Doing Everything Right Isn’t Enough After Google Updates
One of the most common things I hear from site owners who were hit by Google updates: “we were doing everything right.” 🤔
AI Hype Threatens SEO; “Google Dead” Myth Dangerous
This is what I have been saying. 😤 So many companies are playing with fire with AI automation stuff right now. The narrative that “Google/SEO is dead” is not only misleading, it’s dangerous. And we are already starting to see the fallout....
AEO Claims May Just Reflect Strong SEO Practices
Reading a few AI search case studies right now, and struggling with correlation vs. causation... Everything they list as an "AEO tactic" is actually something that's also just good for SEO. Fresh content Using Schema Front-loading important content Using ordered lists Adding FAQs to solution pages Is...
Popular AEO Tactic Risks Trouble when Overused
Yep seen this as a very popular AEO tactic for the last year. I think it falls into the grey area - one of those approaches that probably would have been fine on a small scale, but will likely lead to...
Google Clamps Down on Automated SEO Content Scaling
Lots of new viral threads on here discussing how Google cracks down on sites that scale content with automated tools / otherwise violate their policies. Welcome to the SEO industry 😆 I made this video in 2024 which might be...
SEO Traffic Drop Mirrors ChatGPT Citation Decline
Another well-known SEO publisher with Google traffic/visibility tanking fast, and exacerbated by the ~Jan 21 volatility Total citations in ChatGPT follows the same trend line (@ahrefs & @sistrix data) https://t.co/ekgcGumPWz
Great Discover Insights, but Google Removed Publisher Center
Really great information in here that aligns closely with the findings we see in our Discover clients' performance Except Google took away Publisher Center last year 😢 Nice work @metehan777
Unexpected SEO/AEO Insight for Argentina Revealed
Preparing for my upcoming talk about SEO/AEO in Argentina and just found this gem 😅 https://t.co/oL1qa35aiV
Big SEO Tool Traffic Spikes Rarely Last.
General rule of thumb: if there is a popular SEO/GEO tool out there that promises a big surge in traffic, it 99% won't last forever and will probably crash within a few months.
SEO Agency's AI Hype Hides Paid Self‑promotion Tactics
Another SEO agency that claims to be a great partner to lead clients into the AI search era This one not only uses self-promoting listicles, but clearly pays to be listed on everyone else's "best of" listicles too I'd be a bit...
Google’s AI Detection Triggers Ongoing Traffic Drops
Wow, the Jan 21 unconfirmed update was a bloodbath, and impacted sites are still dropping to this day This is another one in the marketing space; lots of AI-assisted content, self-promotional listicles, who/what/when content, etc. I think Google is getting better at...
Major Brands Suffer Brutal Ranking Drops in Late January
Wow, the late January ranking volatility was BRUTAL for these 2 companies and they just keep dropping. These are not small sites; they are brands everyone knows. https://t.co/ee0OWA9Irn
Self‑promoting Listicles Cause Ongoing Organic Search Decline
Ooof... organic search trends and ChatGPT citations for 2 SEO agencies that went hard on self-promoting listicles. The drop-off has continued: https://t.co/Z6U6IhHWhL
Boomers Unknowingly Flood Threads via Facebook Auto‑posting
The fact that Threads probably gets a ton of boomers posting on FB and not realizing it’s auto-posting to Threads explains *so much* of this app.
Non‑SEO Users Frustrated by AI Mode Shift
I’m not a fan of this change and have watched non SEO folks complain when they get stuck in AI Mode
Grokipedia Mysteriously Absent From Sistrix Visibility Chart
lol Grokipedia doesn’t even show up on the @sistrix visibility comparison chart I had to check multiple times to make sure I didn’t type the domain name incorrectly 🤣 https://t.co/NMUTsbS7Yr
Case Studies Reveal SEO Tactics Destroy Organic Traffic
I have now read *multiple* public AEO/GEO "case studies" where the organic traffic literally looks like this. I'm not even kidding. I just pulled this chart from a case study published 2 weeks ago. Looks to me like they actually destroyed...
