SerpAPI said it will “vigorously defend” itself after being sued by Reddit for allegedly scraping and reselling data from the platform via Google Search results.

The response. SerpAPI called Reddit’s language “inflammatory” and said it was “extremely disappointed” to learn of the lawsuit without prior communication.

• “Our work is guided by a simple principle: public search data should be accessible,” the company said.
• SerpAPI argued its position is backed by the First Amendment and called Reddit’s actions a threat to “the free and open Web we all enjoy.”

What they’re saying. According to SerpApi:

• “For eight years, SerpApi has operated transparently and lawfully, helping countless developers, researchers, and businesses build on top of publicly available search data. Our technology is used across multiple industries, from SEO, marketing, and advertising to copyright verification, background checks, news monitoring, and now AI. Our work is guided by a simple principle: public search data should be accessible. And accessibility cannot exist without clean unified data structures, speed, and automation possibilities.”

Catch up quick. Reddit sued SerpAPI, Perplexity, Oxylabs, and AWMProxy last week, claiming they scraped Reddit content from Google results “at an industrial scale” and hid their identities to bypass restrictions. Reddit:

• Claimed it set a “trap” for Perplexity to prove scraping.
• Is seeking financial damages and a ban on further data use.

Zoom out. Reddit licenses its data to OpenAI and Google. Meanwhile, Google and Reddit are reportedly exploring a deeper AI partnership that could bring Reddit discussions directly into AI Overviews and other Google experiences.

Why we care. This fight isn’t just about data – it’s about control. The big tech platforms are battling over who owns the information that powers search results and AI-generated answers, while brands struggle to understand what’s driving rankings, visibility, and attribution.

SerpApi’s statement. Our Response to Reddit, Inc. v. SerpApi, LLC: Defending the First Amendment

Google DeepMind researchers have developed BlockRank, a new method for ranking and retrieving information more efficiently in large language models (LLMs).

• BlockRank is detailed in a new research paper, Scalable In-Context Ranking with Generative Models.
• BlockRank is designed to solve a challenge called In-context Ranking (ICR), or the process of having a model read a query and multiple documents at once to decide which ones matter most.
• As far as we know, BlockRank is not being used by Google (e.g., Search, Gemini, AI Mode, AI Overviews) right now – but it could be used at some point in the future.

What BlockRank changes. ICR is expensive and slow. Models use a process called “attention,” where every word compares itself to every other word. Ranking hundreds of documents at once gets exponentially harder for LLMs.

How BlockRank works. BlockRank restructures how an LLM “pays attention” to text. Instead of every document attending to every other document, each one focuses only on itself and the shared instructions.

• The model’s query section has access to all the documents, allowing it to compare them and decide which one best answers the question.
• This transforms the model’s attention cost from quadratic (very slow) to linear (much faster) growth.

By the numbers. In experiments using Mistral-7B, Google’s team found that BlockRank:

• Ran 4.7× faster than standard fine-tuned models when ranking 100 documents.
• Scaled smoothly to 500 documents (about 100,000 tokens) in roughly one second.
• Matched or beat leading listwise rankers like RankZephyr and FIRST on benchmarks such as MSMARCO, Natural Questions (NQ), and BEIR.

Why we care. BlockRank could change how future AI-driven retrieval and ranking systems work to reward user intent, clarity, and relevance. That means (in theory) clear, focused content that aligns with why a person is searching (not just what they type) should increasingly win.

What’s next. Google/DeepMind researchers are continuing to redefine what it means to “rank” information in the age of generative AI. The future of search is advancing fast – and it’s fascinating to watch it evolve in real time.

Every year, Search Engine Land is delighted to celebrate the best of search marketing by rewarding the agencies, in-house teams, and individuals worldwide for delivering exceptional results.

Today, I’m excited to announce all 18 winners of the 11th annual Search Engine Land Awards.

The 2025 Search Engine Land Awards winners

Best Use Of AI Technology In Search Marketing

• 15x ROAS with AI: How CAMP Digital Redefined Paid Search for Home Services

Best Overall PPC Initiative – Small Business

• Anchor Rides – Post-Hurricane PPC Comeback (AIMCLEAR)

Best Overall PPC Initiative – Enterprise

• ATRA & Jason Stone Injury Lawyers – Leveraging CRM Data to Scale Case Volume

Best Commerce Search Marketing Initiative – PPC

• Adwise & Azerty – 126% uplift in profit from paid advertising & 1 percent point net margin business uplift by advanced cross-channel bucketing

Best Local Search Marketing Initiative – PPC

• How We Crushed Belron’s Lead Target by 238% With an AI-Powered Local Strategy (Adviso)

Best B2B Search Marketing Initiative – PPC

• Blackbird PPC and Customer.io: Advanced Data Integration to Drive 239% Revenue Increase with 12% Greater Lead Efficiency, with MMM Future-Proofing 2025 Growth

Best Integration Of Search Into Omnichannel Marketing

• How NBC used search to drive +2,573 accounts in a Full-Funnel Media Push (Adviso)

Best Overall SEO Initiative – Small Business

• Digital Hitmen & Elite Tune: The Toyota Shift That Delivered 678% SEO ROI

Best Overall SEO Initiative – Enterprise

• 825 Million Clicks, Zero Content Edits: How Amsive Engineered MSN’s Technical SEO Turnaround

Best Commerce Search Marketing Initiative – SEO

• Scaling Non-Branded SEO for Assouline to Drive +26% Organic Revenue Uplift (Block & Tam)

Best Local Search Marketing Initiative – SEO

• Building an Unbeatable Foundation for Success: Using Hyperlocal SEO to Build Exceptional ROI (Digital Hitmen)

