🐹 Hamsterdam Part 98: Weekly SEO & AI News Recap (5/10 to 5/16, 2025)
By Ethan Lazuk
Last updated:
A weekly look-back at SEO & AI news, tips, and other content shared on social media & beyond.
Opening notes, thoughts, and musings:
- Welcome to another new week of Hamsterdam! 🐹
- I appreciate you being here, and look forward to sharing the week’s news! 🙌
- Who else is looking forward to Google I/O?
If you’re in a rush, hop down to the news portion. 📰
Or continue reading for two vocabulary lessons plus an introduction.
And we’re off …
🧑💻 Marketing word of the week: “Gated content”
Gated content is online material that people can only access after giving something in return, usually their contact information (like an email address). Gated content can be an eBook, whitepaper, case studies, video, etc.
It’s considered to be “gated” because there’s a barrier (like a form to fill in) that must be completed to get through and access the information.
Why do businesses use gated content? It’s to collect leads and build a list of potential customers. For instance, a company might offer a free guide to SEO, but you have to sign up with your name and email to download it. This helps the company grow its audience while offering something valuable in return.
🤖 AI word of the week: “Grounding”
In the context of AI and LLMs, grounding refers to making sure the AI’s answers are based on real-world facts or reliable sources (like websites), rather than just generating something that sounds correct based on training data alone.
LLMs are trained on huge amounts of text and can sometimes hallucinate, or make things up. Grounding helps reduce that concern by connecting the AI to trusted data, documents, or tools so that its responses are accurate and trustworthy.
To give an analogy, grounding in AI is like making sure a student checks their work with a textbook instead of guessing based on their knowledge alone.
😄 Introduction to week 98: “New blood”
For all the enthusiasm around generative AI and its possibilities for the SEO profession — hello real marketing challenges — we’d be remiss to not add that there’s some anxiety as well.
We all see the impacts AIOs are having on traffic, let alone the impacts AI Mode may have if it rolls out next week.
Yet with all that happening, there are still people interested in joining the SEO field.
I work with a content editor who recently expressed interest in becoming an SEO professional.
It’s encouraging to see that, even amidst somewhat uncertain times, there is still an interest in SEO as a profession.
Cheers to the newcomers!
Thank you for supporting Hamsterdam and the cause of SEO & AI learning. 🙏
Enjoy the vibes:
Missed last week? Don’t worry, I got you! Read Part 97 to catch up.
🌟 Other great sources of weekly SEO news:
- The SEO Weekly – Garret Sussman, iPullRank
- SEOFOMO – Aleyda Solis
- Weekly Video Recaps – Barry Schwartz, SER
- Weekly SEO News YouTube channel – Olga Zarr, Seosly
- Niche Surfer – Yoyao Hsueh
Time for our weekly review of SEO social posts, articles, & more …
Now, let’s step inside the white flags of Hamsterdam …
⏩ Jump to a section:
- News, Google updates, & SERP tests
- SEO tips & tidbits
- Fundamentals & resources
- Articles, videos & case studies
- Local SEO
- Technical SEO
- Content marketing
- Local SEO
- Data analysis & reporting
- AI, LLMS, & machine learning
- Miscellaneous & general posts
- Older stuff that’s good!
Or keep scrolling to see it all. ⏬
📰 SEO news, Google updates, SERP tests & notable posts
Notable updates or news related to Google Search or related SEO topics.
🍟 SEO tips & tidbits
Actionable tips, cool tidbits, and other snackable findings and observations that can be teaching moments.
Essential information, concepts, or resources to learn about SEO or AI.
Longer-form content pieces shared on social, in newsletters, and elsewhere.
🧑💻 Technical SEO
Everything from basics to advanced moves (and also tools).
✍️ Content marketing
From what is helpful content to user journeys and beyond.
📍 Local SEO
From Google Business Profiles to reviews and more!
📊 Data analysis & reporting
Showing that what you’re doing is helping.
🤖 AI, machine learning, & LLMs
News related to models, papers, and companies.
🤔 General marketing & miscellaneous
This is for great content that isn’t necessarily SEO or marketing-specific. PPC, PR, dev, design, and social friends, check it out!
💎 Older stuff that’s good!
Not everything I find worth sharing is new as of this week, so these are gems I came across published in the past.
Great job making it to the end. You rock! 🪨
Let’s connect!
Hit me up anytime via text or call at 813-557-9745 or on social or email:
Cheers! ✌️
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