The Red Balloon, the Surfer, and the Lost Audience.

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SEO + GEO

How Google Discover Really Works

Harry Clarkson-Bennett breaks down Google Discover’s inner workings using insights from the Google leak and real-world data, showing marketers exactly how to win visibility in the feed. Success starts with trust: your site must score high on publisher reliability and topical authority. Fresh content gets a temporary boost, but sustained reach depends on good clicks, long dwell time, and repeat visits. Harry advises to optimize for entities, use 1200px+ images, publish where you already hold topical strength, and fuel early engagement through shares and links. Treat Discover like a viral engine: clarity, timing, and genuine value drive everything.

Introducing Query Groups in Search Console Insights

Google Search Central might have just made every SEO’s week easier. Google’s new Query Groups feature in Search Console Insights automatically bundles similar search terms - “how to make guacamole dip” and “guac dip recipe” - so you can see the big picture of what people really want. Instead of sifting through endless variations, you’ll get cleaner data showing which themes are driving clicks and trends. The tool uses AI to cluster intent and spot rising or falling interest, giving marketers a sharper lens for planning content that connects faster, ranks smarter, and serves user intent with precision.

My Take: Google’s making it clear - Topics are where it’s at. They’ve been nudging us this way for years, but now it’s front and center. Too many people still obsess over keywords and miss the bigger picture: it’s always been about topics - that are relevant to your brand and audience.

When Mickey Met Metadata: How Disney Accidentally “Sold” Black Hat SEO Packages

Jenny Abouobaia turns a viral SEO mishap into a masterclass on brand protection. When Disney’s login page showed up in Google titled “Buy Black Hat SEO Packages,” it wasn’t a hack but Google’s title rewrite gone wild, triggered by spammy backlinks. Jenny breaks down why this happened and how to prevent your own “Disney moment.” Audit your anchor text regularly, noindex login or cart pages, and monitor sudden SERP changes. Keep your metadata consistent and your brand authority strong.

My Take: Google’s August 2025 spam update took 26 days and ended Sept. 21st - looks like they could’ve used a few more days. Can’t make this stuff up 😆 

Gannett Co’s Q3 2025 Earnings Call - Blocking AI Search

Gannett CEO Mike Reed said the company is aggressively defending its content from unlicensed AI use, revealing that in September alone, Gannett blocked 75 million AI bots attempting to scrape material from its USA TODAY and local platforms — about 70 million of them originating from OpenAI. Reed emphasized that this underscores how valuable Gannett’s local journalism is to AI systems and said the company will continue blocking unlicensed access while expanding paid AI licensing deals with partners such as Microsoft and Perplexity to fairly monetize its content.

My Take: It’s an interesting earnings call and you should read the transcript if you’re into seeing how a large publisher is dealing with AI search engines.

Google VP: SEO and AI Search Optimization Have ‘a Lot of Overlap’

In an interview with Marina Mogilko of Silicon Valley Girl, Google’s Robby Stein says the same fundamentals that power SEO will also shape success in AI-driven results. Robby explains that Google’s AI “thinks like a person,” pulling from sources with authority, clarity, and context. That means strong PR signals, high-quality mentions, and genuinely helpful content still count. He advises creators to study how people use AI for complex questions and decisions, then align their content accordingly.

ChatGPT said:The Rise and Fall of FAQ Schema – And What It Means for SEO

Jenn Mathews breaks down how Google’s restriction of FAQ rich results to government and health sites flipped a once-reliable SEO tactic into near-obsolescence. Her advice is to keep Q&A content for users, not algorithms. Build genuine FAQ hubs focused on one topic, write concise, factual answers that serve both humans and AI, and skip the schema unless your page exists purely to answer questions. She says to focus on clarity, compliance, and structure so LLMs can still surface your answers, even if your schema markup no longer earns that coveted rich result.

SEO + GEO Ripples

• Barry Schwartz breaks down how both Google and Microsoft are cashing in big on ads this quarter. Google’s ad revenue hit $74 billion, climbing 13% year-over-year, with overall revenue topping a record $102.3 billion. Microsoft’s search and news ads weren’t far behind, jumping 16% to boost total revenue by 18%. Google’s “AI Overviews” doubled search queries, while Bing’s conversational overviews helped it gain share.

• Roger Montti digs into Automattic’s counterclaim against WP Engine and exposes a fundamental SEO myth hiding in plain sight. Automattic argues that WP Engine’s high keyword usage (“WordPress” and “WooCommerce”) manipulates search rankings - but Roger shows that’s outdated nonsense. Search engines no longer reward keyword stuffing; they prioritize intent and semantics. His investigation reveals Automattic’s comparison data is biased and that WP Engine’s keyword use is actually moderate.

• SerpApi responds to Reddit’s lawsuit - Julien Khaleghy explains how SerpApi plans to fight the lawsuit, framing it as a defense of the First Amendment and the right to access publicly available data. For eight years, SerpApi has powered tools used across SEO, marketing, and AI by structuring public search data into usable insights.

