Learn how to create robust content briefs that help writers craft content that ranks high in traditional SERPS and gets cited by AI-driven search platforms.
Google cleans up Search Console data, AI Mode gets more actionable and agentic, and ChatGPT tests instant checkout. See what’s shaping search in October 2025.
The pace of change in search hasn’t slowed. Each month brings new shifts in how people discover, evaluate, and interact with brands online. October’s updates highlight a cleaner picture of performance data, deeper AI integration into daily search behavior, and the first real signs of AI tools taking transactional action.
September showed how fractured search has become. Antitrust rulings are likely to loosen Google’s dominance, ChatGPT surged in traffic and conversions, and Google’s AI Overviews started spotlighting individual business reviews. Meanwhile, users grew more skeptical of AI summaries, and platforms disagreed on which brands to recommend, making visibility across multiple AI tools more critical than ever.
From cleaned-up metrics to AI-powered transactions, October brought shifts that redefine how marketers measure and capture visibility.
Many marketers saw sudden declines in Google Search Console (GSC) impressions this month. The culprit: Google’s September update, which removed the legacy &num=100 parameter. That change eliminated inflated impressions from bots and low-value “rare-result” page views.
As a result, 78% of sites lost unique ranking terms and 88% reported lower impressions, even though underlying visibility didn’t actually change.
What this means for marketers: Treat the drop as a sign of data cleanup, not lost ground. Real traffic and conversions should guide your reporting over inflated impression counts.
Google’s AI Overviews are increasingly echoing traditional organic listings. In October, 54% of AI-generated responses included pages already ranking organically. That overlap reinforces that the fundamentals of SEO still matter in an AI-driven world.
What this means for marketers: Don’t separate AI optimization from SEO. Instead, treat it as an extension. Strengthening your content’s authority and relevance helps you win visibility in both traditional and AI searches.
AI Mode is expanding globally and getting more powerful. The update allows it to take actions like booking appointments or locating nearby services, blending the convenience of a voice assistant with the context of search results.
What this means for marketers: For local and service-based businesses, “findable” now means “bookable.” Keep your business data, hours, and structured markup current so AI can complete tasks on your behalf.
OpenAI also made headlines this month by revealing plans for “instant checkout” within ChatGPT, powered by GPT-5 — and announcing an upcoming partnership with Walmart. It’s early, but the move signals a major shift toward closed-loop shopping where discovery, recommendation, and purchase all happen in one AI interface.
What this means for marketers: Get ready for commerce that skips the middleman. As buying journeys condense inside AI tools, brands need to prepare product data and messaging that support instant, trust-driven decisions.
We might be nearing Halloween, but don’t let recent GSC graphs spook you. Those drops are cleanup, not collapse. The bigger story is how AI continues to evolve from a search companion into a decision-maker. With cleaner data and smarter assistants, marketers now have both a clearer view of performance and a glimpse of the future of discovery.
For marketers, that means:
Clean data, smarter AI, and faster buying journeys are rewriting what visibility means. How are you adapting your strategy for a world where AI doesn’t just recommend but acts? Share your perspective. We’d love to hear how your brand is evolving.
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