People Underestimate Google's Ability to Solve Problems
One of the funniest things I hear people say in our space is “there’s no way Google could figure that out” https://t.co/O1n8da2ctY
AI Search Citations Drop When Organic Rankings Fall
Are AI search citations affected by drops in organic search? I dug in a bit with some recent examples try to find the answer. Check it out at my Substack: https://t.co/JBgyIVp40w https://t.co/CLNUvu0mII
Betting on Helpful Content Update 4.0 GEO Edition
Officially betting on the Helpful Content Update 4.0 (GEO edition) within the next 6 months.
ChatGPT Appears to Scrape Google, Citing Non‑canonical URLs
Oh wow... @glenngabe has some new evidence showing ChatGPT is citing non-canonical URLs (after those same URLs appeared in Google search) Yet another clue that ChatGPT is (still) likely scraping Google to generate answers: https://t.co/3tN8DrcXYa
SEO Demand Spikes as Cleanup Work Multiplies
There will also be more work for SEOs who help clean up the mess 😅
Bing's AI Search Report Misses Crucial Grounding Detail
Thanks to @ChouinardJC for flagging this important detail regarding Bing’s new AI search report and the grounding queries shown in it: https://t.co/8pHLKfFY1U
Algorithm Shift Cuts Blog Traffic, Boosts AI Citations
I've been looking closely at organic traffic trends vs. LLM citations: The below site's blog was hit by recent algo changes: 1st screenshot: organic traffic to blog 2nd: ChatGPT citations to the blog 3rd: AI Mode citations 4th: AI Overview citations https://t.co/1bSsAAUsWh
Grokipedia’s Organic Reach Slipping, AI Citations Rising
Updates on the Grokipedia drop in organic & AI search: 1st screenshot: Google US organic search visibility (@sistrix) 2nd: projected organic traffic decline (@ahrefs) 3rd: total ChatGPT citations (@ahrefs) 4th: AI Overview citations (@ahrefs) https://t.co/SAHtWofIWN
AI SaaS Floods Web with 122 Spammy Listicles
Another example. I think this makes about 15 sites (and counting) with 100+ self-promoting listicles, whose blogs were hit hard between Jan 20-30. This is another AI SaaS company (shocker) with 122 self-promotional listicles and spammy review Schema. https://t.co/EG2AbExB6S
Google's Review Rules Crush Self‑Ranked Listicles
I think some marketers forgot (or maybe didn't know in the first place?) that Google has specific guidance for how to write good reviews. This documentation originated from Google's Product Reviews updates - a specific ranking system they launched in 2023,...
Excessive Spammy Listicles Trigger Multiple Google Core Penalties
Wow... this site tried everything and got hit by the March '25 core update, June '25 core update, Aug Spam Update, Dec core update & recent Jan algo update. It has *over 3,000 self-promotional listicles,* incorrect/spammy/duplicate AggregateRating Schema, & scaled AI...
AI Search Citations Shift: ChatGPT Down, Gemini Up
You can also use @ahrefs Brand Radar to look at specific URLs that have lost SEO visibility - in this case, 2 specific self-promoting listicle URLs - to see the change in AI search citations to the page AIO/ChatGPT/Copilot citations also...
Self‑promoting Listicles Lose Rankings, Cutting ChatGPT Citations
Another example of a site that started to lose rankings for many of its self-promoting "best" listicles in mid-January, and the downstream effect on ChatGPT citations for that domain at the same time (via @ahrefs Brand Radar)
Google Demotion Slashes Grokipedia Clicks by 300K in Week
The Grokipedia drop is an interesting one to watch; it was inevitable that Google would eventually demote the site in search, but it was a question of when & how big the drop will ultimately be. So far from 1.7M...
Google Discover Update Impact Lost in Volatile Data
Trying to analyze the impact of a Google Discover core update when Discover is already super volatile 🤣 https://t.co/5Q2kyfkgux
Google and Bing Clarify Separate .md Pages for LLM Crawlers
Got answers from both Google and now also Bing (thx @facan) about using separate .md pages for LLM crawlers I’m not saying it’s right or wrong either way (jury is still out as many folks are testing the impact now),...
