New Way of Thinking Insight

The summer has, as usual, brought a lot of news in web and digital marketing. We see clear signals, among other things, of how Google is now shaping the future search landscape with AI as an integrated part, not something separate. We also see that the line between technology and user experience is becoming increasingly blurred: Google is testing ads in AI Mode, Meta continues to grow despite tough competition, and SEO has a confirmed role even in the new AI era.

For those working with digital presence, marketing, or strategy, these are news you need to keep track of, both to understand the technical playing field and to adapt your content and working methods going forward.

During a seminar earlier this summer, Google's search expert Gary Illyes provided several clarifications regarding AI and SEO. Here are the key insights from that seminar:

• AI is not a new SEO paradigm – it is SEO
  The AI features in Google Search (such as AI Overviews) use the same signal system as traditional blue links. So you don't need to create a new SEO work for AI, the same basic rules apply: helpful, reliable, and human-focused content provides the best visibility.
• Human oversight is a requirement
  AI is an aid, not a replacement. Content published without human review risks being incorrect or misleading. This is especially important for content related to health, finance, or other sensitive topics.
• No value = low ranking
  Google penalizes content that is misleading or lacks unique value. Example: generated content without insights, or fake authors created with AI portraits. There should always be a human voice and experience behind the content.
• AI has been in search for a long time
  Technologies like MUM and BERT have been used for several years to understand complex questions. The difference now is that generative AI can also create content, but still relies on Google's index for quality assurance.
• Mass-generated AI content is prohibited
  Scalable abuse, such as creating thousands of articles with AI just to drive search traffic, is a direct violation of Google's spam policy. Such content will be deprioritized or removed.
• AI is a tool – not a replacement
  Use AI to save time, suggest ideas, speed up production. But always let a human do the final review. That's how you build trust, quality, and visibility.

In other words, SEO is alive and thriving, perhaps even more than ever. The message is clear: AI does not change why we do SEO, only how we do it.

In its Q2 report for 2025, Meta shows continued good growth in both users and revenue. Despite TikTok, Snapchat, and new AI-driven platforms taking market shares, Meta manages to stay relevant by constantly renewing itself.

Especially Reels and WhatsApp show strong growth, and investments in AI and mixed reality (Meta Quest) are now starting to appear in the financial statements. This demonstrates Meta's ability to combine stable revenue streams with innovation, something that strengthens their position as a tech giant.

For marketers, this means that Facebook and Instagram remain relevant platforms for both reach and engagement, but one should also keep an eye on how new features (such as AI-generated recommendations) change user behavior.

Google has finally updated Search Console Insights with both a new design and more in-depth reports for content performance. The aim is to give us a better understanding of how their material performs in search, both organically and within AI-generated contexts. Their beta version has been available for a long time, but now Insights has been released.

The new view makes it easier to quickly see which pages perform best, how users find them, and what type of content drives the most engagement. For marketers and website owners, it means a smooth tool for analyzing content efficiency, identifying new opportunities, and quickly acting on changing trends.
To access your website's report, log in to Search Console and click on "Insights" in the menu on the left.

According to internal documents that Search Engine Land has accessed, Google is now testing how ads can be integrated into AI Mode, that is, in the generative AI summaries displayed at the top of search results.

The idea is to let AI summarize both organic content and sponsored material in one and the same flow with clear labeling. This opens up for a whole new type of ad placement, where relevance and contextualization play an even more important role.

It is still unclear when (or if) this will be rolled out broadly, but it highlights the new playing field: where AI, content, and advertising merge.