Stay Focused and Push Forward

Google Keeps Chrome; AI Search Personas; Gullible AI Chatbots; AI Hallucinations; LLM vs Organic Conversion; Search Behavior Changes; How People Learn SEO; and Much More!

Author

Yoyao
September 06, 2025 • Est. Learning Time: 16 minutes

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FIRST …

Some weeks, the best move is simple: keep your head down, focus, and get things done.

This week? That’s exactly what I’ve been doing at Floyi. We’re deep in the weeds, building something we know will change the game for your AI Search and SEO strategy: a brand-new Topical Authority Score.

It’s easy to get distracted by shiny new ideas or a “ding” from your phone or computer. Social media is definitely one where I can go down rabbit holes quickly if there’s something interesting.

But when I’m heads down, it’s all about concentration and dedication.

Here’s how I stay locked in:

  • Set Clear, Bite-Sized Goals: Break big tasks into simple, bite-sized steps. Each small win builds momentum.

  • Eliminate Distractions: Turn off any notifications - cell, email, browser, any potential “ding” or vibration. Staying off / limiting social media.

  • Different Desktops: I set up multiple desktop screens on my Mac for different tasks: development, marketing, email, personal (fantasy football is starting!)

  • Background Noise: I used to use music, but I throw on movies and shows that I’ve seen before and don’t make me think. Action movies are great for this. But sometimes, I’ll also just go with quiet.

How about you? What your method for staying in the zone when you need to get stuff done?

Stay focused, stay determined, and keep pushing forward!

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SEO + GEO

Jennifer Elias reports a clean win on outcomes. Judge Amit Mehta let Google keep Chrome and Android intact, while barring exclusive distribution contracts. Payments for preloads (e.g., iPhone) can continue, but not tied to exclusivity. Google must share defined search index and user interaction data with rivals, excluding ads data, on commercial terms. Alphabet shares jumped 8% after hours, Apple rose 4% on continued default-search payments. The ruling also extends remedies to GenAI distribution practices.

Marie Haynes digs into Google’s recent trial documents to provide a behind-the-scenes look at how their ranking algorithms work. Key insights reveal that Google’s algorithms rely heavily on user feedback, like clicks and queries, to continuously improve search results. Each page in Google’s index is assigned a DocID, which includes signals such as user engagement, spam scores, and crawl data. While PageRank remains a factor, it’s far less important than the signals coming directly from the content itself. For SEO success, focus on creating valuable, user-friendly content that generates real engagement.

In the latest episode of Search Off the Record, Martin and John discuss the nuances of SEO for content behind login pages. They emphasize that if you want your private content visible on Google, using proper structured data like paywall tags is essential. However, if content is purely private, it’s best to block search engines with noindex or a redirect to avoid confusion. They also highlight common issues like duplicate login pages appearing in search results and suggest testing your site with incognito windows to ensure proper indexing. Read transcript instead.

Angela Skane highlights the need for dynamic, data-driven personas that integrate real-world factors like location, industry trends, and user context. AI-driven search is increasingly personalized, and understanding the environmental factors influencing user intent is crucial. By enhancing personas with data on user behavior and external influences, businesses can craft more relevant, effective content. She advises integrating environmental data and continuously refining SEO strategies to create content that resonates with users and surfaces in AI search results.

In his WordCamp US talk, Danny Sullivan (now a Director within Google Search) discusses how Google Search continues to evolve with new technologies to meet user expectations. He explains how Google uses various signals, like freshness and authority, to rank content effectively. As search behavior changes, Google adapts with features like AI-powered overviews and multimodal search.

AI

Dina Bass covers a new study reveals that AI chatbots can be influenced and manipulated similarly to humans. Researchers tested the effectiveness of persuasion tactics on AI models like OpenAI’s GPT-4o mini. By using authority, commitment, and liking principles, chatbots became more compliant, even performing actions they were initially programmed to refuse. This highlights the need for AI developers to incorporate behavioral science in testing their models.

Ryan Law and Xibeijia Guan show that AI assistants like ChatGPT and Claude are 2.87 times more likely to direct users to 404 error pages compared to traditional search engines like Google. ChatGPT is the worst offender, sending 1.01% of users to broken links. Despite this, traditional search engines remain dominant, with minimal decline in usage. They show how to monitor AI-driven traffic and address these 404 errors by using redirects or improving 404 pages to guide users to relevant content. Tracking these URLs can help mitigate traffic losses.

