LIVE updates: This month in search marketing [June 2025]

2nd of June of 2025

Google search console omits half of search queries, study finds.

New research reveals Google Search Console (GSC) is failing to report up to 50% of search queries driving website traffic. This significant data gap leaves digital marketing professionals with incomplete insights into user behaviour and organic search performance.

The issue, highlighted by ZipTie co-founder Tomasz Rudzki’s study, stems from GSC’s inability to consistently track conversational searches. These natural language queries, common with voice assistants and artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, are overlooked despite generating real traffic, as confirmed by widespread testing.

The research suggests GSC applies a minimum search volume threshold, causing low-volume, impactful conversational queries and historical data to be missed. Curiously, Google itself understands these queries, providing AI Overviews for many, yet GSC fails to report them.

This data gap means strategic decisions are based on partial information, leading to unreliable performance analysis and missed trends. Until Google improves reporting, successful organic search strategies will need diverse data sources to account for this ‘invisible’ traffic. The full research is available in ZipTie’s original report.

Bluehost launches new AI-assisted WordPress eCommerce hosting.

Bluehost has introduced two new managed WordPress ecommerce hosting solutions, providing entrepreneurs and content creators with high-performance tools to establish and run online stores. These competitively priced plans aim to simplify the process of getting online with WordPress and accepting orders.

Both new plans include several key features:

– AI site migration tools to assist users in switching hosting providers.
– Free content delivery networks to speed up web page downloads.
– AI-assisted site creation tools.
– NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) solid state storage for faster speeds compared to traditional hosting storage.

These solutions allow users to sell products using WooCommerce and offer paid online courses within a managed WordPress hosting environment, specifically optimised for WordPress websites.

According to Bluehost, the eCommerce Essentials plan provides an intuitive, all-in-one toolkit. This includes AI-powered site building, seamless payment integrations, features for paid courses and memberships, social logins, email templates, and search engine optimisation (SEO) tools, all designed to help users engage audiences and monetise their content.

The two available plans are eCommerce Essentials and eCommerce Premium. The Premium version offers additional built-in ecommerce functionalities. Both plans are positioned as affordable given the range of features provided.

Satish Hemachandran, Chief Product Officer at Bluehost, commented that the new hosting plans offer a streamlined platform for creators to develop personalised commerce experiences. He stated that Bluehost’s purpose is to simplify the process of launching a store, engaging an audience, and monetising content, aiming to empower creators with the resources needed for long-term growth and success in the digital economy.

4th of June of 2025

LinkedIn introduces new video Ad tools for B2B marketers.

LinkedIn is rolling out a suite of new video advertising tools designed to help B2B marketers capture attention, reach key decision-makers, and strengthen brand impact across various screens.

Among the new offerings are First Impression Ads, a full-screen vertical video format that allows advertisers to reserve the initial ad impression a user sees each day. This feature aims to maximise impact during product launches or major announcements. Additionally, Reserved Ads now guarantee top feed placement for other Sponsored Content types, including Thought Leader Ads, Single Image Ads, and Document Ads.

LinkedIn’s Connected TV (CTV) Ads are also now widely available in the U.S. and Canada, with further upgrades. Paramount has joined CTV Select, granting advertisers access to premium streaming content with fixed pricing. An Innovid integration brings VAST tag support, promising faster activation and smoother asset management. New insights and expanded reach are also available, helping advertisers connect with professional audiences off-platform.

Further updates include a new Adobe Express integration that streamlines video creation. This allows users to design high-quality video ads using LinkedIn-optimised templates within Adobe Express and export them directly into LinkedIn Ads.

While some B2B leadership may favour traditional tactics, LinkedIn’s recent research indicates a growing preference for creative, video-first campaigns. The platform’s data shows that 91% of marketers identify breaking through digital noise as their primary campaign concern.

Ultimately, with audience attention at a premium, LinkedIn is providing marketers with tools to make a stronger first impression and drive performance where B2B audiences are actively watching.

