October SEO News: Chat GPT & Google Insights

It’s the time of year every marketer fears: October.  

It’s the calm before the storm. It’s the valley before the peak. It’s usually fairly quiet.  

But that doesn’t mean that there hasn’t been plenty of new SEO updates you need to be aware of as we continue heading towards Black Friday. So, take a break from your peak-induced panic and sit down for a calming dose of the latest news in SEO to help get prepared for the busiest time of the year, and beyond. 

The Latest Google Updates

Google Crawl Stats Missing One Day of Data

As the world keeps getting busier, especially as we approach peak, you may feel like you’re skipping days – Google decided to take that feeling one step further. 

The 14th of October was temporarily omitted from Google’s Crawl Stats report in Google Search Console, with the date appearing in the dashboard but without the corresponding statistics. 

While ultimately the glitch was resolved and the missing data was restored, this fiasco did showcase the importance of reliable analysis for businesses. Specifically, for e-commerce businesses, inaccurate reporting may lead to unnecessary panic amongst marketers. Tracking key metrics and performance through other tools may provide a secondary data source should Google accidentally sleep in once again. 

New Google Business Profile Insights

Google is testing a new “insights” section within the Google Business Profile dashboard that goes beyond simple analytics. It now presents actionable suggestions for business owners like encouraging more reviews and adding updates to profiles. 

This is part of Google’s commitment to developing their tools for local SEO, providing actionable insights for strategic improvements. By following these suggestions, and keeping your profile up-to-date, businesses can improve their visibility and engagement.  

AI Overviews in People Also Ask on Google

‘People Also Ask’ has been an important means of promoting human input and interaction on Google’s results pages, until now. The answer is found within these dropdown boxes are becoming increasingly populated with AI inputs, with the amount of AI answers doubling in the last 3 months to nearly 38%.  

For sites, this means that there will be less opportunities to generate organic traffic to your pages, potentially leading to a drop in organic traffic over time. More specifically, targeting specific questions through FAQs may become a less-effective strategy, as SEO teams look to create content which demonstrates a wide knowledge of a subject. 

Google Begins Rolling Out Ads in AIOs

While they’ve already started populating AIOs across the United States, Ads are now starting to appear in the generative search feature in more territories. This presents an opportunity for more dynamic ad placement, as well as more competition for clicks within these summaries. 

With the billions of dollars in revenue brought in by PPC ads on Google, it was inevitable that they’d look to implement them into more facets of the Google search experience, especially with eyeballs being taken away from the main search function. The impact this will have on ads spend and efficiency is yet to be seen, but this is certainly a feature which will change web marketing as we know it. 

ChatGPT News

Walmart partners with ChatGPT

Walmart (one of the United States’ biggest supermarket chains) has teamed up with OpenAI (the developer of ChatGPT) to integrate conversational AI into its retail experience. The deal enables shoppers to use ChatGPT to plan purchases, reorder items and check out directly within the app. The AI doesn’t just help you find products, it helps you buy them, in something described as “agentic commerce”. 

This is evidence of the continued integration of AI into our daily lives, giving shoppers more ways to purchase products outside of traditional avenues. For marketers, this will likely become another channel which must be considered, especially in terms of e-commerce where sites will begin to compete with integrated AI shopping experiences.  

OpenAI launches ChatGPT Atlas

OpenAI has officially launched ChatGPT Atlas, its first-ever web browser. Currently available for macOS users (with Windows, iOS, and Android versions on the way), Atlas blends traditional browsing with the power of ChatGPT directly in the sidebar.  

This means users can browse the web as normal whilst using ChatGPT to rewrite text, generate ideas, assist with shopping, code, or research, all without switching tabs.​ Despite this native integration, Atlas reportedly still uses Google Search to power its web results, much like how its been using the search engine to power its answers.  

Paired with Google’s AI Mode, AI features are creeping into every aspect of the way we navigate the web. Atlas has the potential to become much more, a fully integrated AI companion to join shoppers on the journey across various sites. However, the true potential of this feature, and similar, remains to be seen. 

Stay up to date with Summit

Black Friday and Peak are almost here and the team at Summit have been hard at work putting together plenty of blogs and guides to help you navigate the busiest time of the year. Why not take a look at our top ten last minute tips to get Black Friday ready?  

Interested in learning how you can boost your online performance even further? Get in touch with our team at hello@summitmedia.com.