The search and marketing world never slows down. Last week’s inaugural edition of Semrush’s Marketing Countdown, featuring Search Engine Land, explored how the landscape is rapidly shifting under our feet.
We unpacked five of the biggest stories making waves:
Bottom line: SEO remains critical in the AI-driven search era. A strategic, brand-focused, and user-first approach is essential. Companies must align messaging, produce authoritative content, and track emerging AI visibility metrics to thrive in a diversified, AI-influenced ecosystem.
Here’s the video of everything you need to know to stay ahead of the curve – plus takeaways and insights you won’t want to ignore.
Marketing Countdown was hosted by Rita Cidre, head of Academy at Semrush, and featured:
Mordy Oberstein, Founder of Unify and communications advisor for Semrush
Danny Goodwin (that’s me), Editorial Director at Search Engine Land
Erich Casagrande, content product specialist at Semrush
It focused on the evolving landscape of SEO, the impact of AI on search, and actionable marketing strategies. Some of the key themes discussed:
Generative AI in search
AI is changing how people research, but Google remains the dominant starting point due to habit and trust.
AI summaries offer convenience but often reduce clicks to websites, posing challenges for publishers.
Google’s AI upgrade
Google’s announcement of its biggest search upgrade lacked transparent data.
Publishers report rising impressions but falling clicks, showing a “great decoupling” between search visibility and user traffic.
Answer engines and content
Platforms like Perplexity highlight the need for authoritative content, topical authority, and trusted citations.
Video content and user engagement are increasingly important for visibility.
Google AI Mode
Rolled out in 180+ countries.
Presents comprehensive AI-generated answers in a separate tab, suggesting a future where AI synthesizes multiple subtopics into a single response.
ChatGPT & Google
Despite OpenAI’s claims of Bing reliance, ChatGPT Plus reportedly pulls from Google results, reinforcing Google’s central role in SEO.
Shift in marketing strategy
Marketers need to blend tactical SEO with brand-building.
Fragmented channels and AI-driven search require holistic, integrated strategies.
Unsiloing teams
Consistency across marketing and AI platforms is essential to avoid contradictory brand messaging.
SEO best practices
Focus on high-quality, user-centric, contextual content rather than outdated keyword tactics.
New metrics include brand mentions, sentiment analysis, and AI visibility tracking.
Content sources for AI
YouTube and Reddit are frequently cited in AI answers.
TikTok and Instagram are less influential in this context.
https://i0.wp.com/dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/marketing-countdown-5-industry-shakeups-sept-2025-GbUl0D.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=110801920http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-09-09 14:00:002025-09-09 14:00:00Video: 5 AI search stories you need to know (September 2025)
Google is rolling out new tools in Google Ads designed to unify web and app advertising, making it easier for marketers to deliver consistent customer journeys and measure performance across platforms.
What’s new
Web to App Connect expansion: You can now send YouTube, Hotel, and Demand Gen ad clicks directly to apps – extending the feature beyond Performance Max, Search, and Shopping campaigns. Google says brands using Web to App Connect on YouTube have seen 2x higher conversion rates.
Unified workflows:
In-product nudges now help you optimize toward in-app events.
Unified conversions bundle app and web events for easier setup.
A new combined overview card shows side-by-side web and app performance directly on the Ads homepage.
App install measurement from web campaigns: For the first time, Search and Shopping campaigns can be credited with driving new app installs and in-app conversions.
Why we care. Managing campaigns across websites and apps has long been a pain point. Customers often bounce between platforms before converting, and disconnected reporting makes it difficult to see what’s working. These updates could help you tighten your funnel, reduce wasted spend, and create app-first strategies that unlock higher ROI.
The big picture. By connecting web and app activity inside Google Ads, you can:
Attract high-value customers: Push users into apps, where they’re more likely to engage and convert.
Streamline campaigns: Target and optimize across web + app without juggling separate workflows.
See the full funnel: Attribute installs and conversions to web campaigns for a more accurate performance picture.
