Let’s face it: search is changing fast.

For years, we got comfortable with blue links and classic rankings. But now, AI-powered search tools can generate answers directly, and sometimes they recommend solutions faster than traditional search results ever could.

And here’s the big shift: visibility used to be mostly about ranking on page one for specific keywords. That’s still important, but it’s no longer the whole picture. Brands aren’t just competing in the SERPs anymore. They’re competing to be mentioned and recommended inside AI-generated answers.

Don’t worry. This isn’t the “SEO is dead” moment people love to dramatize. This is SEO evolving. Slowly but surely, we’re moving from a focus on rankings to a focus on recommendations.

That’s why one emerging approach is gaining traction: prompt research for AI SEO.

The idea is simple: understand the kinds of prompts people type into AI tools when they’re close to making a decision. Instead of only obsessing over keywords, we also pay attention to how users ask questions, describe their problems, and compare options when they’re talking to AI platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and similar tools.

In this guide, we’ll walk through the following:

• What prompt research is and why it matters for AI visibility
• How prompt research differs from traditional keyword research
• How AI systems interpret prompts and recommend brands
• A practical workflow you can follow to do prompt research for AI SEO

Once you understand how prompt research works, you’ll be in a better position to appear in AI-generated recommendations (like AI Overviews) when users are actively looking for solutions.

Author’s Note: This article connects directly to my AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) series. If you’re new to AEO, read my post on how AI is changing the way people search online. It lays the foundation for why we’re moving from “ranking for keywords” to “getting included in AI-generated answers,” and why prompt research is becoming a real advantage.

What is Prompt Research? 

Prompt research is the process of identifying the types of questions people ask AI systems when they’re evaluating options or looking for recommendations.

If traditional SEO focuses on search queries, prompt research focuses on conversations with AI.

For example, a typical keyword someone might type into a search engine could be:

best seo agency in the philippines

But when interacting with an AI tool, the same user might ask something more conversational, like:

What’s the best SEO agency in the Philippines to work with to scale up my company?

That extra context matters.

Unlike short search queries, prompts often include details about the user’s goals, constraints, or specific problems. In many cases, that’s a signal that the user is closer to making a decision, not just casually browsing.

Prompt research helps you identify these questions so you can optimize your content to show up when AI systems start evaluating options and recommending solutions directly.

Because of this shift, many SEO pros now see prompt research as an important layer of developing AI search strategies. As conversational search continues to grow, understanding how people interact with AI systems becomes essential for maintaining visibility.

Why Prompt Research Matters Now

With over 56% of global search engine volume being driven by AI-driven search experiences, users are increasingly turning to platforms that can provide direct, summarized answers. This fuels “zero-click behavior,” where people get what they need without visiting multiple websites.

And because of this change, prompt research is becoming more important. Here’s why:

• AI-generated answers summarize multiple sources into a single response
• Users interact with AI conversationally rather than through short queries
• Detailed prompts often trigger AI systems to recommend specific options

When a user asks something purely informational, AI usually explains the topic.

But when a prompt includes constraints, preferences, and concerns, AI tools are far more likely to evaluate options and recommend particular products, services, or brands.

This is the heart of it: the goal isn’t just traffic anymore. The goal is to be part of the answers themselves.

Difference Between Prompt Research and Keyword Research

This shift doesn’t mean traditional SEO is obsolete. Keyword research is still foundational.

But prompt research expands that process to match how users behave inside AI environments.

SEO and AI now go hand in hand. Keywords often represent shorter fragments of topics, while prompts reveal why they’re searching and what decision they’re trying to make.

Keyword research remains valuable because it provides important language signals for users and search engines. It shows how people naturally talk about a topic, and it gives you a foundation for generating realistic prompts.

Prompt research was never meant to replace SEO.

Instead, it expands SEO as search evolves in AI-driven environments. Keywords identify the core topics people care about. Prompts reveal the context, intent, and decision scenarios behind those topics.

Simply put, prompt research can be seen as keyword research adapted for conversational AI.

How AI Systems Interpret Prompts

In the process of understanding prompt research, you’ll end up understanding how AI systems process prompts. Large Language Models (LLMs) or AI systems tend to typically follow 3 step by step process:

1. AI breaks the prompt into smaller questions to understand it by subtopics;
2. AI gathers and synthesizes information from multiple sources (not just one page);
3. If the prompt signals a decision scenario, AI evaluates options and suggests solutions, often by comparing them.

