AI Overviews (still) Tanking CTR, How Structured Data Helps Rankings & How to Connect to Gen Z
SEO TL;DR #68 28/04/2025
I’m back after a week off for the easter break, which involved battling the various illnesses my 4-year-old likes to bring back from nursery.
Thankfully, I didn’t miss much news-wise, bar this cool demo of Google’s new AI-powered glasses and more SEO news we kinda already knew, summed up below.
SEO X AI
AI Overviews (still) Hurting Click-Through Rates
More studies are surfacing, showing what we saw earlier this year: AI Overviews reduce organic CTR, particularly for non-branded, informational queries.
New findings include:
Ahrefs: 34.5% lower average CTR for the top-ranking page when AI Overviews are present (link)
Amsive: 15.49% average CTR drop across pages with AI Overviews (link)
Similarweb: 20% fewer clicks on results that display an AI Overview (link)
AI Overviews are fundamentally shifting search behaviour, particularly for informational intent keywords. If your site relies on these for organic traffic generation, you need to consider how AI summaries impact your key queries and consider adapting your traffic acquisition strategies, or risk losing visibility even if you still rank highly.
International SEO
Google Is Redirecting All ccTLDs to google.com
Google has announced that country-specific domains like Google.ca and Google.co.uk will soon all redirect to Google.com as part of a gradual rollout over the coming months. Google says this is about streamlining the experience, as it already serves localised results based on your location, not the domain you use.
The update will not affect rankings or how search results are localised, but it may impact analytics reporting and make it harder to distinguish users by ccTLD origin.
💡 Takeaway: While Google is simplifying the front-end experience, this doesn’t change best practices for international SEO. ccTLDs and hreflang implementation are still super crucial for ranking correctly across markets.
Do not assume this shift means ccTLDs are obsolete; they are still a major trust and relevance signal for users and search engines.
Technical SEO
Structured Data Doesn’t Improve Rankings
John Mueller has once again confirmed that structured data does not make your site rank higher. Speaking on Bluesky, he clarified that schema is used to enhance search features (like rich snippets), but it is not a ranking factor.
💡 Takeaway: To summarise, structured data will help you show up for cool features like these…
But it won’t directly boost your rankings.
Focus on structured data to support content clarity and eligibility for enhanced search results, not as a ranking shortcut.
🔗 The 33 Structured Data Markup Types that Google Supports
SEO X Social
How Brands Can Better Connect With Gen Z
Meta has published new research into Gen Z’s social media habits, based on surveys of users aged 18–24 across five countries. Their findings highlight three significant behavioural shifts marketers need to understand:
Sharing is the new ‘love language’: 67% of Gen Z users regularly share video content on Facebook and Instagram. Brands that create content designed to be shared (joyful, relatable or helpful) stand a better chance of reaching this audience organically.
Short-form video is Gen Z’s search engine: 81% of Instagram users say they use the platform for self-development, learning new skills and gathering inspiration. Content that educates or empowers can outperform purely promotional posts.
Discovery happens through repetition: Gen Z expects relevant, curated content. AI-driven recommendations, creator collaborations and consistent brand exposure across short-form video formats drive discovery and trust over time.
💡 Takeaway: For Gen Z, social content is not just entertainment; it’s a decision-making tool. Brands that want to stay visible must expand their SEO and content strategies beyond traditional blog posts. Think about how your brand can appear in search features like “What People Are Saying” and the short videos tab in mobile search.
Creating helpful, highly shareable videos, FAQs and bite-sized how-to content can improve your chances of being surfaced organically and your brand’s relevance to a generation that expects fast, authentic answers.
Ecommerce SEO
brightonSEO Masterclass Slides Now Live
I've pulled together the key insights from my brightonSEO masterclass on optimising Shopify for e-commerce SEO on my new e-commerce blog (the first post!), which you can view here:
👨🏫 Optimising Ecommerce SEO for Shopify Success [SLIDES]
If you work on a Shopify store, these slides cover smarter URL structures, how to do content clean-ups and apply technical fixes to drive real organic growth.
PS: As part of my first month of full-time freelancing, I’m currently doing some free 20-minute chats for anyone who wants to talk SEO and get my advice on what you should focus on first - use the link below and book a slot:
📞 Book a free 20-minute SEO discovery call with me
I've been really enjoying catching up with some of you and it’s been a nice way to stave off the boredom which sometimes comes with working from home!