What’s next.With unified reporting, it’ll be easier to spot which touchpoints drive the most value – but it may also expose underperforming spend. Expect brands to test more app-first journeys, especially in categories like retail, travel, and subscription services, where in-app conversions typically outperform the web.
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-09-09 13:24:592025-09-09 13:24:59Google Ads links web + app campaigns with new features
Today, we’re excited to welcome Yoast AI Summarize to our growing family of AI features. Just like our other AI tools, this new feature is designed to make your publishing process faster and easier by putting powerful, practical AI right where you work, in the WordPress Block Editor.
Yoast AI Summarize is perfect for bloggers, content teams, agencies, and publishers who want to give readers instant value while also making sure their posts clearly communicate the intended message.
What does Yoast AI Summarize do?
You’ve finished drafting your post, great! But before you hit “Publish,” wouldn’t it be helpful to instantly see the core points your content is actually conveying? That’s exactly what Yoast AI Summarize does.
With one click, you can insert a Key Takeaways block into your content. Yoast AI Summarize scans your post’s main body and creates a short, bullet-point summary, giving your readers a quick, scannable snapshot, and giving you a chance to check if your post is truly saying what you want it to.
How you can access the new feature
Yoast AI Summarize is automatically available to all Yoast SEO Premium customers. Just make sure you’ve updated to the latest version and granted consent to use AI.
Once enabled, simply:
Open your post in the WordPress Block Editor.
Add the new block from the “Yoast AI Blocks” section
Click to generate summary, and watch your Key Takeaways section appear in seconds.
Where you can use Yoast AI Summarize
Right now, Yoast AI Summarize works in the WordPress Block Editor on posts and pages. The block is fully editable, you can change the title, rewrite bullet points, or move it anywhere in your content flow.
Pricing and usage
There are no hidden costs for Yoast AI Summarize, it’s included in Yoast SEO Premium. Like our other AI features, it uses our spark counter to track usage.
A spark is a single click on an AI feature.
Generating one summary = one spark.
Your spark counter resets at the start of each month.
There’s currently no hard limit, so you can experiment freely.
Limitations
Yoast AI Summarize is currently in beta. That means you may notice a few restrictions:
Only available in the WordPress Block Editor.
Summaries are excluded from Yoast SEO and Readability Analysis to protect your scores.
Currently works only on published or drafted content within supported blocks.
For very long posts, it may take a few seconds for the summary to generate.
Try out Yoast AI Summarize today
Upgrade to Yoast SEO Premium to unlock this and all our AI features, including the award-nominated Yoast AI Generate and the powerful Yoast AI Optimize. With Yoast AI Summarize, you can work faster, keep your content aligned with your intent, and give your readers instant value with clear, scannable takeaways.
Update to the latest version and try it out today!
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-09-09 09:09:432025-09-09 09:09:43New: From longform to key takeaways, in seconds. Meet Yoast AI Summarize
As part of our broader APAC plan, which includes new Deep Dive events and two local language
editions, we are happy to announce the details for our Chinese language event: Search
Central Live Hong Kong!
https://i0.wp.com/dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/web-design-creative-services.jpg?fit=1500%2C600&ssl=16001500http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-09-08 06:00:002025-09-08 06:00:00Search Central Live Hong Kong 2025: Event in Chinese focusing on international ecommerce
Product variations are more than just an ecommerce feature. They give your customers choices, whether it’s size, color, style, or material, while helping your store stand out in competitive search results. When optimized correctly, product variations do more than display available options. They improve the customer experience by making shopping easier. At the same time, they boost conversions by catering to diverse needs and support your SEO strategy by targeting more keywords.
This guide will explain the best practices for product variations and show you how to optimize them for search engines and customers so your ecommerce site can grow in traffic, rankings, and sales.
What are product variations in ecommerce?
Product variations or product variants are different versions of the same product designed to give customers options. These variations can be based on attributes like size, color, material, style, or capacity. Instead of creating multiple product listings, variations group all options under a single product, making it easier for customers to browse and purchase.
For example, when you search for an iPhone on Amazon, you’ll see options for different colors and storage capacities, all available on a single page. This setup lets customers explore multiple choices without leaving the main product page.