Here’s the key insight: AI systems are more likely to recommend brands when prompts include specific constraints or concerns.

For example, users may mention:

• Timeline constraints, such as needing a solution within a specific deadline.
• Industry-specific needs, like tools or services designed for a particular sector.
• Location-based requirements, such as looking for providers in a specific country or city.
• Scalability needs, especially for growing businesses or expanding teams.

All of this signals to the AI that the user isn’t just looking for information, they are actively trying to evaluate options and make a decision. When this happens, AI systems are more likely to compare solutions and recommend the most relevant options.

Step-by-Step Process to Do Prompt Research for AI SEO

Now let’s get practical. Here’s a workflow you can actually follow when doing prompt research for your AI/AEO strategy.

Identify Your Target Audience and Personas

Traditional keyword research can be broad by nature.

Prompt research is different. It demands more precision because people phrase questions differently depending on their background, goals, and expertise.

This is basic marketing wisdom: you need to understand your audience before you can communicate effectively.

Each persona shapes prompt phrasing because different buyers carry different constraints, concerns, and priorities.

Consider various factors like: 

• Are they newbies or experts on the subject matter?
• What’s the problem they want to solve or avoid?
• Do they ask questions in a casual or technical way?
• Are they looking for affordable solutions or premium options?

These details may seem small, but they can significantly change how a prompt is written and how AI systems interpret it.

Map Problems to Your Product or Service

You have to remember that AI will only recommend your brand more often than others, when a product clearly addresses the user’s concerns. In other words, your product or service should be explained in a way that addresses user concerns, questions, understanding features, and most of all help users.

When structuring content, you may also have to highlight the following: 

• Features: What the product or service actually does
• Benefits: Why those features matter
• Use Cases: Scenarios when a product works best
• Problems Solved: The specific challenges they address
• Fit Factor: Why it’s a good match for certain users
  

Creating content that clearly answers these points makes it easier for AI systems to connect relevant prompts with the right solutions, increasing the likelihood that your brand will be included in AI-generated recommendations.

Use Keyword Research as Prompt Input

Keyword research still plays a role here.

The difference is: you don’t stop at keywords. You use them as raw material for conversational prompts.

Here’s a sample workflow: 

• Gather seed keywords related to your topic, product, or service.
• Identify the user intent behind them, whether users are trying to learn, compare options, or make a decision.
• Expand them into conversational questions, reflecting how someone might naturally ask an AI tool for help.

By transforming keywords into full prompts, you can better understand how users describe their problems, ask for recommendations, and evaluate possible solutions when interacting with AI platforms.

Generate Decision-Stage Prompts

As mentioned earlier, AI systems are more likely to recommend products, services, or brands when users are close to making a decision. At this stage, users typically ask more specific questions that help them evaluate different options.

This usually happens when users are:

• Making comparisons between products or services
• Asking “best for” questions based on their needs
• Looking for alternatives to an existing solution
• Asking budget-related questions or price considerations

This usually signals or indicates that the user is trying to evaluate options rather than learning about a topic.

Then when creating prompts for research, it helps to structure them around common decision-making signals. Consider the following elements:

• Persona – Who the buyer is and their situation 
• Primary Risk – What the user wants to avoid or solve 
• Constraints – Budget, requirements, limitations
• Language Cues – Phrases or wording that the user would normally use

When generating prompts for research, keep these best practices in mind:

• Avoid including brand names in the question to prevent biased results
• Ensure the prompt encourages a recommendation or comparison 
• Avoid purely informational or educational phrasing 
• Write prompts the way  real users would ask them 

Following these guidelines keeps prompts focused on decision-making scenarios, which are the situations where AI systems are most likely to evaluate options and recommend solutions.

Expand Prompts Using AI Tools

With new technology emerging yearly, it’s practically impossible not to ignore the role of AI tools. So rather than avoiding them, marketers should learn how to use these tools effectively. After all, AI tools can help scale prompt generation fast. It’s all about how you use it strategically.

When generating prompts, make sure you avoid making dozens of prompts that only differ slightly in wording. Instead, focus on aligning the context of the situation so the prompts reflect different real-world scenarios. 

