SEO News

26/11/25

If your charity saw a sudden fall in Google Search Console (GSC) impressions from mid-September, you’re not alone. This wasn’t caused by a drop in visibility, but rather a quiet technical change by Google.

What happened?

Google removed a long-used search parameter called num=100, which previously allowed SEO tools to fetch up to 100 search results per page instead of the default 10. Many tracking tools relied on this setting, and without it, they can no longer pull the same depth of search results.

Why did impressions drop?

The leading theory among SEOs is that this change reduced the amount of automated bot traffic counted as impressions in GSC.

The exact cause remains murky, but the effect is unambiguous:

• Impressions appear lower, around 88% of sites saw a sudden drop.
• Average position appears higher because fewer low-ranking results are included.
• Fewer deep-ranking keywords show up, so positions 50–90 may temporarily disappear from reports.

Importantly, this doesn’t reflect a fall in real-world visibility. Your content isn’t reaching fewer people; GSC is simply showing cleaner, more accurate data.

What should you focus on now?

• Don’t panic about the impression drop. It’s not a decline in search performance.
• Re-benchmark your reports. Comparisons with pre-September data will look artificially skewed.
• Prioritise clicks, conversions and GA4 sessions. These reflect real supporter and beneficiary behaviour.
• Monitor your key strategic keywords. Focus on the terms most important to fundraising, volunteering and service delivery.
• Check your rank-tracking tools. Some providers are limiting depth or increasing costs due to extra server requests.

The upside

This change may ultimately help the sector. Cleaner data provides:

• A more reliable picture of genuine organic reach.
• More accurate competitor benchmarking.
• A renewed focus on the keywords that truly matter, especially page-one performance.

Final thoughts

While this shift has caused short-term confusion, it moves the industry toward more trustworthy data and encourages charities to focus on meaningful outcomes rather than inflated impression numbers.

If your charity has seen unexpected fluctuations and you’d like support in adjusting your SEO reporting or strategy, we’re happy to help.

27/05/25

Google has introduced a new search channel, AI Mode, designed to generate interactive search responses personalised to users’ profile and history. It’ll appear as the first tab in Google, next to ‘Images’ and ‘Videos’, indicating the importance they’re placing on it – but it’s not taking over as the default search page just yet.

Unsurprisingly, AI Mode will retain the ad model that Google relies on. They revealed in their Marketing Live 2025 conference last week that they’re “testing new ads formats integrated and below AI Mode responses.” Exactly how those ads will be presented, both in format and placement, remains to be seen.

How does it personalise search results?

When you make a search in AI Mode, Google will shape its summarised response according to your:

• Google Search history
• Chrome browser history
• Purchases
• Gmail and Calendar

Under this hyper-personalised framework, what position you rank at for a particular keyword will become a less meaningful metric. Keyword-tracking tools like Semrush and Ahrefs may struggle to keep up, at least at first.

How can you optimise your strategy for AI Mode?

As with AI Overviews, webpage citations will be shown to the right of the generated search results. Optimising your site for E-E-A-T (as per SEO best practice) will go a long way to boosting your chances of appearing in those citations. But there are also some AI-specific strategic moves you can make that go beyond standard SEO – which you can read all about here.

Tailoring your copy to your target audience and addressing their specific questions will be paramount. People will turn to AI Mode for specific, niche and longer form queries, so generic content won’t cut it.

As far as user behaviour goes, one of the key differences between AI Mode and classic Google Search will be the ecommerce funnel. With AI Mode, users can progress from informational to commercial to transactional search queries much more easily, within the same search session.

As a charity, that means optimising your donation and online store user journeys is more consequential than ever. You need to be targeting informational, commercial and transactional search terms in a clear, concise content funnel, utilising CTAs proven to resonate with your charity’s audience.

On commercial searches, AI Mode isn’t currently linking forward to product pages. But Google has confirmed this feature is coming soon, and we can expect that to extend to donation pages.

How will keyword research work?

AI Mode uses a query fan-out technique, where it runs multiple related searches simultaneously, then brings them together into a comprehensive answer. You can’t directly view what background searches it’s running, but there’s a sly workaround…

Because AI Mode uses a version of Gemini Pro, you can run the search you’re targeting through Gemini, click ‘Show thinking’, and you’ll see what background search terms Gemini breaks that query into.