Example of product variants
Managing product variations depends on the platform you use:
In WooCommerce, product variations are created using attributes such as size or color, and then assigning values to those attributes. Store owners can upload unique images, set prices, and adjust stock for each variation
In Shopify, variations are managed under the ‘Variants’ section of a product. You can add options like size, color, or material, and then assign values. Each variant can have its own price, SKU, and image, making it simple to customize how the variations appear in your store
Okay, now let’s see why you need product variants and not upload each option as a completely separate product. Think of it this way: customers don’t want to scroll through endless listings just to compare a black t-shirt with a white one or a 64GB phone with a 128GB version. Variations keep everything in one place, making shopping smoother and more intuitive.
Here’s why product variations are so important for your customers:
Improved shopping experience: Variants reduce unnecessary clicks and allow customers to compare options side by side within a single product page. This saves time and makes decision-making easier
Higher conversions and lower bounce rates: When customers find their preferred size, color, or feature right away, they are more likely to complete a purchase instead of leaving your store
Reduced purchase anxiety: Variants ensure customers do not feel limited by stock. Seeing multiple choices available decreases the chance of cart abandonment
Personalization and satisfaction: Offering customers options empowers them to choose a product that feels tailor-made for them, improving overall satisfaction
Indirect SEO benefits: A better shopping experience often leads to longer session durations, fewer bounces, and more engagement. These signals may indirectly support stronger SEO performance, as they align with positive user experience metrics
How do product variations support your ecommerce SEO strategies?
Product variations are not just about creating a better shopping experience; they also bring direct ecommerce SEO benefits that can help your store attract more qualified traffic. When optimized correctly, variants can make your product pages richer, more discoverable, and more engaging.
Increase in keyword targeting
Variants allow you to target a wider range of long-tail keywords that reflect real customer search behavior. For example, instead of only competing for ‘men’s wallet,’ you can rank for ‘men’s black leather wallet’ or ‘slim men’s brown wallet.’ These specific keywords usually carry higher purchase intent and face less competition
Levi’s product page for jeans uses long-tail keywords in the product description for keyword targeting
Richer content for search engines and AI engines
Each variation allows you to add unique attributes, descriptions, and specifications. This creates a more detailed and content-rich product page that search engines and AI-driven engines (like ChatGPT or Google’s AI Overviews) value when surfacing answers and shaping brand perception.
ChatGPT showing product options for a t-shirt
Improved user engagement and longer sessions
A well-structured page that clearly displays variations keeps users from bouncing to competitor sites when they don’t immediately find their preferred option. Instead, they spend more time exploring, comparing, and interacting with your store, which indirectly supports SEO through stronger engagement signals.
Better structured data for enhanced search results
When product variants are properly marked up with structured data, search engines can display rich snippets that include price ranges, availability, color options, and reviews. This not only makes your listings stand out but also boosts click-through rates (CTRs) from search results.
Yoast SEO’s Structure data feature describes your product content as a single interconnected schema graph that search engines can easily understand. This helps them interpret your product variations more accurately and increases your chances of getting rich results, from product details to FAQs.
In short, optimized product variants make your product pages more keyword-diverse, content-rich, and engaging while also improving how your store is presented in search results and generative AI chat replies.
Blueprint for optimizing your product variations
Here’s the part you’ve been waiting for: how to optimize your product variations for SEO, conversions, and user experience. In this section, we’ll cover the right technical implementation, smart SEO tactics, and the common mistakes you’ll want to avoid.
Technical implementation of product variations
Getting the technical setup right is the foundation for optimizing your product variations for both ecommerce SEO and user experience. Poor implementation can lead to crawl inefficiencies, duplicate content, and a confusing buyer journey.
