Google’s Hidden Role in AI Searches - Not Just AIO

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SEO

There seems to have been an update around Jan. 7th-8th because 90% of my sites all saw a boost. Around the same time that Reddit started dropping - that’s right, I can only assume my sites are taking Reddit traffic 😏 

Funny enough, TopicalMap.com didn’t jump up, it just stayed steady 😅 

Google's December 2024 Spam Update: What Really Got Sites Penalized

Glenn Gabe analyzes five sites to expose exactly what got sites penalized. He discusses how scaled content abuse, AI-generated content, and doorway pages triggered Google's spam detection. He finds that that while spammy tactics may work temporarily, Google's algorithms are getting better at identifying and penalizing manipulative practices. He also saw some sites that surged in November's core update got completely reversed by December's spam update. Some of the takeaways:

• Review Google's spam policies carefully to identify potential violations

• Avoid creating doorway pages with thin, duplicative content

• Don't overload pages with every possible keyword variation and PAA question

• Be wary of scaling content through AI without adding unique value

• Stay within your site's core expertise rather than expanding too broadly

My Take: Not surprising here to see what he found, but a great confirmation that these there’s still consistency here with spam. While pumping out AI-garbage may seem like it’s ‘working’, just know that Google’s algorithms will catch up to you eventually.

Negative SEO Attacks: How to Detect and Counter SEO Sabotage

Julian Mangoka reveals that 61% of websites have fallen victim to negative SEO attacks - from malicious backlinks to content scraping. But here's the good news: you can fight back. Through smart monitoring of traffic patterns, backlink profiles, and site performance metrics, you'll catch these digital dirty tricks before they tank your rankings. She outlines a practical defense strategy including disavowing toxic links, implementing robust security measures, and leveraging CDNs to prevent hotlinking. Most importantly, she emphasizes prevention through secure hosting, HTTPS protocols, and regular site audits.

My Take: Basic security measures like CDNs and a security plugin like Wordfence are important. As your site and business grows, it unfortunately becomes a bigger target. In the end, there’s only so much we can do. If they want to get you, they’ll figure out a way to get you. But it’s still a good idea to make it tougher for those bad actors to hurt you.

SEO Ripples

• The $60M favorite of Google Search is seeing a dip in its Google search dominance around Jan. 7th (talking Reddit here). According to fresh data from Semrush and Sistrix, Reddit's search visibility has taken a noticeable downturn since January 7th. SEO expert Glenn Gabe notes drops across branded queries and SERP features like "People Also Ask" boxes, while competitors Quora and StackExchange remain stable.

• Google's John Mueller said URLs provide "minimal additional signals" for search engines in 2025. In his latest Bluesky post, he emphasizes that content quality and other factors bring much stronger ranking signals than URL structure. Even switching from a basic "?id=12345" to a keyword-rich "/cheese" URL would barely move the needle. He suggests that clean URLs remain valuable for tracking and user experience, it's not a significant ranking factor.

• Bing copied Google and their search box -

AI

What Drives Brand Mentions in AI Answers?

Christina Blake and Nick Haigler share their study that shows Google rankings have a strong correlation (0.65) with brand mentions in AI responses - more than backlinks or content variety. After analyzing 10,000 questions through OpenAI GPT-4o API, the team found that companies ranking on Google's first page were significantly more likely to be referenced by AI systems. When they filtered out noise from forums and aggregators to focus on solution-oriented websites, the correlation grew even stronger.

So… rank with Google = rank with AI-searches. 

Using Custom GPTs to Beat Google Updates: Traffic Growth Case Study

Matt Diggity shares how his team leveraged custom GPTs to grow a client's organic traffic by 387% - from 11,063 to 53,913 monthly sessions. That includes creating specialized AI agents to audit content at scale for Google's Helpful Content and E-E-A-T guidelines. They used AI to identify and fix content gaps, and build the expertise signals that Google looks for. Some of the tasks they used AI for:

• Create custom GPT agents to audit content alignment with Google's guidelines

• Focus on demonstrating first-hand experience and expertise in your content

• Enhance content depth with detailed explanations and original insights

• Add credibility through expert quotes, research citations, and transparent methodology

• Structure content for readability with clear headings and visual elements that serve user intent

My Take: There are many great examples here of prompts to use as starting points and how things were implemented on sites.

AI Ripples

• Julie Bort covers how Triplegangers, a small company hosting hundreds of thousands of photos, faced an unexpected crisis when OpenAI's bot sent tens of thousands of server requests, mimicking a DDoS attack. This article unpacks the risks of unchecked AI crawling and offers practical advice for businesses: monitor your server logs, set bot limitations, and proactively implement safeguards like robots.txt directives. With AI tools increasingly probing the web, this highlights the importance of digital preparedness for even the smallest companies.