These background terms will vary slightly every time you run the search, but you can draw out common topics and themes. These will tell you exactly what search terms you need to be optimising for.

A couple of important notes

Currently, in Analytics, traffic from AI Mode is being tagged as Direct, NOT Organic, since Google adds a rel=”noopener noreferrer” to those links.

It’s so far been rolled out for all US-based users; the date of UK launch is yet to be confirmed but we’ll keep you posted as soon as we find out.

13/03/25

It’s that time again – Google have announced another Broad Core Update, their first (but almost certainly not last) of 2025. What does it aim to achieve?

Google has been taciturn about the specifics, simply describing it as a “regular update designed to better surface relevant, satisfying content for searchers from all types of site.”

Undeniably, Google are in a precarious spot at the moment. According to polls, users are finding the search engine less and less useful, while its market share is declining as ChatGPT gains traction as a competitor.

One of the key complaints, by users and SEOs alike, is that high-ranking SERP places continue to be swamped by low-quality AI-generated copycat content.

We’d like to believe this algorithm update will improve the prominence of original, genuinely useful content. Blogs especially have taken a massive hit in the last couple years. There’s been some word that Google solicited improvement ideas from web creators in their summit last October, but to what extent those have informed this update remains to be seen.

It’ll take up to two weeks to fully roll out. We’ve yet to see it impact any of our clients, but we’ll continue to monitor closely. If you’re worried your site might be losing traffic because of the changes, please do reach out, we’re always happy to chat.

30/01/25

Google has updated its Search Quality Rater Guidelines, which address the use of AI-generated content and spam types. Here is what you need to know:

You can use AI tools such as ChatGPT whilst generating content for your website, but the content needs to be unique and provide value to users. It is not allowed to be used to create mass generic content. This reaffirms that we still need humans to add their stamp to the content.

If you are using AI tools to help with YMYL (Your Money, Your Life) content, then be extremely careful. We recommend avoiding AI entirely.

It’s still crucial to consider E-E-A-T when creating content – you need to demonstrate your brand’s expertise.

Google still has quality content at the centre of its every move and will reward high-value content that is unique and original to the website. Spammy, low quality content will continue to be penalised.

Within the guidelines, there the added fact that raters have to turn off ad blocker capabilities to view your webpage. We recommend checking how your content appears with and without ad blockers.

21/08/2024

Google’s Core August Update has been released…

Taking into account feedback from previous updates, this update aims to promote small and independent publishers, putting an emphasis on “genuinely useful” content, over the content that was optimised just to perform better in search. The conclusion? Write content for people, not to rank in search engines. This should be:

✅ Helpful
✅ Reliable
✅ People-first

Sites producing useful, original content should hope to see an improvement in rankings as the update is rolled out over the next month.

Rollout of the update is expected to take another few weeks!

Interested in improving your site’s ranking? We are happy to help if you want to get started with content optimisation.

25/06/2024

Google recently announced an update to its spam policies, which will take a week to roll out. The update focuses on improving SpamBrain, Google’s AI-powered spam-prevention system.

What Does the Update Focus On?

The update aims to:

• Improve search results by targeting websites that violate Google’s spam policies.
• Enhance Google’s automated systems to detect spam more effectively.

Google has told us this update is not about algorithmic changes related to site reputation or link spam but rather focuses on improving the detection and management of spam through advanced AI.

What should charities expect?

As the update rolls out, which is expected to take about a week, charities might observe:

• Fluctuations in Search Rankings: Some websites may experience changes in their search visibility over the next few weeks. This is a normal part of the update process as Google’s systems recalibrate. Watch out for Google’s update once the rollout is complete on the Search Status Dashboard.
• Decline in Visibility for Non-Compliant Websites: Websites that engage in spammy practices or rely heavily on AI-generated content that violates Google’s policies may see a drop in their rankings.
• Potential Benefits: Charities that follow best practices might benefit from reduced competition from spammy websites, potentially improving their visibility. Be prepared for gradual improvement. It might take a few months for Google’s automated systems to fully recognize and reward the changes you implement.

