Podcast Summary: SEO 101 Ep 509 – Google’s Latest Spam Update, Crawl Issues, and AI Overview Survey Insights

Date: August 25, 2025
Host: Scott Van Achte (Senior SEO at Stepforth Web Marketing)
Podcast: SEO 101 (WMR.FM)
Special Note: Ross Dunn is away this episode; Scott is solo hosting.

Episode Overview

This episode covers the latest developments in Google Search, with a primary focus on the August 2025 Google Spam Update, recent crawl issues affecting some websites, and a deep dive into new data comparing traffic from search engines and LLMs (Large Language Models). Scott also recaps a comprehensive survey on the public’s relationship with Google’s AI Overviews, provides a practical Google Search Console tip on handling duplicate content, and shares security best practices for websites recovering from a hack. The episode maintains a friendly, approachable tone—ideal for SEO beginners and practitioners alike.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. August 2025 Google Spam Update

Announcement: Google launched its August 2025 spam update, set to roll out globally over several weeks.
Key Details:
- Update may take longer to complete than Google suggests (ends possibly late September).
- It's a general spam update; specifics about targeted spam types remain unclear.
- Previous spam update was in December 2024; sites hurt by that may recover if issues are fixed.
“If that update hurt you because you had spam or suspected spam on your site, hopefully this update is your time to redeem yourself ... if you fixed whatever you did wrong.”
— Scott (03:15)

2. Ahrefs Launches LLM vs. Search Engine Traffic Tracker

Tool Announcement: Ahrefs released an expanded tracker comparing referral traffic across Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and LLMs like ChatGPT and Perplexity.
Improvements:
- Coverage now includes ~9 months of data, back to December 2024.
- Allows comparisons by region and by industry (finance, health, gaming, etc.).
- Data comes from 44,000+ anonymized websites using Ahrefs analytics.
- Shows LLM traffic is growing, though still modest compared to search engines.
Resource: chatgpt-vs-google.com provides access to the tool.

“It’s a pretty good interpretation, a pretty good example of how these sites are seeing their traffic, where their traffic is coming from ... definitely check it out.”
— Scott (05:48)

3. Googlebot Crawl Rate Issues (August 2025)

Incident: Some sites experienced reduced or fluctuating crawling by Googlebot starting August 8.
Discovery: Glenn Gabe highlighted the issue as client crawl stats dropped; Bing’s crawling was unaffected.
Google’s Response: John Mueller acknowledged the internal technical issue—confirmed resolved by August 28; Googlebot crawl rates should return to normal.

“John Mueller did post … it was reduced fluctuating crawling from our side for some sites. Google has actually now resolved the issue …”
— Scott (07:52)
How to Check: Review your crawl stats in Search Console (Settings > Crawl rate data).

4. Google Search Console Tip: Eliminating 'Duplicate Without User-Selected Canonical' Issues

Problem: Duplicate content with no canonical tag can hurt indexing and implicitly penalize sites.
Summary of Solutions:
- Remove duplicate content where possible.
- Add and verify correct canonical tags, including self-referencing canonicals.
- Ensure all pages redirect from HTTP to HTTPS, and from non-preferred to preferred (www/non-www, trailing slashes).
- Handle session IDs and tracking parameters with canonicals to avoid duplication.
- Consistency is key—failure to set redirects can create multiple duplicate versions of your entire site.
“Make sure every page on your site has a canonical tag and make sure that you also have self-referencing canonical tags.”
— Scott (12:33)
Further Resource: Anna Crowe’s detailed article on Search Engine Land (link in show notes).

5. AI Overviews in Google: Survey Insights

Survey by NP Digital: 1,000 searchers polled on interaction with AI Overviews.

a. Click Behavior

4% never click after seeing an AI overview (“zero-click searches”).
13% always click, 31% often, 42% sometimes, 10% rarely.

“What that would mean, those 4% nevers would be the zero click searches ... That was very surprising to see that that number be so low.” — Scott (16:52)

b. Trust in AI Overviews vs Regular Results

11% trust AI overviews much more, 20% slightly more, 41% about the same, 28% trust less or much less.

“I probably put myself as, you know, less like I don't particularly trust AI overviews ... I see a lot that are super helpful and accurate, but ... fact check what you see from AI overviews.”
— Scott (18:21)

c. Would You Turn AI Overviews Off?

~55% said YES, ~45% said NO; inconsistency with satisfaction/trust scores raises questions.

d. Overall Satisfaction

66% somewhat or very satisfied, 8.5% dissatisfied, ~25% neutral.
Discussion: Results may be skewed—respondents likely more tech-savvy; perhaps not all truly understand what AI Overviews are.

“The numbers don’t seem to make sense to me ... Did they know? I’m sure they did, but I do question it a little bit.”
— Scott (20:45)

6. Recovery & Security Tips After a Website Hack (Mueller File)

Case Study: An SEO consultant’s site lost ~50% traffic after a massive hack injected 210,000 fake product pages.
Key Insight:
- Even after full cleanup, recovery can take weeks—and patience is crucial.
- John Mueller: “These kinds of attacks or hacks can take a bit of time to settle back down, which is one reason you should always be on top of things in terms of updates and security.”
Scott's Website Security Advice:
- Ensure your site is secure (HTTPS, reputable host).
- Use strong passwords/two-factor authentication (even if inconvenient!).
- Regular, old and frequent backups—ensure you have clean historical versions.
- Remove unused plugins/themes and keep everything updated.
- Consider security plugins (e.g. Wordfence for WordPress).
- Train staff on basic security hygiene and phishing detection.
- For business sites, always invest in quality hosting and security.
“The fewer the plugins, the more secure your site generally is ... keep all that stuff up to date.”
— Scott (28:34)

“Back up often. It could be a real nightmare in that case... That site of mine was just a little hobby site. It didn’t matter. I just deleted it.”
— Scott (27:31)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Podcasting Wisdom:

“Before you record a podcast … make sure your microphone is turned on because this is now my second time recording the podcast.”
— Scott (02:00)
Skepticism about survey data:

“Did they know? I’m sure they did, but I do question it a little bit.”
— Scott (20:45)
Password/2FA Struggles (Relatable!):

“I basically hate two-factor authentication. I find [it] incredibly annoying … but I will use it for everything because it does help a lot.”
— Scott (26:13)
Security Fundamentals:

“If your website is important ... pay a little extra and get something reputable and good.”
— Scott (26:40)

Timestamps for Important Segments

Google Spam Update Overview: 02:10–05:20
Ahrefs ChatGPT vs Google Tracker: 05:22–07:25
Googlebot Crawl Rate Issue: 07:27–09:34
Search Console: Duplicate Canonical Tips: 11:04–16:30
AI Overview Survey Insights: 16:30–22:00
Website Hack Recovery (Mueller File + Advice): 22:00–29:30

Additional Resources & Next Steps

Show Notes Sign-Up & Links:

Listener Interaction:

Post crawl issue or recovery experiences on the SEO 101 Facebook group.
Connect with co-host Ross Dunn via LinkedIn for questions and networking.

Closing Thoughts

Scott’s solo episode identified new trends in SEO—from core updates to LLM disruption—while emphasizing practical, actionable advice. Security, technical SEO hygiene, and critical thinking about AI are recurring themes. For listeners at any level, this episode delivers foundational SEO concepts and up-to-date industry commentary in an accessible, often witty tone.

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SEO 101 Ep 509 - Google’s Latest Spam Update, Crawl Issues, and AI Overview Survey Insights

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Summary