Google & SEO
Learn all about the latest in digital market industry updates from Google and how they might effect your business here
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Adobe move to acquire Semrush
Adobe is acquiring Semrush for roughly £1.6 Billion, a move that signals where SEO and digital marketing tools are headed as AI-driven search reshapes discovery and visibility.
The acquisition aims to combine Semrush’s search-intelligence capabilities with Adobe’s content and marketing stack which will help brands handle both traditional SEO and newer GEO channels.
As AI-powered search gains traction, the deal underscores a wider consolidation trend in the industry as marketers want unified platforms that track visibility across both classic search engines and AI-driven answer engines.
Google Search Console adds branded queries filter
Google has announced that they’re rolling out a new filter in Search Console which will allow us to filter branded queries in Performance reports. Allowing users to check the brand/generic ratio of search visibility and clicks without having to use regex.
This feature will give marketers clearer visibility into how much traffic is driven by brand, and also a sneaky insight into what Google believes is your branded terms (as you cannot specify them within the filter).
It is not yet rolled out into every property, and it cannot provide retrospective filtering, so we can only see this from the date it is available in the property.
Google’s AI Shopping Updates
Just ahead of peak shopping season, Google has released a number of handy AI updates to help you find the perfect gifts at the best prices online, although some features might only be available in the US at this point. Here’s a rundown of what’s new:
- Shop in AI mode: This latest upgrade allows you to search in a conversational way, like you’d say it to a friend, and Google will provide the goods. Think visuals, prices, reviews and even whether the item’s in stock, without the need to filter your results or try to come up with the correct variant of keyword to find exactly what you’re looking for. Results types are also tailored to the search, so it could be shopping images if you’ve asked for inspiration, or comparison tables if you are weighing up different products.
- Shop in the Gemini App: Go straight from brainstorming gifts to browsing with help from the Gemini App, with comparison tables to help decide between different products and real shopping results right within your chat, instead of just the usual text-based answers.
- Agentic AI’s call feature: If you’ve found the perfect gift but need to find it in-store, you can ask Google to call around and find it for you. This AI feature will even find out if there are any promos or discounts! When you search for certain products with a ‘near me’ search, you’ll see an option to ‘Let Google Call’. AI will do the hard work, saving you time during the busy festive season, and Google will send you an email or text with the answer.
- Price tracking with agentic AI: If the gift at the top of your child’s Christmas list is looking a bit pricey, use Google’s new price tracking technology to let you know when the price falls within your budget. Google will even buy the product on your behalf (with your permission) using Google Pay!
ChatGPT increases brand mentions as Google reduces their focus
Recent Semrush data is showing that over the last three months, ChatGPT is starting to reference more brands in their results, whilst Google’s AI Mode has narrowed its focus.
Results show that ChatGPT is experimenting with its answers, as 12% more brands were mentioned in September before declining in October.
Whereas Google’s AI Mode mentions fell by 4% during the same period. As well as this, the Semrush data shows that ChatGPT had an increase in the number of sources/sites used with figures showing an 80% increase in October, compared to just a 13% increase from Google’s AI Mode.
Whilst there is some consistency between the results of ChatGPT and Google’s AI Mode when it comes to referencing brands. It’s still important to keep testing to ensure you get the best results for each model.
Read moreGoogle introduces query groups in Search Console Insights
Google has announced Query Groups, a new AI-powered feature in Search Console Insights that clusters similar search queries to help marketers understand search performance more easily.
When reviewing search data, you often see dozens of slightly different versions of the same query, which can make it hard to spot trends and plan content. Query Groups solves this by automatically grouping related queries into clusters that represent main search interests, driving traffic to your site.
What it does
- Groups similar queries – see main search topics instead of long lists of variations
- Shows performance – track total clicks per group and spot rising or falling trends
- Drill down – click a group to view all individual queries in detail
Why it matters
Query Groups helps marketers identify emerging topics, optimise content strategy, and focus on high-level insights instead of sifting through hundreds of similar queries. Available over the coming weeks for high-volume accounts, this feature will make search analysis smarter and faster.
Read moreOpenAI launches ChatGPT Atlas browser
OpenAI has launched ChatGPT Atlas for macOS, a browser built around ChatGPT that has integrated search and assistant features.
A ChatGPT sidebar appears in any browser window to summarise content, compare products, or analyse data from the page you’re viewing, allowing you to find the additional information you need without leaving the current page.
One of the most significant features of ChatGPT Atlas is Agent Mode, which can open tabs and click through websites to complete tasks on the user’s behalf. According to OpenAI, it can research products, book appointments, or organise tasks inside your browser.