Google’s latest update to SpamBrain is a significant step towards enhancing the quality of search results by targeting spammy practices. For charities, this means an opportunity to refine their online strategies, ensuring compliance with Google’s policies while improving visibility and engagement. By staying proactive and adhering to best practices, charities can leverage this update to strengthen their digital presence and reach their goals more effectively.

While you’re here, why not learn more about how SEO can boost your charity donations?

29/05/2024

The SEO industry is buzzing with the news that an API containing over 14,000 attributes (potentially ranking factors Google uses within its search engine) was accidentally leaked to the general public.

It is always worth thinking about this type of information leak critically. Crucially, this is NOT the recipe for Google’s search algorithm, as the documentation does not contain any weightings or prioritisation. We do not know whether this is part of an internal testing tool, a specific system like SGE, or if it is the (much juicier) full ranking factor list for its search ranking algorithm.

No matter what, some morsels of information change our understanding of how Google evaluates pages.

The most interesting parts of the document pertain to factors that Google has insisted for years that it doesn’t use.

• Long Clicks. This attribute measures how long a search engine user stayed on specific results before returning to Google; the equivalent of dwell time.
• Site Authority. This attribute appears to be similar to metrics like Domain Authority and Trust Flow, which Google has previously said it does not have an equivalent for.
• Google Sandbox. This is a system in place to apply extra consideration to new websites and make sure they are easily visible until Google has confidence that it has understood them properly. It has previously been speculated that this could take weeks, if not months, and is another great reason to not change your domain.

The industry is still digesting all the data and what it means for our strategies and tactics. However, along with the revelations from the DOJ trial in the United States, it has certainly eroded some of the trust placed in Google.

12/03/2024

Last week, Google announced their latest Broad Core Update, and the message it’s enforcing is clear: If you want to rank, your quality better not be rank.

These latest algorithm changes, currently being rolled out, are intended to purge sites “using automation to generate low-quality or unoriginal content at scale” (read: AI-written bilge). 

Google hopes to improve the quality of search results by 40%, as declining relevance in recent years has left many users feeling increasingly discontent.

Google are also updating their spam policies to crack down on the following:

• Scaled Content Abuse (mass autogenerated content, whether AI or programmatic)
• Site Reputation Abuse (otherwise known as parasite SEO)
• Expired Domain Abuse (buying and repurposing expired sites purely to boost the search ranking of low-quality or unoriginal content – effectively the necromancy of the SEO world)

It’ll be interesting to see how this affects sites using programmatic SEO to deliver templated content, such as product descriptions and property listings.

It’s also worth noting that Google is caught in a slight conflict of interest here: they’ve been eager to brand themselves as an AI-driven company, making strides to develop their own generative search. Just last month they paid news sites to test their unreleased AI platform. How serious can their efforts to ban AI-generated content afford to be? Only time, and profit margins, will tell.

Crucially, this update should help elevate your rankings above highly optimised but ultimately vacuous content you may have been competing with before. If you’re concerned, or even just mildly curious, throw us a question on LinkedIn or Twitter. We’re always up for a good discussion.

31st October 2023

Since 2015, Google started to shift its focus and monitor the performance of mobile devices considering the upward trend of searches being conducted via mobile opposed to desktop. This trend has continued, and the use of desktop has gradually faded out for a lot of websites. In light of this, Google has been working hard to transition its indexing process to look at solely the mobile version of sites and have announced that this switch over is not complete.

With Google now prioritizing mobile versions when crawling and indexing web pages, it is crucial that all websites are mobile friendly and ensuring this is a focus for their online strategies. In most cases, websites have adapted their site to become accessible by mobile but there are websites that exist that do not function on mobile. Google has said, for now it will keep crawling desktop versions but hasn’t given a clear indication of when this will end.

For Charities, it is crucial that your site is mobile friendly to ensure you are visible in the SERPs and not missing out on potential traffic. If you have a mobile friendly website, our top tips for maximum performance would be to make sure page speed is optimised, images are an optimal size, and you think about things such as button sizes and the placement of these to ensure the website doesn’t have that cluttered feel.

You can read more about the mobile first announcement on Search Engine Journal.

October 4th, rollout complete as of 20th – The Spam Update
October 5th, rollout complete as of 19th – The Core Update

Google continues to refine its algorithms and systems to ensure that users receive the most relevant and high-quality search results. In recent updates in October, Google has doubled down on two key areas: spam prevention and quality content.

