Oct 1 2025
The Download: our thawing permafrost, and a drone-filled future

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

Scientists can see Earth’s permafrost thawing from space

Something is rotten in the city of Nunapitchuk. In recent years, sewage has leached into the earth. The ground can feel squishy, sodden.

This small town in northern Alaska is experiencing a sometimes overlooked consequence of climate change: thawing permafrost. And Nunapitchuk is far from the only Arctic town to find itself in such a predicament. 

Now scientists think they may be able to use satellite data to delve deep beneath the ground’s surface and get a better understanding of how the permafrost thaws, and which areas might be most severely affected. Read the full story.

—Sarah Scoles

The US may be heading toward a drone-filled future

—James O’Donnell

Last week, I published a story about the police-tech giant Flock Safety selling its drones to the private sector to track shoplifters. Keith Kauffman, a former police chief who now leads Flock’s drone efforts, described the ideal scenario: A security team at a Home Depot, say, launches a drone from the roof that follows shoplifting suspects to their car. The drone tracks their car through the streets, transmitting its live video feed directly to the police.

It’s a vision that, unsurprisingly, alarms civil liberties advocates. But the fate of drones in the US pretty much comes down to one rule. It’s a Federal Aviation Administration regulation that stipulates where and how drones can be flown—and it is about to change. Read the full story.

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here.

Trump’s impact on the next generation of innovators

Every year, MIT Technology Review recognizes dozens of young researchers on our Innovators Under 35 list. This year Amy Nordrum, our executive editor, and our senior investigative reporter Eileen Guo checked back in with recent honorees to see how they’re faring amid sweeping changes to science and technology policy within the US.

Join us tomorrow at 1.30pm ET for an exclusive Roundtables conversation with Amy and Eileen to learn about the complex realities of what life has been like for those aiming to build their labs and companies in today’s political climate. Register here!

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 California’s governor has signed America’s first AI law 
It’ll require AI developers to publicly disclose their safety and security protocols. (Politico)
+ The landmark bill has received a mixed reception from the AI industry. (TechCrunch)

2 The Trump administration is pressuring Taiwan
It’s pushing officials to move 50% of chip production to the US—or else. (Ars Technica)
+ The US argues it’s the best way to counter invasion threats from China. (Bloomberg $)
+ Taiwan’s “silicon shield” could be weakening. (MIT Technology Review)

3 US ChatGPT users can now buy stuff without leaving the chatbot
It’s laying the groundwork for AI agent-based shopping. (WSJ $)
+ Etsy is among the first retailers to sign up for the service. (CNBC)
+ It’s a direct challenge to Google’s business model. (Fortune $)
+ Your most important customer may be AI. (MIT Technology Review)

4 YouTube has agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by Trump 
It’s handing over $24.5 million after his account was suspended in the wake of the US Capitol riot in 2021. (WSJ $)
+ It’s the third giant tech platform to bend to the President’s will. (The Verge)

5 Meta is expanding use of its facial recognition tools
In a bid to combat account impersonation in Europe, the UK, and South Korea. (Engadget)

6 The US Energy Department has banned the term “climate change”
See also: “green” and “decarbonization.” (Politico)
+ Even “emissions” isn’t safe. (TechCrunch)
+ How to make clean energy progress under Trump in the States. (MIT Technology Review)

7 AI data centers are sending the cost of electricity skyrocketing
And it’s regular citizens who are left paying the price. (Bloomberg $)
+ Sam Altman wants a staggering amount of energy. (The Information $)
+ The data center boom in the desert. (MIT Technology Review)

8 Elon Musk’s senior staff are leaving in their droves
They’re burnt out and tired of their leader’s erratic strategies. (FT $)

9 Do black holes actually exist?
The evidence says yes, but proving it is a different matter. (New Scientist $)

10 California police tried to ticket a driverless car 
But who’s to blame for its illegal U-turn if there’s no driver? (The Guardian)
+ It turns out officers don’t currently have any way to issue tickets to robots. (Insider $)

Quote of the day

“There are certainly people in [the] tech world who would like to see no regulation of anything in any respect whatsoever, but that’s not tenable.”

—US Senator Scott Wiener, who proposed the original AI Safety Bill last year, explains why he believes the revised version that’s been passed into law is a reasonable approach to the New York Times.

One more thing

How mobile money supercharged Kenya’s sports betting addiction

Mobile money has mostly been hugely beneficial for Kenyans. But it has also turbo-charged the country’s sports betting sector.

Since the middle of the last decade, experts and public figures across the African continent have been sounding the alarm over the rising popularity of sports betting. The practice has produced tales of riches, but it has also broken families, consumed college tuitions, and even driven some to suicide.

Nowhere, though, is the craze as acute as it is in Kenya, the country often dubbed Africa’s “Silicon Savannah” for its status as a regional tech powerhouse. But while Kenya’s mobile money revolution has played a well-documented role in encouraging savings and democratizing access to finance, today, it’s easier than ever for those in fragile economic circumstances to squander everything. Read the full story.

