September 2025 was a weird one. Honestly, if you took a week off from the industry, you probably came back feeling like you’d missed a decade of evolution. Between Google basically breaking every rank tracker on the planet and TikTok deciding it’s actually a search engine now, the "business as usual" vibe is officially dead.
We’ve moved past the "AI is coming" phase. Now, we're in the "AI is here and it’s kinda messy" phase. If you've been watching your Google Search Console lately and wondering why your impressions look like a heart rate monitor, you aren't alone. Let's get into what actually went down.
Google’s September "Perspective" Update and the Death of Rank Tracking
The biggest piece of digital marketing news September 2025 brought us was arguably the "Perspective" update. Google is no longer just looking for keywords; it's hunting for humanity.
For years, we’ve played this game where we write for robots. We used to think that a "Top 10" list was the peak of SEO. Not anymore. Google's new algorithm is actively demoting what people are calling "hollow content"—those generic articles that just summarize what’s already on the internet without adding anything new.
💡 You might also like: Kershner Trading Group Austin: Why This Prop Firm Still Matters
The &num=100 Disaster
Mid-month, Google quietly did something that sent the SEO community into a full-blown panic. They essentially killed the &num=100 URL parameter. For the uninitiated, this was the backdoor that rank-tracking tools used to see the top 100 results at once.
Now? Google is capping results or ignoring the request.
The result:
- Your favorite SEO tools are "hallucinating" drops in rank that aren't actually happening.
- Visibility into positions 11–100 has become a fog.
- Reporting looks like a disaster zone, even if your traffic is fine.
Basically, Google is forcing us to stop obsessing over daily rank fluctuations and start looking at actual user journey completion. They want to see if a user finds an answer on your page or if they bounce back to search again. If they bounce, you lose. It’s that simple.
TikTok is the New Google (For Real This Time)
We’ve been joking about TikTok being a search engine for years. In September 2025, it stopped being a joke. TikTok’s search ads are now delivering a reported 2x purchase lift compared to standard in-feed ads.
People aren't just scrolling; they're searching for "how to fix a leaky faucet" or "best CRM for small business." TikTok responded this month by testing a five-hashtag cap. It’s a move designed to kill spam and force creators to rely on actual content relevance.
If you're still stuffing 30 hashtags into your captions, stop. It makes you look like a bot.
The Rise of "Preferred Sources"
This is a sleeper hit in the latest digital marketing news September 2025 cycle. Google launched a feature called "Preferred Sources" in the U.S. and India. It lets users literally pick which publishers they want to see more often in their feeds.
Think about the implications for a second.
Visibility is no longer just about who has the best backlinks. It’s about who has the best relationship. If your readers don't hit that "prefer" button, you could be ranking #1 and still get buried by a competitor who actually built a brand.
This is the "Brand Trust Era."
You've got to give people a reason to want to see you again. Whether that's through a unique voice or proprietary data that nobody else has, "generic" is the fastest way to become invisible.
Social Media’s Identity Crisis
Meta had a busy month, and it wasn't all good.
While they launched "Shots"—a photo-sharing feature on Instagram meant to feel "spontaneous" (basically a BeReal clone, let’s be real)—they also killed off Community Chats on Facebook.
Threads is Actually Growing
Interestingly, Threads is finally becoming a "thing" for B2B. Meta rolled out carousel ads for Threads this month and, get this, you don't even need a Threads account to run them. You can just use your existing Instagram or Facebook posts.
Current data shows 3 out of 4 Threads users follow at least one business. It’s a "positive" space compared to the chaos of X (formerly Twitter), and advertisers are starting to chase that "brand safe" vibe.
AI is Citing People, Not Wikipedia
One of the most surprising stats from September is that AI tools—specifically ChatGPT and Perplexity—are now citing Reddit more than Wikipedia in many categories.
Reddit citations are up nearly 90% since the summer.
Why? Because LLMs are hungry for "human" opinions. They don't want the dry, encyclopedic entry; they want the guy in r/HomeImprovement explaining why a specific brand of drill bit actually snaps after three uses.
If your brand isn't being talked about in niche communities, you aren't going to show up in the AI-driven "Answer Engines" of 2026.
Actionable Steps for Your Strategy
Forget the fluff. Here is what you actually need to do to survive the fallout of this month's updates:
- Audit for "Experience": Go through your top 10 pages. If you haven't included personal testing, original photos, or unique data, rewrite them. Add a "Why you should trust us" section that actually proves you’ve used the product or service.
- Optimize for AI Citations: Use structured data (Schema) and clear, authoritative headers. If an AI can’t parse your page easily, it won't cite you.
- Launch a "Preferred Source" Campaign: Literally ask your readers to save your site or follow your brand in Google’s new discovery features. Treat it like an email opt-in.
- Test TikTok Search Ads: If you have video assets, stop just throwing them in the feed. Target specific "how-to" keywords. The intent there is much higher than someone just mindlessly scrolling.
- Technical Hygiene: Google’s September spam update hit sites with slow, heavy JavaScript. If your site takes more than 2 seconds to be interactive on mobile, you’re essentially invisible to the new algorithm.
The landscape of digital marketing news September 2025 shows us that the "middle ground" is disappearing. You either provide deep, expert-level value that humans (and AI) love, or you get swallowed by the noise. There is no more "okay" content. There is only "expert" or "spam."
Go check your search console. Look for "Interaction to Next Paint" (INP) issues. Fix the speed first, then fix the soul of your content.