Welcome to this week’s Pulse: Updates affect how Google customizes AI Mode, what Googlebot’s crawl limits look like in practice, and new data showing on AIO click behavior and publisher traffic.
This is what matters to you and your work.
Google Personal Intelligence now free for US users
Google has extended Personal Intelligence from paid AI Pro and Ultra subscribers to all free US users on personal Google accounts. The feature connects Gmail and Google Photos to AI mode.
Key facts: Access to AI mode is now available. Gemini app and Chrome deployments begin. When enabled, AI mode can reference email confirmations, travel reservations, and photo context to personalize responses. No expansion beyond the US or to Workspace accounts has been announced.
Why it matters
Paid or free mode means that a much wider user base has access to personalized AI mode results. People searching for the same query may see different AI responses based on the content of their Gmail. This makes it more difficult to assess what AI mode is displaying for a given subject.
Read our full coverage: Google AI Mode Personal Intelligence Now Free in the US
Google Reveals Googlebot Crawl Limits Are Flexible
Google’s Gary Illyes and Martin Splitt explained how Googlebot’s crawl limits work. The commonly cited limits are not as fixed as most people think.
Key facts: Google has long cited a 15-megabyte limit for its crawlers, but Illyes said internal teams can work around it. Google Search works in practice with a smaller threshold of 2 megabytes. Limits can be increased or decreased depending on what is being explored and why.
Why it matters
The 15MB number has been treated as a hard cap in technical SEO advice for years. Google Search working with a smaller 2MB threshold adds useful context to the long-quoted 15MB figure. Most pages are well under 2 MB, but pages with heavy inline scripts, large data objects, or extensive embedded content could be affected.
Read our full coverage: Google shares more information about Googlebot crawl limits
AI Previews Reduce Organic Top Rank CTR in Germany by 59%
SISTRIX analyzed over 100 million German keywords and found that AI insights reduced position click-through rate from 27% to 11%.
Key facts: AI previews appear on around 20% of German keywords, up from 17% in August. SISTRIX estimates the total cost at 265 million lost organic clicks per month in the German market. Averaged across all keywords, including those without AIO, this equates to a 6.6% loss of clicks.
Why it matters
The German data are similar to the American findings. The first position loses more than half of its clicks when an AIO appears, and informational content is affected the most. This suggests that this trend is not limited to the United States.
What people say
Barry Adams, founder of Polemic Digital, wrote about LinkedIn:
“Citations in AIOs don’t matter, people don’t click. If you want to continue to thrive on Google, you need to offer something that AI can’t replicate. For publishers, breaking news is the goose that lays the golden eggs.”
Read our full coverage: Google AI Insights Reduce Germany’s Best Organic CTR by 59%
Search SEO traffic down 60% for small publishers
Chartbeat has shared new data that breaks down search SEO traffic losses by publisher size. Most previous reports on declining search traffic treated publishers as a single group.
Key facts: Small publishers lost 60% of search SEO traffic in two years. Mid-sized publishers lost 47% and large publishers lost 22%. Google Discover listings fell 15% over the same period. Large publishers partly make up for their losses through direct traffic, emails and app referrals.
Why it matters
ChatGPT referrals increased by over 200% in this data, and they still represent less than 1% of publisher page views. The growth rate seems impressive until you compare it to what the research has taken away. 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 Postnoting that large publishers are more isolated due to greater brand recognition and direct-to-consumer products.
Layne Bruce, executive director of the Mississippi Press Association, wrote about LinkedIn:
“Every week brings new technological advances that are great for consumers but threaten the ecosystem that generates the flow of information in the first place.”
Read our full coverage: Search SEO traffic down 60% for small publishers, data shows
Theme of the week: general benchmarks are becoming less and less useful
Each story this week shows a number that once meant one thing and now means something different depending on the context.
AIO click losses in Germany are in a similar direction to those in the United States. The 15MB crawl limit is not 15MB in practice. And personal intelligence varies AI mode results depending on the user, so checking what “shows up” for a query depends on which personal Google services that person is signed into.
This week’s articles show that data is most useful when you read it in relation to your own industry, the size of your own site, and your own audience.
More resources:
Featured image: (Credit)/Shutterstock
