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Your weekly SEO & AI Search News to Stop the FOMO, read by +40K SEOs.
Today's sponsor is JetOctopus. Want to advertise? Ask here.β |
π₯ This Weekβs Biggest Search Stories
The last (?) update of the year right before the holidays
βGoogle Releases December 2025 Core Updateβ
Matt G. Southern / Search Engine Journal
Google has released the December 2025 core update, its third of the year. The rollout began on December 11 and may take up to three weeks to complete.
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Remember you have access to SEOFOMO's Latest Google Rankings Shifts Looker Studio Dashboard for easy free analysis of the most recent changes, and that you can also now add annotations in Google Search Console as well.
Social Channels Tracking shows the Importance of UGC
Google Releases Search Console Updates: Social Channels Tracking and Weekly + Monthly Viewsβ
Hillel Maoz, Moshe Samet / Google
Google is expanding the Search Console with:
- Social Channels Tracking: Insights report to include performance data not only for your website, but also for some of your social channels. It is being rolled out to a limited number of websites, and the insights are available only for sites and channels that Search Console has identified automatically.
- Weekly and Monthly Views: Until now, the Performance report charts displayed data on a daily basis, but now Google is introducing a new feature in the Performance report: weekly and monthly views, useful when comparing date ranges.
Handy updates on time for the December core update assessment.
They're updating the AI Mode links design to make them more useful too
βGoogle announced they're increasing the number of inline links in AI Modeβ
Robby Stein, Jaffer Zaidi / Google
On December 10, Google announced they're increasing the number of inline links in AI Mode, and updating the design of those links to make them more useful. They're also adding contextual introductions to embedded links in AI Mode responses, which are short statements that explain why a link might be helpful to visit.
Let's hope this means more traffic to websites!
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ποΈ The Latest Updates from Search Engines
Google says there isnβt GEO without SEO
βWhat we learned about AI, Discover, and Shopping from Google during the Search Central Zurich 2025β
Aleyda Solis
A summary of key topics discussed throughout the Search Central Zurich event earlier this week, based on insights shared both in the Googlers' presentations and the Q&A:
- AI: Theyβre still measuring and experimenting with what they launch and there isnβt GEO without SEO.
- Google Discover: The core mission remains to stay on top of users interests by following trust and safety criteria
- Google Shopping: Schema.org is key, use the new Merchant API & beware of CSR JS for Shopping Related Schema
Preferred Sources Goes Global
βGoogle Expands Preferred Sources & Publisher AI Partnershipsβ
Matt G. Southern / Search Engine Journal
Google expands Preferred Sources to English users worldwide and launches pilot AI partnerships with publishers.
It's a dΓ©jΓ vu
βGoogle hit with EU antitrust investigation over use of online content for AIβ
Kai Nicol-Schwarz
The European Commission said it was probing whether Google had breached EU competition rules by using the content of web publishers for AI purposes and it would investigate to what extent the generation of AI Overviews and AI Mode by Google is based on web publishersβ content without appropriate compensation.
The responses on Search Live will be more fluid
βGoogle Updates Search Live With Gemini Model Upgradeβ
Roger Montti / Search Engine Journal
Google has updated Search Live with Gemini 2.5 Flash Native Audio, upgrading how voice functions inside Search while also extending the modelβs use across translation and live voice agents
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βοΈ Today's Awesome Sponsor
AI is changing how visibility works in search.
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- What data sources AI bots use to evaluate your pages
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π This week's Top SEO Resources
11 rules that still drive results
βTimeless SEO rules AI canβt override: 11 unshakeable fundamentalsβ
Kody Wirth / Search Engine Land
AI is reshaping search, but some SEO rules never change: content quality, site structure, and trust; that AI canβt override. Learn more about them in this guide.
SEO vs. Academic Information Retrieval
βBridging Information Retrieval and SEO Practiceβ
Gianluca Fiorelli, Dawn Anderson / Advanced Web Ranking
Dawn shares about myths and premature speculation in SEO, the differences she finds in the SEO sector vs. academic information retrieval, structured dataβs value, and much more in this insightful interview with Gianluca.
A comprehensive guide to find issues
βWhy Is Organic Traffic Down? Hereβs How To Segment The Dataβ
Tory Gray / Search Engine Journal
Tory goes through proven tips, tools, and approaches to data segmentation that can help identify SEO issues when organic traffic is down.
