Howdy folks, I’m Dan O, senior search strategist here at Overit Media, and this is the Overit SEO Brief. This brief is for Q4 2025 and as we head into 2026, we’re going to cover some recent news and updates in the world of search, and make some predictions for the coming year. 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 1: Google Chrome Browser To Warn Users Loading Non-Secure Websites
Setup:
Google recently announced that starting in 2026, their market leading Chrome browser will default to its “Always Use Secure Connections” function, warning users when they are attempting to visit a non-secure HTTP website, rather than a secure one. This is going to roll out in phases, starting with Chrome users who use Enhanced Safe Browsing around April 2026, and fully rolling out to all Chrome users around October 2026.
The Reveal:
Chrome has previously alerted users when websites loaded in the browser were not secure, but these new warnings will be more visible and include information about the risks posed by connecting to non-secure websites. Industry data shows that there was a rapid growth in the adoption of the more secure HTTPS protocol starting around 2015 and a decade later, 95% to 99% of websites visited by Chrome users are on the HTTPS protocol across all the major operating systems, including Windows, Android, iOS and Linux. But adoption has effectively plateaued and that remaining 1% to 5% of websites are still holdouts, so the increased warning levels from Chrome could pose a traffic risk to them in particular.
Takeaway:
If your website is still on the older and non-secure HTTP protocol, we’ll be frank. You should have updated it years ago. But it’s never too late and a switch from HTTP to HTTPS is easy and seamless, with no other impacts or changes to the actual content on your website. If you need some assistance or advice in updating to the HTTPS standard, you can always contact us here at Overit. We’d be happy to help.
Topic 2: Google Search Console Adds Query Groupings
Setup:
Google also recently announced that their Google Search Console platform will soon include Query Groupings as part of their datasets. If you’re not already familiar with it, Search Console is a completely free Google product that provides organic search data for your website and is one of the few places where website stakeholders can find traffic data tied to individual queries – the keywords and phrases that search engine users look for before finding your website in Google search results.
The Reveal:
While some of the traffic data is redacted, Query level data is very useful in understanding the types of keywords that your website has visibility for in search results and more critically, which ones are actually getting clicked on and driving traffic. However, it’s always been presented as an unorganized list of individual queries, which can get quite long if your website sees a lot of organic search traffic. With the new Query Groupings, though, Google will automatically categorize similar or related queries by broader topics and categories. This is something that many SEOs have either done by hand or developed automated approaches to grouping them in meaningful ways. Now, Google will do that automatically within the Search Console Query report, a useful addition and timesaver when it comes to reporting and analysis.
The Takeaway:
Google announced that Query Groupings will roll out in the coming weeks, with a new card for it the Search Console Insights report. Websites will need to have enough impressions and clicks across a large enough range of queries for them to get grouped, so smaller websites may not immediately see query groupings. We’ll keep our eyes out for this on our end, but if you have any questions about Query Grouping or Search Console in general, you can always reach out to us at Overit.
Topic 3: Google and Microsoft Report Record Earnings on AI Growth
Setup:
And in our final topic, both Google and Microsoft reported record Quarterly earnings within their most recent investor reports. Google reported 16% revenue growth YoY for Q3 2025, reaching 100 billion dollars in revenue for the first time ever. Similarly, Microsoft reported a record 77 billion in revenue for their Q1 2026, up 18% YoY vs the prior year.
The Reveal:
According to the investor reports from both companies, their revenue growth for both companies was fueled primarily by increased search engine usage and integration of AI into their offerings. In addition to AI Overviews and AI Mode, Google now offers Gemini as a dedicated AI platform and Microsoft has seen robust adoption of its CoPilot product among Bing and Windows users.
The Takeaway:
When Open AI released ChatGPT and other offerings like Perplexity hit the market, the initial speculation was that the old-guard technology companies might start to lose some of their market share to these newer upstarts. And while these newer companies have grown impressively over the last few years, it’s clear with these latest earning reports that the established stalwarts in Silicon Valley aren’t going anywhere and they’re generating more revenue than ever. It’s still a dynamic market and no one AI company has really begun to dominate, but it’s also still a very young and new technology. We’ll continue to monitor the landscape and report any meaningful shifts in future briefs.
Predictions for 2026:
Setup:
And now, to close out 2025, we’re going to make a bold prediction for 2026. Overit predicts that next year, one of the major AI companies either folds up shop or merges with another company. That’s right – we’re predicting one of the major players either closes up shop or throws their lot in with a previous competitor.
Reveal:
What leads us to believe? Well, money. The costs to scale out LLMs to consumer markets are very high and not every company has the built-in advantages for generating revenue that Google and Microsoft have. Eventually, investors are going to require profitability or a clear pathway to it. And mergers and acquisitions are common ways to get there. Besides the huge technology and infrastructure costs, all of these companies are also competing for the smartest engineers and brain power, and the right merger or two could bring some of the brightest minds under the same tent.
Takeaway:
We won’t speculate as to which companies might make this move, but with the marketplace as crowded as it is right now, and the costly economics of AI infrastructure, we predict that history will mirror earlier technology shifts and at least one or two of the companies either merges with another competitor or simply goes the way of the dodo. We’ll just have to see in the coming months.
Ok that’s it for this Brief. We hope that helps and we’ll see you in 2026. Bye folks!