This Week in Marketing: Networks, Crawls, and Spam Shocks

If you think marketing is all about AI, SEO, or flashy campaigns, think again. This week proves that human trust, technical precision, and Google compliance are still king.

Here’s what’s happening:

1. LinkedIn reveals professionals trust their networks more than AI or search. What does that mean for your content strategy?
   

2. Google clarifies sitemap crawling isn’t instant, so don’t rely on uploads alone.
   

3. A new global spam update is live, sending waves through search results worldwide.

Miss one of these, and you could be leaving traffic, leads, and trust on the table. Let’s break it down.

1. LinkedIn Study: Networks > AI & Search

LinkedIn’s new research highlights a critical truth: trust still lives in relationships, not algorithms.

📊 Key findings:

• 43% of professionals turn to their networks first for workplace advice, rather than the AI tools or search.
  

• 64% say colleagues help them make faster, more confident decisions.
  

• Posts about stress, overwhelm, and navigating change are up 82%.
  

• Over half (51%) say learning AI feels like a second job.
  

• Gen Z professionals are the most likely to exaggerate their AI skills.
  

• 77% of B2B marketers say buyers rely on both company channels and networks before making decisions.
  

💡 Why this matters for you:
We’re in an age where AI is everywhere, but people still crave human validation. Tools are useful, but when the stakes are high, professionals lean on people they trust.

That means your marketing strategy should focus less on being “everywhere” and more on being credible in the right places.

👉 What to do now:

• Leverage employee advocacy. Encourage your team to share insights and stories on LinkedIn. Your people are more trusted than your brand logo.
  

• Partner with creators and experts. Community-driven content carries more weight than generic campaigns.
  

• Make content shareable. Equip your network to amplify your message.

Bottom line: Winning attention in 2025 isn’t just about ranking in Google. It’s about being endorsed by networks where decisions really happen.

🔗 Read LinkedIn’s full study

2. Google Clarifies Sitemap Crawling

Google’s John Mueller addressed a question in the r/TechSEO Reddit community about whether uploading one main sitemap (sitemap.xml) was enough, or whether individual sitemaps needed to be uploaded separately.

His answer was straightforward:

• Uploading the sitemap index file is enough.
  
  

• You don’t need to upload individual sitemaps if they link from the main index.
  

• But submitting a sitemap doesn’t guarantee immediate crawling.

He emphasized that:

“Sitemaps don’t guarantee that everything is recrawled immediately, and there’s no specific time for recrawling. For individual pages, I’d use the Inspect URL tool.”

💡 Why this matters for you:

A sitemap is a suggestion, not a command. Just because you upload it doesn’t mean Googlebot is crawling and indexing all your URLs right away, especially if you’ve just made structural changes such as slug updates.

👉 What to do now:

• Use the Inspect URL tool for priority pages. Yes, it’s manual, but it’s the fastest way to request crawling.
  

• Update lastmod tags. They help indicate freshness and improve crawl prioritization.
  

• Upload all sitemaps anyway. Even if John says it’s not required, SEOs often prefer to control more variables, not fewer.

This is another reminder that technical SEO is about stacking best practices. A sitemap helps, but it’s only part of the equation.

3. Google Rolls Out August 2025 Spam Update

Google also confirmed a new spam update that began rolling out globally on August 18 at 9:00 AM PT.

📌 What we know:

• The update applies worldwide, across all languages.
  

• It may take several weeks for it to roll out fully.
  

• No specific tactics or behaviors have been called out (yet).
  

• Spam updates are a regular part of Google’s broader ranking systems, alongside core updates.

💡 Why this matters for you:
Whenever Google rolls out a spam update, sites that rely on manipulative tactics such as link schemes, doorway pages, cloaking, or low-quality AI spam are the most vulnerable.

Even if you’re doing everything right, you may see ranking volatility as the ecosystem reshuffles.

👉 What to do now:

• Annotate your dashboards. Mark August 18 as the official start date.
  

• Don’t panic during the rollout. Expect ups and downs over the next 2–3 weeks.
  

• Double down on quality. If you’ve cut corners recently (AI content without editing, thin posts, aggressive link buys), now is the time to clean that up.

This update is another signal from Google that they’re actively policing AI-driven spam. If you’re investing in AI, the difference-maker will always be the human layer, editorial oversight, originality, and audience-first writing.

My Take: The Bigger Picture

What ties these three stories together?

• LinkedIn shows us that humans still matter more than algorithms when trust is on the line.
  

• Google’s sitemap clarification reminds us that technical SEO isn’t magic—it’s guidance, not control.
  

• The spam update reinforces that shortcuts (especially AI-driven ones) won’t hold long-term.

As we head deeper into 2025, the pattern is clear:

• AI will continue to evolve, but networks and human expertise drive trust.
  

• SEO will stay foundational, but technical hygiene and patience are key.
  

• Google will continue to crack down on spam, so long-term quality always beats short-term hacks.

If you align your strategy around those truths, you’ll stay ahead of 90% of the market.

✍️ That’s it for this week. Stay focused, stay consistent, and remember: every algorithm update is temporary, but human trust is permanent.

Talk soon,
Shane Barker

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