What happened in the SEO industry 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 October 2025 SEO & AI search news roundup, the top headlines include:
- Users can now buy directly within ChatGPT via Instant Checkout, with Etsy, Walmart, and Shopify merchants on board.
- Google is testing replacing traditional meta descriptions with AI-generated summaries in SERPs.
- OpenAI launched its first web browser, Atlas, featuring integrated ChatGPT search
- AI-generated trending topic previews are coming to Google Discover, starting in the US, India, and South Korea.
- Google’s AI Mode has launched in more than 40 new countries and territories, bringing its availability to over 200 countries worldwide.
- AI Overview Ads are expanding to more English-speaking markets following a successful US launch.
- The appearance of AI Overviews in People Also Asked (PAA) boxes has more than doubled in recent months.
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 your content for AI search using Lumar’s Content Evaluator tools?
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Agentic commerce has arrived: consumers can now buy directly within ChatGPT
ChatGPT’s Instant Checkout feature is now available to users in the US, marking the first time that it’s been possible to browse, purchase, and pay for items without leaving the ChatGPT interface. Etsy was the first retailer announced, with another upcoming ChatGPT e-commerce rollout expected to add over a million Shopify merchants to the list. There are also plans to add multi-item purchasing soon (at present, Instant Checkout only supports buying a single item at a time).
It’s the first huge step towards the future of agentic commerce, enabling AI-powered agents to work on behalf of consumers throughout the entire purchasing journey. US retail behemoth Walmart is among the big names to have announced a partnership with OpenAI in the weeks since Instant Checkout first launched.
(Source: OpenAI)
OpenAI’s first web browser – Atlas – is here
Currently only available on Mac, Atlas appears to take aim at Chrome and is already being touted by some as direct competition to the internet’s most-used browser. OpenAI’s offering very much keeps ChatGPT at the forefront, and searching within Atlas initially provides the kind of AI-generated response we’re used to seeing within the ChatGPT interface.
However, additional tabs also appear in the search sidebar, one of which contains a list of organic blue links that feels immediately familiar. These built-in search features actually appear to be powered by Google Search, which is interesting considering OpenAI’s long history with Bing. It’s still very early days, but it will be interesting to see just how widely Atlas is adopted outside of the tech sphere.
(Source: OpenAI)
Google tests replacing SERP meta descriptions with AI-generated summaries
SEOs are long used to Google chopping and changing user-generated meta descriptions. However, in recent weeks, some users have spotted AI-powered descriptions appearing in SERPs for the first time. Unlike more traditional overwrites (whereby Google tends to take a snippet of content from the page), these AI-generated descriptions appear to provide a more detailed summary of the content, alongside an additional link through to the publisher’s site.
It’s thought that this is just a test being run by Google for the time being. But while Google opting to show different text in the description is nothing new, these AI summaries do perhaps increase the risk of incorrect or misleading information appearing alongside webpages in SERPs.
(Source: Search Engine Land)
AI-generated trending topics come to Google Discover
A brand-new preview feature is coming to Google Discover, showing users brief snippets of articles based on trending topics. Users will then have the option to expand this preview for more information and links. The AI-generated trending topics rollout within Google Discover begins in the US, India, and South Korea, but we should expect to see this one coming to more markets and regions soon.
(Source: Google: The Keyword Blog)
Google’s AI Mode is now available in over 200 countries
The latest push saw AI Mode launch in more than 40 new countries and territories, with multimodal support added for 35 new languages. Such rapid growth only highlights how much of a priority AI Mode is for Google, which continues to promote Gemini’s dramatically powerful search abilities.
(Source: Google: The Keyword Blog)
AI Overviews ads expand to more markets
It’s been a few months since Search and Shopping ads were first launched within Google’s AI Overviews, starting in the US. Now, plans to expand these ads to more English-speaking markets have been announced. These paid placements are designed to keep brands and advertisers right at the forefront of the user search journey, beginning in the initial research and discovery phase.
(Source: Search Engine Land)
Appearance of AI Overviews in People Also Asked grows rapidly
Research by the team at AlsoAsked shows significant growth in the percentage of PAAs (“People Also Asked”) returning AI Overviews, with the total more than doubling from 17.8% in July 2025 to 37.9% in September 2025.
(Source: Mark Williams-Cook via LinkedIn)
