Google Search Changed The Game: A Quick Test For Your Website
Google just made the biggest change to its search box in over 25 years. People can now ask full questions, drop in photos, even share videos, and Google's AI figures out what they need. For your business, that means your About page matters more than the keywords you used to chase.
So I about spit out my coffee when this dropped last week. Google announced the biggest upgrade to its search box in over 25 years. The transition to AI-led features has been the trend, but this move has frustrated and confused a lot of people. In fact, new downloads of Duck Duck Go spiked, which is a lesser-known search engine competitor to Google and Bing.
Here's what you need to know: As someone who uses Google: you used to type a few keywords and cruise thru blue links popped up for you to review. Now people ask full, conversational questions, and Google's AI works out what they actually want. Less "Missoula bookkeeper," more "who's the best bookkeeper for a small creative agency that doesn’t want to manage their books." We’ve seen AI Overview taking over the blue links for a few years. Now, those AI Overviews are folding into AI Mode too, so it's not a setting you turn on anymore. It's just Google now.
As a small business owner worried about your SEO ranking, what do you do about it? Go audit your About page.
Keywords have not been the most important SEO feature for a long time. This solidifies it.
Your Quick Website SEO Test
Small business owners, how does your About Us page look?! Listen up: This is where your E-E-A-T signals live. That's Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, and Google says trust is the most important of the four. E-E-A-T is the most important SEO factor these days, along with maintaining an optimized & active Google My Business listing.
Here's the test, and it takes ten minutes:
Type site:catalystmt.com/about into Google (swap in your own domain and slug). This shows you exactly what Google has indexed and the snippet it picks. First question: does the page even show up? If not, Google isn't indexing it, and that's your first fix. Second question: does that snippet make you sound like the incredible industry leader that you are, or does it sell you short? You can use mine as an example if you want, to see how the About page should show up….
I ran this for myself and my clients. A couple new clients coming on board need to update their About page ASAP. We’re on it!
Use a real photo of yourself looking confident, with good lighting and a clean background. Show photos of your team and location. Write a description that genuinely describes what you do. Include your qualifitications.
If you want to take it one step further, I’d suggest putting reviews and testimonials on your home page, too! To learn more about search engine optimization send us an email and we can chat about your web presence.
Ready to See How You Show Up?
Run the test today, then go play with the new search box and ask it "who's the best (insert your industry) for (who you serve) or (where you work)?" You might be pleasantly surprised. If the answer isn't you, that's the gap we close.
Frequently Asked Questions About SEO
What did Google change about its search box in 2026?
Google rolled out what it calls the biggest upgrade to its search feature in over 25 years. The box now expands to accept full conversational questions and can process text, images, files, videos, and Chrome tabs, with its AI reasoning across them to figure out what you need. It is projected that AI Agents will shop for us in the future, this is seen as potential step towards that.
How do I check what Google shows for my About page?
Type site:yourdomain.com/about into Google, replacing the domain and slug with your own. The result shows whether the page is indexed and what snippet Google displays for it. If nothing appears, your page likely isn't being indexed yet.
What is E-E-A-T and why does my About page matter for it?
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, the framework Google's quality raters use to judge content. Your About page is where all four signals naturally live, which makes it one of the highest-leverage pages for demonstrating credibility. This has been the most-important factor for designing your website
Does this Google update mean keywords no longer matter?
Keywords still matter, but people are searching with longer, conversational questions now. The shift is toward clearly demonstrating who you are and who you help, rather than stuffing in short keyword phrases and hoping to rank.
Should I use an AI-generated headshot on my About page?
No. Use a real, current photo of yourself. Google's emphasis on Experience and Trustworthiness rewards genuine human signals, and a real photo builds more trust with both the algorithm and your visitors.