Here’s how to approach it effectively:
Handling variations in URLs
One of the biggest decisions you’ll make is how to structure URLs for your product variations:
Parameters (e.g., ?color=red&size=12): Good for filtering and faceted navigation, but they can create crawl bloat if not managed properly. Always define URL parameters in Google Search Console and use canonical tags to consolidate signals
Separate pages for each variation (e.g., /red-dress-size-12): This can be useful when specific variations have significant search demand (like ‘iPhone 15 Pro Max 512GB Blue’). However, it requires careful duplication management and unique, optimized content for each page
Single product page with dropdowns or swatches: The most common approach for ecommerce stores, as it consolidates SEO signals into one canonical page while providing users with all available variations in one place
Takeaway: Use a hybrid approach. Keep a single master product page, but only create dedicated variation URLs for high-demand search queries (with unique descriptions, images, and structured data).
Note: only create dedicated variation URLs if you can add unique value (content/images), otherwise, it risks duplication
Internal linking best practices
Internal linking is crucial in helping search engines understand the relationships between your main product page and its variations.
Always link back to the parent product page from any variation-specific pages
Ensure your category pages link to the main product page, not every single variation (to prevent diluting crawl equity)
Use descriptive anchor text when linking internally, e.g., ‘men’s black leather wallet’ rather than just ‘wallet’
The Internal linking suggestions feature in Yoast SEO Premium is a real time-saver. As you write, it recommends relevant pages and posts so you can easily connect variations, parent products, and related content. This not only strengthens your site structure and boosts SEO but also ensures visitors enjoy a seamless browsing experience.
A smarter analysis in Yoast SEO Premium
Yoast SEO Premium has a smart content analysis that helps you take your content to the next level!
Takeaway: Build a clean hierarchy where category pages → main product pages → variations, ensuring both users and crawlers can navigate easily.
Managing faceted navigation and filters
Filters (like size, color, brand, or price) enhance user experience but can create SEO challenges if every filter combination generates a new crawlable URL.
Use <nofollow or noindex for low-value filter pages (like ‘price under $20’ if it doesn’t add SEO value)
Block irrelevant filter parameters in robots.txt to prevent crawl bloat
For valuable filters (e.g., ‘red running shoes’), allow them to be indexed and optimize the content
Takeaway: Conduct a filter audit in Google Search Console. Identify which filtered URLs actually drive impressions and clicks, and only allow those to be indexable.
Media content optimization for ecommerce product variations
When it comes to product variations, visuals and supporting media play a critical role in both SEO and conversions. Shoppers often make purchase decisions based on how well they can visualize a specific variation. In fact, 75% of online shoppers rely on product images when making purchasing decisions.
Here’s how you can optimize media content for ecommerce product variations:
Use unique images for each variation
Avoid using the same generic image across all variations. Display each color, size, material, or feature with its own high-quality image set. For example, if you sell a t-shirt in six colors, show each color separately to help customers make confident choices.
Unique product images for each variant
Leverage 360° views and videos
Showcase variations with interactive media like 360° spins or short product videos. For example, a ‘black leather recliner’ video demonstrates texture and function more effectively than a static image, leading to higher engagement and conversions.
Use videos and 360-degree media to portray your products
Optimize alt text, file names, and metadata
Every image should have descriptive, keyword-rich alt text that specifies the variation. Instead of writing ‘red shoe,’ use ‘women’s red running shoe size 8.’ File names (e.g., womens-red-running-shoe-size8.webp) and captions should also reinforce the variation for better indexing.
Implement structured data for media
Use the Product schema to explicitly define images and videos for each variation. Including structured data ensures that Google and AI-driven engines like ChatGPT can clearly interpret your variation visuals and display them in rich results or AI summaries.
For instance, assigning images to specific SKUs (via image markup) makes it easier for search engines to show the correct variation in shopping results.
SEO tips for product variations
Optimizing product variations for SEO requires more than attractive visuals and solid descriptions. You need to apply some proven SEO techniques to ensure search engines correctly interpret your product pages and users get the best possible experience.
Here are a few key practices every ecommerce store owner should follow:
Use canonical tags to avoid duplicate content issues
Product variations often generate multiple URLs, which can cause duplicate content problems. Canonical tags help solve this by pointing to the primary version of a page, consolidating ranking signals, and avoiding internal competition.
