Search Engine Recap - September 2025

This month, we’re diving into the conclusion of Google’s latest spam update, changes in SERP tracking access, and new AI commerce features from ChatGPT. Here is an overview.

Google’s August Spam Update is Complete

Google has finished rolling out its August 2025 Spam Update, aimed at removing low-quality and manipulative content from search globally. The update targeted domains that violated spam policies and raised the overall quality of results - though wide-scale re-ranking across the index was minimal.

That said, sites using spammy SEO tactics saw noticeable ranking drops.

The takeaway? Google continues to double down on trustworthy content.

Brands should review both on-site content and link-building tactics to ensure full compliance with Google’s guidelines. Use Search Console to track developments and spot potential red flags. As always - the user comes first.

Google Limits SERP Data for Third-Party Tools

In September, Google introduced new restrictions on how much search result data third-party tools can access. Previously, rank trackers could scrape up to the top 100 results using the num=100 parameter - this has now been limited to around top 20.

It’s a likely response to excessive automated scraping, which may have inflated impressions in Search Console.

This change challenges traditional rank-tracking tools and signals a broader move toward data protection and tighter platform control.

Companies are encouraged to lean more heavily on Google Search Console to supplement ranking insights. With visibility beyond the top 20 obscured, the emphasis shifts toward content quality and user intent.

Meanwhile, Google is also hiring an Anti-Scraping Engineering Analyst to build even more safeguards against abusive scraping, reinforcing its focus on data integrity for users and publishers alike.

New Study: INP Scores Across CMS Platforms

A new benchmark study on Interaction to Next Paint (INP) highlights how different CMS platforms perform:

Squarespace leads the way among traditional CMSs, with 96.07% of domains achieving “good” INP scores.
Duda follows closely at 93.81%
WordPress and Wix land in the 86–88% range
Among e-commerce platforms, Shopify performs strongly with 89.58%

INP measures the delay between user interaction and the next visual response - affecting both UX and SEO. Faster, smoother interactions mean better rankings and higher engagement.

If you're on a CMS with lower INP scores, it may be time to optimize performance by reducing layout shifts, improving JavaScript execution, and tightening server responses.

Google to Retire CrUX Dashboard in November

Google is phasing out the Core Web Vitals CrUX Dashboard in Looker Studio by November 2025 due to reliability and scalability issues.

Its replacement? CrUX Vis - a faster, more scalable performance visualization tool.

BigQuery datasets will remain available, but users should migrate reporting setups in advance to avoid losing visibility into metrics like LCP, FID, and CLS.

Core Web Vitals are still essential to both SEO and UX, and switching tools ensures your reporting stays accurate and actionable.

Google Discover is getting more social.

The feed now includes posts from Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube Shorts, alongside traditional news articles. Users can also follow brands and creators directly from Discover.

This move blurs the line between social and search, creating a more unified content experience and offering increased visibility across content formats.

To show up here, focus on mobile-first content, engaging visuals, and clear messaging. User interaction metrics will play a growing role in shaping discoverability across both traditional and social streams.

AI Overviews Are Raising the Bar for Content

As AI Overviews continue to gain traction in Google Search, they’re changing how users interact with content - particularly in informational queries, where unique content has a better change to win.

AI-generated summaries often satisfy the query without needing a click, meaning traditional evergreen articles may lose traffic if they don’t offer more value than the AI snippet itself.

To stay competitive:

Enrich evergreen content with fresh, contextually relevant updates
Combine trend-driven insight with timeless value
Prioritize clarity, accuracy, and actionable takeaways
Watch AI trends closely to inform your content strategy

U.S. Ruling Orders Google to End Exclusive Defaults

A U.S. judge has ruled that Google must end its exclusive default search engine agreements - like those with Apple and Samsung. However, the company is not being broken up.

The decision challenges Google's dominance by banning exclusive deals, although non-exclusive partnerships remain permitted. It could reshape how search placement contracts are negotiated across platforms.

Google plans to appeal, citing user privacy and product stability concerns.

This ruling underscores growing regulatory pressure on tech monopolies and could create new openings for competing search engines.

Google Search Live: Visual Search in Real-Time

Google is rolling out Search Live in the Google App and Lens, enabling real-time, camera-based voice searches that instantly return results based on visual context.

Users can point their camera at an object and receive answers and relevant links without leaving the app.

For businesses, this means new pathways for product discovery and click-throughs—if your visual content is properly optimized.

Prioritize:

Accurate alt text
Well-labeled product imagery
Structured metadata
Fast-loading pages with rich visual context

Search Live opens up new AI-driven marketing opportunities, especially in retail and product-based industries.

OpenAI Launches "Instant Checkout" in ChatGPT

To close out the month, OpenAI has unveiled "Instant Checkout" in ChatGPT, allowing users to buy products directly inside the chat interface.

Powered by the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), the feature supports purchases without ever leaving ChatGPT. It’s invite-only and U.S.-exclusive for now, but signals a major step toward AI-driven shopping.

Currently, it requires:

Properly structured product data
ACP integration
Stripe’s Shared Payment Token API
Shopify support (for now)

To participate, businesses must prep their tech stacks for AI-agent compatibility, with clean structured data and API readiness.

This presents new visibility and revenue opportunities on AI-first platforms - especially for e-commerce.

Takeaways & Recommendations

September delivered updates across the full search ecosystem - from SERP access restrictions to AI-powered commerce.

Here’s what matters most:

Google’s spam update is complete—reminding everyone to stay compliant, especially on content and link-building.
Unique, fresh content is more critical than ever to rank in AI Overviews and LLM interfaces like ChatGPT.
Google’s data restrictions mean we’ll need to adjust rank tracking strategies—more direct data from Search Console will be essential.
And OpenAI’s Instant Checkout adds a new layer to AI e-commerce that forward-thinking businesses should be prepping for now.

Want help understanding what this means for your business?

Get in touch with Bonzer. As a specialized SEO agency, we help ambitious brands dominate both traditional and AI-powered search platforms - every single day.