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By Evie Sandall

Ascend 06: Schema vs. AI: Who Wins the SEO Throne This January?

Last Updated 10 Jan 2025

Google Dropped Two Algorithm Updates in December

What were the algorithm updates?

December 2024 Core Update: This was a broad core update, impacting search results globally and across all languages. As with all core updates, the goal was to improve Google’s overall ranking system and ensure users find relevant and helpful results. This update was notable for being released shortly after the November core update.

December 2024 Spam Update: This update focused on combating spammy and manipulative SEO tactics. It aimed to penalise websites using techniques like keyword stuffing, link schemes, and cloaking. This broad spam update was applied globally and across all languages.

How might sites be affected?

As with the others, December’s core algorithm update continues to prioritise content that provides value to the user. We have heard that we should be vigilant about organic ranking fluctuations since the rollout of the core and spam algorithm updates that occurred in December.

Our advice is to create high-quality content that is genuinely helpful and informative and that uses the people-first approach. This content should adhere to Google’s content guidelines and showcase your authority and expertise in your given field.

Read the Full Article Here


The 5-star review deletion trend

Recent research by GMBapi has uncovered a troubling trend in Google reviews: 73.1% of deleted reviews have 5-star ratings. This indicates that Google is intensifying its efforts to combat fake and incentivised reviews, which can severely impact businesses that engage in such practices.

While negative reviews are often expected to be the primary target for deletion, the focus on removing high-rated reviews suggests a shift in Google’s moderation strategy. Businesses that buy reviews or offer incentives for positive feedback risk losing these reviews and facing penalties like disabled review sections.

Best practices for managing reviews

To mitigate the risk of review deletions and enhance online reputation, businesses should try and adopt the following strategies for managing their reviews:

  1. Engage with reviewers: try to respond to all positive and negative reviews. Engaging with customer reviews shows you value their feedback and can help reduce the likelihood of review deletions.
  2. Encourage genuine feedback: focus on organically encouraging customers to leave authentic reviews. This is something you can look to include in your post-sales process by asking customers to leave feedback and reviews on your Google Business Profile.
  3. Stay informed: keep up with Google’s content policies and algorithm updates to ensure compliance and adapt to any changes that may affect review visibility.
  4. Report inauthentic reviews: Actively report any spam or fake reviews to Google. Note: You should not report negative reviews on the business profile if they are not fake. Instead, respond to these professionally.

Read the Full Article Here


Is Schema Markup still relevant in 2025?

With AI continuing to storm the SERPs with Google’s AI Overviews and Bing’s Generative Search, it’s becoming more important to not only optimise content for search engine results pages (SERPs) but also these short AI snippets that could lead to organic web traffic.

Given AI algorithms are quite different from a conventional search, a question arises: Is structured data (Schema markup) still necessary?

Here’s a breakdown of the essential points:

  • AI-driven search engines, unlike traditional ones, do not rely on schema to understand content; they interpret plain text naturally.
  • Schema markup is not required by AI models like ChatGPT to comprehend page content but can aid in optimising features such as featured snippets.
  • The focus should be on creating high-quality content that directly addresses user queries and demonstrates clear authority on the topic to maximise visibility in both traditional and AI-driven searches.
  • AI models prioritise relevance first and authority second when selecting sources.
  • Authority is evaluated using similar principles to Google’s E-E-A-T or Bing’s quality and credibility guidelines, emphasising expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.
  • AI systems often cross-reference multiple sources to validate information, influencing the content emphasised in their responses.
  • AI employs a “credibility layer” that considers factors like domain history, internal link quality, brand reputation, and user behaviour to assess long-term content authority and visibility.

So, what’s our take?

Here at Assisted, Schema still has a place to shine; whether you’re looking to appear for featured snippets, FAQs, or how-to’s, you can’t do any of this in traditional SERPs without well-thought-out Schema markup.

Let us know what you think!