Yoast simplifies this process by automatically inserting canonical URL tags on your product pages. This ensures search engines know which version to prioritize, prevents diluted link equity, and even consolidates social shares under the original page. For store owners, this means less technical overhead and stronger, cleaner rankings.
Apply global product identifiers (GTIN, MPN, ISBN) where relevant
Global product identifiers like GTINs, MPNs, and ISBNs act as unique fingerprints for your products. They help Google and other search engines correctly match your items in their vast index, which improves the accuracy of search listings and reduces confusion with similar products. They also add credibility, since customers can cross-check these identifiers before purchase.
With Yoast WooCommerce SEO, adding these identifiers becomes much easier. The plugin reminds you to fill in missing SKUs, GTINs, or EANs for each product variation and automatically outputs them in structured data. This not only helps your products qualify for rich results but also ensures that no variant is left incomplete from an SEO standpoint.
Buy WooCommerce SEO now!
Unlock powerful features and much more for your online store with Yoast WooCommerce SEO!
Regularly audit Google Search Console data to track performance
Google Search Console is a goldmine for understanding how product variations are performing. By monitoring which variant pages are driving impressions, clicks, and conversions, you can refine your SEO strategy.
For example, if certain variants attract little traffic but consume crawl budget, it might be better to consolidate them under canonical tags.
Regular audits also help you detect indexing issues, thin content problems, or underperforming structured data. This keeps your product catalogue lean, crawl-efficient, and focused on driving meaningful organic traffic.
Common product variation ecommerce errors to avoid
Even if you’ve implemented the right technical setup, added structured data, and optimized your media content, a few small mistakes can undo all that effort. To make sure your product variations support SEO and conversions instead of hurting them, here are some common pitfalls to avoid:
Duplicate content: Creating separate standalone pages for each variation (like size or color) without consolidation leads to content duplication. This confuses search engines and dilutes rankings across multiple weak pages
Poor user experience: If your variation options are hidden, unclear, or slow to load, users struggle to make choices. This friction reduces conversions and increases bounce rates
Incorrect structured data: Applying schema inaccurately can cause search engines to display the wrong product details in search results, damaging credibility and visibility
Thin content: Not providing unique descriptions, images, or metadata for each variation leaves the page with little value. Search engines tend to down-rank such content, reducing discoverability
Crawl bloat: Generating too many low-value variation URLs (like separate pages for every minor option) wastes crawl budget and prevents high-priority pages from being indexed efficiently. Additionally, it could dilute internal link equity
By keeping these errors in check, you’ll ensure your product variation strategy strengthens your SEO and user experience instead of working against them.
Ready to unfold all variations?
Product variations are not just small details hidden in your catalogue. They play a major role in how both search engines and shoppers experience your store. When done right, they prevent duplicate content issues, improve crawl efficiency, deliver richer search results, and create a seamless journey for your customers.
The key is to treat product variations as part of your overall SEO strategy, not as an afterthought. Every unique image, structured snippet, and clear variation option makes your store more visible, more reliable, and more profitable.
This is where Yoast SEO becomes a game-changer. With automatic structured data, smart handling of canonical URLs, and advanced content optimization tools, Yoast helps you get product variations right the first time.
http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png00http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-09-04 17:05:512025-09-04 17:05:51A detailed guide to optimizing ecommerce product variations for SEO and conversions
“Good SEO is good GEO.” That’s according to Google’s Danny Sullivan, a director within Google Search, and former search liaison
Generative engine optimization (or whatever the new acronym is for optimizing for AI search experiences) is the same core work SEOs have always done: creating unique, valuable content for people and providing a great page experience, he said.
Why we care. You can believe Google if you want. But we’ve tried to consistently say that we believe GEO is an emerging practice. That doesn’t mean it replaces SEO today or tomorrow – because SEO fundamentals matter and SEO is still not dead. But I also agree with Michael King’s assessment that SEO is deprecated. The future of Google and conversational AI search will be answers, not ranking, regardless of what Googlers say publicly today.
