SEO & Strategy Insights: Navigating AI Accuracy, Core Update Fallout, and Client Relationships

The SEO landscape continues to evolve at a dizzying pace. Staying ahead means balancing algorithm updates, emerging AI search features, and strategic client engagement. This week’s SEO digest dives into controversial updates to Google’s AI Overviews, how user behavior may impact indexing, and what we can learn from recent research on AI misinformation. Plus, we share strategies for partner retention rooted in social psychology, and how to better support clients through periods of change.

Top SEO Headlines

Google’s AI Overviews Are Linking to SERPs, Not Websites

In a new discovery that has stirred concern across the publishing world, Google’s AI Overviews are now sometimes linking to search result pages instead of directly to publishers’ websites. This echoes the controversial (and now discontinued) Page Annotations feature, and raises new questions about traffic attribution, publisher equity, and content visibility.

Pages May Be Deindexed If Users Don’t Engage

According to Google, if users consistently ignore a page in search, that page may fall out of the index entirely. This adds further weight to behavioral signals like clicks and dwell time, putting even more pressure on content creators to align with user intent, not just keyword strategy.

Major Sites See Shifts from March Core Update

Large domains like Quora, HMRC, and Amazon have been impacted by the March 2025 core update. Some are seeing declines, while others are finally rebounding from December losses. The volatility underscores the importance of monitoring rankings closely over the next two weeks as the rollout concludes.

Google’s AI Mode Testing Surfaces Over 40 Features

Google appears to be experimenting with dozens of new AI-driven search features with names like Info Sleuth and Smart Kitchen. Though these labels don’t yet alter the SERP, it’s a strong signal of the interactive, modular future of search.

Building Better Partnerships with Social Psychology

Contributor: Quinn Godding

Good SEO work is expected. Great partnerships are built. Here’s how subtle changes in language, tone, and empathy can make you an indispensable strategic partner instead of just a vendor.

Use Empathetic, Confident Framing

When a partner raises a concern like declining traffic, avoid vague or passive responses. Instead of saying “I’m not sure what’s causing this—we’ll check and get back to you.”, be empathetic and proactive with “That is frustrating. I have a few ideas and will investigate this right after our call. I’ll follow up by the end of the week.”

Framing your response with empathy, confidence, and specificity makes the partner feel seen, and reassures them that you’re in control.

Vary Your Delivery Based on Personality

Not every client wants a casual check-in or light banter. Observe your partner’s tone, formality, and behavior.  Are they formal? Stick to data and direct takeaways.  More relaxed? A touch of humor or reference to the big game can create rapport.

The better you match your client’s communication style, the more invested they’ll feel in the relationship.

Use Inclusive Language

Replace “you” and “your site” with “we” and “our site.” This framing makes SEO wins feel collective, and setbacks less isolating. It also reinforces that we’re in this together, part of the same team working toward a shared outcome.

AI Content Accuracy: A Real Risk for SEO

Contributor: Alex Chefalo

A new BBC investigation confirms what many SEOs have already suspected. AI-generated content is often inaccurate—and the implications can be serious.

Key Findings:

• 51% of AI-generated news summaries contained factual errors.
• 19% of summaries from BBC articles introduced inaccuracies.
• 13% of AI-attributed quotes were misquoted or omitted entirely.

Even Google’s own AI Overview feature made a surprising mistake, stating that the current year is 2024 (spoiler: it’s 2025).

As SEO professionals, this emphasizes the importance of:

• Vetting AI-assisted content thoroughly before publishing.
• Ensuring structured data, clear context, and trustworthy links are embedded in all client-facing content.
• Educating partners on the risks of over-relying on AI summarization tools.

Google’s AI Mode, currently rolling out in Google Labs, aims to enhance search with conversational, multimodal reasoning powered by Gemini. But as these tools scale, accuracy must remain a top priority.

829 Pro Tips

• Keep your client roadmaps up to date, especially post-core update. Time spent on strategy development and monitoring should be clearly reflected.
• Adjust your communication approach for each client. Relationship building is just as important as technical execution.
• Watch how AI Overviews are affecting your clients’ visibility, especially if pages are being bypassed for SERP links.