Valhalla Change Intelligence
What changed.
Only what affects your business. Not news.
Platforms change every month. Here are the changes that change a decision: what happened, who is affected, what to do. And what Valhalla does for Universal clients — automatically.
2 August 2025medium impactAI models AI Act: the first obligations apply; chatbot transparency is next
What changed
The EU AI Regulation applies in stages: prohibited practices since February 2025, obligations for general-purpose models (GPAI) since August 2025, the rest — including transparency duties for systems that interact with people — through 2026.
Who is affected
Any business with a customer-facing chatbot or AI assistant, especially in sensitive fields (health, finance, HR).
What to do
Say clearly that the user is talking to an AI, keep a human one tap away, never let the assistant take decisions with legal or medical effect. Document what it does and does not do.
What Valhalla does
Assistants built inside Universal already carry explicit disclosure, an emergency gate and human handoff; Valhalla checks for them in every AI session.
Affected clients are checked automatically.
28 June 2025medium impactSEO The European Accessibility Act applies to online shops and digital services
What changed
Since 28 June 2025, covered digital products and services (including e-commerce) must meet accessibility requirements across the Union, with exemptions for micro-enterprises.
Who is affected
Online shops and digital services selling in the EU. Check whether the micro-enterprise exemption applies to you.
What to do
Run a WCAG audit on product pages and checkout: contrast, keyboard navigation, form labels, alt text. Accessibility helps conversion too.
What Valhalla does
The Valhalla scan includes basic accessibility signals (alt text, labels, contrast) and proposes a remediation session where they are missing.
Affected clients are checked automatically.
12 June 2025good to knowSEO Google removed support for seven rich result types
What changed
Google announced in June 2025 that it no longer shows rich results for several rarely used structured data types (among them: course info, claim review, estimated salary, vehicle listing). The markup stays valid; only the special display goes away.
Who is affected
Sites that implemented these types expecting extra space in the results.
What to do
Do not remove them for the sake of it — machines reading the page still use them. Focus the effort on Organization, LocalBusiness, Product/Offer, Article and Breadcrumb.
What Valhalla does
Valhalla validates the site's structured data and flags the types with no effect in results, so no session is spent on them.
Affected clients are checked automatically.
20 May 2025high impactGEO AI Mode: Google answers conversationally, with sources, in its own tab
What changed
Launched in the US in May 2025 and expanded to more countries and languages since, AI Mode turns search into a conversation that cites websites. Traffic increasingly arrives from a citation, not a blue link.
Who is affected
Any business that depends on purchase- or information-intent searches. Check availability in your language on your phone.
What to do
Consistent facts everywhere, pages that fully answer one question, visible author and date, clear structure. Measure impressions and clicks in Search Console, not just positions.
What Valhalla does
Valhalla samples each client's key questions monthly across several AI engines and tracks whether and how the site is cited.
Affected clients are checked automatically.
22 April 2025medium impactPrivacy Chrome is not removing third-party cookies — but nothing changes for consent
What changed
After years of delays, Google announced in April 2025 that it keeps the current approach: third-party cookies stay in Chrome, with no new choice prompt. Safari and Firefox keep blocking them.
Who is affected
Anyone doing remarketing or measuring conversions in the browser.
What to do
Relax nothing: Consent Mode v2, Conversions API/server-side and first-party data remain the foundation. Third-party cookies survive in one browser, not all of them.
What Valhalla does
Valhalla keeps checking consent signals and the presence of server-side tracking on client sites.
Affected clients are checked automatically.
1 March 2025medium impactGoogle Ads Video Action campaigns moved into Demand Gen
What changed
Google stopped the creation of Video Action campaigns and automatically migrated existing ones into Demand Gen during 2025. Formats, placements and reporting changed.
Who is affected
Accounts running YouTube for conversions or leads.
What to do
Review the migrated campaigns: creatives (vertical, short), audiences, excluded placements and the conversion you optimise for. Do not leave the migration unsupervised.
What Valhalla does
Valhalla watches connected ads accounts for migrated campaigns with changed performance and proposes a review.
Affected clients are checked automatically.
1 January 2025medium impactPrivacy e-Factura became mandatory for sales to consumers (B2C) too
What changed
Since 1 January 2025, invoices issued to consumers in Romania are also transmitted through the RO e-Factura system, not only B2B ones. For online shops this means integration with the invoicing platform and with ANAF.
Who is affected
Romanian online shops and service providers that invoice consumers.
What to do
Check the flow with your accountant: order → invoice → e-Factura transmission, automated. Manual does not scale. Keep billing data correct in the checkout.
What Valhalla does
An automated invoicing flow is a typical automation-session objective inside Universal; Valhalla proposes it when it sees orders without an integration.