—Jonathan W. Rosen

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet ’em at me.)

+ It took one man 16 years to type the numbers from one to a million—using words and just one finger.
+ Furnishing your home with books you have no interest in reading is certainly a choice.
+ What it’s like to play SimCity 2000 as a responsible adult.
+ It’s almost pumpkin season!

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Oct 1 2025
Powering HPC with next-generation CPUs

For all the excitement around GPUs—the workhorses of today’s AI revolution—the central processing unit (CPU) remains the backbone of high-performance computing (HPC). CPUs still handle 80% to 90% of HPC workloads globally, powering everything from climate modeling to semiconductor design. Far from being eclipsed, they’re evolving in ways that make them more competitive, flexible, and indispensable than ever.

The competitive landscape around CPUs has intensified. Once dominated almost exclusively by Intel’s x86 chips, the market now includes powerful alternatives based on ARM and even emerging architectures like RISC-V. Flagship examples like Japan’s Fugaku supercomputer demonstrate how CPU innovation is pushing performance to new frontiers. Meanwhile, cloud providers like Microsoft and AWS are developing their own silicon, adding even more diversity to the ecosystem.

What makes CPUs so enduring? Flexibility, compatibility, and cost efficiency are key. As Evan Burness of Microsoft Azure points out, CPUs remain the “it-just-works” technology. Moving complex, proprietary code to GPUs can be an expensive and time-consuming effort, while CPUs typically support software continuity across generations with minimal friction. That reliability matters for businesses and researchers who need results, not just raw power.

Innovation is also reshaping what a CPU can be. Advances in chiplet design, on-package memory, and hybrid CPU-GPU architectures are extending the performance curve well beyond the limits of Moore’s Law. For many organizations, the CPU is the strategic choice that balances speed, efficiency, and cost.

Looking ahead, the relationship between CPUs, GPUs, and specialized processors like NPUs will define the future of HPC. Rather than a zero-sum contest, it’s increasingly a question of fit-for-purpose design. As Addison Snell, co-founder and chief executive officer of Intersect360 Research, notes, science and industry never run out of harder problems to solve.

That means CPUs, far from fading, will remain at the center of the computing ecosystem.

To learn more, read the new report “Designing CPUs for next-generation supercomputing.”

This content was produced by Insights, the custom content arm of MIT Technology Review. It was not written by MIT Technology Review’s editorial staff. It was researched, designed, and written by human writers, editors, analysts, and illustrators. AI tools that may have been used were limited to secondary production processes that passed thorough human review.

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Oct 1 2025
Designing CPUs for next-generation supercomputing

In Seattle, a meteorologist analyzes dynamic atmospheric models to predict the next major storm system. In Stuttgart, an automotive engineer examines crash-test simulations for vehicle safety certification. And in Singapore, a financial analyst simulates portfolio stress tests to hedge against global economic shocks. 

Each of these professionals—and the consumers, commuters, and investors who depend on their insights— relies on a time-tested pillar of high-performance computing: the humble CPU. 

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT

With GPU-powered AI breakthroughs getting the lion’s share of press (and investment) in 2025, it is tempting to assume that CPUs are yesterday’s news. Recent predictions anticipate that GPU and accelerator installations will increase by 17% year over year through 2030. But, in reality, CPUs are still responsible for the vast majority of today’s most cutting-edge scientific, engineering, and research workloads. Evan Burness, who leads Microsoft Azure’s HPC and AI product teams, estimates that CPUs still support 80% to 90% of HPC simulation jobs today.

In 2025, not only are these systems far from obsolete, they are experiencing a technological renaissance. A new wave of CPU innovation, including high-bandwidth memory (HBM), is delivering major performance gains— without requiring costly architectural resets. 

Download the report.

To learn more, watch the new webcast “Powering HPC with next-generation CPUs.“

This content was produced by Insights, the custom content arm of MIT Technology Review. It was not written by MIT Technology Review’s editorial staff. It was researched, designed, and written by human writers, editors, analysts, and illustrators. AI tools that may have been used were limited to secondary production processes that passed thorough human review.

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Oct 1 2025
ChannelAdvisor Founder Launches GEO for Merchants

Scot Wingo observed consumer shopping journeys while running ChannelAdvisor, the marketplace management firm he started in 2001. He says consumers approach the process in three stages: researching the market, finding suitable products, and buying the right item.

The acronym — ReFiBuy — is the name of his latest company. It’s a generative engine optimization platform for retailers and brands.

By any measure, Scot is an ecommerce pioneer. We first interviewed him in 2006, when he introduced us to marketplace selling.

Last week, I asked him about ReFiBuy. The entire audio of our conversation is embedded below. The transcript is edited for length and clarity.

Kerry Murdock: Tell us about your ecommerce journey.

