Hi, everybody. Sorry for skipping last week. Fun fact: covid’s still going around. Be careful out there.
Google’s June 2025 core update is complete as of 4:30 AM eastern time, yesterday morning. It’s never easy to summarize something that affects the entire internet, and there are definitely always outliers, but an early consensus is that this core update mitigated the effects of the September 2023 Helpful Content Update. Many websites that saw their rankings and traffic decline after that update are seemingly experiencing partial recoveries. You can watch this seven minute video if you’d like to take a deeper dive into this core update’s impact..
Like we mentioned in the last newsletter, these core updates are primarily aimed at organic search. Local rankings can certainly be collateral damage, but they’re not the focus. Still, if any of your clients experienced ranking volatility over the past two weeks, you can now expect relative calm.
As of two days ago, business owners should be on the lookout for calls from AI agents. Google is integrating this feature into its standard Search offerings. We’ll directly quote the blog post that announced this new capability to explain how it works: search for something like “pet groomers near me” and you’ll see a new option in the results to “Have AI check pricing.” From there, you can submit your request and Search will do the rest, consolidating information about appointments and services from different businesses to present you with a range of options – saving you time and creating new opportunities for businesses to easily book customers.
In 2018, a feature called Google Assistant was launched to call businesses that scheduled appointments but did not have online booking set up. It worked stunningly well. You can watch a seven year old video of Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO, demonstrating it by clicking this link. The AI voice is indistinguishable from a human. It inserts “uh” and “um” into its speech and uses a natural cadence.
It is safe to assume that the newest version of AI calling is significantly improved from its predecessor. There are three objectives that it can currently satisfy: it can book appointments, check restaurant wait times, and gather pricing information. There is a GBP help document called About automated calls from Google on behalf of customers. You should read it if you’re interested in additional details.
Let’s get to this week’s closing links. You won’t get much SEO knowledge from our first one, but it’s a great example of an ambitious, big marketing swing. The Taliban funded and approved an advertisement that targets American tourists. Please let us know if any of you plan trips to Afghanistan after watching it.
Next, and perhaps more practically, we’ve got 6 Best Social Media Inbox Tools in 2025 (an Honest Comparison) from Later. They ranked their own tool as the best one. We’ll leave you to judge the accuracy of the blog post title. Our third link is an analysis from Buffer that provides data about the top-performing post formats on various social media platforms. Its findings may help you decide between posting a video, pictures, or text and it provides insight into how you can get the most engagement. Instagram carousels have a 12% edge over Reels, and both of those post types perform better than single images, for example. It’s got a platform-by-platform breakdown. Finally, from Adweek, Suspected AI Content Halves Reader Trust and Hurts Ad Performance.
That’s all for this week. Take care!