There’s a divided line in the industry between those who think optimizing for AI is separate from SEO and those who think LLM discovery is just SEO. But, this is an unproductive argument, because whatever you think, LLM inclusion is now part of SEO discovery. So, let’s just focus on how the search journey works […]
Ranking No. 1 is still an accomplishment, but by now, most SEO professionals understand that it doesn’t mean what it once did. Search in 2026 is messy, multi-surface, and sometimes more passive than active: Jim Yu, Founder and CEO of BrightEdge, shared with me: “In the early days of search, success was simple: earn rankings, […]
Doc Brown’s DeLorean didn’t just travel through time; it created different timelines. Same car, different realities. In “Back to the Future,” when Marty’s actions in the past threatened his existence, his photograph began to flicker between realities depending on choices made across timelines. This exact phenomenon is happening to your brand right now in AI […]
See Where Your Brand Stands in the New Search Frontier AI search has become the new gateway to visibility. As Google’s AI Overviews and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) reshape discovery, the question is no longer if your brand should adapt, but how fast. Join Pat Reinhart, VP of Services and Thought Leadership at Conductor, and […]
You might think you’ve mastered the Google Ads search terms report, but this essential optimization tool is still widely misunderstood – and often misused. Here are five tips to help you get more from your campaigns by using the search terms report the right way. Keywords vs. Search Terms: A quick refresh When discussing keywords and […]
AI search isn’t just changing what content ranks; it’s quietly redrawing where your brand appears to belong. As large language models (LLMs) synthesize results across languages and markets, they blur the boundaries that once kept content localized. Traditional geographic signals of hreflang, ccTLDs, and regional schema are being bypassed, misread, or overwritten by global defaults. […]
Chatbots have changed many professionals’ workflows and processes. Accountants, lawyers, SEO experts, writers, agencies, developers, and even teachers are still discussing the changes taking place in their field thanks to tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. If you want to search for information, need help fixing bugs in your CSS, want to create something as […]
Google is quietly updating its Personalized Ads policy on Dec. 12, expanding access to Custom Segments for certain Display campaigns — a shift that could unlock new targeting options for advertisers previously restricted under the policy. Driving the news. Advertisers received a brief, mandatory service email from Google announcing the change but offering no details […]
SE Ranking analyzed 129,000 unique domains across 216,524 pages in 20 niches to identify which factors correlate with ChatGPT citations. The number of referring domains ranked as the single strongest predictor of citation likelihood. What The Data Says Backlinks And Trust Signals Link diversity showed the clearest correlation with citations. Sites with up to 2,500 […]
Google Search Advocate John Mueller says large video files loading in the background are unlikely to have a noticeable SEO impact if page content loads first. A site owner on Reddit’s r/SEO asked whether a 100MB video would hurt SEO if the page prioritizes loading a hero image and content before the video. The video […]