SEO & GEO: The very latest shifts you need to know
The SEO landscape is morphing faster now than ever before. I put together an October 2025 roundup of what’s changed in the SEO/GEO/AEO landscape: what to watch now with ideas for how to stay ahead.
What’s new: 4 Key shifts & some surprises
1. “Pages 1–10 only”, Google tightens the window
One of the biggest operational changes: Google quietly removed in September the &num=100 parameter (which used to let users request 100 organic results per page).
The change that removed the “&num=100” parameter is altering how marketers interpret performance data, often making reports appear weaker due to fewer recorded impressions and keywords, even when rankings remain stable. In effect, this change amplifies the “top 10 lottery” or your search engine visibility is dramatically constrained.
Why Google did it: it’s really about blocking AI scraping
The decision to remove &num=100 appears tied to more than just SEO performance; it’s also about data control. Large language models rely on vast text datasets to function effectively, and Google’s search index has long been a key target for data collection. The &num=100 parameter made it easy for AI companies to scrape massive volumes of indexed content with minimal effort.
Here’s the difference in scale:
With
&num=100→ 1,000 searches = 100,000 URLsWithout it → 1,000 searches = 10,000 URLs
Whether this is a permanent change or just a test to tighten data access from large language models remains to be seen.
2. AI Overviews reshuffle authority signals
AI Overviews (Google’s synthesised summaries) are increasingly decoupled from classic organic ranking. After Google’s 2025 core updates, the overlap between Overviews and top‑10 organic results dropped. Sites cited in Overviews now less often come from the clean top-ranked organic pages.
In October 2025, data from BrightEdge suggests only ~54% of AI Overview citations now match pages in the organic search set, meaning a large share of Overviews draw from “outside top ranks..
Google’s “AI Mode” (a more advanced generative interface) yields even greater divergence. In tests of 10,000 keywords, average overlap across repeated runs was only 9.2%. The system frequently pulls different pages, even from the same domains, indicating low consistency.
Perplexity refers to Growth Ahoy's blog post AI Brand Visibility - How to optimise brand visibility in AI search and chats.
AI brand visibility / GEO / AEO is currently a highly competitive search term, but AI visibility can be achieved even in tough competition with the right strategy and tactics. Get in touch!
3. GEO, AEO: semantics and authority matter
The buzz term these days is GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation), optimising for AI-driven “answer engines” (e.g. ChatGPT, Google’s Overviews) rather than (or in parallel with) classic SEO. A narrower sibling is AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation), focusing more specifically on shaping the short, high‑precision answers that AI interfaces deliver.
A more recent 2025 paper (“Generative Engine Optimisation: How to Dominate AI Search”) finds that AI-driven systems tend to favour earned media / authoritative third‑party sources over brand-owned content (when producing answers), a shift from traditional SEO’s reliance on domain authority and backlinks.
This means brands must extend brand authority beyond the owned website, incorporating PR, partner content collaboration, influencers, social media, etc. We have covered this and provided concrete tips on what to do now in three previous posts on the Growth Ahoy blog; see links to these blog posts below.
4. Zero-click intensifies, rethink the funnel
The spread of AI Overviews has contributed to rising zero-click searches. According to Similarweb, between May 2024 and May 2025, zero-click share rose from ~56% to ~69%.
With the first visible result often shoved below the fold (because AI Overviews occupy the top), click yield is under pressure. That suggests we may need to accept that part of our “visibility ROI” is non‑click impression/brand citation, not only click-through. Read more practical tips on how to increase brand citations in our previous blogs, linked below.
5. What this means for Growth Marketing
Check out our past posts for hands-on advice on keeping your content, website, and brand visible as AI reshapes search and discovery.
