SEO Pulse: Rank-Tracking Volatility, ChatGPT Tags and AI Search Links

SEO teams may be looking at distorted signals in both rank-tracking and referral reports. Nozzle found that some Google results pages temporarily lost most of the sites that usually appeared for their keywords, while analysts linked a sharp fall in ChatGPT-attributed visits to missing tracking tags rather than a confirmed loss of traffic.

At the same time, Google is changing how links and publisher information appear in AI Mode and AI Overviews. The developments matter to search marketers assessing ranking changes, measuring AI referrals and tracking how their pages appear in Google’s generative search features.

Check ranking drops against other signals

From Sept. 13 to Oct. 9, 8.0% of the 17.8 million Google results pages Nozzle checked were missing most of the sites that usually ranked for those keywords; the sites returned in later checks. Nozzle’s earlier comparison period, Aug. 20 to Sept. 9, had a rate of 0.17%. The share peaked at about a quarter of pages from Sept. 27 to 29 and ran at roughly 5% to 11% a day after Oct. 1.

Nozzle calls the pages “poisoned” and attributes the pattern to Google’s response to AI scraping. Google did not provide a statement in the analysis. On affected pages where a customer’s site would usually rank, that site was absent from the top 10 in 58.6% of cases, versus 2.7% in the baseline. Nozzle advises checking the usual page-one results and comparing a ranking drop with Search Console impressions and clicks before treating it as a real decline.

ChatGPT referral reporting also needs context. Graphite CEO Ethan Smith said sites it tracked saw an approximate 45% drop in ChatGPT sessions with meaningful AI Assistant Channel traffic in Google Analytics 4. He said visits without the utm_source=chatgpt.com tag could instead appear as “Direct.” Adobe’s Cedric Huesler said OpenAI confirmed a known bug to him on Oct. 14 and began deploying a fix the next day. Huesler reported that tagged clicks returned to roughly 95% to 100% of the same hour in the prior week by about 9 a.m. PT on Oct. 15. The affected window was Oct. 8 to 15; OpenAI’s release notes did not mention the bug or fix.

Google adjusts links in AI results

Google is showing inline links higher in AI Mode and AI Overviews more often and plans to test a section at the top of some responses linking to official pages for specific tasks. The company is also expanding carousels for timely articles that highlight users’ Preferred Sources, but it has not named the locations or languages involved. Google has started testing creator and publisher names on AI Mode video results, linking those names to Search profiles.

A higher inline link does not by itself change its reported position in Search Console: Google assigns each link in an AI Overview the position of the overview as a whole. Sites must be included in Search generative AI features in Search Console to qualify as a Preferred Source, according to Google’s documentation. Users who select a site as a Preferred Source may see it highlighted in more carousels as those placements expand.

This report draws on information from Search Engine Journal.