/serp/ - SERP Analysis

google business profile isn't even the main thing anymore. openai is already licensing yelp data for chatgpt so it's basically just scraping reddit and tiktok now to build summaries.
>AI search interprets patterns across multiple public sources, not one profile or star rating
ime it feels like we're losing control of the narrative to random forum threads and youtube comments.

found this here: https://www.amsive.com/insights/seo/how-online-reviews-shape-ai-search-visibility/

finally seeing some actual data for ai overviews in gsc, even if it's mostly just impressions. still can't see clicks or ctr which is super frustrating when you're trying to prove value to a client. looks like the uk rollout is happening first so i'm waiting to see if it hits my properties. there's also this new toggle in the console to opt out of being used for grounding, basically a more user-friendly version of google-extended.
>knowing which pages Google's AI models find most relevant for grounding is incredibly valuable information
still feels like we're flying blind without any click data to back up the visibility. if the impressions are up but traffic stays flat, i won't know if it's actually working or just noise.

article: https://www.mariehaynes.com/new-aio-and-aimode-info-in-gsc/

really can't tell if this actually drives any traffic or just keeps people in the app. they're talking about tracking things like price drops or pop-up events across forums and social posts, but there's zero mention of links.
>it'll even suggest tasks when you're searching
if it doesn't surface a click-through, it's just another way for google to capture the user journey without any attribution for us.

found this here: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-ai-mode-info-monitoring-global-rollout/591312/

Saw some people panicking on LinkedIn about Google nuking Claude content. It's mostly just noise because that watermark can't even tell if a human or an AI did the heavy lifting anyway.
>Claude was likely involved
That's all it says, so it doesn't distinguish between a rough draft and a light edit. Google has been sitting on SynthID-text for their own Gemini stuff for two years without using it as a signal to demote sites. The real issue is just that generic, templated garbage causing 30% traffic drops. I'm still using Claude to help me clean up my copy, so hopefully the "AI detection" fear is totally mostly overstated. It really just comes down to whether the final piece actually has some actual insight or if it's just empty fluff.

found this here: https://www.seerinteractive.com/insights/anthropic-watermark-update

another core update just finished and the news sites are taking a massive hit in the uk data. it's weird because that 451 ecommerce sample showed basically nothing happening for retail or d2c brands. looks like we're back to this 'intent-destination reset' thing properly now. some aggregators are actually moving up while others just tanked. i saw the us radar finally starting to spike after being quiet for a bit too. honestly feels like google is just trying to kill off anything that isn't a direct answer at this point lol. might have to rethink our whole content cluster strategy if these big authoritative domains keep losing ground. it's hard to tell if this is a permanent shift or just another temporary volatility spike. probably just more chaos

more here: https://www.sistrix.com/blog/may-2026-core-update-visibility-analysis-and-data-updates/

judge mehta basically ruled that an 'expectation is not an agreement', so penske can't sue over ai overviews because they never actually negotiated anything. it's wild that the court acknowledges the harm to journalists but still says there's no enforceable bargain just because google keeps crawling without a formal contract. does this mean we're stuck with zero leverage for organic traffic?

https://www.seroundtable.com/google-ai-overview-lawsuit-dismissed-42211.html

>Use AI to find local classes that fit perfectly into your busy calendar.

The idea of connecting Google Calendar to search just feels like a privacy nightmare waiting to happen. I'm not sure how they even measure if this actually drives more offline activity or if it's just more screen time.

more here: https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/ai-mode-real-world-tips/

saw the data from the france launch and it's pretty grim. those high exposure domains lost over 23% of their CTR in just nine days. looks like a -0.9 slope when you map the exposure rate against the drop. basically, every extra point of coverage is costing them. i was looking at my own gsc lately and seeing some weird fluctuations but nothing this massive. still, seeing that 82.2% of highly exposed sites lost traffic makes me wonder if we're just watching witnessing a slow death for informational queries. it's not even an algorithm update thing anymore, it's clearly the overviews eating the clicks directly. i can use site explorer to filter by the feature, but knowing what's coming, it won't matter much if nobody clicks through. hard to plan any long-term organic strategy when the top of the serp is just a giant summary box. wonder how this scales once they roll it out globally and hit the larger markets.

found this here: https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overviews-france-impact/

some of these links aren't even leaving the search page. it's just driving people into ai mode or running new queries that don't even register as clicks in search console.
>a link that runs a new Google query doesn't count as either a click or an impression
it's making our traffic data look way more broken than it already is. anyone else seeing these dead-end links popping up on mobile?

more here: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-ai-overviews-have-more-links-but-not-all-reach-the-web/590762/

>informational intent had the lowest CTR across all six industries, without exception.

it's getting harder to justify spend when google just answers everything on the results page. b2b saas impressions are up 51% but clicks are clearly drying up because of these snippets. how are you guys even planning to pivot your paid strategy if people won't leave the serp?

https://www.seerinteractive.com/insights/zero-click-search-paid-strategy