SEO Weekly Digest: April 15-21
AI Search & SEO Impact
AI Overviews Reduce Clicks by 34.5%
Ahrefs' research analyzed 300,000 keywords and found that AI Overviews in Google search results correlate with a 34.5% lower average clickthrough rate (CTR) for top-ranking pages compared to similar informational keywords without AI Overviews. This contradicts Google CEO Sundar Pichai's claim that links within AI Overviews get higher CTRs. Ryan Law and Xibeijia Guan of Ahrefs suggest that as the novelty of AI Overviews wears off, clicks may reduce further.
Reverse-Engineering AI Overviews Reveals Intent Blending
DAC's research team reverse-engineered Google's AI Overviews and discovered that they don't follow the traditional funnel model (TOFU-MOFU-BOFU). Instead, they blend multiple layers of intent into comprehensive responses. Their analysis of 200 cruise-related informational queries showed:
- 88% triggered an AI Overview
- 52% mixed in other layers of intent beyond the basic information
- Less than half of queries matched their original intent
These findings suggest SEO strategies need to evolve beyond single keywords and intent types. Dan Lauer and Michael Goodman from DAC recommend creating content that addresses multiple intent layers to maintain visibility as AI reshapes SERPs.
AI Tools & Digital Marketing
LLMs Are Changing How Marketers Code
Large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Claude are now capable of writing full scripts, browser extensions, and small web apps from plain English prompts. Frederick Vallaeys explains that these AI-powered coding capabilities let marketers automate repetitive tasks, create data visualizations, and build tools without deep programming knowledge. He highlights three tools for browser-based AI coding:
- Claude (Anthropic): Runs code directly in the interface with a 200,000-token context window
- V0.dev (Vercel): Generates full React components and deployable web projects
- GPT-4o (OpenAI): Strong for writing scripts but lacks direct execution capabilities
How Ecommerce SEOs Are Using AI in 2025
A SEOFOMO survey of ecommerce owners and SEOs reveals five popular uses of AI in ecommerce SEO:
- Content creation (product listings, meta descriptions, blog content)
- Analysis & research (keyword research and clustering)
- Technical SEO (generating internal linking strategies)
- User experience & conversion rate optimization
- Client documentation, education & learning
Martin Splitt reports that 31% of respondents are planning to adopt AI but haven't yet, while 37% aren't using AI in any meaningful way. This suggests significant room for growth in AI adoption for ecommerce SEO.
Google Updates & Technical SEO
Google LLMs.txt Guidance
Google's John Mueller compared LLMs.txt (a proposed standard for showing website content to AI agents and crawlers) to the largely useless keywords meta tag. Mueller explained that none of the major AI services have announced support for LLMs.txt, and logs show they don't check for it. Martin Splitt notes that Mueller questioned the purpose, since AI bots would still need to check the original content to verify it's not spam.
Google Consolidating Domain Structure
Google is phasing out country-specific domains (like google.fr, google.ca) in favor of redirecting all to Google.com. While this affects Google's own domains, John Mueller confirmed that "nothing has changed with regards to international SEO." SEO professionals should continue using hreflang tags and clearly signaling language and regional targeting.
Hourly GSC Data Now Available
Google has added hourly data to the Google Search Console API for up to 10 days, enabling more granular analysis during algorithm updates. Glenn Gabe provides a detailed tutorial on using Analytics Edge to compare hourly GSC data, helping SEOs track the immediate impact of major algorithm updates in near real-time.
Resolving WordPress Plugin Conflicts
When WordPress plugins conflict, they can cause the dreaded "white screen of death." Rhys Wynne explains that these conflicts typically occur when two plugins contain the same or similar library functions. While plugin conflicts are becoming rarer thanks to WordPress protections, Wynne offers a troubleshooting process:
- Check if you have access to WordPress and use the Health Check plugin
- If not, look for administrative emails about Recovery Mode
- Check host log files for Fatal Error messages
- Manually deactivate problematic plugins via FTP
Legal Developments
Google Found Guilty of Illegal Ad Tech Monopoly
A federal judge ruled that Google maintained illegal monopolies in the digital advertising technology market, violating Section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act. The court found Google controlled approximately 91% of the worldwide publisher ad server market from 2018 to 2022. Matt G. Southern reports that this ruling could lead to Google being forced to sell parts of its ad tech business, potentially changing the digital advertising landscape.
Search Engine Alternatives
25 Alternative Search Engines Beyond Google
Chuck Price provides a comprehensive overview of search engine alternatives across multiple categories:
- AI-powered search engines: ChatGPT Search, Perplexity.ai, You.com
- Revenue-sharing search engines: Yep.com by Ahrefs
- Copyright-free search engines: Openverse
- Privacy-focused options: KARMA Search, DuckDuckGo, Startpage, Swisscows, Brave, Kagi, Mojeek
- Knowledge-based search engines like Wayback Machine
- International search engines including Baidu, Yandex, Sogou, and Naver
Price explains the unique advantages of each alternative and how they differ from Google.
TikTok Launches Footnotes
TikTok has begun testing "Footnotes," a feature similar to X's Community Notes that allows approved users to add contextual information to videos. Matt G. Southern reports that this community-based approach requires contributors to meet specific eligibility criteria (6+ months on TikTok, 18+ years old, clean record). The system uses a special ranking algorithm to help people with different viewpoints find common ground, with only footnotes that enough people find helpful being shown publicly.
LinkedIn Adding Links Boosts Engagement
A Metricool study of over 577,000 LinkedIn posts contradicts common marketing advice, finding that posts with links get 13.57% more interactions and 4.90% more views than posts without links. Matt G. Southern shares other key findings:
- Carousels/document posts have the highest engagement rate (45.85%)
- Polls are underutilized but receive 206.33% more reach than average posts
- Video content grew by 53% last year with engagement up by 87.32%
- Text-only posts performed worse than visual content
