profile

SEOFOMO: The Newsletter to Keep up with SEO

๐Ÿ™Œ May SEO News Be With you with Today's #SEOFOMO [May 4, 2025]


May 4, 2025
โ€‹
Subscribe and join +37.4K SEOs and Marketers

SEOFOMO is brought by Writesonic AI SEO Agent ๐Ÿ™Œ
Would you like to advertise?
Ask here!โ€‹

๐Ÿ”ฅ โ€‹The Top 3 SEOFOMO News Stories Of The Week

Check out the top trending stories this week on SEOFOMO News -these are the most upvoted entries, whether SEO news, guides, or resources-, that people upvoted the most:

โ€‹
โ€‹No 1. Journey Optimization, Not Just Keywords: The Future of Google Search with Cindy Krum [7 Votes]โ€‹
โ€‹
Gianluca Fiorelli / General SEO / Submitted by Gianluca Fiorelliโ€‹
โ€‹
Explore the shift from keyword to journey optimization in Google SERPs with Cindy Krum, as she discusses AI, personalized search, and SEO future.

โ€‹

โ€‹No 2. 2-variable framework for content refresh [7 Votes]โ€‹
โ€‹
Ivan Palii / Content Optimization / Submitted by Ivan Paliiโ€‹
โ€‹
The more pages you have on your site, the more demanding you need to prioritize which ones should be improved first. Ivan shares a way to do it.

โ€‹

โ€‹No 3. ChatGPT Shopping vs. Google Shopping Free Listings [6 Votes]โ€‹
โ€‹
Brodie Clark / AI Search / Submitted by Brodie Clarkโ€‹
โ€‹
ChatGPT has been updated to support product recommendations within its version of free listings. Brodie goes through how it compares to Google Shopping.
โ€‹

โ€‹

๐Ÿ—ž๏ธ Search Updates and News from Search Engines

โ€‹

โ€‹ChatGPT Adds Shopping, WhatsApp Search, & Improved Citationsโ€‹
โ€‹
Matt G. Southern / OpenAI Product Updates โ€‹
โ€‹
ChatGPT Search adds shopping, WhatsApp integration, and improved citations. Memory integration is coming soon.

โ€‹

โ€‹Google Al Mode being tested outside of labs, drops waitlist, adds product and place cards & history panelโ€‹
โ€‹
Barry Schwartz / Google Product Updatesโ€‹
โ€‹
Google had a number of announcements around Al Mode, including dropping the waitlist, adding products and place cards to the answers, a new history panel, and that they are doing a limited test without having to opt in to Al Mode within Search Labs.

โ€‹

โ€‹Google Updates Gemini/Vertex AI User Agent Documentationโ€‹
โ€‹
Roger Montti / Google Documentation Updatesโ€‹
โ€‹
Google's updated guidance clarifies that Google-Extended is not used as a ranking signal, nor does it affect search inclusion.

โ€‹

โ€‹Googleโ€™s John Mueller: Updating XML Sitemap Dates Doesnโ€™t Help SEOโ€‹
โ€‹
Matt G. Southern / Google Search Q&Aโ€‹
โ€‹
XML sitemap date manipulation won't improve SEO, says John Mueller. Learn why this common tactic wastes resources and what to do instead.

โ€‹

โ€‹Google Clarifies Googlebot-News Crawler Documentationโ€‹
โ€‹
Roger Montti / Google Search Guidelinesโ€‹
โ€‹
Google updated the Googlebot-News documentation to remove a claim that mistakenly misrepresented its effect on the Google News tab.

โ€‹

โ€‹Googleโ€™s Updated Raters Guidelines Refines Concept Of Low Qualityโ€‹
โ€‹
Roger Montti / Google Search Guidelinesโ€‹
โ€‹
Google's recently updated Search Quality Rater Guidelines may reflect Google's ranking priorities. Here's what publishers need to know.

โ€‹

โ€‹App deep links: connecting your website and appโ€‹
โ€‹
John Mueller / Google Search Updatesโ€‹
โ€‹
John reviews the current state of app deep linksโ€”what they are, the benefits of using them, and how to implement them effectively in this guide.

โ€‹

โ€‹Google Lighthouse To Undergo Major Audit Overhaul: What To Knowโ€‹
โ€‹
Matt G. Southern / Google Search Updatesโ€‹
โ€‹
Google Lighthouse audits are changing. Learn which tests are merging, disappearing, and how to prepare your SEO workflows before these changes take effect.

