Issue 34

On-Page SEO

SEO “Chunk Optimization” is Overrated

Across LinkedIn threads and AI‑SEO guides, the promise is the same: format your content into perfect “chunks” and you’ll get chosen for Google’s AI Overviews or cited in AI search results.

The problem?

Chunk optimization isn’t actually an SEO tactic. It’s a technical term borrowed from AI engineering—misunderstood, misapplied, and mostly out of your hands.

Google's Update To Recipe Structured Data Confirms A Ranking Criteria

Google updated the Recipe Schema.org structured data documentation to reflect more precise guidance on what the image structured data property affects and where to find additional information about ranking recipe images in the regular organic search results.

International SEO

International SEO Insights from China

Welcome back to The Search Session! I’m Gianluca Fiorelli, and in this episode I’m joined by Natalia Witczyk. She’s an International SEO Consultant who took on a bold new challenge by moving to China, diving into a completely different digital landscape while continuing her global SEO work.

It’s an interesting chat with useful advice, clear insights on SEO and AI, stories from Natalia’s experience, and plenty of other topics along the way.

Localization in 2025: Why Hreflangs and Translations Aren’t Enough

Expanding into non-English speaking markets requires more than just translating your content and adding hreflang tags. SEOs working in those regions know the issues all too well: awkward phrasing from machine translation, incomplete content with missing image or video localization, and calls to action that don’t resonate in the target market.

Search Engine Advertising (PPC)

Are Google's AI Overviews eating your PPC revenue? Key things to know

AI Overviews haven’t just shifted how Google presents search results; they’re already reshaping the economics of paid search.

By understanding where and how AI Overviews appear, PPC teams can adapt their strategies, capture more real estate where AI Overviews are weak, and sharpen positioning where they’re strong.

The real question isn’t if AI Overviews will impact your campaigns, it’s whether you’re monitoring and adapting quickly enough to stay ahead.

Scaling PPC with AI automation: Scripts, data, and custom tools

This article covers how AI can take over repetitive tasks and open new possibilities.

It also takes a closer look at Cursor, a platform that combines automation, AI, and scripting to help advertisers work faster without losing control or flexibility.

You don’t need to be a developer to get started – though a little technical knowledge still helps in understanding what AI is building for you.

Google Ads (Search Network)

When to trust Google Ads AI and when you shouldn’t

Google Ads mostly runs on AI now – and that’s both a blessing and a curse. Some automations can boost performance, while others create blind spots that cost you money.

The real challenge is knowing the difference. This guide breaks down exactly when you can trust Google’s AI and when you need to step in.

Why SEO and paid media need each other in the AI search era

AI search is rewriting the rules of visibility. Google’s AI Overviews aren’t just another rich result or algorithm update.

They are cutting into clicks, pushing ads into unpredictable spots, and leaving both SEO and PPC teams with incomplete data.

Google Shopping

Google to retailers: Use AI to win the longer holiday season

U.S. impulse buys slipped from 30% to 26% last year, per a Google-commissioned Ipsos study. Shoppers are now spreading their holiday spending from October through January, stretching what used to be a sprint into a three-month season – and Google’s AI Max updates are giving retailers new ways to keep up.

Google Ads adds loyalty features to boost shopper retention

Google is rolling out new loyalty integrations across Google Ads and Merchant Center, giving retailers tools to highlight member-only pricing and shipping benefits to their most valuable customers

Performance Max Campaigns

Top Performance Max optimization tips for 2026

With Google rolling out enhanced reporting and creative controls this year, the optimization playbook looks very different heading into 2026.

These strategies will help you maximize Performance Max in Q4 and beyond – whether your goal is lead generation or ecommerce growth.

Before diving in, remember: Performance Max requires historical data to succeed.

Aim for at least 30-50 conversions per month, with established Search campaigns already running. It works best as a complement to – not a replacement for – your core campaigns.

Google Ads expands Search Themes limit in Performance Max

Google has doubled down on its automation-first strategy with a key update to Performance Max (PMax) campaigns: some advertisers can now add up to 50 Search themes.

AI-Driven Search

SEO in the age of AI: Becoming the trusted answer

For years, I’ve updated my working definition of SEO to capture how the discipline has evolved. This redefinition raises an essential question: if SEO has converged into educating AI assistive engines, where should we look to understand how these systems learn?

Google's AI-powered SERPs: Strategies for recipe, travel, and lifestyle bloggers

This combination of human-reviewed updates and machine-generated content delivery is creating a new search ecosystem in which bloggers and content creators are no longer competing against each other but also against Google’s AI.