For example: 

• The user’s role 
• The problem they’re trying to solve 
• Their budget or financial constraints 
• Their industry or specific use case

Example: Expanding the prompt “SEO agency in the Philippines” to reflect a specific problem the user is trying to solve.Adjusting these elements helps you generate prompts that will map different decision-making scenarios, not just different phrasings of the same question.

Track AI Visibility Over Time

Just as traditional SEO led to the development of keyword tracking tools like Semrush and SE Ranking, then you can be sure there’s going to be a new way to measure AI performance. 

And now, instead of just tracking keyword rankings, you will increasingly need to monitor how often your brand appears in AI-generated recommendations and responses.

Some important metrics to track include: 

• Brand mentions in AI-generated answers 
• Recommendation frequency (how often your brand is suggested as a solution)
• Sentiment framing (how your brand is described by AI) 
• Competitor visibility, including which brands are mentioned alongside yours

In many ways, prompt tracking becomes the AI equivalent of rank tracking, helping marketers understand how their brand appears within AI-driven search experiences.

Types of Prompts to Prioritize

Not all prompts are equal for AI SEO.

Some prompts produce informational answers. Others push AI to evaluate options and recommend brands.

So you need to know what to prioritize.

High-Value Prompt Categories 

Focus on prompts that push AI systems to evaluate and compare options. These types often signal that the user is close to making a decision, increasing the likelihood that AI tools will recommend specific products, services, or brands.

Examples include: 

• Comparison prompts 
• “Best for” prompts 
• Alternative prompts 
• Problem-solution prompts 
• Budget-constrained prompts 

These situations typically indicate that the user is actively assessing different solutions, making them valuable opportunities for AI-generated recommendations.

Prompts to Avoid 

On the other hand, there are some prompts that rarely trigger recommendations because they focus mainly on providing general information. 

These include: 

• Purely informational questions 
• General definitions
• Broad educational queries 

In these cases, AI systems usually focus on explaining concepts rather than suggesting specific solutions.

Key Takeaway

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: AI won’t replace SEO. Prompt research won’t replace traditional SEO either.

Instead, prompt research builds on keyword research and adapts it for AI-driven search behavior.

Keywords still help identify what users are interested in. But prompts reveal when users are ready to evaluate options and make a decision. That’s exactly what’s driving more zero-click behavior.

As AI continues to evolve, visibility will increasingly depend on whether your brand appears within the answers users receive, not just in the links they click.

The post AI SEO Prompt Research: Strategies That Actually Work appeared first on SEO Services Agency in Manila, Philippines.

Search is entering a new era. One where AI doesn’t just assist search engines, but actively shapes how information is discovered and delivered. 

What used to be a straightforward game of keywords and rankings is turning into something more dynamic. Today, people don’t always “search” the way they used to. They ask full questions. They use voice and images. They get instant AI-generated answers. Some even have back-and-forth conversations with the search interface itself.

And here’s the real shift: it’s no longer just about what appears on the results page. It’s about how people phrase their intent, how AI interprets it, and which brands the system chooses to trust enough to cite.

As we move into 2026, these shifts are expected to continue to evolve. This will be a defining year for AI-driven search behavior, modern SEO strategies, and brand visibility, not just in traditional search engines, but also in emerging AI platforms.

The Evolution of AI Search

AI-powered search is a clear evolution from the ranking-first search engines we’ve optimized for over the years. Instead of simply matching keywords to a list of links, search platforms are now using generative AI to:

• Interpret user intent more accurately,
• Pull insights from multiple sources, and
• Produce direct, conversational answers.

This is where features like AI Overviews, conversational responses, and synthetic answers come in. They are designed to help users get what they need faster, often without clicking through multiple pages. 

Naturally, this changes user behavior. Queries are becoming longer and more natural-sounding. Zero-click searches continue to rise because answers are increasingly available right on the results page.

At the same time, AI-driven referrals are emerging as a new source of visibility, signaling a significant change in how search behavior, as well as SEO, works moving forward.

Author’s Note: Want a deeper, practical walkthrough on how generative AI is changing search behavior and what that means for your SEO strategy? Start with our AI SEO/AEO series.

AI Search Trends Shaping 2026

As AI continues to reshape how search works, the changes we’re seeing today are only the beginning. Heading into 2026, these shifts are becoming more defined, setting the stage for new search behaviors, ranking dynamics, and visibility challenges that marketers need to start preparing for now.

