The December 2025 edition of the SEO Update by Yoast: AI search, publisher deals & more
Missed the final SEO Update by Yoast of 2025? Our in-house principal SEOs, Carolyn Shelby and Alex Moss, broke down December’s biggest search shifts, from Gemini’s integration to Google’s publisher deals, and answered your burning questions. Don’t forget to watch the replay and sign up for the next edition! Watch the full replay below (or […]
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Google’s Danny Sullivan & John Mueller On SEO For AI: It’s The Same
John Mueller from Google had Danny Sullivan from Google on the Search Off the Record podcast to talk about “Thoughts on SEO & SEO for AI.” In short, they both said SEO for AI is the same as SEO for traditional search but then they got into it.
Google Updates JavaScript SEO Doc With Setting Canonical URL Advice
Google updated its JavaScript SEO best practices document with a new section on how to set the canonial URL when using JavaScript. Google wrote, “The best way to set the canonical URL is to use HTML, but if you have to use JavaScript, make sure that yo…
Gemini 3 Flash For Google AI Mode – Now Rolling Out
Google is bringing Gemini 3 Flash to AI Mode, bringing much of Gemini 3’s power without waiting too long – hence the “Flash” part of the name. Robby Stein from Google said, “Starting today, we’re rolling it out globally in Search as the default model i…
Google Reviews Disappearing Bug Reportedly Fixed
Back in October, many businesses reported that reviews left on their Google Business Profiles were disappearing. It wasn’t happening to every business, but it was widespread. Last night, I was told the bug had been fixed and that the reviews should be …
Microsoft Tests Underlines In Bing Ad Description Snippets
Microsoft is also testing underlining the text of the Bing Ads search snippets and descriptions. I am not sure if those underlined words are links or not but I assume so.
Dynamic Visual Layouts
Dynamic visual layout (DVL) is a class of generative user interface which acts as an ephemeral information substrate. For two decades, SEO has been about fitting information into layouts. The blog post template. The product page schema. The FAQ accordion. The listicle format. We optimized content for containers that existed before the content did. Google […]
Google Search Console Page Indexing Report Now Up To Date
After almost a month delay with the page indexing report within Google Search Console, the report is now back to its normal timeframe. This morning it was reading that the last updated date was November 21st. Now, it is reading December 14th, which i…
Google Discover Tailor Your Feed With Natural Language
Google Discover is testing and maybe rolling out an option to “Tailor your feed.” This allows you to tailor the feed with “Say in your own words what you want to see,” and Google will try to figure it out.
Google Business Profiles Review Appeals Are Delayed Before Holidays
If you submitted a review appeal within Google Business Profiles it will likely take longer than normal to hear back. Google’s review appeals are delayed and Google cannot provide a specific response timeframe for pending cases.
Google Tests Very Long Expandable AI-Generated Search Result Snippets
Google is testing extremely long and expandable search result snippet descriptions in the search results. These are also AI-generated snippets, which we’ve seen before, but not this long. This goes on for eight lines of text.
Google Clarifies Business Owner Review Replies Expectations
Google has updated its Manage customer reviews help documentation to expand and clarify the “Understand what happens to your replies” section. It now specifies why a business reply to a review may be hold, how long it takes and more.
Microsoft Tests Search With An Image & Make An Image In Bing Search Bar
Microsoft is testing the ability to upload an image directly within the Bing search bar. You click on a plus sign and Bing shows you “search with an image” and “make an image.” I get the search with an image feature but why add generative AI features,…
SEOs Should Not Dismiss Geo for Being Low-Traffic
Is it GEO, AI SEO, or just SEO? Regardless of the label, optimizing for LLMs is critical in 2025. Learn how you can reframe your existing tactics, why your off-site content strategy is critical, and what questions you should be asking when considering …
Google Won’t Provide Standard License Deals For AI & SEO Is The Same
Nick Fox is the SVP of Knowledge and Information at Google was interviewed again on the AI Inside channel by Jason Howel and Jeff Jarvin. He said a lot of interesting things but said no, Google won’t be offering standarized licensing deals for all publ…
Google Warns: Don’t Use NoIndex Tags In Pages That Use JavaScript
Google updated its JavaScript SEO documentation to warn against using a noindex tag in the original page code on JavaScript pages. Google wrote, “if you do want the page indexed, don’t use a noindex tag in the original page code.”
Google Ads Exact Match Can Not Show Ads In AI Overviews
Google can not show ads in AI Overviews with the exact match type. This is a change from back in May, where Google said otherwise. Ginny Marvin, the Google Ads Liaison, wrote on X, “We have since updated this.”
Google Search Console Average Impression Dropping Back Down
Earlier this month, we documented that the average position sharply increased for many sites when Google made that num 100 change blocking a lot of automated queries. Well, for some sites, that number is dropping again, which may mean that there is a …
Google Search Console Performance Reports Finally Caught Up
Google Search Console’s performance report seems to finally be all caught up and up-to-date as of last night and this morning. I am seeing the normal two-hour or so delay, which has always fluctuated from an hour to five hours on a normal day.
Google Rolling Out Read More Links Search Result Snippets
After several months of testing, Google seems to be rolling out the “Read more” links at the end of some of the search results listings. We saw Google test variations of this back in July and it now seems to be live.