Gemini's AI Boosts Ad Inventory From Complex Searches
I found this part interesting: “…the longer AI Mode queries are creating new ad inventory. Gemini’s understanding of intent “has increased our ability to deliver ads on longer, more complex searches that were previously challenging to monetize.” https://t.co/VuF4kuWVJK
Review Sites Rebound After 2023 Update Declines
Interesting: Seeing some upward visibility trends among a few different review sites that saw big declines in 2023 (tied to core updates and 'Reviews' updates that year) The number 1 on the pink chart is the 2023 Reviews Update (August) https://t.co/6K8e0cZbpq
Google AI Overviews Missing Source Citations, Raising Ethics Concerns
Hey Google... Whatever happened to including citations in AI Overviews? Where did the sources go? Almost all links here go to new Google searches/YouTube? Are you seriously testing this? It's beyond unethical & unfair to site owners. @rajanpatel @rmstein https://t.co/TmMrYVyA5l
New Blog's Visibility Lags Despite 1,420 Posts
This software company's blog has only existed since July 2025. It has 1,420 indexed posts on Google. 61 of them are self-promotional listicles (4% of the blog). First chart shows their blog's visibility. Second chart shows the entire site's visibility. Playing with fire... https://t.co/3kNGq7CsBO
Google AI Overviews Retain Penalized Pages Briefly
I still see that pages hit by algorithm updates/manual actions appear in Google's AI Overviews for a few days after they fall in traditional search results. Are others seeing the same?
Google Appears to Target Self‑promotional Listicles
As I was digging into companies affected by recent volatility on Google yesterday, I noticed a pretty major pattern I felt I had to share. Is Google finally cracking down on self-promotional listicle content? https://t.co/3pLNYcXoSZ https://t.co/DCPS2h1Y7o
Google AI Snippets Use Meaning, Not Exact Words
Interesting - when Google's Web Guide uses AI to generate custom snippets (meta descriptions) for the page, it can incorporate words from the search query, even if those exact words aren't contained on the page. It looks for 'meaning' - not...
Mass‑generated Resume Pages Suffer From Duplicate Templates, Bad Schema
This is a subfolder on a resume site with 500+ programmatic pages for "resume examples for ____ career" All use the exact same formula Page templates are highly similar All pages misuse AggregateRating Schema Lots of obvious AI content Worked until it...
Big Firms Flood Blogs with Basic Explainer Content
I am seeing the /blog/ sections for various large companies dropping in the last week or two. The blogs seem to be full of tons of explainer content for basic concepts within their niche, like "what is ____" or "how to...
New Test Suggests ChatGPT May Be Pulling Google Results
Interesting new test by @MalteLandwehr showing how ChatGPT likely uses Google, plus my thoughts: https://t.co/ndqonHJoTq
Off‑site Marketing, PR, and Community Crucial for SEO Pre‑AI
Some folks will apparently be very surprised to hear that off-site marketing, digital PR, community management and online reputation management were indeed also important for SEO before AI search got here.
Rel=sponsored: Google’s Hidden Training Tool for Links
Reminds me of when Google introduced the rel=sponsored attribute for links “Why should we do this?” “Idk, cuz it helps train Google I guess.”
LinkedIn Flags AI‑generated Images with New Content Label
I made this image on ChatGPT and added it to LinkedIn. Never seen this "Content credentials" label appear before - looks like LinkedIn is telling people when images are 100% AI-generated. 🤔 (Sorry if not new, it's new to me!) https://t.co/ZXENZmGKox
Search Shifts From Keywords to AI‑Driven Entity Understanding
Suddenly, thousands of people in the search marketing space suddenly talk like this across all social media posts and comments: “This really encapsulates the ontological reorientation we’re seeing in search and information retrieval. We’re moving from deterministic keyword frameworks toward probabilistic,...
AI Auto‑Responses: A Sales Strategy Mistake
I can't think of a worse sales strategy than auto-responding to social media posts with AI-generated comments that pitch your company. Bad look.
TikTok's Woes May Spark Rise of New Rival
Between this and the new privacy policy, sounds like TikTok is going to need a new competitor soon.
Cute Videos with Affiliate Links Are Likely AI-Generated
If you see a really cute (like too cute to be true) video on here, followed by the top comment being an affiliate link to buy some product… it’s probably AI.