What he’s saying. Here’s some of what Sullivan said about SEO/GEO during his keynote at WordCamp US on Aug. 28:
“…If you don’t know what GEO is, it’s like the latest acronym, but like I can’t keep track each day. There’s a different one. But SEO, search engine optimization; GEO, generative engine optimization.
By the way, if you could dig it out when I was like in 2010, back when people were panicking then, I was like, you know, SEO doesn’t mean you get into the blue links on Google. SEO means you understand how people search for content and then you understand how to have your content there. And it could be everything from people asking a question to a voice device to people just opening up something on their phone or whatever.
So, the basic things have not changed. Good SEO is good GEO, or AEO, AIO, LLM SEO, or LMNOPO. So, they’re all fine. What I’m trying to say is don’t panic. What you’ve been doing for search engines generally, and you may have thought of as SEO, is still perfectly fine and is still the things that you should be doing. … Good SEO is really having good content for people.
… Are you saying write things in a clear way that people can understand? Cool. Like that’s just for people. All right.
Are you saying write about things that are unique or interesting? Cool. That’s good for people. And all we [Google] try to do is understand how our signals can align with things that are good for people.”
CTR question. During the audience Q&A, blogger Angie Drake said her organic search click-through rate has plummeted since AI Overviews launched, even though impressions are up (known as the great decouoling of search). She asked Sullivan what Google will do to compensate publishers who are losing clicks. Sullivan’s response:
Google has been unapologetic about zero-click factual answers (e.g., “What time is the Super Bowl?”) because users expect direct facts.
Google is committed to rewarding unique, valuable content and supporting the open web.
He said there will be “bumps along the way,” that feedback is heard within Google, and “it’s still part of what we’re going to be figuring out.”
Other takeaways. Some other data Sullivan shared:
Google AI Overviews have led to a 10% increase in searches in the U.S. and India.
Google does “up to 5,000 launches” (a.k.a., updates) per year. The last figure we had was 4,725, so not much has changed since 2022.
The keynote. Here is the full video. I’ve linked to the takeaways portion of Sullivan’s presentation, where he discusses GEO. Drake asks her CTR question starting at 45:06.
https://i0.wp.com/dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/zf_sxldftby-KkLY6x.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=17201280http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-09-02 14:59:012025-09-02 14:59:01Google’s Danny Sullivan: ‘Good SEO is good GEO’
Google Ads now lets you select your business(es) by searching Google Maps for location assets / extensions. This addition should make it easier to manage existing and new location assets for your Google Ads campaigns.
More details. This change was spotted by Greg Kohler who posted a screenshot of the change on X and wrote:
“New (easier) way to add location assets (extensions) to your Google Ads campaigns – now you can search and select your business using Google Map.”
Joe Youngblood praised this change on X, saying:
“One of the single most agonizing parts of building out a new campaign or taking over an old account. This looks like it will fix it!”
Screenshot. Here is that screenshot:
More details. Google Ads has a help document that explains how to use it. It says:
If neither Google Business Profile nor Chain stores work for you, you can select up to 10 locations from Google Maps to link with your Ads account. These Google Maps locations must be yours, or they may be disapproved.
Go to Location manager within the Tool menu, under the Shared library.
Select the plus button, and choose “Our locations”.
Select Continue.
You can enter the physical address or a key phrase to search your locations and your wish to link with your Ads account. You may repeat the process to add up to 10 locations.
Select Continue.
No matter which location source you use when creating location assets, you can customize your locations further at the campaign or ad group level. You can choose to add all account-level locations, use just a subset of account-level locations using Location groups, or choose “No location asset” to keep the asset from showing for specific campaigns or ad groups.
Why we care. This can help you manage location assets for both existing and new campaigns. This seems like a big time saver for many advertisers who use Google Ads.
https://i0.wp.com/dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/google-ads-location-assets-google-maps-1756746961-ldQjFA.jpg?fit=1129%2C582&ssl=15821129http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-09-02 14:05:452025-09-02 14:05:45Google Ads select location assets using Google Maps
Google has a new subtle but powerful feature in the Google Ads advertiser console to help you manage your campaigns. New checkboxes are available to let you select the campaigns you want and filter the view to only show those campaigns.