Google updates algorithms and guidelines for explicit content in search.

Google has released significant updates to its ranking algorithms and search help documentation concerning explicit content and videos. These revisions introduce new best practices for site owners and address how Google handles such material within Search results.

The updated guidelines clarify how SafeSearch functions and Google’s approach to sites featuring sexually explicit content. Crucially, Google has also updated its ranking algorithms to target websites that host explicit videos but restrict Googlebot from fetching these files. Such sites may now experience “a significant drop in ranking,” particularly in Video mode.

Google stated it revamped this documentation to align guidance with its Search policies and algorithmic protections. Key updates include best practices for content moderation, specifically addressing the elimination of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and non-consensual content. Documentation for sharing video bytes has been expanded, and more guidance has been added for sites incorrectly flagged as explicit.

These changes aim to assist site owners in reaching their target audience while respecting user preferences regarding explicit content and minimising access to violative material. The troubleshooting section has also been separated for improved clarity.

The new guidelines cover how Google handles explicit content in Search, how SafeSearch works, and how Google manages sites with significant removals of violative sexually explicit content. Recommended best practices include preventing user-generated harmful content, allowing Google to fetch video content files, permitting Googlebot to crawl without an age gate, grouping explicit pages in a separate domain or subdomain, and marking specific pages as explicit with metadata.

Google noted that if video content files are not fetchable, the company cannot run automated protections against severe violations like CSAM. Content that cannot be fetched may pose a risk to users, potentially leading to demotion or filtering of such pages where embedded video content is unavailable and automated systems determine the page may contain explicit content. Blocking Googlebot from video files could significantly impact the ranking of explicit pages on Google Search, especially in Video mode.

Website owners hosting explicit content, particularly video, are advised to review these updated guidelines carefully. Ensuring Googlebot can access video files is crucial to avoid potential ranking penalties.

5th of June of 2025.

Google AI mode presents data visualisation for financial searches.

Google’s experimental AI Mode is now rolling out interactive charts and graphs for financial queries within its Labs programme. This new feature allows users to receive custom visualisations alongside detailed explanations for complex financial questions.

Google previewed this capability at its annual I/O developer conference. The system is designed to build these responses specifically for each user’s question. Soufi Esmaeilzadeh, Director of Product Management for Search at Google, explained that users can ask questions such as “compare the stock performance of blue chip CPG companies in 2024” and receive automated research accompanied by visual charts. The system performs this research automatically, looking up company and stock price data without requiring manual searches. Users can also ask follow-up questions, which AI Mode is able to understand.

Technically, this feature is powered by Gemini’s advanced reasoning and multimodal capabilities. The system analyses user requests, pulls both current and historical financial data, and determines the most effective way to present the information visually.

For financial websites, this new data visualisation may affect traffic typically driven by comparison content, as Google is now providing direct visual answers. However, it also presents opportunities for publishers who offer deeper analysis or expert commentary to add value beyond basic data presentation.

The data visualisation feature remains experimental and is currently only accessible through AI Mode in Google Labs. Google has not yet announced plans for a wider rollout or expansion to other data types beyond financial information.

This trend towards comprehensive, visual responses aligns with Google’s strategy of becoming a primary source for information rather than solely a gateway to other websites. While still experimental and limited to financial data, the technology provides an insight into the potential evolution of AI-powered search.

Google revises event and recipe structured data guidelines.

Google has issued revisions to its search help documentation for both event and recipe structured data. These relatively minor changes aim to clarify implementation practices for web developers and content creators.

For event structured data, Google has removed all online event properties from its documentation, indicating they are no longer supported. Google clarified that for events to be eligible for display in Google’s event experience, they must be publicly bookable and take place at a physical location. The revised documentation also includes additional examples of both eligible and ineligible events.

Regarding recipe structured data, Google has now explicitly stated that the image property within Recipe markup does not influence the image selected for a text result. To optimise for text result images, Google advises following general image search engine optimisation (SEO) best practices.

