Welcome to Pulse of the Week: Updates affect how Google personalizes AI mode, what Googlebot’s crawl limits look like in practice, and what new data appears about AIO click behavior and publisher traffic.
Here you will find out what is important for you and your work.
Google Personal Intelligence now free for US users
Google has expanded Personal Intelligence from paid AI Pro and Ultra subscribers to all free US users with personal Google accounts. The feature combines Gmail and Google Photos with AI mode.
Important facts: Access to AI mode is now available. Rollout of the Gemini app and Chrome begins. When enabled, AI mode can reference email confirmations, travel bookings, and photo context to personalize responses. No expansion beyond the US or to Workspace accounts has been announced.
Why this is important
Paid to free means a much larger user base gets access to personalized AI Mode results. People searching for the same query may see different answers in AI mode depending on what’s in their Gmail account. This makes it harder to make a comparison of what the AI mode shows for a given topic.
Read our full coverage: Personal Intelligence from Google AI Mode now free in the US
Google announces that Googlebot crawl limits are flexible
Google’s Gary Illyes and Martin Splitt discussed how Googlebot’s crawl limits work. The commonly cited limits are not as strict as most people assume.
Important facts: Google has long cited a 15-megabyte limit for its crawlers, but Illyes said internal teams could override it. In practice, Google search works with a smaller threshold of 2 megabytes. Limits can be increased or decreased depending on what is being crawled and why.
Why this is important
The 15MB figure has been treated as a hard upper limit in technical SEO advice for years. Google Search, which works with a smaller threshold of 2MB, adds useful context to the long-quoted 15MB figure. Most pages are well under 2MB in size, but pages with heavy inline scripts, large data objects, or large embedded content could be affected.
Read our full coverage: Google shares more information about Googlebot crawl limits
AI overviews reduce Germany’s highest organic position CTR by 59%
SISTRIX analyzed over 100 million German keywords and found that AI Overviews reduced the position one click rate from 27% to 11%.
Important facts: AI overviews appear in around 20% of German keywords, up from 17% in August. SISTRIX estimates the total costs at 265 million lost organic clicks per month across the entire German market. On average across all keywords, including keywords without AIOs, there is a click loss of 6.6%.
Why this is important
The German data is similar in direction to the US results. Position one loses more than half of its clicks when an AIO appears, and informational content is the most affected. This suggests that the pattern is not limited to the US.
What people say
Barry Adams, founder of Polemic Digital, wrote on LinkedIn:
“Citations in AIOs don’t matter, people don’t click. If you want to continue to be successful at Google, you have to offer something that AI can’t reproduce. For publishers, breaking news is the golden goose.”
Read our full coverage: Google AI Overviews Cut Germany’s Highest Organic CTR by 59%
Search referral traffic fell 60% for small publishers
Chartbeat has released new data that breaks down search referral traffic losses by publisher size. Most previous reports on search traffic declines have treated publishers as a single group.
Important facts: Small publishers lost 60% of search reference traffic within two years. Mid-sized publishers lost 47% and large publishers lost 22%. Google Discover recommendations fell 15% over the same period. Larger publishers partially offset losses through direct traffic, email and app recommendations.
Why this is important
ChatGPT referrals are up over 200% in this data and still account for less than 1% of publisher page views. The growth rate sounds impressive until you compare it to search results. Chatbot traffic is still too low to compensate for these data losses.
What people say
Steven Waldman, founder of Rebuild Local News and Report for America, called the data “incredibly important” in a LinkedIn post, noting that larger publishers are more insulated due to greater brand recognition and direct-to-consumer products.
Layne Bruce, executive director of the Mississippi Press Association, wrote on LinkedIn:
“Every week there are new technological advances that are great for consumers, but threaten the ecosystem that creates the flow of information in the first place.”
Read our full coverage: Data shows search referral traffic is down 60% for small publishers
Topic of the week: General benchmarks are becoming less useful
Each story this week features a number that used to mean one thing and now means something different depending on the context.
The AIO click losses in Germany are similar in direction to those in the USA. The 15MB crawl limit is not 15MB in practice. And Personal Intelligence ensures that results in AI mode vary depending on the user. So checking what is “shown” in a query depends on which personal Google services that person is connected to.
This week’s stories show that data is more useful when you read it against your own industry, your own site size, and your own audience.
Additional resources:
Featured Image: [Credit]/Shutterstock
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