Previously, you were only able to select one campaign at a time, but now you can select multiple campaigns.
What it looks like. Here is the full screenshot from Thomas Eccel who posted the screenshot on LinkedIn:
Why we care. This new checkbox allows you to manually filter by more than one campaign at a time, allowing you to apply and manage your campaigns more efficiently. You can compare multiple campaign performance at the same time and save a huge amount of time when reporting, comparing, or managing these campaigns.
https://i0.wp.com/dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/google-ads-checkboxes-selector-1756644140-nAiyUV.jpg?fit=800%2C800&ssl=1800800http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-09-02 13:52:382025-09-02 13:52:38Google Ads enhances campaign filters with new checkboxes
Google AI Mode got an upgrade to its large language models that enhances its ability to answer complex STEM questions. Plus, the responses should be “tighter, easier to scan and get to the point up front before elaborating,” Robby Stein, Google’s VP of Product at Google Search wrote.
This comes in time for the upcoming school year, with many kids starting school this week and some already starting a few weeks ago.
Very excited about this week’s AI Mode model update. We’re seeing big improvements for complex STEM questions– great for students heading back to school. Overall responses should also be tighter, easier to scan and get to the point up front before elaborating.
Srini Venkatachary, VP of Engineering at Google DeepMind, responded:
Really excited with this strong update in time for school year. Please send us your feedback.
Nick Fox, SVP, Knowledge & Information at Google, wrote on X:
AI Mode continues to ship & ship fast! This past week, we released a big under-the-hood upgrade to the model capabilities leading to much improved responses. Excited for you to see and feel the difference
Why we care. Google recently expanded AI Mode to 180 countries and territories and now more and more searchers have access to it. Google will continue to improve its models, with the aim of making AI Mode and its AI responses better.
Here is the latest improvement for AI Mode that Google has announced.
https://i0.wp.com/dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/google-robot-teacher-classroom-1920-800x458-MtvxDZ.jpg?fit=800%2C458&ssl=1458800http://dubadosolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/dubado-logo-1.png2025-09-02 13:17:352025-09-02 13:17:35Google AI Mode model improved for complex STEM questions, says Google
In the world of large language models (LLMs) in 2025, that’s a complicated question.
This article breaks down why by covering:
How LLMs like OpenAI and Gemini currently use search engines.
What search marketers should assume about where AI is heading.
The types of executional work that align with GEO.
What all of this means for prioritization and investment.
How LLMs stay current: Grounding and RAG
One of the fundamental challenges for the creators of LLMs (LLMs) like OpenAI or Claude is timeliness.
Their training data is static, locked to a specific cutoff date.
For example, the GPT-5 model’s knowledge cutoff is Sept. 30, 2024.
It’s more recent than GPT-4o’s cutoff of Oct. 1, 2023, but still not up to the present day.
Updating that training data is extremely costly, and it’s increasingly under public scrutiny – both for the resource-intensive nature of the process and the potential copyright issues it raises.
In my view, these large-scale training updates are becoming less and less likely over time.
So how do OpenAI, Claude, or Gemini keep their answers current?
They use retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), where the model enriches its responses by effectively “browsing” the web. ChatGPT relies on Bing, while Gemini draws from Google.
(There are signs Gemini doesn’t always use live results, but rather cached ones – that’s a whole other article, and one Dan Petrovic has already written smartly about.)
Grounding is a similar concept here, so for this article, we’ll treat it as the same “timely” method, even though there are important nuances in implementation.
What does this mean for SEOs and digital marketers deciding how much to invest in GEO?
Quite simply: we still need to prioritize traditional SEO first. RAG is a limited resource, and research shows:
Nearly 90% of ChatGPT search citations matched Bing’s Top 20 results.
It’s also important to note: when ChatGPT cites your brand, it doesn’t just pull from your website. It pulls from sources across the web.
The bottom line: you still need to master traditional SEO fundamentals to rank in LLM-driven search.
