Welcome to this week’s SEO Pulse: Updates impact publisher control over AI capabilities, how AI overviews process queries, and the tradeoffs AI models pose to content workflows.
Here you will find out what is important for you and your work.
Google is considering allowing websites to disable AI search features
Google says it is exploring updates that could allow sites to forego AI-powered search features. The blog post appeared on the same day that the UK Competition and Markets Authority opened a consultation on possible new requirements for Google Search.
Important facts: Ron Eden, head of product management at Google, wrote that the company is “evaluating updates to our controls to specifically enable sites to use generative AI search features.” Google has not provided a timeline, technical specifications or firm commitment.
Why this is important for SEOs
Publishers and regulators have spent the past year pushing back on AI reviews. The UK’s Independent Publishers Alliance, Foxglove and Movement for an Open Web filed a complaint with the CMA last July, demanding the ability to reject AI summaries without being completely removed from search.
A BuzzStream report we reported on earlier this month found that 79% of top news publishers block at least one AI training bot and 71% block retrieval bots that impact AI citations. Publishers are already voting with their robots.txt files. Google’s post suggests the company is responding to ecosystem pressures by exploring controls it didn’t previously offer.
The practical question is what “opting out of AI search functions” would technically mean. It’s unclear whether this would cover AI overviews, AI mode, or both, and whether sites would lose visibility in these experiences or just be excluded from summaries.
What people say
Initial reactions on LinkedIn focused on the regulatory context and what this could mean for publishers.
David Skok, CEO and editor-in-chief of The Logic, wrote on LinkedIn:
“For the first time, a major regulator is publicly deliberating on a requirement that would allow publishers to opt out of having their content used in Google’s AI overviews or in training AI models without being removed from general search results.”
He added that the consultation would allow publishers to reject AI reviews “without being removed from general search results.”
Matthew Allsop, the CMA’s principal adviser on digital markets, called it a matter of “meaningful choice” and pointed to measures that would allow publishers to opt out of AI overviews.
SEO and publisher discussions focused on whether there are trade-offs involved in opting out and whether Google provides reports showing where content appears on AI interfaces.
Read our full coverage: Google may allow sites to disable AI search features
Google AI Overviews now supported in Gemini 3
Google is making Gemini 3 the global standard model for AI overviews in markets where the feature is available. The update also adds a direct path to conversations in AI mode.
Important facts: Announcing the launch, Robby Stein, VP of Product for Google Search, said AI Overviews now reaches over 1 billion users. The Gemini 3 upgrade brings the same reasoning features to the AI Overviews as AI Mode.
Why this is important for SEOs
The model upgrade and seamless transition to AI mode work together. Better reasoning means AI Overviews can handle more complex queries at the top of the results. The follow-up prompt allows those who want to delve deeper to do so without leaving Google’s AI interfaces.
This creates a smoother journey that keeps people engaged in Google’s AI experiences for longer. Someone who sees your content cited in an AI overview may have previously clicked on your website. Now they can ask a follow-up question and stay in AI mode, which can reduce the chances of clicks even if your content continues to be cited.
The seamless transition continues the pattern of Google handling more of the search journey within its own interfaces.
Read our full coverage: Google AI Overviews Now Powered By Gemini 3
Sam Altman says OpenAI “messed up” GPT 5.2 write quality.
Sam Altman said OpenAI “messed up” GPT-5.2’s write quality during a developer town hall meeting Monday night. He said future GPT 5.x versions would close the gap.
Important facts: When asked about user feedback that GPT-5.2 produces “clunky” and “difficult to read” text compared to GPT-4.5, Altman said bluntly: “I think we just screwed it up.” He explained that OpenAI made a conscious decision to focus the development of GPT-5.2 on technical capabilities and to “focus most of our efforts in 5.2 on making it super good in the areas of intelligence, reasoning, coding, engineering, and the like.”
Why this is important for SEOs
If you use ChatGPT for content workflows, you may have noticed the change. GPT-5.2 handles complex thinking tasks better, but produces prose that sounds more mechanical. Altman confirmed that this was not a mistake but a compromise.
The approval makes clear what can be expected from AI writing tools in the future. Model developers make explicit decisions about what to improve. Writing quality competes with coding, reasoning, and other technical measures for development resources.
This means adapting the tool to the task. While GPT-5.2 excels at research synthesis, data analysis, and technical documentation, it can produce cumbersome prose for blog posts or marketing copy. GPT-4.5 often reads more naturally, even if it can’t handle the same complexity.
Altman said future GPT 5.x versions will “hopefully” be able to write much better than 4.5, but did not provide a timeline.
What people say
On social media, the reaction focused on what the recording reveals about AI development priorities. Some portrayed it as a gain in transparency, noting that most companies would have reframed the issue as a design decision rather than admitting a mistake. Others pointed out the tension between optimizing for benchmarks and optimizing for practical writing quality.
Read our full coverage: Sam Altman says OpenAI ‘messed up’ GPT 5.2 write quality
Topic of the week: Control and compromise
Each story this week is about platforms making decisions about what to prioritize and who gets to make the decision.
Google is exploring whether it can give publishers more control over AI features, responding to a year of regulatory pressure and ecosystem decline. The launch of Gemini 3 gives users a smoother AI experience while reducing control over where that journey ends. And Altman’s admission shows that even model development requires trade-offs between competing capabilities.
This week is about understanding what levers you can pull. Publisher opt-out controls may allow you to decide how your content appears in AI search. Model selection allows you to tailor AI tools to specific tasks. However, the broader direction of these platforms is beyond your control, and the decisions they make shape the environment for which you optimize.
Top stories of the week:
This week’s coverage focused on three developments worth watching.
Additional resources:
For more information about the publisher and the AI visibility dynamics behind these stories, see these related articles.
Featured Image: Accogliente Design/Shutterstock
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