Scot Wingo: It began in 1999 when I launched Auction Rover, an auction search engine. We sold it to GoTo.com, which became Overture, the company that invented paid search. The auction search engine wasn’t great after the dot-com bubble burst. But we had built the selling tools, which became ChannelAdvisor, which I launched in 2001.

Murdock: What is ReFiBuy, your new venture?

Wingo: The idea started with my experience at ChannelAdvisor. The company went public in 2013, and I was still CEO and founder. By 2015, running a public company had become a drag.

I resigned from the CEO role but stayed on the board. ChannelAdvisor was ultimately taken private by a private equity firm, which merged it with Commerce Hub. It’s now called Rithum.

In 2015 I launched an on-demand car care company called Spiffy. Then, in August of 2024, I decided to start what is now ReFiBuy. I wanted to do something in the AI world. I have a technical degree, and as a technologist, I thought AI would create much disruption, which creates opportunity.

So I was poking around, learning more about it. And then, in December 2024, Anthropic, the makers of Claude, published a paper on “agentic” AI that can perform tasks. Prior to that, large language models were read-only. The agentic component meant they could do things.

And that reminded me of a problem we had at ChannelAdvisor. Our clients were retailers and brands with large product catalogs. The issue for us was the absence of an industry standard for electronically storing and sharing the product info, such as specs, colors, dimensions, and weight.

Clients would send us a file of their product catalog in a disorganized mess. Yet we had a hundred marketplaces that wanted to receive beautiful, clean catalog files. So our job became catalog cleaners, to convert clients’ inventory files into a format acceptable to those external channels. Again, there was no industry standard.

We came up with algorithms for cleaning the catalog that worked only half the time. The other half required humans. Eventually, when we had 300 people in Bulgaria working on it, serving our 3,000 customers and 15 billion annual transactions.

That memory was my light bulb moment for agentic AI. Could we solve the product catalog problem for LLMs? We started working on it late last year.

Simultaneously, Perplexity introduced what we now call agentic commerce, or agentic shopping, where you can not only research products but also buy them.

That’s the inspiration for our name. ReFiBuy is “research, find, buy.” It’s the shopper’s journey.

We launched our Commerce Intelligence Engine last week. It ensures that the LLMs — Perplexity, Claude, ChatGPT, and others — have accurate, current, and comprehensive product catalog data from our clients, which are retailers and brands.

Murdock: How do you do that — organize the data and then ensure the LLMs digest it?

Wingo: We start with the product catalog. We take a traditional Google Shopping feed or even data from a merchant’s ecommerce site. We analyze it through the lens of an LLM, which helps us identify missing or incorrect components. We then recommend changes, fixes, and additions. LLMs want every piece of content that ties products to the context of prompts. That includes Schema.org markup, Reddit discussions, prompt history — much more than product data alone.

That’s our evaluation phase. Then we help our clients whitelist the right bots to crawl their sites. Most retailers and brands block all bots except for Google. Certainly there are good reasons to do that, as many bots are malicious or from competitors.

So we help merchants know which LLM bots to allow.

Murdock: How do you know that an LLM receives and stores your optimized data?

Wingo: We monitor product cards, the visual representations by LLMs of recommended products. We run thousands of prompts daily across all the LLM engines to ensure our clients’ products appear in those cards and that the data is accurate.

Our AI agents evaluate the cards and classify them into buckets. If our client owns the product card, our job is done. We have achieved Nirvana for that SKU. If our client’s item appears in a card of another merchant, there are 20 to 30 things that have likely gone wrong. Our AI agents detect it. Sometimes it’s as simple as a missing slash or an extra space in the file.

The agent also detects missing SKUs — when our clients’ goods don’t appear in the cards at all. That’s usually caused by an infrastructure problem with the crawler, or something is broken on the merchant’s site.

We keep cranking the process until we’ve optimized our clients’ entire catalog.

Murdock: What is the cost of ReFiBuy?

Wingo: It depends on the number of SKUs. We start at roughly $2,000 per month — $20,000 to $25,000 per year.

Murdock: Where can merchants learn more?

Wingo: We’re at ReFiBuy.ai. My Substack newsletter is “Retailgentic.”

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Oct 1 2025
OpenAI Launches Sora iOS App Alongside Sora 2 Video Model via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

OpenAI launched the Sora iOS app, beginning an invite-based rollout in the United States and Canada.

With Sora, OpenAI appears to be releasing its first non-ChatGPT consumer app and its first social product.

The app runs on the newly released Sora 2 model for video and synchronized audio.

What’s The Sora App?

Sora is positioned as a creation-first social experience rather than a public-broadcast platform.

It adds social features on top of Sora 2’s generation capabilities, including tools to remix videos and collaborate with friends inside the app.

Custom Feed

The app uses OpenAI’s language models to power a recommender algorithm that accepts natural language instructions.

Users can customize their feed through conversational commands rather than buried settings menus.

By default, the feed prioritizes content from people users follow or interact with.

