Adobe Acquisition Triggers Surge in Semrushbot Blocks
Interesting, based on the top 1000 sites being tracked by @AIoriginality, there was a spike in sites blocking Semrushbot right when the Adobe acquisition was announced. So if that's right, the Adobe acquisition freaked some people out. :) See the spike below right on 11/20/26-ish... https://t.co/54y2MLl3dz
Jan Update Vict
For some sites impacted heavily by the Jan 2026 unconfirmed update, some got hit even harder when the March spam update and core update rolled out. Like this one. Oof. https://t.co/EkQyYqfLO4
Google Instantly Creates Audio Overviews for Fresh Posts
How quickly can Google generate Audio Overviews for a topic? I just published my latest post this morning. The Audio Overview covers that information already. Pressed play and it immediately started covering the details from my post. No delay at...
Vignette Ads Lose Back‑button Support by June 15
I agree with Greg. No way vignette ads keeps the back button trigger functionality if it will yield a manual action for 'back button hijacking'. I'm sure we will see that functionality removed before June 15th.
Reddit’s AI Translations Keep Booming One Year Later
Let's start this week off with a boom. An AI-translated boom. :) I wrote a two-part series last year about Reddit's AI translations and how they were booming. Well, I revisited their AI translation project to see how things were...
Google Fixes Search Console Impressions Bug, Impact Unclear
Heads-up, Google updated the 'Data Anomalies in Search Console' report and said the impressions bug has been resolved. But, when I'm checking impressions across accounts, I'm not seeing any changes. Interesting. 🤔h/t @suzukik https://t.co/T3PDTPFePu
Google Admits AI's Black‑box Nature Hinders Ranking Debugging
Some interesting nuggets from the latest Search Off The Record Podcast about Google using AI in Search rankings. Here is Google's Nikola Todorovic, Director of Software Engineering at Google Search, about how AI is used to impact rankings and why...
Home Cooks Favor Blogs, Cookbooks over AI, Says Survey
Focus on recipes? Amazing new post from @inspiredtaste based on a survey of 2000+ people from the US. The parts about where home cooks are finding information is super interesting -> Home cooks are 300% more likely to turn to...
OpenAI's Policy Shift Cements Its Ad Platform Role
ChatGPT advertising update -> OpenAI updates its privacy policy formalizing data-sharing with marketing partners as it continues to build its ad platform infrastructure. It also explains it's receiving purchase data from advertisers. "The changes, which include explicit language about receiving...
AI‑generated Podcasts Surge, Flooding Spotify and Spreaker
Whoa -> “Podslop” is flooding listening platforms like Spotify; Podcast Index: of ~11K new podcast feeds in a recent 9-day span, ~39% were likely for AI content shows "Under the Spreaker website, if recognized by its software, the company will highlight to...
News Alliance Demands Common Crawl Halt Unauthorized AI Scraping
Common Crawl comes under attack -> The News/Media Alliance urges web repository Common Crawl to stop unauthorized scraping and prevent AI companies from using publisher content in its database "As reported in the Atlantic, its archive has been a primary source...
Reddit Search Surges 30% YoY, Boosting Retention
And you better believe Google is paying attention. But for Reddit, one turn of the Google dial and traffic could come crashing down -> People are finally using Reddit Answers "The company has seen a 30% year-on-year jump in the number...
ChatGPT Images 2.0 Thrives in India, Lags Globally
Right, Nano Banana is so good, and was the first to be that good, I'm sure many are not going to change easily. I didn't... -> ChatGPT Images 2.0 is a hit in India, but not a big winner elsewhere,...
AI Agents Can Now Auto‑Create Cloudflare Accounts and Deploy Apps
What could go wrong? :) -> Cloudflare says AI agents can now create Cloudflare accounts, start paid subscriptions, register domains, and deploy apps on behalf of users
Netflix Launches TikTok‑style Clips Feed Worldwide
TikTok-like feed. It's called Clips -> Netflix rolls out a vertical video feed in its own Clips tab in Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Africa, the UK, and the US “You’ll see short clips from series, films...
Meta Ads AI Connectors Enable Direct Campaign Management
Running Meta Ads? They just announced their MCP so you can manage via AI tools -> Introducing Meta Ads AI Connectors: Manage Your Meta Ads From the AI Tools You Already Use "Powered by Meta's ads MCP server, the connector provides...
YouTube Dominates Living Rooms, 10M Shorts Channels Daily
And from the earnings call about YouTube (it's a beast): YouTube on TVs: *In the living room, U.S. viewers are watching over 200 million hours of YouTube content daily. And Shorts galore: *As of March, we’ve reached a new milestone with over 10...
