Google features heavily in SEO news again this month. It held two major events (Google I/O and Google Marketing Live), released a Core Update and made several announcements of new AI features. It is worth noting though that Google is driven to add new AI features to Google search in reaction to what it sees as competition from ChatGPT, Claude and other AI tools. |
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You’ve got a dozen SEO audit tools glaring at you from open tabs. Every one promises to be the ultimate fix, each flaunting 100+ features you’ll probably never touch. Meanwhile, your inbox is a battlefield: one expert swears by Screaming Frog, another waves the Semrush flag, and someone else insists you’re doomed without Ahrefs. |
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We may be sounding like a broken record by now, but recent indicators (like the State of Search Q1 2026 report or Google’s record Q1 revenues) show that Google is still, by far, the most relevant source of visibility and traffic for your website. The State of Search report by Datos and SparkToro shows Google has a 93% market share in the US and 95.5% market share in the EU & UK. Commenting on the results, Sparktoro’s Rand Fiskin said, “Once again, we’re seeing all-time highs in Google usage despite the naysayers in your LinkedIn and Twitter feeds”. He goes on to underline the fact that although AI usage is continuing to grow, it is less than 2% of search traffic. AI Mode is used for under 0.2% of Google searches (although it should be noted that AI Overviews are shown for 25% of queries in Google according to this report by Conductor also released in April). |
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The Page Indexing report in Google Search Console details URLs from your website whether they are indexed or not. “Page with redirect” is a common reason for pages not being indexed, but these are not necessarily problems. Redirects are used to forward users when URLs change. However, the report is worth investigating, especially if you see an increase in pages with redirect. |
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