The Sora team wrote:

“We are not optimizing for time spent in feed, and we explicitly designed the app to maximize creation, not consumption.”

Cameos

Sora centers on “cameos,” which let you place yourself or friends inside AI-generated scenes after a short one-time video and audio capture in the app.

OpenAI says people who appear in cameos control who can use their likeness and can revoke access or remove any video that includes it.

Content Creation

Beyond cameos and feed browsing, the app lets users create original videos through text prompts and remix other users’ generations.

The underlying Sora 2 model can follow multi-shot instructions, maintain world state across scenes, and generate synchronized dialogue and sound effects.

ChatGPT Pro subscribers can access an experimental higher-quality Sora 2 Pro model on sora.com, with app access planned.

The original Sora 1 Turbo remains available, and existing user content stays in personal libraries.

Monetization

OpenAI plans to keep Sora free initially, with generation limits determined by available compute resources.

The company’s revenue strategy involves charging users for extra generations when demand surpasses capacity. No plans for advertising or creator revenue sharing have been announced.

Availability

The app operates on an invite-only basis, with sign-ups available through the iOS app. The App Store listing is live.

Image Credit: Apple App Store

OpenAI says it made Sora invite-only to ensure users arrive with friends already in the app. The company cites feedback indicating that cameos drive the experience, making existing connections essential.

Looking Ahead

For marketers and creators, Sora serves as a new platform for distributing short, AI-generated videos, affirming OpenAI’s focus on developing consumer-oriented tools.

Sora’s adoption will largely depend on accessibility, real-world applications, and how well the feed encourages active creation instead of passive viewing.

Featured Image: Robert Way/Shutterstock

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Sep 30 2025
Google Explains Expired Domains And Ranking Issues via @sejournal, @martinibuster

Google’s John Mueller answered a question about an expired domain that was unable to rank for relevant search queries, including its own brand name. The answer sheds light on how expired domains are handled by Google after they are re-registered.

History Of Expired Domains And SEO

Buying expired domains for their link profiles was a quick way to rank a website about 25 years ago. In those days, it was possible to see the PageRank associated with a domain through Google’s browser toolbar. If the domain was penalized, the PageRank meter would show this with a completely zeroed-out PageRank value. Thus, an SEO could buy an expired domain, regardless of the topic associated with it, point it to their website, and experience a boost in PageRank and rankings.

The expired domain effect was not limited to actual expired domains. A little-known loophole was that links to non-existent domain names could also contain PageRank. For example, many SEO forums used to link to domains like example-domain.com during the course of their discussions. SEOs would purchase those domains and experience the benefit of the PageRank from all the websites linking to that domain.

Another related tactic was to crawl .edu and .org websites to identify domain name misspellings in (broken) links to external websites, register those domains, and within hours a site would have inbound links from authoritative web pages.

The expired domain loophole came to an end in the early 2000s after Google introduced domain PageRank resets. Interestingly, the domain reset also affected domain misspellings that had never been registered. So even that secret loophole was closed.

Google’s John Mueller, in his answer, seemed to provide some information about how the domain name reset works. Mueller specifically referred to the state of being a parked domain and then having that status removed internally within Google.

Expired Domain Is Not Ranking

A person posted about their expired domain issue on the SEO subreddit (r/SEO). They explained that they had recently launched a new website on an expired domain, and it was having trouble ranking for keywords, including its own branded keywords.

They explained:

“I launched a brand-new website on a new domain, everything looks solid:

Indexed in Google (shows up with site:domain).

No errors in Search Console.

Sitemap and robots.txt are clean.

Here’s the strange part: the site refuses to appear in SERPs for even the most basic branded queries. Not ranking for generic terms is one thing, but not showing up at all for my own company name (let’s call it Octigen GmbH)? That feels really odd.

Now, here’s the twist: this domain used to belong to a completely different company (also called Octigen) that went bust years ago. Old links still exist in forums, ecommerce sites, etc. I’m wondering if the domain’s past life could be holding it back — like a reputation penalty or some kind of lingering Google baggage.”

The person then asked the following questions:

  • “Can an old domain history actively suppress visibility, even if it’s re-verified, re-indexed, and fully rebuilt?
  • Is there a way to “reset” a domain’s reputation, or am I better off cutting losses and starting fresh?”

It Takes Time To “Shake Off” Old State Of Domain

Mueller answers the question with a reference to shaking off the previous “state” of a domain, which he describes as being unregistered or parked. Those are two different states of a domain.

Unregistered means that there’s nothing at a domain; it’s not registered by anyone, and it basically doesn’t exist, even if the domain was previously registered but now is not.

A parked domain means that the domain is registered and the DNS is pointing to a holding page, maybe even showing some advertising.

Mueller said it takes time for the state of that domain to change within Google:

“Sometimes it just takes a lot of time for the old state of a domain to be shaken off (sometimes that’s also the case when it was parked for a while), and the site to be treated like something new / independent.”