Affected clients are checked automatically.
3 September 2024good to knowAI models llms.txt — a convention for describing your site to AI models
What changed
An open proposal: a text file at the site root that summarises what the site is and where the important pages are, for AI systems. Not a standard officially adopted by engines; cheap and risk-free.
Who is affected
Any site that wants to be understood correctly by AI assistants.
What to do
Publish /llms.txt with the canonical facts: who you are, what you sell, to whom, at what price, links to key pages. Keep it in sync with the site.
What Valhalla does
Valhalla Pulse checks the presence and consistency of llms.txt on every scan.
Affected clients are checked automatically.
14 May 2024high impactGEO Google answers with AI above the results (AI Overviews, then AI Mode)
What changed
For more and more searches, a generated answer appears before the links, with cited sources. Site traffic drops for informational questions; visibility depends on being cited.
Who is affected
Anyone who depends on informational searches: clinics, services, guides, e-commerce with content.
What to do
Answer customers' real questions clearly on dedicated pages, keep facts consistent everywhere, measure impressions in Search Console.
What Valhalla does
Valhalla samples each client's key questions across several AI engines and tracks whether and how they are cited.
Affected clients are checked automatically.
12 March 2024medium impactSEO INP replaced FID in Core Web Vitals
What changed
Interaction to Next Paint measures how fast the page responds to any interaction, not just the first. Many script-heavy sites dropped from "good" to "needs improvement".
Who is affected
Sites on heavy builders, with many plugins or third-party scripts.
What to do
Check the Core Web Vitals report in Search Console; the target is INP ≤ 200 ms. Reduce third-party JavaScript.
What Valhalla does
Valhalla scans performance signals of landing pages and proposes speed sessions where paid clicks land on slow pages.
Affected clients are checked automatically.
6 March 2024high impactPrivacy Consent Mode v2 is mandatory for any account advertising in the EEA
What changed
Google requires the ad_user_data and ad_personalization signals on top of ad_storage and analytics_storage. Without them, remarketing and conversion measurement for EU users degrade or stop.
Who is affected
Any Romanian business with Google Ads, GA4 or remarketing. Practically everyone.
What to do
Check in Tag Assistant that all four signals leave correctly after the banner interaction. A visible banner does not mean signals are sent.
What Valhalla does
Valhalla checks client sites for the presence of Consent Mode signals and their status in GA4/Google Ads. Affected clients get a recommendation with evidence.
Affected clients are checked automatically.
1 March 2024good to knowGoogle Ads Discovery campaigns became Demand Gen
What changed
Google automatically migrated Discovery campaigns to Demand Gen (YouTube, Discover, Gmail), with video formats and lookalike audiences. Structure and reporting changed.
Who is affected
Accounts running Discovery for awareness or remarketing.
What to do
Review creatives (vertical video), audiences and which conversion you optimise; do not leave the automatic migration unsupervised.
What Valhalla does
Valhalla watches connected ads accounts for migrated campaigns with changed performance and proposes a review.
Affected clients are checked automatically.
8 August 2023good to knowSEO FAQ rich results were restricted to authoritative government and health sites
What changed
Google no longer shows FAQ expansions for most sites. FAQPage markup stays valid and useful for machines reading the page, but no longer earns extra space in results.
Who is affected
Sites that implemented FAQ schema expecting rich results.
What to do
Keep FAQs for users and for AI; stop building them for the SERP.
What Valhalla does
Valhalla validates the site's structured data and flags errors, without promising rich results that no longer exist.
Affected clients are checked automatically.
1 July 2023high impactGA4 Universal Analytics stopped; GA4 is the only Analytics
What changed
UA properties stopped processing data in July 2023 and were deleted in 2024. GA4 is event-based, not session-based; "conversions" became "key events".
Who is affected
Businesses still reporting with UA logic or old dashboards.
What to do
Mark key events, set data retention to 14 months, link Google Ads and Search Console, rebuild the reports.
What Valhalla does
With the GA4 connection, Valhalla reads key events, retention and links and flags what is missing.
Affected clients are checked automatically.
26 April 2021medium impactMeta The pixel alone is no longer enough: Conversions API is the Meta standard
What changed
Since iOS 14.5 and browser tracking restrictions, some events no longer reach Meta through the pixel alone. Meta recommends pixel + CAPI with deduplication.
Who is affected
Any Meta Ads account optimising for conversions or purchases.
What to do
Implement CAPI (direct or via server-side GTM), send event_id for deduplication, watch Event Match Quality.
What Valhalla does
Valhalla checks for the pixel and server-side signals on the site and flags accounts optimising on incomplete data.
Affected clients are checked automatically.