The SEOFOMO Newsletter​

December 7, 2025
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Your weekly SEO & AI Search News to Stop the FOMO, read by +40,400 SEOs.
Today's sponsor is JetOctopus. Want to advertise? Ask here.​

Time to invest in video! YouTube is the only winner across all markets

​Top 2025 Black Friday Organic Search Traffic Winners, Trends and Learnings​
​Aleyda Solis / SEOFOMO​
​Who are the top Black Friday Organic Search Traffic Winners in 2025? What are their main characteristics? What can we learn to maximize your traffic next year?

Here’s an analysis of organic search traffic insight from the US, UK, Germany, Spain, France and Italy from the last 28 days based on the 4,000 most popular “black friday” queries in each of these countries using Similarweb data:

• Zero clicks searches: Only 11–21% of the 4K top Black Friday searches result in clicks.
• YouTube is the universal winner. It’s in the top 3–4 domains in every market
• A small core of global platforms and brands (YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Wikipedia, Apple, Ikea, PlayStation, Samsung, Zara, etc.) capture 16–27% of Black Friday clicks per country.
• Retailer lead is local, not global. Retailers hold a major share within each market, but mostly via country-specific domains.
• Black Friday winners almost always have explicit Black Friday targeted URLs, not generic /deals or /sale.

Much more, along with recommendations. Check it out.​

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One feature less to go for AIO's and AI Mode Filters... I guess.

​Google: Streamline your Search Console analysis with the new AI-powered configuration​

Nati Yosephian / Google
​Google announces AI-powered configurations in the Search Console, an experimental feature in the Performance report, to a limited set of websites and will be gradually expanding it over time. This feature lets you describe the analysis you want to see in natural language. Your inputs are then transformed into the appropriate filters and settings, instantly configuring the report for you.

• Related: Google Search Console Annotations Now Allow Current/Future Dates by Barry Schwartz​

AI Mode is getting more and more visibility

​Google home page search bar upload feature goes directly to AI Mode results​​
​Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land
​Google has changed its search bar on the Google home page by adding the ability to upload a file or an image, and then the user experience takes you directly to AI Mode.

• Related: Google tests pushing searchers from AI Overviews with follow up questions to AI Mode

The file has been deleted already

​Google Adds LLMs.txt To Search Developer Docs Portal​

Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Roundtable
​Google has been saying that no one uses the LLMs.txt file, that Google won't use it, that it can be useless, and you probably should noindex it if you do use it. Well, Google itself uploaded an LLMs.txt file for the Google Search Central portal.

Useful online trainings to get started

​Getting started with Search Console Insights and Analyzing performance on Google Search: Google Search Console Training [Video]

Daniel Waisberg / Google Search Central

Daniel explains how to get started with Search Console using the Insights report and everything you need to know when analyzing your performance using Search Console.

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AI Bots: What They Crawl and Why?

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We know for sure that SEO is not dying. But we can't ignore adapting to a new AI reality.

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What you need to stay discoverable in AI:

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✅ SEO KPIs must evolve beyond traffic & clicks. Site Visibility in AI matters.

✅ To rank in AI, your content must function as an "answer engine".

✅ Discover what are user's queries in AI so to meet their needs in your content.

✅ Technical SEO matters to make your content reachable and crawlable by AI bots.

✅ Log files analysis is now the only reliable source of truth about how AI bots interact with your content.

Book a demo to see how to use the AI tools and get a free trial.

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A must read and watch to learn about the latest of tech SEO

​Tech SEO Connect 2025: Summary & Takeaways​
​Lily Ray​
​Read Lily’s takeaways of Tech SEO Connect sessions going from Using Machine Learning for Numerical Anomaly Detection to JavaScript Rendering and the Search Bot Viewport.

• Related: Watch the recordings of Tech SEO Connect 2025 Sessions

Prioritize fewer, high-impact channels over trying to be everywhere

​Decoding Google’s Updates: What Truly Drives Visibility Today
​Gianluca Fiorelli, Cyrus Shepard / Advanced Web Ranking​
​Cyrus shares about what hurts rankings most, and what truly helps, the value of large-scale testing in SEO, how large and small businesses can learn from each other, and much more in this insightful interview with Gianluca.

Specialize to do, win and earn more!

​Niche Down: Your Guide to Specializing in SEO​

Nick LeRoy / SEOJobs.com
​Learn the essential steps to identify, validate, and establish your first SEO niche, setting you on a path toward becoming a recognized expert in your chosen field. “SEO specialists command 20-30% higher rates than generalists while attracting higher-quality clients who seek specific expertise rather than competing on price alone”.

• Related: SEO Skills You’ll Need in 2026 [Survey Results] by Sharon McClintic​

Principles For 2026 SEO Budgeting In Q1/H1

​How CMOs Should Prioritize SEO Budgets In 2026 Q1 And H1​
​Dan Taylor / Search Engine Journal
​CMOs face a pivotal 2026 budgeting season where the priority is not just ranking, but sustaining visibility and trust across AI discovery systems. Dan goes through it.

Agencies are more worried about the threat of AI to their business model

​The 2025 State of Digital Agencies: it’s still rough out there, but slowly improving; and is AI really a threat?
​Paddy Moogan / SparkToro
​Half of agencies have seen revenue growth over the last 12 months whilst a third have seen net margin increase. Paddy goes through the results of the 2025 Digital Agency survey and shares takeaway for agencies and consultants across different areas.

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The Levers for Becoming a Brand AI Systems Can Recommend

​How Growth Works When AI Systems Interpret, Compare, and Choose Brands​​
​Gianluca Fiorelli
​Gianluca explains how the most fundamental shift happening today is that growth now depends on becoming legible, verifiable, and recommendable to AI systems and explain how to do it in this comprehensive guide.

The new currency of AI Mode is citations

​The Path to AI Citations: What the Top 100 Most Cited Websites are Doing Right​

Johannes Beus / SISTRIX
​Johannes goes through three pillars that make up the base for AI-friendly content for AI Mode and shares a concrete checklist that you can use to optimize your own content to become the next cited source.

They're working

​Do Self-Promotional “Best” Lists Boost ChatGPT Visibility? Study of 26,283 Source URLs​
​Glen Allsopp / Ahrefs
​Ahrefs' latest research into top-of-the-funnel queries shows that recently updated “best X” lists were the most prominent page type in ChatGPT sources, including those where recommended brands ranked themselves in first place.

The core consensus that isn’t really consensus

​Why every AI search study tells a different story​

Luca Tagliaferro / Search Engine Land
​Industry studies offer conflicting takes on AI search. Luca explains why the data diverges and how to assess the impact on your site and segment.

Don’t Mistake This For An Opportunity

​AI Poisoning: Black Hat SEO Is Back​

Reza Moaiandin / Search Engine Journal
​New research finds Black Hats can poison LLMs with just 250 malicious documents. Learn how poisoning threatens your brand and what to do about it.

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Help understand how organic search (both AI and traditional) evolved in 2025, and identify the top trends for 2026 – from key challenges to shifts in strategies, goals, tools, and expectations.

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By taking the SEOFOMO 15 questions 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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• ​Senior SEO Manager at Later​
• ​SEO Manager at Rocket Clicks ​
• ​SEO Strategist at Go Fish Digital ​
• ​Senior SEO Strategist at NOVOS​
• ​SEO Country Lead (UK) at Canva ​
• ​Senior SEO Data Analyst at Spokeo​
• ​Lead SEO Content Strategist at SeatGeek​