Expired Domain Name Reset

What Mueller is talking about sounds a lot like what we used to talk about over twenty years ago: an expired domain reset. The ways in which Google treats domains may have changed since then, so what Mueller is talking about could be related to a different process, like understanding where a site fits on the Internet.

Could this mean that a domain “state,” such as parked or expired, results in some kind of index notation at Google?

Mueller continued his answer by saying there’s nothing he can do to manually indicate the domain’s state has changed:

“There’s nothing manual that you can / need to do here.”

But he did recommend checking Search Console to make sure there are no penalties associated with the site:

“I would double-check in Search Console to make sure that there are no URL removal requests pending, and that there’s nothing in the manual actions section, but I’m guessing you already did that.”

What To Do If An Expired Domain Is Not Ranking?

At this point, most SEOs would not like to be told to sit tight and wait for Google to discover a new website. The natural inclination would be to increase natural links to a website and other promotional activities. Short of link building, that’s what Mueller advised.

He wrote:

“My suggestion for you specifically would be to keep using it, and to try to grow your visibility on other channels in the meantime. For example, it looks like you’re findable via your Linkedin page, which links to your domain name. If you’re active on Linkedin, and using that wisely to reference your domain, users can find it that way.

Similarly, you could be active in other places, such as YouTube or other social media sites (The YT video for your company name is currently on a private profile, which can be ok, but which you could also do on a company-branded profile. Or, of course, a Reddit profile)

In short, make it easy for people to find your content regardless of location when they search for it, especially for your company name. From there, expanding to the kinds of searches that could lead users who don’t yet know your company to your content, would be the next step — and even there it’s useful to be active on various platforms.”

Expired Domains Can Be Tricky

It’s clear that expired domains have, in the past, gone through a reset process where the link equity of a domain drops off and the domain essentially starts at position zero.

Google’s ranking algorithms can give a new site a temporary ranking boost. That makes it difficult to say with certainty whether a website with an expired domain is ranking because of the residual effects from the domain or because of Google’s new site ranking boost.

What’s important to keep in mind is that promoting a new website is essential, regardless of whether it’s built on an expired domain or one that’s never been registered.

Featured Image by Shutterstock/Andrii Iemelianenko

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Sep 30 2025
Google Ads Adds Deeper Performance Max Reporting via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Google is providing you with more clarity on where Performance Max is working.

A new round of reporting updates adds segmentation to asset reporting and continues the rollout of a channel performance report that breaks down how each Google surface contributes to your goals.

What’s New

Inside asset reporting, you can now segment by device, time, conversions, and network. That makes it easier to see how creative is performing across placements.

Google also added a “Network (with search partners)” view in the asset group report. This view tracks individual assets across YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail, and Maps.

For the channel performance report, Google layered in practical touches for weekly reviews. These include account-level bulk downloads, cost visualization, ROI-style columns in the table, and the ability to segment results by conversion action and ad-event type.

Diagnostics now identify issues such as limited serving tied to restrictive bid targets.

How To Read The Data

Google’s help doc flags two common pitfalls.

First, asset metrics can seem confusing because each asset logs its own impressions, clicks, and costs. Consequently, the totals in the asset table might be higher than the overall campaign or asset group sums.

Second, the ratios at the asset level, such as CTR, CPC, CPA, and ROAS, are only approximate because they reflect combined data from assets shown together, rather than individual assets alone. Google suggests evaluating performance at the asset group or campaign level and using Ad Strength to diversify your creatives before making swaps.

Also, note that in the channel performance report, “Results” counts primary conversions grouped by goal, while “Conversions” includes secondary actions you track, which may cause the columns to differ.

How It Helps

A good place to begin is by reviewing your channel report to see which surfaces are helping you achieve your main goals. Then, double-check any budget adjustments at the campaign or goal level.

Use the new asset segmentation feature to easily identify coverage gaps across various networks or devices, and update your formats to ensure you’re getting seen.

If diagnostics indicate limited serving, it’s helpful to resolve those issues first before evaluating your creative work.

Availability

The channel performance report is currently in beta, but it will be accessible to all advertisers gradually.

You can find it by navigating to Campaigns → Insights and Reports → Channel Performance.

Featured Image: Mijansk786/Shutterstock

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Sep 30 2025
Google AI Mode Gets Visual + Conversational Image Search via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Google announced that AI Mode now supports visual search, letting you use images and natural language together in the same conversation.

The update is rolling out this week in English in the U.S.

What’s New

Visual Search Gets Conversational

Google’s update to AI Mode aims to address the challenge of searching for something that’s hard to describe.

You can start with text or an image, then refine results naturally with follow-up questions.

Robby Stein, VP of Product Management for Google Search, and Lilian Rincon, VP of Product Management for Google Shopping, wrote:

“We’ve all been there: staring at a screen, searching for something you can’t quite put into words. But what if you could just show or tell Google what you’re thinking and get a rich range of visual results?”

