventional search.  

This news is something the entire industry should sit up and pay attention to. Why? It signifies a behavioural shift in users’ search journeys that doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. 

Cue admitted that Apple is exploring a new approach to its search engine – with a priority shift to AI-powered search engines. Examples mentioned were OpenAI, Perplexity, and Anthropic, although he caveated that they aren’t ready to be the defaults yet. 

He stated, “There is much greater potential. They’re attacking the problem in a different way.”

Some of you may be thinking: Doesn’t the introduction of AI overviews make Google an AI search engine? Yes, it does. In fact, 1.5 billion users each month see AI overviews. ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude are barely reaching these numbers – even when combined!

So, there’s nothing to worry about yet, but definitely one to keep in mind. 

To find out more, check out the Search Engine Land article here.

YouTube are Testing AI Overviews in Search Results

Today, it’s been reported that YouTube are starting to test AI overviews within their search results, in order to highlight what they deem “the most relevant clips” for individual users; based upon their search.

We predict that this will not only impact user interactivity with watching longer videos in full, but may also cause a shift in search behaviour from within the YouTube platform. In theory, by delivering this type of snapshot video content, users will be delivered touristic and local content much quicker, as well as when carrying out product research related searches too.

YouTube will expand the rollout of their AI overviews test based upon the results of a small subset of YouTube Premium members’ feedback, in the US initially.

Google claims “EEAT Can’t be Added to Web Pages”

At a recent conference in New York, Google’s John Mueller claimed that “EEAT is not something SEOs can add to their pages.” He went on to discuss the role of EEAT and stated that adding keywords or metadata to content is, in fact, not what EEAT is about. Mueller emphasised that EEAT is more significant for YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) content, such as finance or healthcare, where accuracy and trustworthiness are paramount.

Non-YMYL content, like blogs, on the other hand, should step away from EEAT signals as they are not a significant factor in Google’s ranking assessments.

So what does this mean for SEO?

Many SEOs base their strategies on hitting as many EEAT signals as possible, but Mueller’s message is that this overlooks the bigger picture. SEOs should instead focus on demonstrating real trust and expertise, not just fabricating it with imaginary industry experts and AI-generated images.

Instead, we should go back to basics: content should be high-quality, informative, and genuinely useful to the user. This is what Google truly values—not web pages that simply tick off a list of points the algorithm supposedly favours. You might think this is basic knowledge, but the recent rise of AI has led many SEOs to abandon strategies that produce content unique, targeted, and personal to the user.

Expert opinion

Cara Dudgeon, Senior Content Writer

"It’s no secret that content is rapidly evolving and that SEO content writers need to keep up with the ever-changing demands of Google. However, one thing that is consistent is that the user is paramount. Sure, EEAT is important in YMYL content, but why stop there? Think about your own purchasing habits. Reviews, expert opinions, and a trustworthy website are all extremely important conversion factors. Users are far more likely to purchase a product or sign up for something that has 1000s of reviews rather than one that doesn’t have any. So, why wouldn’t we add these features to pages? But it’s essential that these features are real and genuine to keep the trust of users that become loyal customers. Fabricating these trust signals with AI can seriously harm your business. Not just in ranking factors, but also in terms of growth and profitability. Negative reviews are just as easy to write as positive ones - make sure your users are leaving reviews for the right reasons."

AI overviews see surge in wake of March core update

We have seen a surge in AI Overviews during and since the March 2025 core update. These increases were most prevalent across the entertainment (528% increase), restaurant (387% increase), and travel (381%) sectors. AI Overviews are becoming more prominent in UK search results, now appearing for 18% of tracked keywords, up from 4% in February

If you work in those industries, there are a number of tactics you can employ to ensure that you are making the most of AI overviews. And remember, even if they don’t affect your rankings, they could impact overall organic CTR.

• Keep content up-to-date with seasonal trends
• Build out guide content that help users with their decision-making process
• Make sure that images are optimised so that they can be used within AI overviews
• Utilise structured data to leverage entity SEO, tying your business to a place, people, and specific services

Google completes March 2025 Core update rollout

Google has completed its March 2025 Core Update roll-out after two weeks of implementation across search results worldwide.

Unlike other Google core updates that tend to target specific industries, we’ve seen notable shifts in search visibility across multiple sectors with sites being affected across retail, government, forums and content publishers. 

In particular, we’re seeing an emphasis on how Google values forum content. While Reddit remains strong, other forums are seeing any previously gained visibility drop. 

We’re also seeing penalties over programmatic content, with sites creating large volumes of programmatic content experiencing significant declines. 

What now? 

Now the update has rolled out, we recommend monitoring the full impact on sites and reviewing strategies. 

As Google continues to prioritise AI-generated content in search results, sites impacted negatively by the update should focus on improving content quality with the focus on content designed for the end user, rather than search engine benefit. 

Google Search Console API will offer 24-hour hourly data

Data enthusiasts rejoice, Google has announced an important update to its Search Console API, which will allow access to hourly search performance data for the past 8 days. This builds upon the 24-hour data view that was added to the Search Console web interface in December.

