SEO Isn’t Dead - But SEO Reports Are

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SEO + GEO

"Core Update Notes" with Glenn Gabe of GSQi

Glenn Gabe of GSQi shares insights from Google's December 2025 core update. He highlights that even outside major updates, "smaller core updates" cause volatility, urging constant monitoring. Gabe emphasizes checking site visibility if you're in YMYL, news, or career/jobs niches, as these saw heavy impact. Sites previously hit by spam can recover if issues are addressed, but neglect can worsen things. Glenn illustrates how poor user experience and aggressive ads can tank search visibility, as Google's Nav Boost system tracks user signals. Prioritizing user experience is paramount for organic success.

Entity-Based SEO: An Explainer for SEOs and Content Marketers

Jennifer Clark explains entity-based SEO as optimizing for concepts and relationships, not isolated keywords. Search engines map entities in the Knowledge Graph, which is why a page can rank without repeating the exact phrase. Her workflow: pick a core topic, pull related entities from People Also Ask, related searches and Wikipedia links, then validate with tools like Google Natural Language API, Ahrefs, or Semrush. Organize content into pillar-and-cluster groups, interlink by shared entities and add schema to remove ambiguity.

A Billion-Dollar Question Hangs Over the New AI Search Marketing Industry

Patrick Coffee explores how marketers are scrambling to understand whether AI search tools like ChatGPT change SEO forever or simply reward the same fundamentals. His reporting shows early data pointing to familiar truths: authoritative content, strong brand signals, fresh updates, and real user conversations still matter most. Tactics like flooding the web with low-quality content are risky, while detailed, timely, genuinely helpful information performs better in AI answers. He highlights that AI search leans heavily on recency and user-generated discussions, pushing brands to invest in credibility, clarity, and ongoing content hygiene rather than chasing shortcuts.

Ahrefs Tested AI Misinformation, But Proved Something Else

Roger Montti breaks down Ahrefs’ “AI misinformation” study and shows what it really teaches: generative answers reward the most specific, question-shaped content, not the “truth.” If your own site hedges with “we don’t disclose,” third-party stories will fill the gaps. Write pages that state facts, numbers, processes, and proof, then make them easy to cite. Avoid leading prompts in your own testing, because they push models to invent. Build real entity signals over time with consistent mentions, links, and corroboration, so AI has something solid to grab. That’s how you win in AI search.

SEO + GEO Ripples

• John Mueller offers his personal take on whether schema helps LLMs understand your entities. His answer: yes, no and it depends on the feature. For shopping-style surfaces, structured data can be the difference between accurate pricing, shipping and availability, and a machine guessing from messy page text. For other rich results, schema mostly “richens up” how you appear, not where you rank, since Google has long said structured data is not a ranking factor.

AI

Building a Team of AI Employees That Easily Scale Your Business

Michael Stelzner says “generic AI” produces generic work, and the fix is building a team of specialized AI employees with training, playbooks and clear job rules. Start with a robust Brand Book that captures your audience’s triggers, risks and desires, your voice and quirks, and your offers and principles. Save it as .md or .txt so tools can read it reliably. Then add role-specific knowledge files: SOPs, templates, best-performing content, a CSV of customer reviews and curated outside research. Finish by writing system instructions that define role, context, behaviors and hard rules. This setup can automate about 70% of tasks.

OpenAI Bets Big on Audio as Silicon Valley Declares War on Screens

Connie Loizos reports that OpenAI is reorganizing teams to overhaul its audio models ahead of an audio-first personal device. Start publishing spoken-friendly content: tighter answers, natural language FAQs, and page structures that voice assistants can parse fast. Test how your brand sounds in AI summaries and voice search, then fix gaps with consistent facts across your site, listings, and reviews. Consider adding audio versions of guides and product pages, and measure completion rates. As audio interfaces spread to cars, homes, and wearables, the brands that sound helpful will win.

Sam Altman Offers $555K Salary to Fill Most Daunting Role in AI

OpenAI is hiring a Head of Preparedness at $555,000 a year plus equity to measure and mitigate frontier AI risks, from mental health harms to cyber and bio threats. The job description reads like a crisis playbook: track emerging capabilities, anticipate abuse, and design safeguards before the next model ships. Governance is now a growth lever. Document claims, audit AI outputs, build escalation paths, and publish transparent policies that earn trust. Treat risk work as brand work, because regulators and users are watching and lawsuits move fast.

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