Google’s CEO on the fate of search

PLUS: When SEO can be a brand health signal

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Welcome back!

Highlights from today's newsletter:
🤖 What AI gets wrong about your site, and why it's not your fault
📈 Marketers using AI see a 42% increase in published content
🎯 The future of AI personalization is inclusive

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TOP OF THE SERPS 🏆

Source: Financial Times

At SXSW London, Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis laid out why AGI could arrive within a decade and how it might reshape science, society, and the internet itself.

From AlphaFold’s protein breakthroughs to the dream of personal AI agents, he made the case that AI is shifting from a tool to an infrastructure layer. But with that power comes risk. Hassabis urged caution: what looks like hype now could soon be history’s biggest underestimation.

AI & SEO 🖱️

WEBSITE OPTIMIZATION
HubSpot’s CMO Shows You How AI Can Boost Conversions from Your Web Page
AI-powered agents like OpenAI's Operator can significantly enhance website conversion rates by analyzing performance and offering actionable insights.

This technique streamlines the cumbersome processes of data analysis and user research, providing immediate results. Marketers and business owners can leverage these capabilities for faster revenue generation without the long delays of traditional methods.

PR STRATEGY SHIFT
AI Search Is Upending The PR Industry—How Brands and Agencies Need to Adapt
PR teams are transitioning from SEO to AEO as AI-powered search engines redefine how people access information and how brands control reputations.

This shift is crucial for professionals seeking to maintain relevance and competitive advantage in digital visibility. Understanding AEO is pivotal for adapting to changes in online search dynamics.

AI INTERPRETATION CHALLENGES
What AI Gets Wrong About Your Site, and Why It’s Not Your Fault
AI tools like ChatGPT can misinterpret or skip crucial aspects of websites due to design constraints, not user errors.

Implementing a llms.txt file complements SEO by guiding language models, ensuring accurate site representation. This trend prepares sites for structured LLM access, benefiting both users and site owners.

EXTRA CLICKS FOR THOUGHT 💡

AI CONTENT MARKETING
Marketers Using AI See a 42% Increase in Published Content
Generative AI is prevalent in content marketing, with 87% of marketers using it to create content. Companies using AI publish 42% more content, often employing tools like ChatGPT. Despite AI's role in content increase, 80% of respondents still manually review content for accuracy, minimizing reliance on purely AI-generated outputs.

BRAND PERFORMANCE SIGNALS
When SEO Can Be A Brand Health Signal
SEO serves as a crucial brand health indicator, detecting shifts in consumer sentiment through search behavior and trends before they manifest in sales or reviews.

Monitoring SEO data can reveal potential brand issues, such as declining branded search volume or rising queries with negative sentiment, providing early warning signs to preemptively address problems.

This approach enables brands to proactively manage reputation, adapting strategies in response to evolving consumer concerns and maintaining brand integrity.

AI PERSONALIZATION TRENDS
The Future of AI Personalization Is Inclusive
Integrating inclusion into AI-driven advertising personalization enhances relevance and boosts revenue, with inclusive ads generating up to 5 times more value. 

Microsoft uses generative AI to achieve hyper-personalization by leveraging diverse data sources, improving customer relationships and conversion rates across channels.

TOP VOICES 💬

INSIGHTS FROM GOOGLE CEO SUNDAR PICHAI

INSIGHTS FROM ANKITA SHARMA

SEO Cheat Sheet for 2025: Tips and Tricks

♦ Technical SEO
1. Enable HTTPS for security 🔒
2. Optimize Core Web Vitals ⚡
3. Fix broken links 🔗
4. Remove toxic backlinks. ❌
5. Ensure mobile-friendliness 📱
6. Create & submit XML sitemap 🗺️
Optimize robots.txt. 🚫
7. Use canonical tags to prevent duplicate content. 🔄
8. Implement schema markup 📊
9. Fix crawl errors in Google Search Console. 🛠️


♦ On-Page SEO
11. Optimize title tags 🎯
12. Write compelling meta descriptions ✨
13. Use a single H1 tag per page. 💎
14. Structure content with H2-H6 headings ☰
15. Place focus keywords in the first 100 words. 🔑
16. Keep URLs short & descriptive. ✍️
17. Optimize internal linking 🔗
18. Improve Image SEO with alt text 🖼️
19. Use descriptive anchor text. 💬
20. Avoid keyword stuffing. 🧱


♦ Content Optimization
21. Prioritize search intent. 🧠
22. Write long-form content (1000+ words). 📜
23. Target LSI keywords 🗂️
24. Optimize for featured snippets. 🏆
25. Refresh old content regularly. 🔄
26. Create a pillar-cluster strategy 🔗
27. Answer FAQs in content.❓
28. Use bullet points & lists. ✔️
29. Improve content readability. 📖
30. Add engaging visuals. ✨


♦ Off-Page SEO
31. Build high-quality backlinks 🔗
32. Leverage guest blogging. ✍️
33. Submit to relevant directories 📁
34. Engage in digital PR 📰
35. Optimize for brand mentions. 📣
36. Promote content on social media. 🟦
37. Use HARO for link building. 🎤
38. Encourage user-generated content. 👥
39. Partner with industry influencers 🔥
40. Monitor backlink health with Ahrefs or Moz. 👀


♦ Local SEO
41. Claim & optimize Google My Business 📍
42. Get listed in local directories. 📜
43. Use NAP consistency across listings. 🌟
44. Optimize for "near me" searches 🗺️
45. Collect & respond to customer reviews ⭐
46. Add location-based schema markup 📍
47. Optimize local landing pages 📄
48. Use geo-tagged images 📷
49. Engage in local link building 🔗
50. Post regularly on Google Business Profile. 🏆


♦ Advanced SEO
51. Optimize for voice search 🎤
52. Implement AI-driven SEO strategies. 🤖
53. Monitor competitor SEO strategies. 🕵️
54. Improve E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust) 🏛️
55. Use predictive analytics for SEO trends. 📈
56. Rank for zero-click searches 🔍
57. Master programmatic SEO ⚙️
58. Track keyword ranking shifts 📊
59. Implement video SEO for YouTube ▶️
60. Use SEO automation tools for efficiency. 🚀

💬 What did you think of the new 'Top Voices' section?

We’d love your feedback to help us improve.

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SOUNDS OF SEARCH 🎧

SEARCH OFF THE RECORD
How Googlebot Crawls The Web

Googlebot's evolution in web crawling is dissected by Martin and Gary from Google Search Relations, detailing the transition from initial web indexing methods to today's sophisticated systems, notably Google's shift to unified crawling infrastructure. 

This shift is crucial for web developers and digital marketers as it highlights the impact of automated traffic and the protocols managing it, explaining the implications for website optimization and traffic management.

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