The announcement was made by Daniel Waisberg from the Google Search team at the Google Search Central Live event in New York City.

Pictured: Daniel Waisberg at the event where the announcement was made. Image credit: Ray Grieselhuber via LinkedIn.

What are the potential benefits?

• Rapid issue detection – Identify sudden traffic drops or ranking changes within hours rather than days.
• Real-time content assessment – See almost immediate performance data after publishing new content.
• Custom alerts – Create automated monitoring tools that notify you when metrics fall outside expected ranges.

Since Google added the feature in January, users have had to manually export this data. Once rolled out, the API access will mean you can pull this data directly into your own tools or SEO platforms.

Google notes that the hourly data becomes visible in the system with minimal delay, but the numbers may still be adjusted as Google completes its data collection. Website owners should compare this early hourly data against the final exports from the standard Search Console reports when creating important analyses.

This update may come as welcome news for business owners and marketing teams who want the ability to be ultra-responsive to what’s happening with their site in search. Being able to see hourly patterns will offer a whole new level of granular performance data.

March 2025 core update

On March 13th, Google released their first core update of 2025, which is the first one they’ve rolled out since December 12th 2024. Google has said that “the rollout may take up to 2 weeks to complete.”

Similar to previous core updates, we’ll expect to see high volatility within the SERPs with rankings and organic traffic fluctuating. It’s worth noting that the first core update of 2024 was one of the biggest we’ve seen and took 45 days to fully roll out. Therefore, it’ll be interesting to see if this one follows the same pattern.

At the moment, Google hasn’t provided much advice on this recent core update, but the general consensus is around creating helpful content that focuses on providing value to users and not to rank in search engines. As with all updates, we’ll continue to monitor this and provide further information once it’s fully rolled out.

Embryo spoke to Eugenia Evseeva, SEO Manager at Snov.io, who said:

Expert opinion

Eugenia Evseeva, SEO Manager at Snov.io

"Google's March 2025 Core Update isn't just another algorithm tweak. It represents a fundamental change in how Google evaluates online content ecosystems. The current wave of SERP volatility is a clear sign that Google is getting better at telling the difference between shallow SEO tactics and truly valuable content. The decline of mass-produced AI content sites confirms what many of us have predicted: Google is getting really good at spotting synthetic content made for algorithms, not humans. This shift is also changing the dynamics of retail visibility, with big players losing ground to smaller, more specialized brands. The key takeaway is clear: Google is no longer falling for the usual SEO tricks and is now rewarding sites that showcase real expertise and provide genuine value. Brands need to realize that visibility isn't just about technical optimization or churning out content—it’s about offering authentic expertise, unique perspectives, and content that truly meets user needs"

Google Upgrades Existing AI Features – And Launches New Ones

Previously known as Bard, Google launched Gemini in December of 2023, with the 2.0 version of the AI model launching around one year later. Now, Google has announced that its AI overviews are also going to receive the Gemini 2.0 upgrade in America. 

Users will specifically see updates with queries related to coding and advanced mathematics, helping them to answer difficult questions. Thanks to the 2.0 version’s advanced capabilities, the response in the AI overviews is faster and of a higher quality. 

What’s more, Google is removing the requirement of a login to access AI overviews. This means that their frequency will increase, and even teens can use them.

Google has also announced that it’s launching a new shopping AI feature called Vision Match, which is available for mobile users in the United States. 

Research from the search engine suggests that people shop on Google over a billion times per day, but more than half of shoppers that were asked revealed they struggle to find a specific item of clothing they had in mind. 

As an alternative, Google has worked with its AI model to provide a solution. From now on, American users can match what they’re picturing to real-world products shown on the Search and Shopping tab.  

We spoke to James Gray, VP of Experience Marketing at Remarkable, about his opinion on the update:

Expert opinion

James Gray, VP of Experience Marketing at Remarkable

"Google’s AI Mode is more than just another search update. It marks a mega-shift in how information is discovered online. Traditional SEO is being replaced (or added to) by Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO), where search engines no longer just rank content, but generate answers themselves. Visibility is no longer about ranking on page one but about becoming part of the AI’s knowledge base. AI-powered search is reducing direct clicks to websites. Users no longer need to sift through multiple results when AI Mode does the work for them. This presents both an opportunity and a challenge. Brands and content creators must rethink their approach, ensuring their content is structured for AI retrieval - leveraging multimodal search, structured data, LLMs.txt, and authoritative content to ensure they remain at the forefront of this new search paradigm. The brands that will thrive are those that adapt to this new Zero-Click Discoverability landscape, ensuring they remain at the forefront as AI transforms search forever."

Google’s Martin Splitt gives insight into audio versions of blog posts

One of Google’s Developer Advocates, Martin Splitt, recently gave some insight into audio blog posts. Martin was asked whether adding an audio version of a blog post could have an impact on Google’s search rankings. The short answer? Probably not.

However, Splitt still gave us some interesting information that we can put to good use for future blog pieces. Splitt went on to elaborate further: “I don’t think it will… I think it is a good thing for the user, though, so I would definitely do it — but not for SEO reasons.”