Best B2B Search Marketing Initiative – SEO

• Page One, Pipeline Won: The B2B SEO Playbook That Turned 320 Visitors into $10.75M in Pipeline (LeadCoverage)

Agency Of The Year – PPC

• Driving Growth Where Search Happens: Stella Rising’s Paid Search Transformation

Agency Of The Year – SEO

• How Amsive Rescued MSN’s Global Visibility Through Enterprise Technical SEO at Scale

In-House Team Of The Year – SEO

• How the American Cancer Society’s Lean SEO Team Drove Enterprise-Wide Consolidation and AI Search Visibility Gains for Cancer.org

Search Marketer Of The Year

• Mike King, founder and CEO of iPullRank

Small Agency Of The Year – PPC

• ATRA & Jason Stone Injury Lawyers – Leveraging CRM Data to Scale Case Volume

Small Agency Of The Year – SEO

• From Zero to Top of the Leaderboard: Bloom Digital Drives Big Growth With Small SEO Budgets

“I’m going to SMX Next!”

Select winners of the 2025 Search Engine Land Awards will be invited to speak live at SMX Next during our two ask-me-anything-style sessions. Bring your burning SEO and PPC questions to ask this award-winning panel of search marketers!

Register here for SMX Next (it’s free) if you haven’t yet.

Congrats again to all the winners. And huge thank yous to everyone who entered the 2025 Search Engine Land Awards, the finalists, and our fantastic panel of judges for this year’s awards.

Nearly 90% of businesses are worried about losing organic visibility as AI transforms how people find information, according to a new survey by Ann Smarty.

Why we care. The shift from search results to AI-generated answers seems to be happening faster than many expected, threatening the foundation of how companies are found online and drive sales. AI is changing the customer journey and forcing an SEO evolution.

By the numbers. Most prefer to keep the “SEO” label – with “SEO for AI” (49%) and “GEO” (41%) emerging as leading terms for this new discipline.

• 87.8% of businesses said they’re worried about their online findability in the AI era.
• 85.7% are already investing or plan to invest in AI/LLM optimization.
• 61.2% plan to increase their SEO budgets due to AI.

Brand over clicks. Three in four businesses (75.5%) said their top priority is brand visibility in AI-generated answers – even when there’s no link back to their site.

• Just 14.3% prioritize being cited as a source (which could drive traffic).
• A small group said they need both.

Top concerns. “Not being able to get my business found online” ranked as the biggest fear, followed by the total loss of organic search and loss of traffic attribution.

About the survey. Smarty surveyed 300+ in-house marketers and business owners, mostly from medium and enterprise companies, with nearly half representing ecommerce brands.

Yes, but. While AI search is booming, multiple studies suggest that ChatGPT and LLM referrals convert worse than Google Search – and AI systems won’t have parity with organic search within the next year.

The survey. SEO for AI (GEO) Statistics: 90% of Businesses Are Worried About the Future of SEO and Organic Findability Due to AI / LLMs

ChatGPT referral traffic converts worse than Google search, email and affiliate links, trailing on both conversion rate and revenue per session, according to a new analysis of 973 ecommerce sites.

Why we care. AI search platforms are starting to refer meaningful traffic to retailers – but not yet sales. For now, Google (paid organic) search still wins on conversion and revenue per session.

By the numbers. The dataset consisted of 12 months (Augusut 2024 to July 2025), 973 ecommerce sites, and $20 billion combined revenue.

• ChatGPT referral traffic was ~0.2% of total sessions – ~200× smaller than Google organic.
• >90% of LLM-originating ecommerce traffic came from ChatGPT (Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, etc., are were negligible).
• Affiliate (+86%) and organic search (+13%) conversion rates were higher than ChatGPT; only paid social converted worse than ChatGPT.
• ChatGPT trailed paid and organic search on revenue per session, but beat paid social.
• ChatGPT referrals had lower bounce rates than most channels, but organic/paid search was still best on bounce rate. Session depth was generally lower than most channels.

Trendline. Conversion rate and revenue per session from ChatGPT improved, while average order value declined.

• Model projections suggested continued gains but no parity with organic search within the next year.

Between the lines. Authors suggested early-stage friction – trust and verification behavior – may push shoppers to confirm elsewhere before buying, shifting last-click credit to traditional channels.

Yes, but. Findings reflect last-click attribution and an emerging channel. If ChatGPT (and other LLMs) reshape customer journeys or make it easier to buy directly, its impact on sales could become more visible in the data.

Bottom line. Despite the hype, the data suggests AI assistants haven’t disrupted Google Search – and won’t at least in the next year. However, the trajectory for AI assistants is up and to the right. Now is the time to test, learn, and iterate to be ready when LLM shopping matures.

About the research. The study analyzed 12 months of first-party Google Analytics data from 973 ecommerce websites generating $20 billion in combined revenue. Researchers compared more than 50,000 ChatGPT-driven transactions with 164 million from traditional digital channels, using regression models that accounted for data sparsity, site effects, and device differences to evaluate conversion, order value, and engagement metrics.

Recent studies echo the same pattern. LLM traffic may be rising, but it’s weaker on engagement and conversion.

• A SALT.agency analysis found organic search visitors were more likely to engage or complete key actions across most sectors, with LLMs performing better only in a few niches like health and careers.
• Another study by Amsive showed no significant conversion difference between LLM and organic traffic, and that LLM referrals made up less than 1% of total sessions.
• All of this research points to a consistent takeaway: AI-driven referrals are growing, but still lag traditional search in both scale and purchase intent.

The working paper. ChatGPT Referrals to E-Commerce Websites: Do LLMs Outperform Traditional Channels?

Dig deeper:

• ChatGPT Shopping is here – and it’s changing ecommerce SEO rules
• Optimizing for ChatGPT Shopping: How product feeds power GEO