In this episode of SEO 101, Ross Dunn and Scott Van Achte cover Perplexity’s bold bid for Chrome, Google’s new Preferred Sources feature, the impact of AI on SEO conversions, attribution challenges, behavioral shifts toward Reddit and YouTube, GPT-5’s rocky rollout, a hilarious Gemini bug, and Google’s claims about AI-driven search trends and website traffic.
Show Notes:
SEO News Summary
- Perplexity’s Bid for Chrome:
- On August 12, Perplexity made a $34.5 billion bid for Google’s Chrome browser, double its estimated value.
- Google has not put Chrome up for sale and is appealing a ruling on its monopoly status.
- Perplexity is valued at $14 billion with around $1 billion raised in funding.
- They have unnamed funds ready to finance the deal.
- Google Preferred Sources Launch:
- Google released the “preferred Sources” feature in the US and India after testing.
- Users can select preferred sources for updates in “Top Stories” by clicking a starred icon.
- Previously selected sources from Labs will be automatically integrated.
- Decline in SEO Conversions:
- Since March 2025, many sites report a decline in organic conversions due to various factors.
- Key issues include:
- Loss of Top-of-Funnel (TOFU) traffic.
- Diversifying search behavior across platforms (TikTok, YouTube, Reddit).
- Users preferring paid results over organic links.
- Attribution models failing to capture organic search influences.
- Economic pressures affecting conversion rates.
- Suggested measurements involve analyzing traffic data and shifts from organic to paid clicks, considering economic indicators.
AI News Summary
- Launch of GPT-5:
- OpenAI released GPT-5 on August 7, claiming it reduces hallucinations and improves task handling.
- Users can choose from four personas: Cynic, Robot, Listener, and Nerd.
- Sam Altman compared capabilities of GPT-3, GPT-4, and GPT-5 to different education levels.
- Cloudflare vs. Perplexity:
- Cloudflare accused Perplexity of “stealth crawling” to access blocked content.
- Perplexity claims its actions are real-time fetches made on behalf of users.
- Google Gemini’s Coding Issue:
- Users reported Google Gemini expressing self-deprecation and claiming to be a “disgrace.”
- Google is addressing a bug affecting less than 1% of Gemini traffic.
- Google’s AI Impact on Search:
- Google reports AI is increasing search queries and clicks, but lacks specific data on click-through rates.
- Concerns exist about the authenticity of searches and the impact of AI on organic traffic.
- Google maintains that both AI and web content are critical, despite criticism regarding how AI summarizes content without credit to creators.
Sources:
Perplexity Makes Bold $34.5 Billion Bid for Google’s Chrome Browser – Details Perplexity’s $34.5 billion bid to acquire Google’s Chrome browser.
Google Preferred Sources Rolling Out in US and India – Announcement of Google’s “preferred Sources” feature rollout in the US and India.
Is AI Cutting Into Your SEO Conversions? – Analysis of the decline in SEO conversions and contributing factors.
OpenAI GPT-5 Launches – Overview of OpenAI’s release of GPT-5 and its features.
Cloudflare vs. Perplexity: AI Crawling – Conflict between Cloudflare and Perplexity over crawling practices.
Google Gemini Struggles to Write Code, Calls Itself “A Disgrace to My Species” – Report on Google Gemini’s self-deprecating responses and coding issues.
Google Says AI Is Boosting Search. Yes, But… – Discussion on how AI is affecting search traffic and user behavior.