AI

Introducing Vibe Coding in Google AI Studio

Google shows off a faster, more intuitive way to build AI apps with Google’s new “vibe coding” experience in AI Studio. Instead of juggling APIs or writing complex code, you can now describe your idea in plain language, and Gemini models handle the rest. The revamped App Gallery shares remixable examples, while the new Annotation Mode lets you tweak your app visually. You can point and tell Gemini what to change.

GitHub Is Launching a Hub for Multiple AI Coding Agents

GitHub is turning its Copilot platform into a full-blown AI control center called Agent HQ. Instead of sticking with just Copilot, developers will soon be able to toggle between AI coders inside GitHub from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, and more. Think of it as mission control for your coding bots, letting you compare outputs, manage multiple agents, and pick the best results. GitHub’s also adding tools like Plan Mode to help Copilot map out step-by-step tasks and a code review feature that catches issues before you do.

Create On-Brand Marketing Content for Your Business With Pomelli

Google Labs and DeepMind released Pomelli, a new AI tool that helps small and mid-sized businesses create professional, on-brand marketing content. Pomelli analyzes your website to build a “Business DNA” profile capturing your tone, visuals, and color palette. From there, it generates tailored campaign ideas and ready-to-edit creatives that align perfectly with your brand. Pomelli is launching today as a public beta experiment in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand in English

AI Ripples

• OpenAI released gpt-oss-safeguard, a pair of open-weight reasoning models designed to make AI safety more adaptable and transparent. Instead of relying on fixed, retrained classifiers, these models let developers plug in their own safety policies and see exactly how the model reasons through them. That allows devs to shape moderation and trust systems to fit a platform’s unique needs, rather than forcing generic rules.

• OpenAI explains how they built the ChatGPT Atlas browser with OWL, the new architecture that separates the app from Chromium itself. How they got a lightning-fast startup, crash resistance, and agentic browsing. Engineers now work faster with a clean SwiftUI codebase, and users get smoother performance and smarter interactions. It’s a short and interesting read if you’re into the more technical side.

• Wondering how OpenAI and Microsoft’s relationship is? In this update from OpenAI, the company outlines an expansion of its long-term partnership with Microsoft, Microsoft now holds roughly a 27% stake in OpenAI’s new public benefit corporation (valued at ~$135B!) and extends its exclusive rights to OpenAI’s IP and Azure integration through 2032. The new deal allows both companies to innovate more freely - OpenAI can now co-develop with third parties and release open-weight models, while Microsoft can pursue AGI independently.

• Emma Roth reports that Perplexity just launched an AI tool that makes patent hunting less of a headache. Instead of juggling endless keyword strings, you can now type a question in plain English like “recent patents on quantum computing” and get instant, summarized results. The tool even picks up related terms automatically, so “fitness trackers” brings up patents for “activity bands” and “health watches.” It also digs into academic papers and software repositories for prior art. Currently free in beta.

• Bill Peebles, head of Sora at OpenAI, announced that users can now buy extra generations, 10 for $4. He explained that Sora’s 30 free daily generations (pro users get 100/day) weren’t enough for power users, and the high GPU costs made the current system untenable. Beyond monetization, he hinted at a bigger play: a new creator economy where rightsholders could charge for character cameos and early adopters can profit.

MARKETING

Elon Musk’s Grokipedia Launches With AI-Cloned Pages From Wikipedia

Jay Peters reports that ELlon Musk’s xAI just launched Grokipedia, an encyclopedia promising to outdo Wikipedia - but many of its pages are straight-up copies. Some entries even admit they’re “adapted” from Wikipedia, word-for-word. While Musk touts Grokipedia as a “massive improvement,” it currently lacks transparency, editability, and the community-driven oversight that made Wikipedia trustworthy.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Introducing Disappearing Posts on Threads

Meta’s latest update brings ghost posts to Threads - temporary posts that automatically archive after 24 hours. The idea is to help users share unfiltered, in-the-moment thoughts without the pressure of perfection. Replies and likes stay private in your inbox, so only you can see who engaged. To post one, simply toggle the ghost icon before sharing. This feature joins Threads’ growing set of creative tools, signaling Meta’s push to make spontaneous, low-pressure content the new normal in digital conversation.

Say Hello to Pinterest Assistant: Revolutionizing the Way You Shop Online

Pinterest unveils Pinterest Assistant, an AI-powered shopping companion built to help you discover and shop. Instead of endless scrolling, users can now talk to the Assistant and get tailored visual recommendations drawn from their boards, saves, and the platform’s 600 million monthly users. It’s like having a stylist, decorator, and personal shopper rolled into one. The AI taps Pinterest’s Taste-graph to deliver results that “just get you,” blending voice, image, and text search.

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