โ€‹

โ€‹Launching Search Central Live Deep Dive [Podcast]โ€‹
โ€‹
โ€‹โ€‹Google Search Central / Search off the Recordโ€‹
โ€‹
Martin Splitt, Cherry, and Gary Illyes discuss the expansion of Search Central Live with the introduction of Search Central Live Deep Dive. They share the history of Search Central events, and how community feedback helped shape the new format.

โ€‹

โ€‹Meta launches stand-alone AI app to take on ChatGPT
โ€‹
Samantha Subin / AI Search Trendsโ€‹
โ€‹
Meta is launching a stand-alone artificial intelligence app and taking on ChatGPT maker OpenAI as the AI race intensifies.

โ€‹

โ€‹โ€‹Monitor the latest SEO News, Updates, and Conversations in Real Time in SEOFOMO News

[Sponsor]โ€‹
โ€‹
โšก The Specialized SEO AI Agent That Turns Hours of SEO Work into Minutes

Get real-time SEO data, actionable insights, and automated optimization - all through Writesonic SEO AI Agent, a specialized AI agent that integrates with the most popular SEO tools in the market, providing:

  • Competitor Intelligence: Let the AI SEO Agent find the winning patterns across top-performing sites, identify content gaps, and instant ranking opportunities others miss completely.
  • Strategic Content Planning: Turn raw data into revenue. Let the AI SEO Agent create data-backed content plans that align with search intent and brand guidelines that can improve rankings.
  • Performance Tracking: Track rankings, traffic, and ROI in real time. Get actionable insights that show exactly what's working and what needs attention.
  • Your SEO Stack Connected: The AI SEO Agent connects with some of the most popular SEO tools in the market -Google Search Console, Semrush, Ahrefs, and more- to provide up to date, accurate SEO insights.

โ€‹

โ€‹

๐Ÿ‘Œ This week's SEO Awesomeness

โ€‹

โ€‹Semantic SEO: The Advanced Skill Most SEOs Pretend to Understand
โ€‹
Despina Gavoyannis / General SEOโ€‹
โ€‹
Despina goes through what โ€œsemanticโ€ means, how it applies to search engines and LLMs, and how specialists actually do semantic SEO and get meaningful results for clients.

โ€‹

โ€‹11 Lessons Learned From Auditing Over 500 Websites
โ€‹
Olga Zarr / General SEOโ€‹
โ€‹
After auditing hundreds of websites, Olga found that the most frequent or significant problems are not complex technical SEO issues. Read on and learn what truly works.

โ€‹

โ€‹The State of Ecommerce SEO in 2025: How to Win in Todayโ€™s Product SERPsโ€‹
โ€‹
Aleyda Solis / Ecommerce SEOโ€‹
โ€‹
How have organic search results and SERP features inclusions changed in product SERPs in the last year? How are these organic search results and SERP features inclusions and shifts impacting click behavior? I go through these and provide actionable advice with resources to continue winning in this guide.

โ€‹

โ€‹Heroes Not Villains - Modern SEO in the Generative IR Era [Presentation]โ€‹
โ€‹
Dawn Anderson / General SEOโ€‹
โ€‹
Does the information retrieval industryโ€™s outdated, siloed, and biased misperception of modern SEO have the potential to hurt their industry and search overall? Dawn goes through the reality that modern SEOs are heroes, not villains.

โ€‹

โ€‹New Study: The 130 Day Indexing Rule
โ€‹
Adam Gent / Technical SEOโ€‹
โ€‹
At Indexing Insight they track "Days Since Last Crawl" for every URL they monitor for over 1M pages, and decided to run their own study to see if there is any truth to 130 day indexing rule. Take a look at the results here.

โ€‹

โ€‹What to do with keywords that have dropped out of the rankings
โ€‹
Simon Cox / General SEOโ€‹
โ€‹
Simon shares steps to take to review the keywords that drop in rankings.

โ€‹

โ€‹How to Write Great Content for Search (that delivers)
โ€‹
Harry Clarkson-Bennett / Content Optimizationโ€‹
โ€‹
It's not enough to just publish content that answers questions. To write truly great content that delivers in search, you need a plan. Harry goes through how to create content that resonates.

