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Data finds 95% of ChatGPT users still use Google. Other research finds fewer searches and fewer clicks. Here's how both can be true at the same time. More details in my report at Search Engine Journal. #chatgpt

Wikipedia is a good example of how weird web measurement is getting. AI systems can access content and use it in answers without creating a visit. A working paper estimates English Wikipedia got fewer search referrals after AI Overviews rolled out, while Wikimedia has separately reported growing machine demand. Those are different measurements, but they point to the same blind spot. Crawling, citing, and clicking are not the same thing. Only one becomes the referral you see in analytics. If this

Google may still judge a site on old low-value pages, even after those pages are noindexed. Google's John Mueller told someone on Bluesky: "Our systems have possibly lost faith in your site providing good value to users based on the old pages." This was after they asked why many of their pages sat at 'crawled - currently not indexed' after pruning older pages. Mueller added that resolving this kind of issue "tends to take time & significant effort to show the value." The useful part is that rem

Websites can now feature a second interface for AI agents. The main interface is what people see, while the second one makes it easier for AI agents to interact with tools on the page. WebMCP is a new tech that lets sites offer these tools in a structured way, instead of making AI agents figure out how to interact with the page on their own. Shopify is already incorporating WebMCP tools on storefronts, which is promising. Since the project is still in draft, it's too early to say whether WebMCP

Google now provides a clearer way to see AI visibility in Search Console. The new Generative AI report provides a detailed breakdown of impressions by page, country, device, and date. While these impressions are already part of your usual Search Performance data, this new view focuses on AI-specific visibility. The report doesn’t include clicks, CTR, queries, or a comparison between AI Overviews and AI Mode. So, what’s the point? This tool helps you see if your pages show up in AI search resul

Data in Google Analytics can look good on its own, but it could still be trailing behind similar businesses. Without the ability to compare, it’s tough to see how your performance stacks up to competitors. Google is working to offer that comparison by adding benchmarking to Google Analytics through Ask Advisor. Now, you can ask about campaign performance using simple language and get comparisons based on averages from similar businesses. Right now, Ask Advisor is in beta for English accounts, an

ChatGPT might not be viewing as much of your page as you believe. A report from Resoneo shows that OpenAI’s web search index typically keeps just a page title and a brief snippet of about 200 characters from the top. So it’s a good idea to do a quick check of your important pages. Open them up and review everything before the first paragraph. Sometimes, things like category labels, publication dates, image descriptions, or other template text may appear before your main article content. Is your

Google has finished rolling out the August 2026 spam update, its third spam update of the year. The update applies worldwide in all languages. Sites that violate Google's spam policies can see rankings drop or stop appearing in search results altogether. If your rankings moved, confirm the timing before making changes. And if cleaning up risky tactics is on your to-do list, it's best to handle it now. Full story on Search Engine Journal. Subscribe for more search news. #GoogleSearch

Anthropic is preparing to add hidden watermarks to text from new Claude models, along with metadata for supported image files. But what does it prove? Human-written text can also carry one after Claude edits or summarizes content. So a detected mark can point to Claude involvement without necessarily telling you who originally wrote the it. Here’s what Anthropic has announced, how the marking works, and where the limitations are. Read the full story at Search Engine Journal.

Google's Search team says you don't need an llms.txt file. It won't help or hurt your rankings, because Google Search ignores it. Chrome's Lighthouse now includes an agentic browsing audit that checks how your site handles one. The file matters for AI agents, not Google Search. This video covers what llms.txt does, why the two signals aren't a contradiction, and whether it's worth adding. It's low risk and low effort, but the payoff is still unproven. If there's value, it's in agent readiness, n