This week brought a sharp mix of practical technical SEO guidance, a notable shift in how Google surfaces news content within AI Overviews, and a provocative call from Avinash Kaushik to slash agency SEO fees by up to 75%. Our team has pulled apart each development to identify what matters for our clients right now and what we’re already acting on.

Key Takeaways

• Not all technical SEO work delivers equal value — our team is ruthlessly prioritising tasks that move the needle over busywork.
• Google’s John Mueller has clarified exactly when to use the ‘Validate Fix’ button in Search Console, saving developers unnecessary re-crawl requests.
• Top Stories carousels are now appearing inside Google AI Overviews on US mobile, signalling a broader integration of news into AI-generated results.
• Google Demand Gen campaigns now support business data feeds without requiring Google Merchant Center, opening up dynamic ad formats to more advertisers.
• Avinash Kaushik argues that SEO agency contracts should be renegotiated around verified revenue and judgement, not activity volume — a claim that deserves scrutiny.

Stop Burning Developer Hours on Low-Impact Technical SEO

We see it constantly: clients arrive with audit reports containing hundreds of flagged issues, many of which have zero measurable impact on rankings or traffic. Our approach aligns directly with the practical framework outlined in this breakdown of the biggest technical SEO time-wasters to avoid. The core principle is simple — if a fix doesn’t improve crawlability, indexation, or user experience in a way that affects revenue, it can wait.

We prioritise in this order:

• Crawl budget issues on large sites (10,000+ pages)
• Indexation errors blocking key commercial pages
• Core Web Vitals failures on high-traffic templates
• Structured data errors on product and service pages

Everything else gets logged and scheduled, not treated as urgent. This saves our clients real money and keeps developer sprints focused.

Google Clarifies When ‘Validate Fix’ Actually Helps

John Mueller’s guidance on this is refreshingly direct. The ‘Validate Fix’ button in Google Search Console triggers a re-crawl of affected URLs to confirm whether a reported issue has been resolved. But clicking it before you’ve actually deployed the fix — or using it for issues that Google would naturally re-crawl anyway — is pointless. We’ve incorporated this into our standard client maintenance workflows, consistent with Mueller’s specific recommendations on when the Validate Fix button is worth using. Our rule: deploy the fix, verify it manually, then hit the button. One click. No guesswork.

Top Stories Now Live Inside Google AI Overviews

Google has started rolling out Top Stories carousels directly within AI Overviews for US mobile users, as confirmed by Search Engine Land’s reporting on the AI Overviews expansion. This matters because it gives news publishers a visible placement inside AI-generated answers — a space that has otherwise been criticised for reducing click-through to source sites.

For our clients with blog and editorial content strategies, this reinforces the value of timely, well-structured content that qualifies for Top Stories inclusion. We’re watching closely for the UK rollout.

Demand Gen Campaigns Get Business Data Feeds Without Merchant Center

Google now allows advertisers to use business data feeds in Demand Gen campaigns, bypassing the need for Google Merchant Center entirely. This is a meaningful change for service-based businesses and lead generation clients who previously couldn’t use dynamic creative formats in these campaigns. Our paid media team is already testing this for several accounts, following the details shared in Google’s announcement on business data feeds for Demand Gen. If you sell services rather than products, this levels the playing field.

The Agency Fee Debate: Activity vs. Judgement

Avinash Kaushik’s argument that businesses should renegotiate SEO agency fees downward by 25% to 75% targets agencies that pad statements of work with low-value activity. We agree that contracts should be tied to outcomes. We disagree that slashing fees is the right framing. Good SEO judgement — knowing what not to do — is itself high-value work. The agencies most at risk here are those selling volume, not results.

These developments collectively point in one direction: efficiency and precision matter more than ever. Whether it’s technical SEO prioritisation, Search Console workflows, or how agency contracts are structured, the teams delivering measurable outcomes with fewer wasted cycles are the ones earning trust. That’s exactly how we operate for every client engagement.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the biggest technical SEO time-wasters agencies should avoid?

Low-impact fixes like chasing minor HTML validation errors, over-optimising thin pages, or resolving warnings that don’t affect indexation or rankings. Focus developer time on crawlability, indexation of commercial pages, and Core Web Vitals on high-traffic templates.

When should you use the Validate Fix button in Google Search Console?

Only after you’ve deployed and manually verified the fix on your site. Clicking it prematurely wastes a re-crawl request and gives you unreliable data on whether Google considers the issue resolved.

How do AI Overviews affect SEO strategy for news and blog content?

With Top Stories now appearing inside AI Overviews, timely and well-structured editorial content has a new visibility opportunity. Sites that meet Google’s Top Stories eligibility criteria stand to gain clicks even within AI-generated answer panels.

Why does Avinash Kaushik say SEO fees should be renegotiated?

He argues that contracts built around activity volume reward busywork rather than results. His recommendation is to restructure agreements around verified revenue impact and strategic judgement instead.