AI Assistants Decide Which Local Businesses Get Recommended In 2026, local visibility on SERPs is no longer controlled by traditional search rankings alone. AI assistants are increasingly deciding which businesses get recommended when customers ask who to call, book, or trust nearby. Tools like Google Gemini, ChatGPT, and Siri are shaping these decisions in ways […]
Most top news publishers block AI training bots via robots.txt, but they’re also blocking the retrieval bots that determine whether sites appear in AI-generated answers. BuzzStream analyzed the robots.txt files of 100 top news sites across the US and UK and found 79% block at least one training bot. More notably, 71% also block at […]
For years, OpenAI set the pace of the generative AI revolution with ChatGPT. Their partnership with Microsoft seemed unbeatable, coupling innovation and enterprise distribution. However, the lead they once held is now in the balance. Faced with evidence that Google’s Gemini has not only caught up but surpassed capabilities in critical areas, OpenAI CEO Sam […]
Consumers are increasingly using AI tools — not Google — as their first source of information. This is driven by frustration with traditional search and rising expectations that AI will play a much larger role this year, according to a new report from Eight Oh Two, an SEO and PPC marketing agency. Why we care. […]
Regulated industries have long faced heightened scrutiny in organic search. This is where “Your Money or Your Life” (YMYL) first took hold. AI Overviews and LLMs like ChatGPT have intensified that scrutiny, expanding both the audience and the consequences. Accuracy and credibility have always mattered for SEO success in regulated sectors, but in today’s AI-driven […]
Google now adds Call Assets to Vehicle Ads so shoppers can call dealers right from the ad. Why we care. Vehicle Ads already attract high-intent buyers. Click-to-call removes friction at the exact moment they’re ready to speak with a dealer. The big picture. Automotive advertising is shifting toward immediacy. Buyers don’t want more forms. They […]
Google launched a beta integration for Google Tag Gateway that lets advertisers deploy it through Google Cloud Platform (GCP) using a new one-click workflow inside Google Tag Manager and Google tag settings. What’s new. The GCP integration uses Google Cloud’s Global external Application Load Balancer to route tag traffic through an advertiser’s own first-party domain […]
Google Search Advocate John Mueller says businesses that rely on referral traffic should think about how AI tools fit into the picture. Mueller responded to a Reddit thread asking whether SEO is still enough or whether practitioners need to start considering GEO, a term some in the industry use for optimizing visibility in AI-powered answer […]
Google Search Advocate John Mueller responded to a question about the “Page Indexed without content” error in Search Console, explaining the issue typically stems from server or CDN blocking rather than JavaScript. The exchange took place on Reddit after a user reported their homepage dropped from position 1 to position 15 following the error’s appearance. […]
Budgeting in paid search isn’t just about setting a daily number. It requires understanding how platforms pace spend, the exceptions to those rules, and what changes when budgets are adjusted mid-month. Most PPC advertisers change budgets during the month and want to know how it will affect performance. Enterprise advertisers add complexity, with fiscal cycles […]