Brand Visibility Over Rankings

One of the biggest AI search trends 2026 will be the shift from chasing rankings to building real brand visibility.

As AI search engines generate answers, they often favor brands that show up consistently across trusted sources—not just on their own websites. Citations, third-party mentions, and external references now play a bigger role in whether your brand gets surfaced inside AI-generated results.

This means visibility goes beyond on-page SEO. To compete in AI search, brands need to earn presence on:

• Industry publications and media sites,
• Reputable third-party websites,
• Communities and forums where experts hang out, and
• Social platforms where authority is built.

In many ways, AI search behaves like a consensus model: the more credible sources “vouch” for you through consistent mentions, the stronger your odds of being cited and recommended.

Intent-First Search Optimization

Another major shift shaping AI search in 2026 is the move toward intent-first optimization. 

Users are no longer relying on short keyword phrases. Instead, they’re typing full questions, longer queries, and more detailed search terms because AI now delivers clearer, more direct answers. 

Rather than sifting through multiple pages, users expect search engines to understand what they’re really trying to accomplish. 

That raises the standard for content. Your pages can’t stop at explaining the “what.” They need to address the “why” and the “how” behind the search.

Yes—traditional blue links still matter. And sources can appear both in AI Overviews and regular listings. But success in AI search increasingly comes down to how well your content aligns with intent and satisfies the user’s objective in one clean, understandable flow.

More AI Overviews and Aggregated Answers

AI Overviews are expected to expand further into commercial and transactional queries in 2026.

Instead of only summarizing definitions, AI is increasingly surfacing:

• Product comparisons,
• Service recommendations, and
• Next-step guidance

…all directly within the search experience. That means users can evaluate options and make decisions before they ever visit a website.

For brands, this raises a new priority: create content that’s not only informative, but also structured, trustworthy, and “quotable” enough to be pulled into AI summaries that influence buying decisions.

Shift from Keywords to Topics

One of the more challenging but necessary AI search trends in 2026 is the shift from keyword-focused optimization to building true topical authority. 

Rather than rewarding pages that target a single keyword, AI search engines look at the broader context behind a query, using techniques like query fan-out to explore related questions, concepts, and user intent. This allows AI to pull information from multiple angles to form a more complete response. 

So now, broad topic coverage consistently outperforms isolated keyword targeting. Simply ranking for one term is no longer enough, as the content needs to demonstrate depth, relevance, and a clear understanding of the subject as a whole. 

As you create content that thoroughly addresses a topic rather than just a keyword, you increase your chances of being surfaced as part of AI-generated responses and maintaining visibility in a growing and changing search landscape.

If you want to show up in AI-generated answers, you’ll need content that proves you’re not just “mentioning” the topic—you actually understand it.

E-E-A-T and Trust Signals Matter More

Because AI search pulls from many sources, E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) matters more than ever.

AI systems are designed to surface content they can confidently rely on, which means brands that clearly demonstrate credibility are more likely to be included in AI-generated responses. 

This actually goes hand in hand with brand visibility. It’s not enough to be mentioned. You also need to be recognized as a trustworthy source within your industry. And to achieve that, businesses must consistently showcase real expertise, proven experience, and authoritative insights across their content. 

Strengthening E-E-A-T signals helps AI search engines understand that your site offers reliable, high-quality information, increasing your chances of being cited and referenced in AI search results throughout the year.

Paid Visibility in AI Platforms

Paid visibility is also starting to find its place within AI-powered search, which is actually expected to become far more common this 2026. 

Some AI platforms, like Perplexity, have already begun experimenting with sponsored placements as part of their search experience, and it’s likely that others will follow as usage continues to grow. ChatGPT also just announced that they’ll begin testing ads on their platform just last month. 

As AI responses become a primary touchpoint for discovery, ads may appear directly within or alongside generated answers, creating a new layer of visibility beyond traditional search ads. 

Therefore, it is important to understand how paid placements work in AI platforms as early as now so brands can position themselves ahead of competitors once advertising becomes more widespread.

Impacts on Traditional SEO

With AI search evolving, its effects are starting to ripple across traditional SEO practices. 

What once worked reliably is being challenged, pushing marketers to reassess how organic performance, visibility, and success are measured moving forward.

Organic Traffic and CTR Shifts

As AI summaries and synthesized answers become more prominent, users are increasingly getting what they need without clicking through to a website.