• Grok, Elon Musk’s AI chatbot, is now available without an X account. Grok’s new iOS app offers free access with no login required—just download and start asking. The app provides up to 10 text queries every two hours and a few image analysis and generation features daily.

MARKETING

Why You Should Be Focusing On Brand Marketing Right Now

Mordy Oberstein explains why brand marketing is becoming the cornerstone of modern SEO strategies. As search engines evolve, prioritizing trust and authority, building a strong brand is no longer optional—it’s essential. Mordy dives into how shifting from a transactional mindset to a brand-first approach can drive long-term results.

He shares his thoughts on content not being conversational and how it can be difficult to understand “writing for your users".”

My Take: Want to see how a ‘human-written’ article looks like? You can tell that a human wrote it with the language and voice used - unless Mordy has skillfully trained his own LLM.

I have this slide in one of the branding lessons in Topical Maps Unlocked 2.0 that captures much of the essence of what a brand is and isn’t. So you want to start a conversation with them, continue talking to them and be top of mind.

Marketing Ripples

• Anu Adegbola reveals Meta's two-tiered content moderation system, advertisers spending $1,500+ daily get the white-glove treatment with human review instead of automated enforcement. According to internal documents, Meta quietly implemented these "guardrails" in 2023 to protect its biggest revenue streams. While the company defends this as preventing mistaken penalties, its own documents rated these spend-based protections as having "low defensibility," suggesting internal discomfort with the practice.

• Meta's made the decision to end third-party fact-checking and relax content moderation on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. This shift is framed as a push toward "free expression," but critics argue it opens the door to misinformation and polarizing content. That’s led to a rise in Google searches on how to delete Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

TOOLS AND RESOURCES

• UpdraftPlus Vulnerability Affects 3+ Million Sites - This high-severity vulnerability (rated 8.8/10) allows unauthorized attackers to potentially exploit a PHP Object Injection flaw when admins perform search and replace actions. While there's no known immediate threat, the risk is significant enough that all users should update to version 1.24.12 immediately

CASE STUDY

December 2024 Income Report of Startups

Glen Allsopp shares an array of success stories from bootstrapped entrepreneurs and venture-backed startups. The findings show an increasing trend of AI-powered solutions transforming traditional industries, with companies like Retellio raising $1.3M to turn company calls into executive podcasts and Tenor securing $5.4M to help leaders practice communication skills through AI roleplay. Some of the key takeaways:

• Niche specialization continues to be a winning strategy

• AI integration is creating new market opportunities in established industries, from voice assistance to content creation

• Bootstrapped companies are achieving significant growth without venture capital, showing the viability of self-funded ventures

• Geographic expansion remains a key growth lever

• Content-driven businesses are proving highly profitable, with several companies generating six-figure revenues through focused content strategies

PS. Content sites are still viable, but not in the traditional write it and forget it (not that it was ever viable). They all bring a little something extra, whether tools, products, or something else.

12 SaaS Landing Pages Are My Go-To for Inspiration

Tristen Taylor analyzes how industry leaders like Shopify, Adobe, and Dropbox put their best foot forward with first impressions. From Okta's crystal-clear value proposition to Squarespace's storytelling brilliance, these pages demonstrate how to transform casual browsers into engaged customers. The analysis covers everything from trust-building elements to AI integration, showing modern SaaS marketing. Some of the key takeaways:

• Lead with trust signals and social proof, highlighting real customer success stories and statistics to build credibility

• Use dynamic visuals and animations to demonstrate your product's capabilities without overwhelming visitors

• Keep messaging clear and benefit-focused, avoiding technical jargon in favor of value-driven statements

• Incorporate AI features prominently while maintaining simplicity in design and navigation

• Deploy strategic CTAs that reduce friction, like Squarespace's "Get Started" approach that doesn't require immediate purchase commitment

NEWS

Automattic Says It Will Reduce Its Contribution to WordPress Core Project to Match WP Engine

Automattic, the team behind WordPress.com, announced plans to scale back its contributions to the WordPress core project to about 45 hours per week in their latest blog post. This shift is to match WP Engine …

• Automattic is scaling from 3,900 hours in Sept. to 2,560 now to ~45 hours.

• Automattic will be focusing on their commerical products.

• Be prepared for potential delays in WordPress updates.

• Businesses relying on WordPress should monitor these changes and adapt their strategies accordingly.

My Take: This situation is getting very interesting. What’s going to happen next will all of us using WordPress. While we may not get new features, it seems like security and vulnerability will be Automattic’s main focus with their time. That’s the good news.

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