Website owners currently implementing event or recipe structured data should review these changes to ensure their existing markup remains effective and compliant. For instance, any existing event structured data used for online event properties should now be removed.

WordPress performance team unveils new plugin for faster perceived page loads.

The WordPress Performance Team has launched an experimental plugin designed to boost the perceived loading speed of web pages. This new tool offers the fluid experience of Single Page Applications (SPAs) without the typical performance and accessibility drawbacks. The announcement came from Felix Arntz, a WordPress Performance Team member and Google software engineer.

Plugins released by the WordPress Performance Team allow users to test and explore new performance enhancements before they are considered for integration into the WordPress core. This provides an opportunity for early access to advanced improvements.

The new View Transitions plugin introduces smooth, native browser-powered animations for WordPress page loads, mimicking the feel of SPAs without needing a complete site rebuild or custom JavaScript. Once activated, the plugin replaces the standard hard reload between pages with a fluid animated transition, such as a fade or slide, based on user configuration. This not only improves the visual flow of site navigation but also increases the perceived loading speed for visitors.

The plugin works seamlessly with most themes, and users can customise its behaviour through the admin interface under Settings > Reading. Animations can be set using selectors and presets, supporting elements like headers, post titles, and featured images to persist or animate across views.

While customisation options are somewhat limited via the user interface, it provides easy exploration. The recommended method for deeper customisation is through add_theme_support within a WordPress theme. The plugin offers default animations and an Application Programming Interface (API) to register additional animations.

Google Ads API v20 rollout delivers new features.

Google has launched Version 20 of its Google Ads Application Programming Interface (API), introducing several significant features and alterations for advertisers and developers. To utilise some of these new functionalities, users will need to upgrade their client libraries and associated code.

Among the key additions in v20, users can now add campaign-level negative keywords to their Performance Max campaigns. Demand Gen campaign reporting segmentation is also more granular by ad_network_type, differentiating between YouTube, Maps, Discover, and Gmail, rather than aggregating data under the GOOGLE_OWNED_NETWORKS segment. Demand Gen campaigns now support the platform comparable conversions measurement within the API.

Further capabilities include deeper insights into YouTube Select Lineups, now accessible via a new dimension in the AudienceInsightsService, though this feature is currently limited to allowed accounts. More effective reach forecasting is available through the ability to plan based on first-party user lists, also for allowed accounts only. Audience data analysis is improved with new device segmentation, additional video metrics, and the option to refine searches by sub-country locations. This feature is also restricted to allowed accounts.

These changes are particularly relevant for those who manage Google Ads campaigns via third-party software or develop their own tools using the Google Ads API. The new additions may simplify task automation and enable the creation of more effective reporting. Google has confirmed that updated client libraries and code examples will be published shortly.

6th of June of 2025.

Google clarifies recipe structured data & image ranking.

Google has issued updated guidance for its Recipe Schema.org structured data documentation. The revisions offer clearer information on how the image structured data property influences rich results and how images are selected for organic text search results.

While structured data helps a website’s content qualify for Google’s rich results, it generally does not directly improve ranking within standard text results. This concept underpins Google’s specific addition to the Recipe structured data guidelines, which now state: “Specifying the image property in Recipe markup has no impact on the image chosen for a text result image. To optimise for a text result image, follow the image SEO best practices.”

This means that recipe structured data affects images displayed in Recipe Rich Results, but it does not influence image rankings within the regular organic search results.

For ranking images in text results, Google’s existing image best practices recommend using standard HTML elements, such as and . Google also suggests using an image sitemap. A particular point of attention is to avoid blurry images. Using sharp images is advised to maximise their chance of appearing in search results. Google’s image optimisation guidance states: “High-quality photos appeal to users more than blurry, unclear images. Also, sharp images are more appealing to users in the result thumbnail and can increase the likelihood of getting traffic from users”