Search Engine Recap - May (2025)

In this recap, we focus on significant updates from Google's I/O 2025 event, AI Overviews, and other key search developments. Here is an overview.

Google I/O 2025 Event Brings AI Overviews to 200+ Countries

At Google I/O 2025, the company unveiled impressive advancements in AI integration, with a focus on expanding Gemini AI and introducing new search features. As expected, AI Overviews are now live in over 200 countries, including Scandinavia.

AI Overviews have garnered concerns about reduced clicks, but Google reports improved click quality, with users engaging more meaningfully with content. Sergey Brin, Google’s co-founder, highlighted the AI's ability to synthesize information from up to 1,000 search results, enhancing the comprehensiveness of answers.

Google also introduced AI Mode, which breaks down complex queries into multiple sub-questions and consolidates data from various sources for more complete answers. This feature is designed to simplify search and deliver more relevant results, currently rolling out in the USA.

Google Publishes Guidelines for AI Overviews

Google has officially published guidelines for optimizing for AI Overviews and AI Mode. The key takeaway? If you’ve been following Google’s long-standing guidelines for E-E-A-T, you’re likely already set.

Focus on quality content that answers common questions in a clear and relevant manner.

Structured data helps Google understand your content and enhances visibility in AI-generated responses.

Strengthen brand recognition to encourage users to seek out trusted sources.

Google has also clarified that all links in an AI Overview report as a single position in Search Console, regardless of their position within the overview block. This uniform reporting can make it trickier to evaluate the performance of individual links.

Google Updates Best Practices for Images

Google has updated its best practices for images, emphasizing the importance of using consistent image URLs across your site.

This change is aimed at optimizing crawl budget, allowing Google to cache and reuse images more effectively, thus reducing unnecessary requests and improving indexing speed. For large sites, this can result in more pages being crawled and indexed within the allocated crawl budget, improving overall site performance.

Reddit Q1 Report: Growth & AI Overviews Threat

Reddit reported strong growth in its Q1 2025 earnings, with a 61% rise in revenue and 108.1 million daily active users—a 31% YoY increase. The international user base is growing faster than in the U.S., indicating Reddit's rising global appeal.

However, Google’s AI Overviews are seen as a threat by some experts, as they could potentially reduce traffic by providing answers directly in search results. Still, Reddit's strong engagement offers long-term advantages for SEO, especially given its high domain authority and authentic discussions.

IndexNow Gains Traction

IndexNow is becoming an increasingly valuable tool, especially in the AI-driven search and shopping space. It allows websites to immediately notify participating search engines of content updates, speeding up indexing and reducing reliance on traditional crawling.

With more search engines relying on real-time data for AI Overviews, IndexNow is highly relevant. Combined with structured data, it enhances the accuracy of content display, ensuring freshness and visibility.

Takeaways and Recommendations

The major highlight in May 2025 was Google I/O, where AI took center stage.

AI Overviews are now live in over 200 countries, including Denmark, and AI Mode has launched in the USA. This shows the clear direction search is headed.

The initial results from AI Overviews show a mix of more impressions but fewer clicks—though those clicks are of better quality.

Google's AI reporting clarifications provide insight into how to handle optimization for these new features.

It’s clear that AI-driven search is not just a trend but the future of search. Businesses need to optimize for these AI-driven results while continuing to adhere to foundational SEO principles.

If you're unsure how these updates impact your business or how to adjust your SEO strategy for AI-driven changes, reach out to Bonzer. As a specialized SEO agency, we help businesses stay at the top of search results and ensure they’re positioned for success in the evolving search landscape.