โ€‹

โ€‹How to Combine Email Marketing and SEO for Full-Circle Growth
โ€‹
Bengu Sarica Dincer / General SEO โ€‹
โ€‹
SEO brings people in, and email keeps them coming back. So if youโ€™re only using email to distribute blog posts, youโ€™re leaving serious growth on the table. Learn how to integrate both in this guide by Bengu.

โ€‹

โ€‹Consumer Search Behavior: Where Are Your Customers?
โ€‹
Sammy Paget / Local SEOโ€‹
โ€‹
This consumer research report analyzes search behavior to understand how consumers approach local search and business discovery. โ€œ40% of consumers are โ€˜activelyโ€™ using generative AI within searchโ€.

โ€‹

โ€‹โ€‹Monitor the latest SEO News, Updates, and Conversations in Real Time in SEOFOMO News

๐Ÿค– AI in Search and Marketing

โ€‹

โ€‹AI Overviews don't cite who you think they doโ€‹
โ€‹
Philip Petrescu
โ€‹
Did you know that 52% of Google's AI Overviews citations don't even appear in the top 50 search results? Even more interesting? 29% of all citations point back to Google itself. Philip share AIO's insights with actionable optimization advice.

โ€‹

โ€‹How LLMs Interpret Content: How To Structure Information For AI Search
โ€‹
Carolyn Shelbyโ€‹
โ€‹
Structure content for AI search so itโ€™s easy for LLMs to cite. Use clarity, formatting, and hierarchy to improve your visibility in AI results.
โ€‹

โ€‹The future of AI is HR, not ITโ€‹
โ€‹
Jono Alderson / Search Trendsโ€‹
โ€‹
If we want to stay relevant in an agent-driven future, we need to stop thinking like coders and start thinking like counselors. Jono goes through it.

โ€‹

โ€‹What Is Generative Engine Optimization [Tips & Workflows To Do It]โ€‹
โ€‹
Charlie Marchantโ€‹
โ€‹
Struggling to reach users on generative search platforms? Charlie goes through how Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) helps you capture and convert high-intent traffic.

โ€‹

โ€‹The Data Behind Google's AI Overviews: What Sundar Pichai Won't Tell You - Part 1โ€‹
โ€‹
Kevin Indigโ€‹
โ€‹
Kevin goes through exclusive and groundbreaking data about Google usage and AI Overviews stress tests Google's claims. โ€œGoogle visits did increase post-AIO launch (+9%), and AIO keyword pageviews rose impressively (+22%)โ€.

โ€‹

โ€‹See More AI in Marketing News from The Latest Week in The New AI Marketers Newsletterโ€‹

๐Ÿ›  Free(mium) SEO Tools

โ€‹

โ€‹SERP Similarity Checkerโ€‹
โ€‹
SEO Growth Notesโ€‹
โ€‹
Instantly compare Google search results for two keywords, see percentage of common URLs, and visualize overlap with an easy-to-read Venn diagram.

โ€‹

โ€‹Practical Web Accessibility Ally GPTโ€‹
โ€‹
Montserrat Canoโ€‹
โ€‹
Review content, simplify language, create checklists, brief teams and advocate accessibility. Ideal for briefs, project documentation, content checks, CTAs and learning best practices.
โ€‹

โ€‹See More SEO Tools in the SEOFOMO SEO Toolboxโ€‹

๐ŸŽ™๏ธ Upcoming SEO Events

โ€‹

โ€‹SEonthebeach 25
โ€‹
IKAUE / Grao, Spain / +โ‚ฌ195 / June 6 - 7, 2025โ€‹
โ€‹
The 12th edition of SOB is here! Join Aleyda Solis, Sam Torres, Tom Winter, and more for the latest in SEO, data, AI, and strategies that will blow your mind.

โ€‹

โ€‹Search Central Live Deep Dive Asia Pacific 2025โ€‹
โ€‹
Google Search Central / Bangkok, Thailand / Free / July 23 - 25, 2025โ€‹
โ€‹
โ€‹Google Search Central Live is going to Bangkok for the first time on July 23-25. Registration will be open until June 28, and confirmations will be sent on July 2.

โ€‹

โ€‹See All SEO Events in the SEOFOMO Events Sectionโ€‹

๐Ÿฅ Other Digital Marketing News

โ€‹

โ€‹Reddit Q1 Report: What It Means For Digital Marketing And SEOโ€‹
โ€‹
Roger Monttiโ€‹
โ€‹
Reddit reports strong traffic growth from both logged-in and logged-out users, with usage increasing significantly year-over-year.

