Google Released the August 2025 Spam Update - #SEOFOMO TL;DR September 1st, 2025

Let's go through the latest in SEO in today's edition of SEO FOMO to Learn, Do, and Read, going through the top stories from This Week SEO FOMO. Today's episode is sponsored by Similarweb. Thank you very much for your sponsorship. Today's top story is the coverage by Barry Schwartz about the Google August 2025 spam update, whose impact has been felt pretty quickly. Although Google has mentioned how, as usual, it will take a few weeks to be completely released, some people have already started reporting ups and downs like Glen Gabe here. From scenarios that he mentions look like programmatic, doorway spinning content across pages targeting the same or similar topic. Considering that the spam update was released only on August 26th and people already started to see impact on August 29th and even August 28th, I'm very looking forward to see if there will be more shifts. in the next couple of weeks. As usual, a little reminder that usually it's better to wait until the very end when the release has been completed, just in case, and that you have the SEO FOMO Latest Google Ranking Shifts Looker Studio that you can use for this analysis to identify the latest ups and downs and trends through Google Search Console data. The other top story is the coverage about the X thread that Robbie Stein, who's the VP of Product at Google Search, shared 5 days ago about how they will start featuring more links in AI mode. He shares how Google has launched embedded links carousels in AI mode responses on desktop already, with mobile coming soon. How Google is also launching some model updates to improve how they show inline links, links that are embedded directly within text in AI mode. And they warn that we might see some fluctuations over the next few weeks as they roll out these updates. These are excellent news, no matter the reasons, maybe it's because of user behavior or because of all the backlash that they have gotten recently by publishers and the industry because of traffic declines. But whatever the reasons, this is something that is certainly positive. And hopefully with this additional links added to AI mode, we'll be able to see an increase in traffic. Another top story is the new research published by Rand Fishkin about how 20% of Americans use AI tools. Which is at 10x+ per month. But despite this growth in the AI tools usage, growth is slowing down on one hand, and more importantly, traditional search hasn't dipped. They both coexist. He mentions how traditional search is not going anywhere, even for heavy adopters of AI. The more data he gathers, the more he's convinced that the AI versus search narrative is largely made up by media and influencers seeking attention rather than an accurate reflection of reality. I also love how Ran went through the most common questions at the end. And one of those questions was that if Google Search is stable, why is traffic dropping? And he answers is zero-click SERPs delivering results that don't require users to click, which they had already been doing for a while through SERP features, but it had a notable acceleration because of AI overviews. Another top resource was Gianluca's. Comprehensive guide about the Web Guide, AI Mode overviews, and the rise of AI search in SEO, how Corrie van Out is reshaping Google Search. The comprehensive guide covers how Web Guide works compared to AI Mode and AI Overview, why Corrie van Out is a unifying engine across all 3, the difference between navigation versus synthesis, and what SEO must do to adapt to this new reality, the AI search SEO reality. As you can see here, it provides a 10-step checklist to optimize for Web Guide and AI mode/overviews as well. So if you haven't, you totally need to go and check it out. To wrap up, I want to thank Similarweb, who's today's sponsor. As I mentioned before, they have this very powerful AI traffic report that I love to use. And as you can see, provides prompt examples comparisons with any of your competitors, the top pages that are bringing AI traffic, and their top prompts as well. Identifying AI traffic opportunity, it's definitely worthy to give it a go. Thanks again for watching today's episode of SEO FOMO to Laundry Read. And remember that you don't need to wait until the next week that you can read the latest SEO news as they happen. Same with AI search trends as they happen with the SEO FOMO News aggregator here. Go and check it out. And of course, to avoid missing out, subscribe to the SEO FOMO newsletter and subscribe to the channel. Until the next one. Bye-bye.