Google provides an example that begins with a search for “maximalist bedroom inspiration,” and is refined with “more options with dark tones and bold prints.”

Image Credit: Google
Image Credit: Google

Each image links to its source, so searchers can click through when they find what they want.

Shopping Without Filters

Rather than using conventional filters for style, size, color, and brand, you can describe products conversationally.

For example, asking “barrel jeans that aren’t too baggy” will find suitable products, and you can narrow down options further with requests like “show me ankle length.”

Image Credit: Google

This experience is powered by the Shopping Graph, which spans more than 50 billion product listings from major retailers and local shops.

The company says over 2 billion listings are refreshed every hour to keep details such as reviews, deals, available colors, and stock status up to date.

Technical Foundation

Building on Lens and Image Search, the visual abilities now include Gemini 2.5’s advanced multimodal and language understanding.

Google introduces a technique called “visual search fan-out,” where it runs several related queries in the background to better grasp what’s in an image and the nuances of your question.

Plus, on mobile devices, you can search within a specific image and ask conversational follow-ups about what you see.

Image Credit: Google

Additional Context

In a media roundtable attended by Search Engine Journal, a Google spokesperson said:

  • When a query includes subjective modifiers, such as “too baggy,” the system may use personalization signals to infer what you likely mean and return results that better match that preference. The spokesperson didn’t detail which signals are used or how they are weighted.
  • For image sources, the systems don’t explicitly differentiate real photos from AI-generated images for this feature. However, ranking may favor results from authoritative sources and other quality signals, which can make real photos more likely to appear in some cases. No separate policy or detection standard was shared.

Why This Matters

For SEO and ecommerce teams, images are becoming even more essential. As Google gets better at understanding detailed visual cues, high-quality product photos and lifestyle images may boost your visibility.

Since Google updates the Shopping Graph every hour, it’s important to keep your product feeds accurate and up-to-date.

As search continues to become more visual and conversational, remember that many shopping experiences might begin with a simple image or a casual description instead of exact keywords.

Looking Ahead

The new experience is rolling out this week in English in the U.S. Google hasn’t shared timing for other languages or regions.

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Sep 30 2025
Squarespace Rolls Out New AI Tools For SEO And Design via @sejournal, @martinibuster

Squarespace announced their Refresh 2025, in which they roll out new features and improvements. This year there’s a strong emphasis on useful AI tools that enable users to build unique websites and improve their ability to do business online.

Useful AI Tools

Many platforms are announcing me-too AI tools that do things like create content, but not Squarespace. The AI tools they’re providing are practical and help users get the most out of Squarespace.

A unique example is their Squarespace Beacon AI product. Beacon AI is a system that enables users to accomplish common tasks like creating product listings, setting up marketing automation, and providing recommendations for improving business growth.

There is also a new suite of AI Optimization tools that offer ways to improve SEO and AI search visibility.

According to the announcement:

  • “AIO Scanner: A tracker that reviews mentions across AI platforms like ChatGPT, delivers a personalized report, and makes recommendations for increasing visibility.
  • SEO Scanner: A scanner that audits website content and suggests optimized titles, descriptions, and image alt text to boost both traditional and AI-driven search rankings.
  • AI Site Scanner: A scanner that will detect broken links and other website inefficiencies, providing quick-fix recommendations to enhance site performance and improve the visitor experience.
  • AI Product Composer: A tool to generate detailed, professional product and service listings with AI, starting from a short description or an image.
  • AI Discount Composer: AI-powered discount recommendations that can be instantly applied to drive sales without compromising profitability or brand integrity.
  • AI FAQ Composer: A personalized, design-friendly FAQ builder to answer customers’ top questions and boost AI search visibility.”

Design Tools

Another new feature is Finish Layer, a design-focused set of tools that make it easy to add cutting-edge website editing, making it easy to bring a modern look and feel to websites.

Blueprint AI will be expanding with a chat-based interface for creating images, content, and design advice.

Paul Gubbay, Chief Product Officer at Squarespace offered the following comment:

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Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Sep 30 2025
How to write an effective summary for your content 

We know that most readers skim. We also know that search engines prefer clear and easy-to-understand content. Luckily, a good summary can help with both. A summary gives your reader the core ideas quickly, while also helping your chances of ranking your content. Learning how to write a summary helps you give your content the love it needs.

Table of contents

Key takeaways

  • A summary provides a concise overview of your content, helping readers and boosting SEO.
  • Effective summaries improve readability and help readers quickly determine content value.
  • To write a strong summary, identify key points, use clear language, and integrate keywords naturally.
  • Summaries differ from titles, introductions, and conclusions as they target readers already engaged with the content.
  • AI can assist in generating summaries, but always review and refine to ensure clarity and accuracy.

What is a summary?

If we are looking for the definition, we can say a summary is a short and focused overview of your content’s main points. A good summary answers three questions:

  • What is this text about?
  • Why should I care about it?
  • What will I learn from reading it?