What does it mean for websites: This definitely put more emphasis on useful, unique and quality content that is promoted without the frowned upon tactics. Let’s take a look at what each update means for the websites.

• Spam Update: Google’s ongoing efforts to combat search spam have resulted in notable improvements to their automated systems. Violations can result in lower rankings or exclusion from search results. However, implementing necessary changes can lead to improvements if the site complies with the policies over time – usually seen after a following algorithm update.

• Core Update: Google’s periodic updates that aim to enhance the overall quality of search results to provide helpful and reliable information to users have been much more common in the past few years – thanks AI revolution. Unlike spam updates, core updates do not target specific pages or websites for punitive actions. Instead, they improve how Google’s systems assess content as a whole, allowing previously under-rewarded pages to perform better in search results. This might mean that as long as you have a solid digital marketing strategy, you are not expected to get hurt from these updates and even benefit from them if your industry is par standards.

Applicable Steps After Algorithm Updates

To adapt to these recent Google updates and improve your website’s performance, consider the following steps:

1. Comply with spam policies head on.
2. Periodically review your content to make sure it provides value and remains relevant.
3. Keep an eye on the updates on the updates and Search Quality Rater Guidelines

September 14th – 28th

September saw Google roll out another helpful content update which altered AI and third-party guidelines. This update took place between September 14^th – 28^th and was aimed at promoting people-first content and demoting content specifically written for search engines such as Google.

The key changes Google made during this update are the following:

• Guidance on machine generated content – Google has softened its preference on human generated content and made AI generated content more consistent with other advice on creating helpful content.

• Updated rules for hosting third part content – Google is now suggesting that if this content isn’t related to the mains website purpose, then to no index it to avoid the domain getting penalised.

• What to do if you’re hit by the update – Google is now hinting to review all content on our websites and if the content isn’t helpful, to consider removing it or replacing it with content that will benefit the users.

Next steps for website owners:

Audit content on your website. Decide if your content is useful and helpful to your users – if not, improve it or remove it. And if you host third party content such as guest blog posts or articles, consider the connection to your website and if useful and relevant, keep and if not, no index it.

22/08/23

Google has announced their second core update of 2023, the last one having been in March. Core updates affect the search ranking algorithm on a fundamental level, so could have a positive or negative influence on your site’s ranking.

Like all core updates, this is expected to take 2 weeks to fully roll out. During this period, we recommend monitoring your website’s analytics and ranking to see whether performance has been affected.

The specifics of the update are yet to be released – however, we suspect it will be related to content and the experience users will have when landing on your site.

08/08/23

Google has announced a potentially important development in its search ranking optimisation research. A new ranking framework called TW-BERT (the first two initials standing for Term Weighting) has been developed, which improves search results and is easily deployable in existing ranking systems.

The model works by assigning scores (or weights) to words within a search query, to more accurately align with the user’s intended meaning and hence deliver more accurate, relevant results.

Google’s research paper gives the example of the search term ‘Nike running shoes’. Emphasising the ‘running’ part of the search would return search results from brands other than Nike, which are clearly irrelevant to the user’s interests. The challenge, then, is to ensure that ‘Nike’ is weighted sufficiently highly while still providing running shoes in the returned results.

TW-BERT resolves this problem by using n-gram (probability-based predictive language) modelling to ensure that ‘running shoes’ is upweighted when scoring pages.

TW-BERT improves ranking processes across the board, including in query expansion, which refers to the process whereby the search engine restates a search query or adds words to it to better match the search query to pages. Adding scores to the query helps the search engine determine the intent of a given search term.

Although this new ranking framework has not been implemented yet, the fact that it can be deployed easily does increase its likelihood of seeing active duty.

25/04/23

Google rolled out a reviews update, which started on April 12th and finished on April 25th.

A key point to note about this update, is that it expanded well beyond the realm of just product reviews. This update also focussed on reviews for non-product content, including:

• Services and business reviews
• Destination reviews
• Media, such as games of movies.

This was quite different from previous review updates, which focussed mainly on products. Google has since changed the name of its ‘product reviews system’ to ‘review system’ and has updated language throughout.

This focus on reviews means sites should ensure their review content is truly useful and valuable to users. You can read more about Google’s reviews system here.