Why does it matter? Atlas blurs the line between browser and search engine by putting ChatGPT responses alongside traditional search results in the same view, allowing users to browse and ask questions simultaneously. It’s another major platform where AI-generated answers appear before organic links.
Versions for Windows, iOS, and Android are scheduled to launch in the coming months, but release dates have not been specified.
Google expands AI Mode in Search to more languages and locations
Google has rolled out AI Mode to over 40 new regions and languages on 7th October 2025, making AI-assisted search answers more widely accessible globally.
Key updates:
- Broader availability: Users worldwide can now access AI Mode in their native languages.
- Enhanced answers: AI-powered search provides more comprehensive, refined responses to queries.
- Improved user experience: Tailored answers aim to surface the most relevant information efficiently.
Why this matters:
As AI becomes a bigger part of search, businesses need to ensure their content is structured and presented in a way that AI can easily interpret. Optimising for clear, authoritative, and well-organised content helps increase visibility in AI-powered results, while maintaining strong traditional SEO fundamentals ensures content remains discoverable in standard search listings.
What to expect:
- Broader reach: More users globally will interact with AI-generated search responses, increasing competition for clicks.
- Content clarity matters: Clear, structured, and authoritative content is more likely to be selected by AI as a source for answers.
- SEO evolution: Businesses may need to balance traditional SEO practices with AI-focused content strategies, ensuring content is both discoverable and easily understood by AI systems.
- Continuous monitoring: AI search results will evolve quickly, so keeping track of performance metrics and updating content will be critical for sustained visibility.
Microsoft outlines how to optimise content for AI search answers
Microsoft has just shared some new guidance for marketers on how to optimise content for inclusion in AI-powered search results.
Key tips:
- Prioritise content quality: Ensure your content is fresh, authoritative, structured, and semantically clear. AI systems favour content that is easy to understand.
- Enhance crawlability: Maintain traditional SEO practices like proper metadata, internal linking, and backlinks to ensure your content is discoverable.
- Structure for AI parsing: Organise content into clear, modular pieces that AI assistants can easily evaluate for relevance and authority.
- Focus on intent-based queries: Optimise for natural language and intent-focused search terms to align with AI’s understanding of user intent.
Why does this matter?
With Google disabling &num=100 parameters, visibility tracking just got trickier – but that only makes this guide more timely. With AI searches steadily on the rise, marketers need to focus on what really counts: clear, structured, high-quality content that AI can easily surface. It’s a reminder that while tools and interfaces change, content fundamentals still drive discoverability.
Read moreGoogle Disables &num=100
Google has disabled the &num=100 parameter in search URLs which many SEO tools use to pull ranking data. This has resulted in a significant change to Google Search Console data with impressions declining dramatically.
Previously, when a full 100-result page was requested, Google would log every result on that page as an impression in Search Console, including the low-ranked listings, even if no real user ever saw them. This inflated impression counts by counting bot traffic as if it were a user seeing the listing on the SERP.
Why this matters
This change has raised questions about the idea of ‘The Great Decoupling’ where impressions were increasing but clicks weren’t following. It’s now looking like a lot of these impressions may have come from bots or SEO tools scraping search results as opposed to organic traffic. With the parameter gone, impression data should now reflect more accurately what users see in the search results.
What to expect
- Impression baselines from before September 2025 might not be reliable
- Impression drop is more pronounced on desktop where scraping was most common
- Page rankings outside the top 10 are now less likely to show meaningful visibility
Next steps
- Review Google Search Console data from early September to account for the shift
- Reevaluate CTR and position metrics if reporting includes YoY comparisons
- Educate clients that recent impression drops are likely technical and not performance related
Google AI Mode set to become default search ‘soon’
Google leaders Sundar Pichai and Liz Reid have recently confirmed that AI Mode will soon replace the current search experience as the default. It’s already live in 180 countries, with ads due to roll in before Q4.
What to expect:
- A combination of AI answers and traditional results, with the ability to ask further questions related to the topic within the SERPs.
- Ads appearing as text and shopping placements with expansive product details.
- Source pages shown before AI answers (giving more credit to the experts).
- Websites and ads surfaced within AI responses to drive traffic to more information on the websites and sources.
- An option to switch back to classic results for those who prefer it.
Why it matters:
This change will force brands to think less about keywords individually and more about becoming trusted voices in their subject matter. In a nutshell, if you’re not seen as a reliable source, AI won’t reward your content. Search is shifting from discovery to instant delivery, where visibility and value primarily lives inside the AI-generated answer itself. Google is no longer about “10 blue links”, its a conversation with Google, raising big questions about how smaller sites adapt. Likely, it will push businesses toward deeper, expert-led content to secure citations and remain visible in their sectors.