So even though adding audio versions of blog posts likely won’t make your site rank higher in and of itself, it can still help your readers navigate your site better. It’s well known by now that Google is all about creating helpful, useful and people-first content – adding audio versions of your blogs to your site may help people with vision issues and disabilities to access your content, fitting well with Google’s helpful ethos. Audio content can also make your site more accessible and engaging for those people who prefer to listen than read, even if they do not have any vision issues.

It’s not just about impressing Google with your skills either. It’s also important to consider the fact that the more helpful your content is, the more likely it is that it will be shared and distributed with other people, gaining more views, links and interactions overall.

See for yourself below!

Read the full report on SearchEngineLand here.

Ahrefs Study Reveals Over Half of Websites Receive AI Traffic

Ahrefs recently conducted a study to understand how much traffic is made up of AI, including where it is directly coming from, the most common referral sources, and how that differs depending on the size of the website. 

We know that Google announced that AI overviews get a higher click-through rate than normal web search results, and that generative AI is already impacting website rankings and traffic – there’s no denying that it’s here to stay. 

The study analysed the differences between sites driving greater than 10,000 visitors, between 1,000 and 9,000 visitors, and below 999 visitors per month, across the following AI chatbots: ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, Jasper, and Mistral.

The results? According to data, there is roughly a 2 in 3 chance of receiving a site visit via AI. Knowing this, you can monitor your AI traffic which can show you which sources send users your way, which pages on your site act as AI magnets, and how that traffic is changing or growing over time. 

ChatGPT sent over half of the AI traffic, while Perplexity sent 30.7% and Gemini referred 17.6%. If you want traffic from AI, pay attention to these ‘big three’ chatbots.

New study shows Google organic and paid CTRs have hit a new low

Organic and paid click-through rates (CTRs) are reported to have declined with the introduction of Google’s AI Overviews playing a role. A study carried out by Seer Interactive reveals that organic CTRs have dropped from 1.41% to 0.64% on average when AI overviews are present on the SERP, but increasing when absent. For paid CTRs, the study showed that this had declined across the board, regardless of whether an AI overview was present or not.

However, the flip side to this is when a brand appeared within the AI Overviews, then the CTRs for both paid and organic performed better. Organic CTRs increased from 0.74% to 1.02% and paid CTRs increased from 7.89% to 11% on average.

This data does indicate that AI Overviews influence search visibility and how users interact with the SERP but not necessarily in a way that benefits every website. Google still states that AI overviews enhance users’ search satisfaction, but the data does tell different narratives about this.

We spoke to Sara Taher, SEO consultant and Speaker, about this update:

Expert opinion

Sara Taher, SEO consultant and Speaker

"While the organic CTRs have dropped from 1.41% to 0.64% on average when AI overviews are present on the SERP, but increasing when absent, appearing in AI Overviews increases the CTR too. Which is good news, it only means we can no longer measure CTR solely on the clicks to the 10 blue links. So far AI Overviews is focused on mid to low/zero search volume keywords, and many of the keywords AI Overviews appear for were long tail complex conversational keywords. Many of those queries had no good answers in SERPs so even if we used to get those clicks, they may not have been very valuable to us. It’s also time we connect the number of organic clicks, organic sessions, and organic conversions to see the actual impact vs. judging by one metric, the CTR. CTR as a metric is a tricky one, if AIO caused a 50% drop in clicks, this can be 1 click of 2 clicks, or 1000 clicks of 2000. I’m not dismissing the study, but we need other metrics to see the full picture and understand the “business impact”. The Paid CTR decreases across the board, regardless of whether an AI overview was present or not. I have no idea why, but this should mean more clicks to organic results that appear with no AI overviews right? Overall great study, but my recommendation is to look at different metrics to understand what we actually lost - and potentially gained - and not just the CTR, in this new era of search."

Ahrefs study released about if links really do “matter less”

Following Google stating that “links are less important than they used to be” for organic rankings, Ahrefs have completed a study into this across an array of queries and industries. 

Within the analysis, they looked back on a 2019 study into backlinks and ranking correlation which highlighted the shift in which Google was alluding to. 

Interestingly, also Ahrefs discovered that backlinks align a lot closer for impact within both informational content and local results and queries, which makes sense given these more specific content types should naturally be gaining links if they’re high quality and useful for users. 

Just as Google may be shifting away from weighting links ever so slightly, this doesn’t mean you need to shift focus away from authority building in order to achieve success. There are hundreds of ranking factors which could be playing a part and they’re continuing to tweak their algorithms in order to find the perfect recipe which works within the SERPs.

We spoke to Carl Ashfield, SEO Manager at Quirky Digital who said:

Expert opinion

Carl Ashfield, SEO Manager at Quirky Digital

"Backlinks remain one of the most important ranking factors in SEO, serving as trust signals to search engines regarding the credibility of a site and how relevant its content is. As Google's algorithms continue to change, a meaningful backlink strategy, in conjunction with content optimisation and internal linking, remains essential to higher rankings and long-term success"