Digital Marketing Weekly News (Week Of 08/12) – Top Stories, Videos & Social Posts

Welcome to Search With Sean: Weekly News — your concise roundup of the key stories shaping SEO, AI, search, and digital strategy this week.

Co Hosts:

Nicola Agius - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicola-agius-8b330956/

Amanda Walls - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandajwalls/

Stanislav Farkas - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stanislav-farkas-fastraveller/

We covered the following + more:

Top Stories

We unpacked Google’s December core update, rolling out over three weeks just before the holidays. As always, the advice remains consistent: expect volatility, avoid knee-jerk changes, and wait until rollout completes before reacting.

We also discussed Microsoft Copilot usage trends, showing users increasingly turning to AI for health, career, and relationship guidance — highlighting how LLMs are shifting from search tools to personal decision support.

Another major theme was AI Overviews disrupting paid search, particularly on mobile, where ads are now frequently pushed below the fold — with healthcare seeing the biggest impact.

Local SEO also featured heavily, with research reinforcing how reviews, listing accuracy, and response times directly influence trust, conversions, and AI visibility.

Top Videos

We reviewed a Whiteboard Friday analysis showing AI Overviews appearing lower in SERPs more often, fuelling speculation around Google’s push toward AI Mode.

Google’s Year in Search highlighted how users are adopting longer, more conversational queries — influenced by voice search and LLM behaviour.

We also covered new product-focused AI Overviews, where Google is testing direct links to commercial pages, hinting at future monetisation strategies.

Plus highlights from the SEO in 2026 livestream and a deep conversation with Rand Fishkin on zero-click journeys, fragmented discovery, and where search is heading next.

Top Social Posts

Search Console updates stood out this week, including weekly and monthly reporting views and early AI-assisted insights.

We discussed Google’s rollout of Preferred Sources, new publisher partnerships, and the growing concern around echo chambers and source bias.

Finally, we covered the EU investigation into Google’s use of publisher and creator content for AI Overviews, alongside fresh analysis showing content length has no real impact on AI citations — relevance and clarity still win.

00:00 – Intro & show format

03:00 – Google December core update

11:00 – Core updates, volatility & expectations

18:00 – Copilot usage & AI as decision support

25:00 – AI Overviews vs paid search

33:00 – Local SEO, reviews & trust signals

40:00 – AI Overviews moving down SERPs

46:00 – Google Year in Search & changing behaviour

52:00 – Product links inside AI Overviews

58:00 – SEO in 2026 & Rand Fishkin highlights

01:04:00 – Search Console updates & Preferred Sources

01:08:00 – EU investigation, AI citations & wrap-up

View all stories + more here - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRgApI9fMAMVswEIcS8iz2HXYpWXPlA2hjHZs8B9stlS6s8mvX-cAkHydCWW2yvca6Jv2sn0xu6w4Eg/pubhtml

Get curated digital marketing news and essential channel updates sent directly to you via Whatsapp - https://www.whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbB9zsvAe5VlZK5gmt1V