Howdy folks. I’m Dano Senior search strategist here at Overt Media, and this is the overt SEO brief. This brief is for Q3 2025, and we’ll dive into some of the top stories in search since our last brief. As always, if you like what you see, be sure to sign up for updates or follow us on our social channels. Alright, let’s get started. Topic one, Google consolidates multiple local business trust badges into Google verified in local SEO News. Google recently announced that starting in October, they will replace multiple trust badges used for local service ads with a singular and unified badge they call Google Verified. Previously local service ads could feature a pretty wide range of different trust badges, including Google screened, Google guaranteed licensed verified by Google and money back guaranteed. After feedback from both advertisers and consumers, Google determined that search users didn’t necessarily understand how one differed from another, or which one offered greater peace of mind to a local business customer.
Starting in October, all of those former trust badges will be sunset and made much simpler. Your business will either be Google verified or not. The changes will also include greater transparency for the consumer. Users will be able to click or hover on the Google verified badge and see the exact types of checks performed by Google for the business. If your business is already running LSAs, you may not need to do anything, but we’d recommend that you recheck your licensing, insurance background checks, and all the supporting documentation before October. If anything is out of date, make sure you get that squared away before the update to ensure your verification status remains intact. If you’re new to LSAs or just want some extra eyes on your campaigns, you can always contact us here at over it. Topic two, Google avoids monopoly breakup but barred from exclusive search deals.
In previous SEO briefs, we’ve covered multiple antitrust lawsuits and cases brought against Google by both state and federal authorities. In an update to one of their cases brought forth by the US Justice Department, Google narrowly avoided a court imposed breakup of their Chrome and Android offerings, but can no longer enter into or force exclusive search deals that unfairly advantaged Google products. Judge Amit Meda had previously ruled that Google had indeed engaged in monopolistic business practices in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act, and with this remedies ruling, he indicated that Google can no longer enter into or force exclusive search deals with phone manufacturers and other vendors that require the distribution of Android Chrome search, Google Assistant, or Gemini. As part of other licensing or revenue sharing arrangements, Google will still be able to offer payment or revenue sharing for placement with outside vendors, but will no longer be able to force full exclusivity that locks out competition.
Additionally, Google must also improve transparency and start sharing limited search data with qualified competitors as well as offering search and syndication and other services at standardized rates to competitors. Google announced they will appeal the decision, which will likely impact the timeline for implementation, but long-term this should foster a more competitive and dynamic online advertising market, which lowers costs and improves outcomes for advertisers. We will continue to monitor this story and update you as we learn more. Topic three, Google AI mode expands AI capabilities to ag agentic booking and personalization, and finally, in some AI related news, Google expanded capabilities within their recently introduced AI mode to offer Agentic booking in prior briefs. We’ve covered some of the recent changes to Google search, like AI overviews and the aforementioned AI mode. When these features first rolled out, they were generally limited to informational content and topical summaries with new agentic features.
However, Google is expanding from mere answer generation to facilitating specific task completion. The first rollout is just for Google Lab enrollees with an AI Ultra subscription and will allow users to find dining reservations and will soon expand to local service appointments and live event tickets. Powered by the live browsing capabilities of Project Mariner AI mode will let users provide detailed criteria for dining options such as a party of three for lunch with outdoor dining and vegan options. Opt-in personalization options will allow for tailored recommendations and new restaurant discovery. Based on your preferences and prior searches, Google mentioned a range of partner integrations including OpenTable, resi, Booksy, Ticketmaster, StubHub, and SeatGeek. As mentioned earlier, this will only be available to AI Ultra subscribers, but we expect it will expand to a larger pool of users within the near future. We’ll provide updates as we learn more. Okay, that’s it for this brief. We hope that helps and we’ll see you next quarter. Bye folks.