Gen Z Overlooks Bottom‑Placed ChatGPT Ads
Interested in ChatGPT Ads and what Gen-Z thinks of them? Check out this post from a college student at @penn_state explaining what he thinks of ChatGPT ads (based on seeing many in his chats). He also polled his friends with...
Alphabet Posts Fastest Revenue Growth Since 2022
Google reports after the bell today -> In Alphabet’s first-quarter earnings report, analysts are projecting the highest rate of revenue growth since 2022 *Earnings per share: $2.63 *Revenue: $107.2 billion *YouTube advertising: $9.99 billion estimated https://t.co/qyqSNWDHWF
AI Fuels $56B Ad Boom, Empowering All Marketers
NYT covers the impact to the ad industry based on AI -> A.I. Helps Online Ad Businesses Boom (especially Google and Meta) "In 2022, the year ChatGPT launched, A.I.-related sales totaled $1 billion, but that rose to $35 billion last year,...
OpenAI Predicts Cheap Go Plan Will Dominate Subscriptions
OpenAI hopes ads will make up the difference (and more) -> OpenAI projected at the start of this year that $8/month ChatGPT Go subs will grow ~36x to 112M in 2026, while $20/month Plus subs will fall 80% to ~9M And...
Back‑button Hijacking Triggers Manual Action, Separate Teams
Yep, the teams are separate. So your AdSense ads could lead to a manual action if you are hijacking the back button :) -> From Google: "Our back button hijacking policy applies to all publishers who interfere with a user's...
Gemini to Replace Google Assistant in 4M GM Cars
Big for Gemini. 4M+ cars -> Gemini replacing Google Assistant on Android Automotive for 4 million GM cars "Specifically, Gemini will soon roll out to model year 2022 and newer Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC vehicles. GM says there are...
Anthropic Launches Claude Connectors for Major Creative Tools
New connectors -> Anthropic partners with Blender, Autodesk, Adobe, Ableton, and others to launch connectors that integrate Claude directly into professional creative workflows https://t.co/gqpuOcQ6GI https://t.co/ATn6oyu5vQ
Adobe Acquires Semrush to Boost AI-Driven Brand Visibility
Changes might be coming. The acquisition is complete -> Adobe Completes Semrush Acquisition, Strengthening CX Enterprise with Enhanced Brand Visibility Capabilities "By combining with Adobe’s Customer Experience Orchestration business and the new Adobe CX Enterprise, we (Semrush) are better positioned...
Google Warns SEO Prompt Injection as Emerging Manipulation Threat
Google just published a study about indirect prompt injection. Important for SEOs and site owners to understand -> Google Says Prompt Injection Moving From Theory Into Real Abuse From @btabke: "This is the AI-era cousin of hidden text, doorway tactics, comment...
Back‑Button Vignette Ads Risk Google Spam Penalty
So, I've had some people ping me about an interesting 'back button hijacking' situation wondering how Google will treat it. Vignette Ads, which most people hate with a passion, include additional triggers that a site owner can activate. One trigger...
By 2025, 35% of New Sites Are AI‑Created
And that's through May of 2025... I can only imagine the spike over the past year -> An analysis of Internet Archive data: By mid-2025, ~35% of new websites published since ChatGPT's launch in November 2022 were AI-generated or...
Google Warns Back‑button Hijackers: Fix by June 15 2026
Here we go. Google has started sending out emails to sites that are actively hijacking the back button. It's a warning with sample urls, links to the blog post about the new spam policy, etc. Google explains it will recheck...
OpenAI May Launch AI‑Driven Phone, Ditching Traditional Apps
The race to Jarvis will take some interesting turns. Here's the latest rumor -> OpenAI could be making a phone with AI agents replacing apps "The analyst’s note also suggests that instead of apps, the smartphone could rely on AI agents...
Microsoft Adds Contextual Offer Highlights to Copilot Ads
Offer Highlights in Copilot -> Microsoft Merchant Center Now Supports 'Highlights for Copilot' From Microsoft Ads: "We’re introducing Offer Highlights, new ad experiences that enable brands to promote key product differentiators within the context of Copilot conversations. More than showing traditional...
AI Max Generates Custom Ad Copy Using Existing Text
Interesting, AI labels for AI-generated ads? I'm assuming this is tied to AI Max campaigns... but maybe someone on the ads side could provide more info. From the AI Max Google documentation: "Text customization: This uses text from your existing ads,...
OpenAI Triples Web Crawl Scale, Study Reveals
Interested in how OpenAI is crawling (across its user-agents)? Good stuff from Chris Long of Nectiv based on 7B+ log file entries. Some good nuggets of information in the study. https://www.botify.com/blog/openai-tripled-web-crawl
Gemini’s Scheduled Actions Automate Daily Tasks Seamlessly
I think Gemini's "Scheduled actions" are flying under the radar. You can enter any prompt to run daily and Gemini will notify you in several ways (notifications on your phone, in Gemini, etc.) I set a few up recently and...