Learn how to leverage sprint planning and discovery meetings
βLevel Up Your SEO Strategy with a Product Mindset β Whiteboard Friday β
Gus Pelogia / Moz
Gus explains how adopting a "product mindset" can bridge the gap between SEOs and developers. Learn how to leverage sprint planning and discovery meetings, bundle tasks into larger projects, and build MVPs to prove value and get your initiatives prioritized.
Calculating Customer Acquisition Cost isnβt that hard for SEO
βWhy you need to use CAC for SEOβ
Eli Schwartz / The Future of SEO
Eli explains why any marketing spend targeted at acquisition needs to have a baseline estimate of its value and how to do it.
What to expect in SEO for 2026?
βThe Search Session Roundup: 25 Experts, 25 Predictions for SEO in 2026 [Part 1]β
Irina Diaconu / Advanced Web Ranking
An aggregation of the future of SEO predictions shared by 25 SEO specialists interviewed by Gianluca Fiorelli.
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π€ Latest AI Search Insights
Disturbing patterns in AI search
ββI Ran an AI Misinformation Experiment. Every Marketer Should See the Resultsββ
Mateusz Makosiewicz / Ahrefs
Mateusz built a fake brand and tricked eight AI search engines for two months. The results show how any real brand can be poisoned, and how to fight back.
AIO tactics: What we know to be true
βAIO/GEO: Separating Facts from Theories in AI Searchβ
Jasveer Matharu / Women in Tech SEO
Jasveer breaks down high-evidence AIO tactics, common misconceptions, the role of structured data and authority signals, and how to prepare your content for AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and beyond.
Google AI Mode picked up content significantly faster than ChatGPT
βHow Fast Do AI Search Platforms Cite New Content?β
Tushar Pol / Semrush
Tushar ran an experiment to find out how fast new content can get cited in Google AI Mode & ChatGPT search. βChatGPT search takes longer to cite content, but once it does, those citations remain, and new pages are added over timeβ.
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π΅π½ββοΈ Take the latest SEOFOMO Survey
Help understand how organic search (both AI and traditional) evolved in 2025, and identify the top trends for 2026 β from key challenges to shifts in strategies, goals, tools, and expectations.
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By taking the SEOFOMO survey below for a chance to win an SEOFOMO hoodie and travel mug!
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The survey will remain open until December 20th, 2025, and the results and giveaway winner will be announced on December 22nd, 2025.
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πΈ SEO Jobs
π Free(mium) SEO Tools
βGrounding Snippet Extraction Toolββ
βDEJAN
βThe Gemini Grounding Tool reveals: 1) Which URLs Gemini pulls into its answers. 2) The exact sentences it extracts from each page (grounding chunks). |
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βDeindexing Alert via GSC API
βCorina Burri
βStep-by-step walkthrough to set up an email alert if Google deindexes a page of your website. Requires a verified GSC property. |
ποΈ Upcoming SEO Events
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βPERFORM 2026β
Boussias / Athens, Greece / +β¬290 / January 19-20, 2026
Join 300+ of the top CMOs, agency executives, and performance experts for global keynotes, unfiltered debates, and hands-on sessions: Search in the Era of AI, AI in Performance Marketing Strategy & Creativity and Measurement, Attribution & Analytics. Register now!
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π©πͺ The SEOFOMO x Berlin SEO & Content Club
Join the next SEOFOMO x Berlin SEO & Content Club in Berlin
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Announcing the Free SEOFOMO x Berlin SEO & Content Club in Berlin on February 18, 2026 from 18:30h to 22:30h. Sponsored by Advanced Web Ranking and Textbroker International
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It will feature 2 SEO and AI Search panels with experienced German and International search and growth specialists.
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The price is again free, and there will also be drinks, food, giveaways... and lots of networking in the π₯ venue of WeWork - Warschauer Platz 11-13 from 18:30h to 22:30h.
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πͺ SEOFOMOer Of The Week
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Laura Abreu
Laura is a Freelance Lead Generation, Ads and SEO Manager, Speaker and Awards Judge.
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With more than 10 years of experience in digital marketing in Hong Kong, Spain and Australia working as Ads Specialist in Decant Agency, PPC & SEO Performance Marketing Specialist at Mining.com.au or Digital Project Manager at Netsense, Laura has been also a mentor in the Freelance Coalition for Developing Countries.
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βFollow Laura on LinkedIn now.β
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π Read More Digital Marketing News
I hope you've liked today's edition of SEOFOMO. Do you have any comments or feedback? Don't hesitate to let me know over here!β
Until the next edition,
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