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Core Updates SEO Newsletter

The Core Updates newsletter is written by Mark Williams-Cook, a veteran SEO who is Digital Marketing Director at Candour, Founder of AlsoAsked and organiser of SearchNorwich. Over 40,000 SEOs follow Mark's 'Unsolicited #SEO tips' on LinkedIn, which has now been wrapped up into the Core Updates newsletter, along with an overview of weekly news and the current episode of the Search with Candour episode, hosted by Jack Chambers-Ward.

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๐Ÿ“ฐCore Updates: Google launches Preferred Sources and Flight Deals [18 August]

SEO tips and updates from Mark Williams-CookSearch with Candour hosted by Jack Chambers-Ward SEO updates you need to know ๐Ÿ“ฐ Google launches a new Preferred Sources feature. This feature lets users choose which publishers appear the top of search results. Google also recommends adding 'Add as a preferred source' button to your site. โœˆ๏ธ Google launches Flight Deals, a new AI-powered featured in Google Flights. This new tool uses a conversational chat interface to save travellers money on their...

SEO tips and updates from Mark Williams-CookSearch with Candour hosted by Jack Chambers-Ward SEO updates you need to know ๐Ÿ’ธ Google confirms ads coming to AI Mode. A leaked document explains that ads will be based on the wider context of the conversation, not just the current query. So far, ad formats eligible for AI Mode include Text & Shopping ads. ๐Ÿ’น Google tests a new AI-powered version of Google Finance. This new page provides visualisations and an AI chatbot to access real-time data and...

SEO tips and updates from Mark Williams-CookSearch with Candour hosted by Jack Chambers-Ward SEO updates you need to know ๐Ÿ” Google AI Mode launches in the UK. After launching in the US and India, AI Mode launched in the UK on 28 July 2025. Users have reported a slow rollout but at the time of writing, it appears to be widely rolled out to most users. ๐Ÿ›๏ธ Google recommends that your ecommerce site be compatible with AI agents. With the potential of an agentic web just around the corner, John...

SEO tips and updates from Mark Williams-CookSearch with Candour hosted by Jack Chambers-Ward SEO updates you need to know ๐Ÿ“ˆ Google launches the Google Trends API. This API is available for early testers and allows users to compare & merge different trends with consistently scaled 'search interest' data, rather than individual scales on the Trends website. ๐Ÿ“Š Google launches an MCP for Google Analytics 4. A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server enables users to "chat with their data" by directly...

SEO tips and updates from Mark Williams-CookSearch with Candour hosted by Jack Chambers-Ward SEO updates you need to know โœ… The June 2025 Core Update completed its rollout on 17 July 2025. This appears to have been a relatively quiet core update compared to some of the more volatile recent changes. ๐Ÿ•ต๏ธ OpenAI launches ChatGPT agent. This is one of the first major demonstrations of the "agentic web" future that many experts are predicting. ChatGPT was able to browse, compare and order a roast...

SEO tips and updates from Mark Williams-CookSearch with Candour hosted by Jack Chambers-Ward SEO updates you need to know ๐Ÿ“ธ Content on professional Instagram accounts is now indexable by Google by default. This reinforces the importance of being consistent across both social media and organic search. ๐ŸŒ Both OpenAI and Perplexity announce their own web browsers. This is hugely important, as it is likely that user data mined from browsers will play a vital role in the future of managing the...

SEO tips and updates from Mark Williams-CookSearch with Candour hosted by Jack Chambers-Ward SEO updates you need to know ๐Ÿšจ Google begins rolling out the June 2025 core update. Many were predicting that we were overdue for a core update so lo and behold, a new core update began on 30 June 2025. Rollout may take up to 3 weeks to complete. ๐Ÿงฑ Cloudflare now blocks all AI crawlers for new websites by default. This impactful update includes verification requirements for crawlers, one-click crawler...

SEO tips and updates from Mark Williams-CookSearch with Candour hosted by Jack Chambers-Ward SEO updates you need to know ๐Ÿ“ฐ Google tests new types of customised search including 'Preferred sources'. Similar to the Discover feed, personalised search can show you more Top Stories from sites you regularly visit. ๐Ÿงฑ Google launches Offerwall, a new monetisation option for publishers. Available via Google Ad Manager, Offerwall allows publishers to monetise engaged users and give readers the option...

SEO tips and updates from Mark Williams-CookSearch with Candour hosted by Jack Chambers-Ward This week's Core Updates is dedicated to Jill Whalen. Thank you for championing good content and carving a path for women in this industry. You will be missed. Read dedications to Jill from around the SEO industry, collected by Barry Schwartz, here. SEO updates you need to know ๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธ Google launches Search Live. Search Live allows users to ask questions in AI Mode, via the Google app, using voice input....

SEO tips and updates from Mark Williams-CookSearch with Candour hosted by Jack Chambers-Ward SEO updates you need to know ๐Ÿค– AI Mode has started rolling out to all US users. It's been almost 4 weeks since Google's announcement at Google IO and many SEOs are reporting AI Mode appearing in the SERPs and Google Search Console data. ๐Ÿ“ˆ 97% of URLs linked in AI Mode appear in the top 10 organic results. While there isn't a direct correlation, this data is very similar to AI Overviews, suggesting...