Microsoft Adds Real‑time Shopify Integration via UCP
Focus on ecommerce? -> Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) Supported in Microsoft Merchant Center "For advertisers on Shopify, the Shopify Catalog integration with Copilot automatically structures, enriches, and syndicates product data in real time, giving agents access to accurate pricing, inventory, and...
Google AI Tests Auto Catalog & Site Builder for SMBs
Wix and Squarespace should take note -> Google tests Catalog (for ecommerce) and Website generation for Pomelli Experiment Catalog: "Two further capabilities now appear to be taking shape. The first, referred to as Catalog, would let merchants point Pomelli at a...
New “You Asked to See” Label Clarifies AI‑tailored Feed
Interesting update when you tailor your feed in Discover. As pointed out by @AndellDam, the new cards being displayed based on your prompt when tailoring your feed now show a label saying "You asked to see" with a small "tailor...
Claude Agents Gain Persistent Memory for Enterprise Use
Yep, Jarvis will need a memory -> Anthropic launches Memory in Claude Agents for enterprise "This allows developers and enterprise teams to have agents remember and use information from prior sessions, making it possible for agents to accumulate knowledge over time...
AI Agents Successfully Negotiate Marketplace Deals, Opus Leads
Agent-to-Agent Commerce. Interesting experiment from Anthropic -> Anthropic details Project Deal, a marketplace experiment where Claude models bought, sold, and negotiated personal belongings on behalf of Anthropic employees "The first thing to say is that our experiment worked. It is...
Google Admits Logging Error Also Skewed CTR
Quick update on the GSC impressions drop Google mentioned a few weeks ago. @suzukik asked Google about the impact to *other* metrics at the Search Central Live event in Toronto and they did explain that CTR was affected as well....
EU to Classify ChatGPT as Very Large Search Engine
And that can bring more oversight -> European Commission Moving to Classify ChatGPT as ‘Very Large Online Search Engine’ Under Digital Services Act "The DSA mandates applying the designation of Very Large Online Search Engine (VLOSE) or Very Large Online Platform...
YouTube Livestream Ads Hijack Mobile Audio, No Mute Option
Live stream ads now on mobile, and they take over the audio -> YouTube is rolling out a new ad format for livestreams on mobile that won't disrupt your viewing experience, but with a big catch "Since the ad runs alongside...
ChatGPT Extends Ads to Logged-Out Users, Boosting Inventory
Now for logged out users. Interesting -> ChatGPT ads expand to logged-out users "ChatGPT is expanding ads to logged-out users, increasing inventory and making it easier for advertisers to scale spend." https://t.co/ljDF916Tsj via @TheMarketingAnu https://t.co/067EGOyLLI
Manual SEO Wins Over AI-Generated Content Flood
There are many sites scaling like crazy for AI Search with "commodity content". Tons of it generated via AI to target every possible question or prompt users have. Again, manual actions will rule the day while Google builds a system...
OpenAI Introduces Fast Answers for Instant Queries
Fast Answers, and yep, they are fast. Just tried it out. See screenshot below -> OpenAI rolls out "Fast Answers" in ChatGPT "We’re rolling out Fast answers, a quicker way to get responses to common information-seeking questions in ChatGPT, like...
ChatGPT Workspace Agents Automate Team Tasks in Cloud
New from OpenAI -> Introducing workspace agents in ChatGPT "Workspace agents are an evolution of GPTs. Powered by Codex, they can take on many of the tasks people already do at work—from preparing reports, to writing code, to responding...
Google AI Now Writes Three‑quarters of New Code
75% -> Google says 75% of new code created inside the company is now generated by AI and reviewed by human engineers, up from 50% last fall https://t.co/iAQrM8UHCQ
Quality Signals, Not AI, Drive Indexing Drops.
All the slides + JC's coverage. Some good nuggets here -> Google Search Central Live Toronto Slides (April 2026) *Crawl vs. Index: “Crawled – Currently not indexed” is rarely a technical rendering issue; it’s usually a quality signal. Google may...
Substack's New Translation Tools Boost Global Earnings
Starting with Notes and moving to Posts. Eager to see how this works... Will it be like Reddit or the way X does it? -> Substack adds translation tools, and says ~100K publishers earn on the platform, including ~30K outside...
Chrome's New Tab Shifts Toward AI‑First Experience
The 'New tab' page in Chrome is looking more and more like Gemini... Check those options for Deep Search and Create images right under the search box. And those take you directly to AI Mode after entering your prompt. Again,...