Keep in mind, a summary is not a sales pitch or something in-depth. You need to strip it down and offer just the essentials for readers to understand in seconds.

Expert insights

Agnieszka Szuba: Yoast developer and researcher on summaries

“Summaries can provide a lot of value to both human readers and bots. And with the help of AI features like Yoast AI Summarize, they can be created very easily. So adding a summary can be a quick way to boost the readability and engagement of your content.”

Why are summaries important?

Now that we know what summaries are, let’s answer the question of why they are so important. There are many answers to that question, but we’ll answer that here.

Improves readability

One of the main aspects of a good text is its readability, but it’s hard to judge a book by its cover. Before readers decide to invest their precious time in reading your content, they need to know if it is worth it. A well-written summary helps them understand the value of your content in seconds. They’ll also get an idea of how your writing is.

Helps readers decide fast

As we mentioned, the time aspect is very important today. Everyone is busy, and people need to know whether your content is worth their time. So busy visitors want to know: “Is this worth my time?” A clear summary can help speed up that decision process.

Enhances SEO

Not only readers but also search engines are looking to understand your content. Search engines see if content matches user intent, and a good summary can help them figure that out.

A well-written summary mentions your target keywords naturally. Good ones increase the chance of your content appearing in highlighted search results like featured snippets. In addition, summaries may help reduce bounce rate because they can manage and set expectations for readers.

How to write an effective summary

Now that you know why summaries can be so helpful, let’s find out how to write effective ones.

Identify the main points

The most important thing is to identify the main points of the content that need to feature in the summary. To help you do this, ask yourself the following questions:

  • What’s the primary message of the content?
  • What are the two or three key takeaways?
  • What does the reader need to know?

Remember, keep it clean and simple. Avoid using examples, anecdotes, or secondary details that muddy the point you are trying to make.

Be concise and clear

Your summary needs to be as easy to understand as possible. Try to aim for three to five sentences (or 50 to 100 words). Cut filler words. Here’s an example:

Wrong: “In this article, we’re going to be talking about some of the most important aspects of writing summaries, which can really make a big difference.”

Right: “This guide covers three key rules for writing summaries: clarity, brevity, and keyword placement.”

Use simple, direct language

We’ve always been big fans of writing as clearly and simply as possible. One of those things to consider is jargon. Whenever you can, try to avoid using jargon. Write like you’re explaining it to a colleague over coffee.

Integrate keywords naturally

Your summary should include the main keywords of your article. For a summary of the article you’re reading now, the focus keyphrase would be “how to write a summary”. Also, try to fit in one or two related terms, but don’t force them. Always prioritize readability.

Match your content’s tone

The next thing to think about is making sure that the summary’s tone matches the content’s tone. For instance, a summary for a technical guide should be precise, while one for a lifestyle blog can be more conversational. Keep it consistent.

Dos and don’ts of writing summaries

For this article, we’ve created a helpful table that quickly outlines the main rules of writing summaries. Remember these!

Do Don’t
Focus on key takeaways only Add extra details or tangents
Keep it short and scannable Write dense paragraphs
Use keywords naturally Stuff keywords awkwardly
Match the tone of your content Switch to a different style
Test if it stands alone Assume readers know the context

Examples of weak vs. strong summaries

We’ve shown you the theory of good and bad summaries, but now let’s review a couple of examples to see it in practice.

A blog post (how-to guide)

Topic: “How to Start a Podcast in 2025”

Weak: “Starting a podcast can be hard, but this post gives you some tips on equipment, topics, and editing to help you get going.”

Strong: “Launch your podcast in 5 steps: Choose a niche, pick budget-friendly gear (under $200), record like a pro, edit with free tools, and grow your audience. Avoid rookie mistakes with our checklist.”

Why it works:

  • Numbers (“5 steps”) set clear expectations
  • Specifics (“budget-friendly gear,” “free tools”) add value
  • Actionable (“avoid rookie mistakes”) hints at practical advice

A product page (e-commerce)

Product: “Ergonomic Office Chair – Model X200”

Weak: “The Model X200 is a great chair for people who sit a lot. It has features that make it comfortable and good for your back.”

Strong: “Reduce back pain with the Model X200: Adjustable lumbar support, breathable mesh, and 360° armrests. Rated #1 for home offices under $300. Free shipping + 30-day trial.”

Why it works:

  • Highlights benefits (not just features)
  • Includes social proof (“Rated #1”)
  • Adds urgency (“30-day trial”)

A research report (B2B)

Topic: “2025 Digital Marketing Trends: AI and Automation”

Weak: “This report looks at how AI is changing marketing. It covers trends and stats that businesses should know about.”

Strong: “78% of marketers now use AI for content creation (up from 42% in 2023). This report breaks down:

  • Top AI tools for ROI in 2025
  • How automation cuts campaign costs by 30%
  • Case studies from brands like Nike and HubSpot.”

