April was a busy month in the digital marketing world…. The first Google core update of 2025 was completed at the end of March and there have been ongoing volatility spikes which have continued into April. Plus, there have been plenty of developments in terms of AI (including the introduction of image generation in ChatGPT – even for free users!).
Below are some of the digital marketing stories from the month so far to help you stay up-to-date.
March 2025 Core Update Completed, But Volatility Continues
The first core update of 2025 started rolling out on March 13th and was completed 14 days later, on March 27th. It was a pretty typical core update, with Google aiming to make search results more relevant and helpful to users. There was plenty of volatility, especially during the tail end of the update, and it impacted a diverse range of sites. As you can see from SEMrush’s volatility sensor below, there have been several high spikes in volatility even after the update completed, causing further shifts in keyword rankings.
Read about the initial early observations from this core update on Search Engine Journal.
Why Is This Important?
Being aware of recent core updates and volatility spikes can help you better understand your site’s keywords rankings and explain unusual dips or decreases. You can use free tools, like SEMrush Sensor, to view the keyword volatility for the past 30 days.
New AI Mode: Experimental Feature Launched by Google
Google has launched a new ‘AI Mode’ experimental feature in Google Search that appears to be trying to take on Perplexity AI and OpenAI’s ChatGPT Search. You can ask anything and receive an AI-powered response, and you can even ask follow-up questions. This new feature expands on what AI Overviews offer with more advanced thinking – essential for queries where deeper reasoning is required. It’s currently only available as an opt-in experiment in Labs to US users.
Read more about this new feature on Google Search Help.
Why is This Important?
Google is putting more and more of a focus on AI, and with the expansion of AI Overview and the new AI Mode, there could be a reduction in clicks in organic search results as more people get what they need from AI. It could also result in a change in the way people use search engines, with more a focus on long open ended questions designed to be answered by AI. This shift could be incorporated into future SEO strategies – optimising content for more of these long-tail keywords.
AI More Affordable: AI Costs Have Dropped 280x in 18 Months
AI costs have dropped 280x in 18 months making AI more affordable and accessible to smaller businesses. The price of using GPT-3.5-level AI models has dropped from $20.00 to just $0.07 per million tokens, since late 2022. According to Stanford HAI’s AI Index Report, that’s a 280x reduction in less than two years. Now businesses of all sizes can access AI tools.
Learn more about this on Search Engine Journal.
Why is This Important?
Making AI more affordable means more businesses can assess it, offering an easy way to automate and streamline more marketing tasks. AI models can process huge volumes of data at once, helping analyse a whole website for competitive insights in a short space of time.
Google Expands AI Overviews To 9 News EU Countries
AI Overviews are now available in 9 new countries and 4 new languages:
- Austria (German & English)
- Belgium (English)
- Germany (German & English)
- Ireland (English)
- Italy (Italian & English)
- Poland (Polish & English)
- Portugal (Portuguese & English)
- Spain (Spanish & English)
- Switzerland (French, German & Italian, plus English)
Due to recent expansions, AI Overviews are now available in over 100 countries – a significant increase from when AI Overviews were first introduced in just a select handful of countries.
Learn more about this expansion on The Keyword.
Why is This Important?
It’s clear Google isn’t slowing down on the rollout of AI Overviews, and the search engine remains focused on new AI technologies. Content should be optimised for both search results and AI overviews, following SEO best practices. Often AI overviews appear for long-tail keywords, so these should feature strongly in your SEO strategy to ensure your site features in AI overviews as well as the SERPs.
GPT-4o Image Creation Will Be Available to Everyone
OpenAI has announced that GPT-4o image creation will be available to all users, including those on free plans. The system is designed to maintain consistency across multiple edits and accurately render text within images. Users can naturally refine images through conversation whilst keeping a consistent style.
OpenAI’s announcement reads:
“GPT‑4o image generation excels at accurately rendering text, precisely following prompts, and leveraging 4o’s inherent knowledge base and chat context—including transforming uploaded images or using them as visual inspiration. These capabilities make it easier to create exactly the image you envision, helping you communicate more effectively through visuals and advancing image generation into a practical tool with precision and power.”