Even pages that rank well can see reduced traffic simply because the result page delivers the answer upfront.

Organic visibility still matters—but measurement needs to mature. In 2026, it won’t be enough to rank. Content must also be strong enough to be referenced, cited, or expanded on inside AI-generated summaries.

Zero-Click Searches

Zero-click searches are becoming more common as AI-powered results continue to deliver answers directly on the search page. Instead of clicking through multiple links, users can now get clear, concise responses instantly, which naturally reduces the need to visit individual websites.

This shift increases the demand for AI-ready content, one that is structured, trustworthy, and easy for AI systems to interpret and surface. 

While this may lead to fewer clicks, it also creates new opportunities for visibility, as being featured in AI-generated answers can still position a brand as a credible source, even without a traditional website visit.

New KPIs for AI Search

Traditional SEO metrics alone won’t tell the full story in 2026.

While organic search traffic still matters, it doesn’t fully capture how often (or where) your brand is being seen in AI-driven search experiences. New KPIs are gaining importance, such as:

• AI mentions and citations
• on-SERP visibility (presence inside AI Overviews)
• brand inclusion in aggregated answers
• referral patterns from AI tools and assistants

Appearing as a cited source in AI Overviews is quickly becoming a new benchmark for authority and visibility.

To improve inclusion, brands should focus on:

• clear, self-contained answers within content,
• strong trust signals (authors, proof, sources, expertise), and
• consistent brand presence across credible third-party sites.

Author’s Note: If you need a wider lens on what’s shaping marketing and search locally this year (and what you can do about it), read our State of Digital Philippines 2026 report for key insights and data-backed direction.

Key Takeaway

As we head into 2026, success in search will rely less on isolated tactics and more on building genuine authority, trust, and relevance across the web. While AI changes how results are generated and surfaced, the core goal of SEO remains the same: deliver the most helpful, credible answers to users. The difference now is how those answers are evaluated and presented. Brands that adapt early will be better positioned to stay competitive. SEO isn’t dead. It’s simply entering its next phase, shaped by AI and driven by smarter, more user-focused strategies.

The post AI Search Trends 2026: Optimizing for the Next Wave of Search appeared first on SEO Services Agency in Manila, Philippines.

Since the beginning of early this year, search started to evolve at an unprecedented pace. How people discover and interact with information is changing, and relying on traditional SEO tactics alone is no longer enough. 

Don’t get me wrong, SEO still remains to be the foundation that websites will still need to rely on. However, today users can find answers instantly, often without visiting multiple websites. This means your brand’s impact can occur before a click, or sometimes without a click at all.

That’s exactly why having a SEO Checklist for 2026 is essential. SEO isn’t longer just about rankings and traffic; it’s about visibility, credibility, and influence wherever your content appears. Through this guide, we break down the strategies, content frameworks, and technical best practices that help your brand stand out, earn trust, and become a reliable reference in the age of AI.

By the end of this article, I’ll explain how to create content that truly resonates, build lasting authority, and measure impact beyond the traditional SEO metrics. You’ll walk away with a clear, actionable roadmap to stay ahead in an ever-changing search landscape.

SEO Checklist for 2026: Why It Matters

The SEO Checklist for 2026 is more than a list of tasks. It is a guide for staying visible, credible, and influential in today’s search environment. People increasingly want answers quickly, often without visiting a website, and recent changes in Google alongside the rise of AI-powered tools and platforms have made this possible.

As more users adopt these experiences, shifting your SEO strategy becomes essential to ensure your content is still the answer they see. This also means that traditional metrics like clicks and rankings no longer reflect the full impact of your content, as we have explored before.

Some people ask if SEO is dead. The answer is no. SEO is evolving into a strategic function that ensures your content is discovered, understood, and trusted . This checklist reflects that evolution, shifting focus from rankings alone to visibility, credibility, and lasting influence.

Foundational Mindset Shifts

SEO in 2026 demands a shift in how success is defined. Visibility, understanding, and trust now matter as much as rankings, especially in an AI-driven discovery environment.

This shift positions SEO as a long-term strategy focused on influence, not just traffic. Adopting this mindset is the foundation for everything that follows in the checklist.

SEO as the Foundation for Discovery

Search engines and platforms rely on clear signals to know what content is valuable. This includes well-structured pages, descriptive headings, logical internal links, and clear credibility signals. Without these traditional SEO fundamentals, your content can easily be overlooked.

