SEO & AI News Weekly Radar – Sep 15 to 21, 2025

In just a week, Google removed the 100-results option, leaving rank tracking tools and Search Console data in disarray. Meanwhile, publishers are escalating their fight against AI Overviews in court, and fresh surveys show the disconnect between high engagement and low referral traffic from generative search.

If you missed it, catch up on last week’s SEO & AI Weekly News before diving in — this series builds a continuous pulse of the changes shaping how we optimize for both Google Search and AI-powered engines.

This week’s key storylines:

1) Google quietly killed the &num=100 parameter, disrupting rank tracking and GSC reporting (Search Engine Roundtable).

2) Penske Media filed suit against Google over AI Overviews and traffic loss (Search Herald).

3) Surveys show 87% of users read AI Overviews, yet fewer than 1% click through (Search Herald)

Google Updates & SERP Changes of the Week

Google kills 100-results pages

Google quietly removed the &num=100 parameter, which allowed viewing 100 results per page. Rank tracking tools broke overnight, and Search Console impressions dropped sharply because only page 1 results are now counted. SEOs across X and LinkedIn flagged inflated “average position” data and missing impressions in GSC. Google hasn’t clarified whether this change is permanent.

📌 Impact for SEOs: Expect reporting noise in the short term. Focus on CTR and conversions until tracking tools recalibrate. Search Engine Roundtable explains here.

Publishers vs. AI Overviews

Penske Media, parent company of Rolling Stone and Variety, filed a lawsuit against Google, arguing that AI Overviews scrape content, divert clicks, and cut into ad revenue. This is one of the first big legal tests on AI summaries and copyright in search.

📌 Why this matters: If courts push Google to change how AI results credit publishers, it could reshape how traffic flows from AI search. Coverage via Search Herald.

AI search usage data: high engagement, low clicks

Surveys reveal 87% of Americans read AI summaries, and 84% use them for shopping research, but <1% of clicks go to websites. Google insists “clicks remain stable,” but SEOs remain skeptical.

📌 Takeaway: Don’t panic yet—classic organic results still drive the lion’s share of traffic.

Structured data ≠ SGE boost

John Mueller clarified that schema markup doesn’t directly help you appear in AI overviews. Schema remains crucial for rich results, but it’s not your ticket into SGE.

Emerging AI + SEO Workflows Sep 2025

The community is rapidly building new tools and tactics to adapt.

• No-code SEO automation: Platforms like Make.com and n8n are trending for tasks like keyword grouping and meta generation.
  
  
• LLM frameworks & RAG: SEOs are experimenting with LangChain to feed site data directly into AI, reducing hallucinations.
  
  
• Entity extraction & mapping: Tools like Google NLP API and InLinks help SEOs cover all relevant entities, reinforcing topical authority.
  
  
• Prompt engineering: A growing library of specialized SEO prompts, like this list of 44, makes ChatGPT more reliable for audits, schema, and content outlines.
  
  
• AI-powered SEO analytics: Tools such as RankScale.ai are tracking visibility across ChatGPT, Bing, and Gemini—a glimpse into the next wave of “AI rank tracking.”
  
  

Opportunities for Immediate Experimentation for this Week

• Optimize for SGE clicks: Add FAQ or summary boxes to high-value pages. Google is testing clickable links inside AI answers.
  
  
• Automate one repetitive task: Try Make.com or n8n templates for content refreshes or reporting. Keep human oversight for quality.
  
  
• Benchmark your brand in AI search: Run industry questions in ChatGPT, Bing, and Gemini. See if your brand is cited. If not, refresh with unique insights.
  
  

Learning Priorities for the Next 30 Days

1. Vector Databases & Semantic Search – Search Engine Journal guide.
   
2. Entity SEO & Knowledge Graphs – Search Engine Land explainer.
   
3. AI SEO Reporting & Automation – Automating GSC + Sheets with ChatGPT.
   
4. SEO Prompt Engineering – 44 SEO prompts.
   
5. Generative Search Optimization (GEO) 2025 – AI optimization checklist.
   
   

Experts SEO Insights of the Week

• Aleyda Solis: Advocates for automation and agility, urging SEOs to embrace AI while tracking SGE closely (her X feed).
  
  
• Marie Haynes: Doubles down on E-E-A-T, warning that thin AI content will get filtered out (her analysis).
  
  
• Lily Ray: Warns of the “vicious cycle” of low-quality AI content and pushes for unique, AI-resistant assets (her recap).
  
  

Watchlist for SEOs for this Month

• Google SGE expansion → Could cut into informational clicks.
• Potential fall core update → Thin AI-driven content at risk.
• Google Gemini / GPT-4.5 launch → Expect stronger AI snapshots.
• Bing’s Copilot push → Time to revisit Bing optimization.
• Tracking fixes for the 100-results bug → GSC impressions may rebound suddenly.
  
  

Final Thoughts on SEO News of the Week

This week underscored a hard truth: SEO isn’t just about rankings anymore—it’s about resilience. When Google can change data visibility overnight and AI overviews can strip away traffic, SEOs must adapt with sharper strategies, smarter automation, and a stronger commitment to trust and originality. The winners won’t be those who chase every shiny AI experiment, nor those who cling to old methods. They’ll be the ones who combine E-E-A-T with AI fluency, who test, measure, and refine before the next update or lawsuit shifts the ground again.

Here is an exclusive coverage of the SEO News of the Month – September 2025

My advice: pick one automation, strengthen your entity coverage, and test your visibility in AI search. The future of SEO won’t wait, and neither should you — Manikandan N

Updated: Here is an exclusive coverage of the “SEO News of the Month – October 2025“