If you don’t have the authority to break into the Top 20 results, plus a diversified outreach strategy for press mentions and brand visibility, it will be much harder to surface in generative search.
As a low-risk, forward-looking, brand-focused SEO, you must plan for a future where generative search dominates, driving most traffic and revenue.
At that point, we must assume our websites and digital properties function primarily as enriched data feeds for LLMs.
It’s also critical to clearly define our brand for both Google and Bing, as strong, unambiguous entity signals will only grow in importance.
Optimizing your data infrastructure and strengthening brand signals – through consistent press mentions, directory listings, and owned media – are essential but resource-intensive tasks.
They demand coordination across departments that rarely collaborate and often require dismantling entrenched processes.
Because many businesses hesitate to make these foundational changes, you’ll need to account for the time required to execute the work and the time required to gain stakeholder alignment.
The work required to make your website as LLM-friendly as possible falls into two main buckets: technical and brand.
Technical tasks
Implementing thorough schema markup
This is a contentious topic.
LLMs don’t directly use schema markup in their training data (it’s stripped), and in their RAG process, everything is tokenized and likely broken into n-grams.
I’m not suggesting schema markup is a direct way to influence visibility in LLMs.
It’s a vehicle for helping Google and Bing understand:
Your website.
Its relationships.
Its products.
This builds your brand and search engines’ recognition of it, which should improve your visibility in results.
Technical copywriting
On navigational pages – like product collection pages or company listing pages if you’re a marketplace – create technical copy (done via AI with smart prompting if you’re working at scale) that summarizes the available resources.
For example:
“Our stationery includes 5 A5 dotted journals, 2 N1 blank journals, 25 stickers featuring animals, 4 stickers with curse words (all vinyl for weatherproofing and waterproofing), and 1 lapel pin.”
Notice how direct and technical this is. The clear formatting ties back to dependency hops in natural language processing.
I’m calling it out specifically because it’s one of the most direct ways for search engines and other bots to see and navigate the full scope of your website.
JavaScript fallbacks
This has always been important but has fallen by the wayside in recent years.
Training data for LLMs is static HTML. For the most part, they don’t render JavaScript.
Make sure to have functional JavaScript fallbacks.
Address technical debt
This will depend on your organization. It could mean:
Having a clear product sunsetting process.
Updating the codebase.
Removing the ghost codebase still sitting on your site from eight years ago that everyone built on top of rather than deleting.
Migrating from an SPA to a more search-friendly framework.
Removing deprecated scripts.
Auditing third-party tags to ensure they’re up to date and still in use.
All of these impact performance.
The technical strength and response time of your website will only grow more important.
Every piece of tech debt is an opportunity to improve.
If there’s only one takeaway, it’s this: keep investing the majority of your time and budget in traditional SEO, while dedicating a smaller portion to technical and brand tasks like those outlined above.
Look closely at the 1-5% improvements you’ve been putting off – things like:
Correcting the HTML heading hierarchy to match the site’s visual hierarchy.
Fixing internal links so they point directly to final URLs instead of redirect chains.
Cleaning up your XML sitemap.
Removing deprecated libraries and unused WOFF files.
This “spring cleaning” and tech debt cleanup should be a priority.
Add in the brand work as well, since it strengthens traditional search today and also lays the groundwork for an LLM-led search future.
If you don’t already have regular reporting in place for stakeholders and leadership, create it now.
There’s a perception that large language models are evolving rapidly and changing everything at once.
That isn’t entirely true – but we do need to plan.
Establishing a cadence of reporting and education means that when real shifts do happen, your stakeholders will already be aligned and ready to support the work.
Finally, treat GEO/AI optimization as roughly 20% work.
This means building systemic schema layers across your organization and creating structured connections in the machine’s native language – code.
Start with:
Conversations.
Proofs of concept.
Pilot implementations.
Done properly, this work should have no negative impact on your business metrics, and it builds support for more holistic optimization over time.
Going all in on LLM-specific tactics isn’t the best use of your resources today.
Instead, treat it as complementary work – something that strengthens your technical and brand foundation while preparing you for a future where generative search plays a central role.
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