Why it works:

  • Leads with a stat to grab attention
  • Bullet points improve scannability
  • Names brands for credibility

News article

Topic: “New Study Links Screen Time to Sleep Disorders in Teens”

Weak: “A new study shows that teens who use screens before bed might have trouble sleeping. Researchers say this is a growing problem.”

Strong: “Teens with 3+ hours of nightly screen time are 5x more likely to develop insomnia, per a Harvard Medical School study. Key findings:

  • Blue light delays melatonin by 90 minutes.
  • Social media (not gaming) is the worst offender.
  • Solutions: ‘Screen curfews’ and orange-light filters.”

Why it works:

  • Quantifies risk (“5x more likely”)
  • Debunks myths (“social media vs. gaming”)
  • Offers solutions (not just problems)

Case study

Topic: “How Company Z Increased Sales by 200% with Email Marketing”

Weak: “Company Z used email marketing to grow their sales. This case study explains what they did and the results they got.”

Strong: “Company Z turned $5K/month into $15K/month in 6 months using:

  1. Segmented lists (3x higher open rates)
  2. Abandoned-cart emails (recovered 12% of lost sales)
  3. A/B-tested subject lines (‘Your cart misses you’ won)

Steps and templates included.”

Why it works:

  • Leads with results (“$5K to $15K”).
  • Uses numbers to prove impact.
  • Teases actionable content (“templates included”).

What did we learn from these examples?

  1. Start with the most valuable info (stats, results, or a bold claim).
  2. Use numbers (steps, percentages, time) to add credibility.
  3. Match the format to the content type (bullets for reports, emojis for social media).
  4. Avoid vague language (“some tips” → “3 proven strategies”).

Here’s a pro tip for you: Test your summary by asking yourself if it would make you click/read more. Does it work even if you skip the full content?

There are other options to help readers and search engines quickly understand your content. What’s the difference between these? Titles and meta descriptions are for getting people to click from the SERP, while summaries are for readers already on your content.

Element Purpose Length Audience Example
Title Grabs attention; tells readers (and search engines) what the content is about. 50-60 chars (SEO ideal) Searchers + readers “How to Write a Summary in 5 Steps (With Examples)”
Introduction Hooks the reader; sets up the topic and why it matters. 1-3 paragraphs Readers (and search engines) “Struggling to keep readers engaged? A strong summary can double your content’s impact—here’s how to write one.”
Summary Condenses main points for quick understanding. 3-5 sentences Readers who skim “Learn the 5 rules for summaries: cut fluff, lead with key points, use keywords, and match your content’s tone.”
Conclusion Wraps up; often includes a CTA or final thought. 1 paragraph Readers who finish the piece “Now that you know how to summarize effectively, try rewriting an old post’s summary and track the difference in engagement.”
Meta desc. Encourages clicks from search results. ~150-160 chars Search engines + potential visitors “Master the art of writing summaries with this step-by-step guide. Improve readability, SEO, and reader retention in minutes.”

Benefits and pitfalls of using AI for summaries

One of the best ways of using AI in your work is to use it to summarize content. It’s almost what it was designed to do. AI tools like Yoast AI Summarize can draft summaries in seconds. Of course, you need to keep an eye on the outcome and adjust where needed.

Benefits

There are many benefits to using AI to generate summaries.

  • The AI is fast: AI can generate a summary almost instantly
  • It’s consistent: The AI works very consistently based on your rules
  • It’s an additional content check: If it stumbles, your content’s points are not clear

Pitfalls

Using AI has a lot of benefits, but also risks.

  • Results might lack nuance or miss a certain emphasis or humor
  • It can also come out sounding very robotic or boring
  • It might focus on the wrong things, so it could highlight minor points instead of critical ones

Best practices for using AI to generate summaries

Always use AI as a starting point, then compare the AI summary to your key messages. If it needs adjusting, edit the summary for accuracy, tone, and flow. Then test it to learn if it makes sense alone.

In the real world, this would mean installing an AI plugin on your WordPress site or using Yoast SEO’s AI Summarize feature. Open an article on your site and add the Yoast AI Summary block. Have it generate a summary based on your article. Check the outcome and refine it to sound human and align with your goals.

Key takeaways generated by Yoast AI Summarize

Conclusion

A strong summary aims to please two different consumers: first, the readers who want quick answers and search engines that reward clarity and readability. Writing a good summary is all about keeping it short, direct, and keyword aware. Avoid fluff and focus on the key takeaways.

Today, it’s fine to use AI to help you with summaries, but always check them. If you are not happy, edit them.

Here’s a nice exercise: Find an old post, write a new summary based on these learnings, and see if engagement picks up. Often, it’s the small tweaks that have the biggest impact.

Avatar of Edwin Toonen


Edwin Toonen

Edwin is an experienced strategic content specialist. Before joining Yoast, he worked for a top-tier web design magazine, where he developed a keen understanding of how to create great content.

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