โ€‹

โ€‹Google AdSense To Show Ads In AI Chatbots
โ€‹
Barry Schwartzโ€‹
โ€‹
Google AdSense has been testing, serving and displaying ads within AI Chatbots. Bloomberg reported Google has already begun testing this within AI search apps iAsk and Liner and plans to allow other AI Chatbot providers to include AdSense ads in their chat responses.

โ€‹

โ€‹YouTube Keyword Research 2.0 [Presentation]โ€‹
โ€‹
Phil Nottingham โ€‹
โ€‹
Most YouTube keyword research is brokenโ€”trying to force Google SEO methods onto a completely different platform. Phil introduces a smarter, data-backed way to identify video topics that actually generate views.

โ€‹

โ€‹Pinterest is finally doing something about its AI infestationโ€‹
โ€‹
Jess Weatherbedโ€‹
โ€‹
Pinterest is launching new features that will label images that are detected to be made or edited using generative AI, and allow users to see fewer of them.

โ€‹

โ€‹LinkedIn Takes First Steps Towards Creator Monetization With โ€˜BrandLinkโ€™
โ€‹
Andrew Hutchinsonโ€‹
โ€‹
With video consumption rising on LinkedIn, the professional social network is adding new ways for marketers to tap into popular video content with an expansion of its Wire program, which itโ€™s now renaming as โ€œBrandLinkโ€.

โ€‹

โ€‹See More PPC, Social, Influencer & Content Marketing News in MarketingFOMOโ€‹

๐Ÿ† SEOFOMOer Open For Work

Today SEOFOMOer Open for Work is Ben Steele, Content Goblin. Ben helps experts cut through noise and refine their signal. He creates ambitious, expert-led content strategies that inspire long-term audience trust. Heโ€™s an editorial powerhouse with 8 years of experience on SEO agency and publisher teams.

โ€‹

In his first year leading ebooks at Search Engine Journal, Ben doubled average downloads in half the average promotion time. He worked cross-functionally to create impactful content strategies, execute ebooks, foster loyal subscribers, and generate leads for clients.

โ€‹

Ben is a specialist in B2B and SaaS strategy, and highly skilled with SEO on the content side. He builds trust in all directions; with team members, audiences, and subject matter experts.

โ€‹

Heโ€™s looking for editorial and content strategy roles (editor, editorial lead, content marketing specialist or manager, content or SEO strategist, writer or copywriter) on collaborative teams that make really cool things; US remote, or Hybrid in Idaho, Washington, or Oregon.

โ€‹

Get in touch with Ben on LinkedIn or Email now.

๐Ÿ† SEOFOMOer Of The Week

Jo Turnbull is Senior Influencer and Communications Marketing Manager at Semrush, organizer of Search London and Search Barcelona, co-host of SEO Office Hours, search awards judge, mentor and frequent conference speaker.

โ€‹

An international search and growth marketer with +20 years experience in sales and marketing, she won the Search Marketer of the Year 2024 in the Search Engine Land Awards and speaks English, Spanish and French.

โ€‹

She was previously founder of Turn Global, senior SEO Strategist at Keyphraseology, Growth Marketer at Authoritas, Editor at State of Digital, and Senior Account Manager at Searchmetrics, and has shared her expertise speaking at SEO events like BrightonSEO, and contributing in digital marketing publications like Search Engine Journal with guides like "How To Get Buy-In From Stakeholders Using Overlooked Soft Skills" or "How To Get A Job In Digital Marketing In 2025".

โ€‹

Learn more about Jo and follow her on LinkedIn now.


Thanks for reading, until next week!

Aleyda Solisโ€‹
SEO Consultant & Founder
Orainti, SEOFOMO, MarketingFOMO & AI Marketers
โ€‹Follow me on โ€‹Xโ€‹ / Bluesky / โ€‹YouTubeโ€‹ / โ€‹LinkedInโ€‹ / โ€‹Websiteโ€‹

โ€‹

SEOFOMO: The Newsletter to Keep up with SEO

SEOFOMO is a weekly free newsletter sent to +35K subscribers with the latest SEO news, updates, guides, tips, free tools and jobs. Avoid missing any worthy SEO update and subscribe now!

Share this page