What happened in SEO & AI search news this month?
Each month, Lumar’s in-house tech SEO experts hand-pick some of the SEO industry’s top news stories from across the web to keep you up-to-date on all things SEO and website optimization.
For our December 2025 SEO & AI search news roundup, the top headlines include:
- Google’s December Core Update is rolling out now
- AI Mode features are coming to Google Discover.
- New GSC tools provide insights into your brand’s social media profiles and more.
- Google News expands “preferred sources” globally and announces new partnerships with major news publishers to test AI news features.
- ChatGPT adds new shopping research features for smarter product discovery.
- 30% of young shoppers now use AI for product discovery, according to KPMG.
- And much more below!
Now, let’s dig further into the key SEO & GEO/AEO news you need to know this month…
But first, did you know you can now optimize for AI search and LLM brand mentions with Lumar?
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Google news SEO pros need to know this month:
Google launches the December 2025 core algorithm update
Google’s latest core algorithm update was announced on December 11th and is expected to take around three weeks to complete. As usual, there’s very little additional context, and Google has provided no clues about the update’s contents. Instead, they’ve directed users to their standard guidance document for core updates.
(Source: Google Search Status Updates)
Google’s indexing reports are experiencing a huge delay
At the time of writing, all reports in the Indexing part of Google Search Console have not been updated since November 21st; a total of more than three weeks. Visibility in search isn’t impacted and data should catch up once Google resolves the reporting backlog.
(Source: SEO Roundtable)
Google is bringing AI-powered configurations to GSC
Google has rolled out an experimental AI‑powered config feature in the GSC Performance report. The tool uses natural language prompts to automatically set filters, metrics and comparisons. The aim is to save time spent clicking through manual settings, letting users describe the analysis they want and have it automatically created.
The feature will be rolled out gradually and is currently only available to a small number of sites. However, it will potentially be the first in a long line of AI‑assisted features and tools within GSC.
(Source: Google: Search Central Blog)
GSC introduces social channel metrics
Google Search Console is rolling out an experimental Social Channels feature that allows site owners to see how their linked social profiles are performing in Search. Data includes impressions, clicks, and top queries, all of which are designed to give users a more unified view of their organic performances.
This new part of the tool is currently limited to a small number of properties as it’s being tested more broadly. For SEOs, it expands visibility beyond traditional web pages and provides a look at how social media contributes to brand exposure in search.
(Source: Google: Search Central Blog)
Weekly and monthly data views come to GSC
Google is rolling out weekly and monthly view options inside GSC. These new intervals make it easier to smooth out anomalies and analyse broader performance shifts in impressions, clicks, and average positions. The feature debuted at the Search Central Live event and is gradually becoming available to users.
(Source: Google’s Search Central Blog)
AI Mode features are coming to Google Discover
Google is rolling out new AI Mode functionality directly in Google Discover and the Google app. The features allow users to launch AI‑powered interactions when they open articles via Discover, including ‘Summarize with AI Mode,’ ‘Ask a follow-up,’ and ‘Dive deeper with AI Mode. ‘ This expansion pushes more Discover traffic into Google’s AI experience and underscores Google’s broader aim of blending AI tools with traditional search.
(Source: SEO Roundtable)
Google (very) briefly adds llms.txt to their Search Central docs
A few eager-eyed SEOs spotted a live llms.txt file on the Search Central subdomain. However, it seemed to disappear and the page resolved to a 404 very soon afterwards. Google has previously taken a negative view of llms.txt, calling it largely redundant. The discovery of the file on a Google subdomain got many users excited, but it does appear to have been a site-wide accident and not something that was intended to go live.
(Source: SEO Roundtable)
Google enhances AI Mode with more source links & transparency
Google announced an update to AI Mode in Search that will embed more in-line links to source content and AI-generated snippets explaining their relevance. This improves transparency in Google’s generative summaries and should help publishers understand how content influences AI search outputs.
Per Google’s The Keyword blog:
“Links in Search AI features: We’re increasing the number of inline links in AI Mode, and updating the design of those links to make them more useful. We’re also adding contextual introductions to embedded links in AI Mode responses. These are short statements that explain why a link might be helpful to visit.”
(Sources: The Verge ; Google’s The Keyword Blog )
Google News expands “preferred sources” and partners with major news publishers to test AI-powered article overviews
This month, Google also announced some key updates for its news offerings within Search.
Google is now rolling out “Preferred Sources” globally for English language users, a feature that allows searchers to customize their Top Stories feed to prioritize specific publishers. For SEOs and publishers, this is a critical new engagement metric to watch; Google reports that users are twice as likely to click through to a site if they have marked it as a “preferred source.”
Additionally, Google is bridging the gap between paywalls and AI by introducing a new feature that highlights and prioritizes links from a user’s active news subscriptions directly within the Gemini app, to start, with AI Overviews and AI Mode to follow.
On the publisher side, Google unveiled a new commercial partnership pilot with major global outlets—including The Guardian, The Washington Post, and Der Spiegel—to test AI-driven engagement tools. These experiments will introduce AI-generated article overviews and audio briefings directly on the publishers’ Google News pages. Simultaneously, Google announced real-time data licensing deals with the Associated Press and others to enhance the accuracy of Gemini’s results, further cementing the trend of LLMs relying on premium, licensed data for factual queries.
(Source: Google announcements on The Keyword Blog)
OpenAI / ChatGPT news SEO pros need to know this month:
OpenAI launches GPT-5.2 to elevate AI capabilities
OpenAI unveiled GPT-5.2, a major new model release designed to improve reasoning, long-form context handling, and tools such as spreadsheet generation and project management capabilities. The launch comes after an internal “code red” push to speed development in the face of stiff competition from Google’s AI offerings.
ChatGPT adds shopping research for smarter product discovery
OpenAI has launched a new Shopping Research feature in ChatGPT, designed to turn the chatbot into a more capable AI-powered product discovery assistant. Rolling out on both mobile and web for logged-in users across Free, Go, Plus, and Pro plans, this tool helps users make informed purchase decisions by generating personalized buyer’s guides tailored to their needs, preferences, and budgets.
Unlike traditional ChatGPT responses, Shopping Research engages users with clarifying questions, assesses up-to-date information such as prices, availability, reviews, and specifications from across the web, and assembles the findings into a structured guide that simplifies comparison and decision-making.
(Sources: OpenAI announcement ; Search Engine Journal)
Retail AI shift: 30% of young shoppers now use AI for product discovery
A new report from KPMG highlights a rapid shift in consumer search behavior, finding that 30% of shoppers aged 25–34 are now using AI tools to find products, compared to just 1% of those over 65. The data underscores the generational divide in search behavior and the growing urgency for retailers to adopt “AI agent” strategies.
The report notes that major retailers are already responding by optimizing their product data for LLMs and ensuring their reviews appear on platforms referenced by AI models (like Reddit). It suggests that the “wild west” of AI shopping is becoming a primary channel, where brands must appeal not just to human eyes, but to the bots that curate options for them.
(Source: The Guardian ; KPMG )
