For many local businesses, performance looks healthier than it is. Rank trackers still show top-three positions. Visibility reports appear steady. Yet calls and website visits from Google Business Profiles are falling — sometimes fast. This gap is becoming a defining feature of local search today. Rankings are holding. Visibility and performance aren’t. The alligator has […]
Google has launched a core update specifically for Discover, rather than Search more broadly. The February Discover core update began Feb. 5 for English-language users in the U.S., with plans to expand to other countries and languages. Google says the rollout may take up to two weeks. Google has started a Discover […]
Google has released the February 2026 Discover core update, this is a core update specific to how Google surfaces content within Google Discover. Google wrote, “This is a broad update to our systems that surface articles in Discover.” This is first rolling out to English language users in the US, and will expand it to […]
Jump straight to examples of affected websites. Over the past year, one of the most common tactics for gaining visibility in AI search has been for companies to publish “listicle” content on their own blogs – ranking the best companies or products in their niche and placing themselves in the No. 1 spot. There are […]
This one started with a question from Adorján-Csaba Demeter, a subscriber in Romania, who asked how big the behavior change could be after Google’s AI Mode Personal Search launch, and it pushed me to think past the product announcement and into the habit shift underneath it. AI changing search is a foregone conclusion. The real story is […]
Right now, it’s hard to find a marketing conversation that doesn’t include two letters: AI. SEOs, strategists, and marketing leaders everywhere are asking the same question in different ways: How do we use AI to cut manpower, streamline work, move faster, and boost efficiency? Much of that thinking makes sense. If you run a business, […]
Today’s question is about understanding internal linking and how it can help or hinder a search engine’s perception of a page’s topical relevance and authority. “How do you technically assess whether a site’s internal linking is diluting topical authority rather than strengthening it?” What Is Topical Authority In essence, topical authority is the concept of […]
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How Links, Mentions, and Authority Influence Rankings and AI Discovery Authority and presence across the web continue to play a central role in search visibility, even as AI-driven experiences reshape how SERPs appear. Links, brand mentions, and trust signals continue to influence how Google evaluates credibility, both in traditional rankings and in AI-powered SERPs. The […]
One of the biggest reasons new advertisers end up in underperforming Performance Max campaigns is simple: they followed Google’s advice. Google Ads reps are often well-meaning and, in many cases, genuinely helpful at a surface level. But it’s critical for advertisers – especially new ones – to understand who those reps work for, how they’re […]