And of course, right on cue, OpenAI releases research on hallucinations …

OpenAI's latest research dives into why language models like ChatGPT and Claude hallucinate - generating plausible but false information. The study finds that the main cause is the current training and evaluation methods, which prioritize accuracy over acknowledging uncertainty. Models are rewarded for guessing, which leads to confident yet wrong answers. To reduce hallucinations, OpenAI suggests updating evaluation metrics to penalize confident errors more than uncertainty. This approach would help language models better express doubt when needed. The research highlights that while improvements have been made, the challenge of minimizing hallucinations remains ongoing.

Misconception Claim: Hallucinations will be eliminated by improving accuracy because a 100% accurate model never hallucinates.

Finding: Accuracy will never reach 100% because, regardless of model size, search and reasoning capabilities, some real-world questions are inherently unanswerable.

AI Ripples

  • Anthropic has successfully raised $13 billion in a Series F funding round, bringing its valuation to $183 billion. They have over 300,000 business customers. Since launching Claude in 2023, Anthropic has seen rapid revenue growth, surpassing $5 billion in run-rate revenue by mid-2025.

  • Apple is planning a significant overhaul of Siri and its search capabilities for 2026, integrating a new AI-powered web search tool called World Knowledge Answers. This revamped system will leverage AI to provide quicker, more accurate results by pulling data from across the internet, and will be incorporated into Siri, Spotlight, and Safari. Apple is collaborating with Google on this new initiative to improve information accessibility through a combination of text, photos, and video.

  • Warner Bros. Discovery has filed a lawsuit against Midjourney, accusing the company of generating "unauthorized derivatives" of iconic characters like Superman, Bugs Bunny, and Scooby-Doo. The lawsuit claims that Midjourney’s tool allows users to create and distribute copyrighted content, including highly detailed images of Warner's characters, without permission. They’re seeking up to $150,000 per infringed work.

CONTENT

Casey Nifong dives into the factors that generative AI models use to assess content credibility, emphasizing four core traits: accuracy, authority, transparency, and freshness. By examining citation frequency, domain reputation, and content updates, AI systems prioritize trusted sources. Smaller brands can compete by showcasing expertise and original research, not just relying on name recognition. She also explores how pretraining data, source curation, and ranking logic influence which content surfaces first, offering actionable tips for marketers to align content strategies with the trust signals generative engines reward.

CASE STUDY

Will Guevara shares an Amsive study that dives into whether traffic from large language models (LLMs) converts better than organic search traffic. The analysis across 54 sites found no significant difference in conversion rates, with LLM traffic performing similarly to organic. While LLM traffic showed a slight edge in some cases, the variation was too small and inconsistent to be meaningful. This data challenges assumptions that LLM traffic is inherently more qualified. The key takeaway is organic search continues to dominate, but LLMs are an emerging part of the customer journey and should be strategically integrated.

Adam Heitzman shares a recent study revealing major shifts in how people search in 2025. Google’s share of general information searches dropped from 73% to 66.9%, while ChatGPT usage tripled to 12.5%. The study also highlights that daily AI tool usage has more than doubled, from 14% to 29%. Younger generations are leading the charge in adopting AI for search, while older generations remain more traditional. The data also reveals that platform switching is on the rise, as users blend traditional search, AI tools, and social media for different search intents.

Rand Fishkin and SparkToro’s latest research reveals that while over 20% of Americans are now heavy users of AI tools, the growth is slowing. Despite this, traditional search engines remain resilient with 95% of Americans using them regularly. The data shows that while AI tools like ChatGPT are growing in adoption, they’re not replacing Google - rather, they’re complementing it. AI adoption is plateauing, suggesting AI tools won’t overtake traditional search anytime soon.

Lidia Infante’s new study reveals how SEOs are sharpening their skills in 2025. Industry sites (72%), social media (59%) and newsletters (57%) dominate learning, with newsletters rated most effective at 78%. Search Engine Journal tops the list of publications, while SEOFOMO is the most read newsletter. BrightonSEO remains the must-attend event, though many see conferences as networking over learning. Gender and seniority shape habits, with women leaning on blogs and newsletters, and senior SEOs turning to online communities.

My Take: Digital Surfer is the best newsletter - but I may be a bit biased 😉 

WAYS WE CAN WORK TOGETHER

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