🔥 SEO Shake-Up: When Links Actually Matter, ChatGPT's Traffic Secrets & 2025's Social Media Winners | HighDegree*
New data from 1M SERPs, 80M ChatGPT clicks, and 125M social posts reveals what’s working now—and what’s dying.
Hi friends,
Welcome to the new issue of HighDegree*: Cutting Through the Noise in SEO & Digital Marketing
This week, we’re diving into the real stories behind the headlines. Forget the hype—we’ve got hard data on Google’s shifting link priorities, ChatGPT’s growing influence on traffic, and the platforms that will dominate social media in 2025.
Let’s get tactical.
➞ In this Week
“Links Matter Less” – But Here’s When They Still Crush It
ChatGPT’s Stealthy Search Revolution: 80M Clicks Analyzed
7 Deadly Sins of AI in SEO (And How to Fix Them)
AI Chatbot Traffic: The Hidden Conversion Goldmine
2025 Social Media Benchmarks: TikTok’s Reign & Instagram’s Slide
Update from Google
New on AI + Social Media
Worth reading resources (Handpicked)
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➞ “Links Matter Less” – But Here’s When They Still Crush It
Google claims links are fading in importance, but a study of 1 million SERPs tells a more nuanced story. Key takeaways:
High-volume queries: Links correlate 2.5x stronger for competitive terms.
Local SEO: Links matter 33% more for “near me” searches (think plumbers, not pizza).
Informational content: Backlinks boost rankings here more than commercial queries.
The kicker? Disavowing links still tanks traffic. Read the full study from Ahrefs blog.
Action item: Prioritize links for local businesses and high-volume niches—but diversify your strategy elsewhere.
➞ ChatGPT’s Stealthy Search Revolution: 80M Clicks Analyzed
ChatGPT isn’t just for homework help anymore. Semrush analysis of 80 million clickstream records shows:
Traffic shifts: Education and tech sites get 14x more referrals from ChatGPT than Google.
Query behavior: 70% of ChatGPT prompts defy traditional search intent (think “Brainstorm startup ideas” vs. “Best CRM software”).
Demographics: Users skew young, male, and student-heavy—gold for edtech and SaaS brands.
Pro tip: Optimize for “creation-first” content (templates, frameworks) to align with ChatGPT’s exploratory users.
Read the full study from Semrush's blog.
➞ 7 Deadly Sins of AI in SEO (And How to Fix Them)
Using AI for SEO? Avoid these traps:
🤖 Over-automating content: Tools like ChatGPT churn out robotic text. Fix: Edit for brand voice.
🔍 Ignoring user intent: AI misses the “why” behind searches. Fix: Map content to intent stages.
📉 Forgetting updates: AI content rots fast. Fix: Audit monthly with AI gap detectors.
Key insight: AI + human edits = 28% higher engagement than pure automation. Read the full blog from Marketricka blog.
➞ AI Chatbot Traffic: The Hidden Conversion Goldmine
A study of 7 million sessions reveals:
ChatGPT referrals stay 2.3 minutes longer per session than Google visitors.
Homepage dominance: 30% of ChatGPT traffic lands on homepages (vs. 10% from Google).
Ecommerce wins: Amazon, eBay, and Walmart dominate AI referrals—but niche brands see 22% faster growth.
Takeaway: Optimize homepages for exploratory queries (“Best X for Y”) to capture AI-driven visitors. Read the full study from Searchenginejournal blog.
➞ 2025 Social Media Benchmarks: TikTok’s Reign & Instagram’s Slide
After analyzing 125 million posts Social Insider found:
TikTok engagement holds at 2.5% (Instagram dropped 28% to 0.5%).
Comments surge: TikTok averages 66/post (Instagram: 24).
Posting sweet spots: 5x/week on Instagram, 2x/week on TikTok.
Critical shift: Silent scrolling is up. Winning tactic: Use Instagram Stories’ poll stickers to force interaction. Read the full report from Social Insider blog.
➞ Your Next Move
This isn’t about chasing trends—it’s about leverage. Double down on links for local SEO, structure content for ChatGPT’s “unknown intent” queries, and rework homepages for AI referrals. On social? Go all-in on TikTok… but prep a YouTube Shorts exit strategy.
➞ From Google
Everything from Google search this week —
- Google published a new documentation titled, Using Search Console and Google Analytics data for SEO. Worth following, if you going hard on Google Analytics and Search Console.
- Google updates search quality raters guidelines with a focus on spam.
- Evidence surfaces indicating that Google detects AI-generated content within a specific context for search quality.
➞ AI + Social
Find out what’s happening in the social media and artificial intelligence world —
- TikTok is back on US app stores after a fast ban.
- Pinterest is the silent killer. I can’t believe this.
- Here’s how the Instagram algorithm works.
- After OpenAI unveils a new ChatGPT agent for ‘deep research’, Perplexity introduces its own “Deep Research” feature. But the real catch is, while OpenAI’s one is pro, the Perplexity feature is for all for free! Are you using these?
- Checkout OpenAI operator in action. And here too.
- Remember Grok? Maybe there’s not enough hype for Elon Musk’s AI, but I find it very helpful. You can use it if you have an X/Twitter account. You will soon be able to personalize Grok.
- LinkedIn going all in video. The social network says video uploads jumped by 36% compared to last year, while video creation on the platform itself grew 100%.
- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared a roadmap with some details about GPT-4.5 and GPT-5.
- How the LinkedIn algorithm works in 2025.
- Meta introduces ads in Threads, which has now 300 million monthly active users.
- How can we not talk about Deepseek, which takes the AI world by storm? Surely put Meta in panic mode. Ironically OpenAI is going for for profit, and Deepseek came out as open source. Many thinking about how Deepseek going to make money. Its image generates DeepSeek Janus Pro 1B (Generate Images, Chat with PDF) can run in your browser, 100% local, powered by WebGPU!
- Here’s SEO’s automating anything with Deepseek. And another SEO case.
➞ Worth Reading
These are the articles that will help you refine your marketing knowledge —
- “Just give me the f***ing links!”—Cursing disables Google’s AI overviews (searchengineland.com)
- How People Search Today: A Study on Evolving Search Behaviors in 2025 (highervisibility.com)
- 63% of Websites Receive AI Traffic (New Study of 3,000 Sites) (Ahrefs.com)
- Audience Research: The Complete Guide for Marketers in 2025 (sparktoro.com)
- YouTube citations in Google AI Overviews surge 25%. (searchengineland.com)
- Can Reddit Links Impact Google Rankings? (sterlingsky.ca)
That’s a wrap for this week! Whether you’re chasing links, cracking AI’s code, or reinventing your social strategy, remember: small tweaks today lead to big wins tomorrow. Stay curious, test often, and we’ll see you in the next issue.
Until then, keep optimizing smarter—not harder. ✌️
— Nishat
P.S. Forward this to a friend who’s still optimizing for 2023’s Google. They’ll thank you later.
➞ Who is Nishat Shahriyar?
I am a Digital Marketing Strategist, doing this since 2007. Now working as a Product Marketing Lead at Fluent Forms (The best lead generation tool for WordPress), Previously at Fluent Support (The best WordPress Helpdesk Plugin).
Connect with me, if you are not connected through my LinkedIn or Follow me on — X/Twitter - @rednishat