We hope you are in good health. Here are some of the major SEO news updates of the week that you need to know:
Search Related News and Updates from Major Search Engine
Google Year in Search 2025: Gemini, Cricket & AI Trends
Google’s “Year in Search 2025” highlights the queries that grew fastest versus 2024, with Gemini leading worldwide and a heavy global tilt toward cricket plus major news events. The U.S. trends diverge more toward politics and pop culture, and AI-generated content (like “AI action figure,” “AI Barbie,” and “Ghibli-style” AI art) stands out as a dominant U.S. search theme.
Google: Ranking Systems Reward Content Written for Humans
Google’s Danny Sullivan says there’s no “new” optimization playbook for AI-powered search—Google’s ranking systems (including AI experiences) are still designed to reward content that genuinely satisfies people. The emphasis remains on creating for human readers, not for search algorithms or LLMs, with human feedback helping systems learn what “helpful” looks like.
Bing: Duplicate & Similar Pages Weaken SEO and AI Visibility
Bing’s team says near-duplicate/similar pages “blur signals,” making it harder for both traditional ranking systems and AI/LLM-driven experiences to understand which page best matches user intent. In AI contexts, models may cluster similar URLs and pick only one representative—potentially choosing the wrong or outdated version—so meaningful differentiation and clearer intent per page improve visibility.
Google Tests Search Bar Prompts for AI Mode
Google is testing a Chrome new-tab search box that auto-displays rotating prompts like “Research a topic,” “Write something new,” “Ask Google,” and “Make a plan,” nudging users toward deeper, AI-assisted queries. The test appears tied to the recently added “+” capability that supports things like uploading docs/images and using Deep Research.
Bing Tests a “More Sources” Carousel in Search Results
Bing is testing a new “More sources” section that appears to swap in a different UI: long, card-shaped organic results displayed in a swipeable carousel. The test was spotted in the wild and shared via videos/screenshots, suggesting Bing is experimenting with how it surfaces additional publisher links within the results page.
PPC Related News and Updates from Major Search Engine
Google Ads Confirms Dynamic Remarketing Tracking/Reporting Bug
Google has confirmed a bug where dynamic remarketing tracking data isn’t flowing into reporting, with some advertisers seeing no “hits with events” or parameters in the ViewStats area of Google Ads Pixel diagnostics (Data Manager). Google says teams are actively reviewing it, and affected advertisers are being asked to file a support case.