Although this new feature will make it much easier for more people to generate AI images, it’s important to understand Google’s stance on AI-generated images in terms of rankings. Back in July 2024, Google lifted the Beta status of the algorithmicMedia metadata specifications, meaning AI images can now be labelled as AI Generated. GPT-4o adds C2PA metadata automatically to maintain transparency, allowing images to be labelled by Google.
Learn more about GPT-4o image creation on the OpenAI website.
Why is This Important?
AI image creation can be a useful way to generate images and infographics quickly and cheaply. However, you should always ensure that you include C2PA metadata (added automatically by ChatGPT) so that the images created can be labelled as AI by Google. It’s also important to remember that AI images might deter some users, especially if they’re obviously AI-generated.
The infographic below was generated through ChatGPT.
Google Merchant Center: New Product Rules
New rules will be rolling out on April 8th and July 1st which affect pricing and listings. Here’s a quick summary of the new rules that came into force on April 8th:
- Sellers are no longer allowed to use the [price] attribute for deposits for installment products. Instead the [downpayment] sub-attribute within the [installment] attribute must be used.
- For EU countries, the energy efficiency class attributes have been replaced with the broader [certification] attribute. Other countries, including the UK, still use the original energy attributes.
- New attributes about delivery details at the product level have been added, including [carrier_shipping]. These new attributes are designed to show more accurate delivery times in ads and listings.
Here are the rules which will be coming into force on July 1st:
- Member prices won’t be allowed to be displayed in the regular [price] or [sale_price] attributes (this includes both paid and free membership programs). Instead the [loyalty_program] attribute should be used.
- US sellers won’t be required to provide tax information through the [tax] and [tax_category] attributes or Merchant Center settings.
Read more about these rule changes on Google Merchant Center Help.
Why is This Important?
You’ll need to ensure that your business is fully compliant with these new rules, otherwise this could lead to offer or account disapprovals.
Google Updates Structured Data Requirements For Return Policies
Google has updated its guidelines for merchant listings – merchants must now specify which country their return policies apply to when using structured data. According to Google Search Console, returnPolicyCountry is now a required field in the MerchantReturnPolicy schema. In the updated documentation, the example given shows how to format return policy information (see screenshot below).
Why is This Important?
You’ll need to ensure your merchant listings comply with these new requirements and include the country your returns policy applies to in the MerchantReturnPolicy schema.
Top Digital Marketing Tools We Recommend
Each month, we recommend some of the best tools the team has used recently.
SEOquake
This free browser extension gives you easy access to a range of SEO metrics and can connect with other SEO tools, including SEMrush. You can access a page SEO Audit, keywords density report and Internal/External link analysis from the extension, while the tool’s SEO Overlay feature shows page specific data directly in the SERPs.
Learn more about SEOquake on their website.
AI Assistance Panel Chrome DevTools
Since October 2024, the AI assistance panel has let you chat directly with Gemini in Chrome DevTools. This is still an experimental feature, but it’s incredibly helpful for gaining a better understanding of a website’s codes and solving styling problems.
Learn more about this feature on Chrome for Developers.
Key Dates for Digital Marketing in April 2025
Keeping an eye on upcoming global events and national holidays can help you create and publish relevant content when there is a spike in interest. Look out for the following key marketing dates in April:
- April 1st – April Fool’s Day
- April 2nd – World Autism Awareness Day
- April 7th – World Health Day
- April 11th – National Pet Day
- April 18th – Good Friday
- April 20th – Easter Sunday
- April 21st – Easter Monday
- April 22nd: Earth Day
Stay Up To Date with Wildcat Digital
Here at Wildcat Digital, we keep our finger on the pulse of SEO, PPC and the wider world of digital marketing. Our team have a passion for delivering outstanding SEO services, helping businesses punch above their weight online. Get in touch today to arrange a free consultation.
Catch up with the last few months’ news updates here:
Kezia Humphries
SEO Executive
