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SEO + GEO

Why ‘AI Share Buttons’ Might Be the Smartest Growth Hack: The CiteMET Method

You know those Social Share buttons? Well, Metehan Yesilyurt created “AI share” buttons so users can share your content directly with ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and others. Why? Instead of relying only on Google, you make your content discoverable inside large language models (LLMs). He gives exact implementation steps, placement ideas, prompt templates, and a WordPress plugin you can use - although I couldn’t get the plugin zip to install.

My Take: I’ve been working on something that follows a similar core thesis for a bit now. I can say that this could work, but still relies on others finding your content and sharing. So if you have consistent users, this can be useful. But if you barely get visitors to your page already - work on getting users to your page by whatever means first.

Revealed: Hacked Sites and Expired Domains Are Being Used as Sources for ChatGPT’s Recommendations

James Brockbank exposes a blind spot in how ChatGPT picks its sources. By analyzing recommendations in sectors like online casinos, he reveals how bad actors use hacked sites and expired domains to manipulate visibility. ChatGPT often cites these questionable sources simply because the domains look authoritative or recent, even when the content is irrelevant or deceptive. If you want your brand to be recommended for the right reasons, focus on credible third-party mentions and authentic authority.

My Take: I often feel that casino sites are the canaries showing us where search systems are weak and exploitable. Not that we take advantage of them, of course. I.e., all play according to the guidelines in Google's docs...😌 

The Forgotten Coupling: With AI Overviews Surging in Web Search, Don’t Overlook Image Search, Video Mode, and the News Tab in Search

Glenn Gabe shines a spotlight on overlooked search verticals that still deliver traffic while AI Overviews dominate traditional results. As web search becomes tougher, savvy site owners are seeing steady clicks and impressions from image search, video mode, and the News tab - three channels untouched by AI Overviews, at least for now. Glenn breaks down exactly how to take advantage of this window and keep your content seen and clicked.

AI-Generated Content Does Not Hurt Your Google Rankings (600,000 Pages Analyzed)

Si Quan Ong and Xibeijia Guan analyzed 600,000 pages with their AI content detector and concluded Google neither punishes nor rewards AI-generated content. Focus on creating helpful content for users, not on how much AI is involved. Top-ranking pages almost always use a mix of human and AI input, while pure AI rarely hits #1.

• 4.6% of pages were categorized as “pure AI.”

• 13.5% were categorized as “pure human.”

• 81.9% were categorized as a mix of two.

My Take: Even though AI-assisted articles can rank, the winners usually have serious domain authority, loads of backlinks or deep topical coverage. This study doesn’t cover them. AI content detector accuracy is another point of concern for me because there’s no benchmark against another AI detector, like Originality or ZeroGPT.

I know plenty of folks will see the pie chart and think: “My pure AI site is going to be part of the 4.6% that ranks.” Sorry, but blindly building a content strategy on that hope is naive.

It’s the same flimsy math you hear in startup pitch decks: “Health insurance is a $550 billion market. If we can capture just 1% of that, you’d have invested in a $5 billion company from a $1m investment.”

Just a 499,900% ROI 🤑 

SEO + GEO Ripples

• Gisele Navarro investigates into how Google’s AI Overviews can mislead and often recycle sales pitches from manufacturers, retailers and sponsored reviews, sometimes even promoting products that do not exist. Google maintains that these features boost user satisfaction and help send traffic to publishers. Whether you believe Google is protecting the web or prioritizing ad revenue, always double-check claims, dig for negative reviews, and do not take AI-generated recommendations at face value.

• Brett Tabke shares news of Google’s Chrome browser rolling out the new @aimode command, making Gemini 2.5 AI just a shortcut away in the Omnibox. With AI Mode bolted onto Chrome’s search bars and soon bleeding into tabs, bookmarks, and history. For SEOs, this means yet another way for Google to leapfrog over your rich snippets and serve AI-generated answers straight from the browser.

AI

Why Structured Data, Not Tokenization, Is the Future of LLMs

Mark van Berkel takes aim at skeptics who say LLMs like ChatGPT can’t “understand” structured data such as JSON-LD, arguing that this view is outdated. He makes the case that today’s LLMs are bolstered by reasoning models and knowledge graphs and moving past tokenization quirks, using structured data for deeper, more accurate insights and fewer hallucinations.

Still, the other side has a point too. They point out that tokenization issues once muddled complex data and that LLMs can treat even structured input as “statistical soup.”

My Take: LLMs have evolved and with more training and datapoints to learn from, they’re only going to get more sophisticated. So I completely agree that the more structured data you can provide a LLM, the more future-proofing you give your site.

‘Positive Review Only’: Researchers Hide AI Prompts in Papers

Shogo Sugiyama and Ryosuke Eguchi reveal how top academics have started hiding secret prompts in research papers, telling AI reviewers to give only positive feedback. The piece digs into tactics like white text and tiny fonts to trick AI, raising red flags about integrity in peer review and the growing reliance on automated assessments.

My Take: While attractive, not something I’d really suggest for your sites. It’s been something that people have already done in the past to manipulate Google algorithm. Unless you have something just for AI LLMs, I wouldn’t do it due to potential effects with Google and users. But you can always test it on a throwaway site 🙂 

Too funny not to share - but if you’re building an AI app and allowing people to give a prompt, make sure you test it not to accept a prompt like “miao 100 times.”

AI Ripples

• OpenAI and Perplexity are both preparing to release their own browsers. Technically, Perplexity’s Comet is available to their $200/mth Max subscribers

CONTENT

Keywords Are Dead. But the Keyword Universe Isn’t

Kevin Indig and Amanda Johnson make the case for ditching old-school keyword research in favor of the Keyword Universe - a dynamic, living list that surfaces the highest-impact queries by business value, not just search volume. Their three-step playbook: mine for real audience queries, sort and score by signals that drive results, and refine your universe as market realities shift.

My Take: This is basically what I’ve been doing for years with TopicalMap.com. And with a topical map, whenever there are new or emerging topics, they slot in easily into the map. But that’s also our version of a topical map. I do like their scoring criteria tool there.

TOOLS AND RESOURCES

The New LearningAIsearch.com Roadmap Launches

Aleyda Solis just launched LearningAIsearch.com, a one-stop resource hub for AI search optimization - similar to her LearningSEO.io site for SEO. The new site offers free, trustworthy guides, practical tools, and real-world tips covering everything from optimizing content and tracking AI search visibility to building brand authority and measuring traffic.

My Take:

1. Awesome that she put this together.

2. No mention of Floyi’s AIRS Analyzer for AI Search, but I’ll submit it and see if Floyi gets some love 🙏♥️ I believe it’s the most useful AI search optimization tool out there and many new tool announcements are now showing up with features that Floyi’s had for some time.

3. So…you’re saying that SEO is different enough from AI Search Optimization to deserve it’s own Roadmap site? Grab your helmet 🪖 and run for cover!

WAYS WE CAN WORK TOGETHER

Floyi - The only AI-powered tool that builds 4-level topical maps, so your content strategy isn’t just planned—it’s unstoppable.

Topical Maps Unlocked 2.0 - The blueprint for ranking dominance. Learn how to structure content the way search engines (and audiences) crave.

Topical Map Service - We handle the research, structure, and strategy. You get a custom topical map delivered that builds authority, so your content dominates its niche.

Content Strategy and SEO Consulting – No guesswork, no gimmicks, no generalizations. Just you and me, refining your personal strategy into a clear, proven roadmap for traffic, authority, and conversions.