The bloggers who survive this moment will be the ones who adapt strategically and intentionally to what Google is looking for.

Accessibility

How to Create Accessible Content

Accessible content increases your chances of reaching more people and ensures that you exclude no one. At the same time, focusing on accessibility also improves your SEO performance. In this guide, I'll show you how accessibility and SEO go hand in hand when creating your web content.

Travel websites littered with accessibility issues

Websites — including travel websites — are facing significant accessibility issues, according to a new report from AudioEye, which is focused on building an inclusive digital future.

The 2025 Digital Accessibility Index, released this week, found an average of 297 accessibility issues detectable by automation during the fourth quarter of 2024 across 400,000 web pages on 15,000 websites in different industries.

Each issue serves as a potential barrier for 1.3 billion people around the globe with disabilities, according to AudioEye, which released its initial report in 2023.

Reviews & Reputation Management

Bias In Search: Visibility, Perception, And Control

Bias in search isn’t always negative. It’s easy to frame it as something sinister, but bias shows up for structural reasons, behavioral reasons, and sometimes as a deliberate choice. The real task for marketers and communicators is recognizing when it’s happening, and what that means for visibility, perception, and control.

How to Rank in ChatGPT: Focus on These Review Sites

How do you build a local business reputation that is likely to result in your brand being shown as a ChatGPT response, like the ones shown above? We’ve been investigating this at Whitespark and have data to share with you today.

Privacy & Security

ChatGPT Recommendations Potentially Influenced By Hacked Sites

An investigation by SEO professional James Brockbank reveals that ChatGPT may be recommending businesses based on content from hacked websites and expired domains.

The findings aren’t a comprehensive study but the result of personal testing and observations. Brockbank, who serves as Managing Director at Digitaloft, says his report emerged from exploring how brands gain visibility in ChatGPT’s responses.

Ecosia & Qwant Launch European Search Infrastructure

Ecosia has begun delivering its own search results for the first time in its 16-year history, starting with users in France who will receive a portion of results from a new European search index developed jointly with Qwant.

The rollout marks the first implementation of the European Search Perspective (EUSP) joint venture, which has created Staan (Search Trusted API Access Network), a privacy-focused search infrastructure designed for Europe.

SERP Features

Google massively expanding AI Overviews for travel, entertainment

Google AI Overviews are spiking again. The latest huge and rapid expansion happened in travel and entertainment keywords, according to new data from enterprise SEO platform BrightEdge.

Google’s great clarity cleanup: 3 shifts redefining the Knowledge Graph and its AI future

Google’s Knowledge Graph saw its largest contraction in a decade in June: a two-stage, one-week drop of 6.26% – over 3 billion entities deleted.

Since 2015, we’ve tracked the Knowledge Graph and have never witnessed a cull of this magnitude.

We’re calling it Google’s great clarity cleanup.

Ranking & Generation

FLUQs: Answer the hidden questions or vanish in AI search

ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity: these are the new operating environments. Your content must be invokable inside them, or no one will see it.

Are Google’s AI Travel Results Uncovering More Hidden Gems?

Google’s AI-generated results reshape how people search, and Google has said that websites should expect traffic fluctuations and that prior success in organic Search does not guarantee future success in the new ecosystem.

This is a big claim, and it’s been debated whether “Hidden Gems” are getting more visibility in modern Search and I’m doing my best to work through as much data as possible to identify if the claims from Google above have substance.

Thought Pieces

Google at 27: As search grows up, so must SEO

September 2025 has arrived, and with International SEO Day on 27 September, it feels like the right moment to be candid.

Over the past year, my conversations with colleagues and clients have shifted. What’s uncomfortable isn’t the conversation or the work — it’s the unknowns and the pace.

Search is moving at a social-media tempo — faster cycles, more fragmented surfaces, a higher bar for trust.

AI is the first question in every room; “Do we still need search engine optimisation (SEO)?” often precedes budgets; and one client asked whether a website is still worth it.

SEO Has Been Tactical For 20 Years. GenAI Forces The Strategy Question

For as long as I’ve been in this industry, there’s been debate about whether SEO is strategic or tactical. Most SEOs would like to believe their work is strategic. Many executives see it as tactical. The truth is somewhere in between, and the arrival of generative AI is forcing a new level of clarity.

This matters because “strategy” and “tactics” are not synonyms. In business, strategy is the plan. Tactics are the moves. Confusing the two doesn’t just muddy language. It leads to wasted resources, stalled initiatives, and misplaced expectations for what SEO can and cannot deliver.