SEO in 2026 is about making your content easy to find, easy to understand, and recognized as authoritative. Strong SEO does more than drive clicks. It makes your brand noticeable and memorable in meaningful ways.

From Rankings to Influence

In the age of AI Answers, rankings remain a relevant target, but influence has become the bigger goal. Content can shape decisions, build trust, and create authority even when it does not generate immediate traffic.

A true marker of modern SEO success includes:

• Being cited or referenced in discussions and resources
• Shaping perceptions before a user engages directly
• Strengthening your authority across your content ecosystem

The SEO Checklist for 2026

My SEO Checklist for 2026 is designed to translate strategy into action. It brings together content, authority, technical structure, and visibility into a unified framework that supports both human users and AI systems.

Each section of the checklist focuses on helping your content get recognized, referenced, and trusted, not just ranked. Think of it as a guide for building SEO that lasts.

1. Content & Readiness Checklist

The first on the checklist is that the content needs to be structured, clear, and easy for users and AI to understand. By doing this, it ensures the website can easily be discovered, referenced, and remembered.

Checklist:

• Answer the main question as straightforward and concise as possible
• Use descriptive headings aligned with user intent
• Break ideas into single-purpose paragraphs
• Include lists, tables, and summaries
• Make content easy to follow for multiple intents
• Use schema where applicable

A clear structure helps your content be recognized and referenced in meaningful ways. The easier it is to understand, the more influence it carries.

2. Authority & Trust Checklist

Your content needs to build authority. However, authority is no longer just about publishing a lot about any given topic. It is about publishing content that people and platforms trust.

Checklist:

• Share original data, testing, or expert insights
• Demonstrate real-world experience and credibility
• Build connected content that strengthens topical authority
• Highlight author expertise and trust signals

Some people wonder if SEO is still relevant today. It still is, but authority has become the main driver of influence.

3. Technical SEO That Supports Clarity

Next is getting your Technical SEO in order, this ensures your content is organized and easy to navigate. It is not just about crawling, but about making it understandable.

Checklist:

• Build strong internal linking to related topics
• Control what content gets indexed
• Keep pages fast and user-friendly
• Use schema to clarify relationships between content and concepts

Internal linking functions like a map, helping your content ecosystem make sense and showing which pages are authoritative.

4. Visibility & Attribution Checklist

Measuring visibility is about more than clicks. Tracking mentions, references, and reach helps you understand your content’s impact.

Checklist:

• Track mentions and references across platforms
• Measure share of voice for your brand and content
• Identify when your content is cited
• Look for correlations between visibility and traffic or engagement

This builds on previous approaches to measuring influence, emphasizing recognition and credibility over traditional last-click metrics.

5. User Journey Optimization Checklist

Users often want answers quickly, and content needs to deliver value immediately. Structure your content so it is easy to scan, actionable, and covers possible user journeys.

Checklist:

• Put the most important information at the top
• Organize pages for fast scanning
• Address different user needs in one place
• Include clear actions, possible follow-up questions, and recommend next steps

When users engage, they are looking for clarity and guidance. Well-structured content increases trust and authority.

What to Stop Doing in 2026

As we enter the new year, it’s also time to revisit some traditional SEO practices no longer work:

• Chasing rank as the only metric
• Publishing thin or repetitive content
• Low-value link building for numbers only
• Treating SEO as separate from content strategy

While these tactics used to work, these no longer apply in the modern era of SEO.

How to Utilize the SEO Checklist for 2026

Now that you have the checklist, that’s only a portion of what you need to do. The next and final step is to put this checklist into action. Follow these steps to get started. 

• Audit content regularly to ensure clarity and visibility
• Create a dashboard to track mentions, references, and reach
• Align SEO, content, and analytics teams around influence goals
• Document assumptions and refine your approach over time

SEO in 2026 is iterative, strategic, and focused on building credibility and influence.

Author’s Note

This SEO checklist is not a standalone document, it’s part of my broader exploration of how AEO/GEO are reshaping search and content visibility. If you’d like to dig deeper into the ideas that underpin this checklist—like AI‑driven discovery, content structuring, authority signals, and performance measurement—here are the key posts from the series:

Foundations of AI Search Behavior

• AEO Maturity Model
• How AI Overviews Impact CTR and SEO
• How Generative AI Is Changing Search Behavior
• The Psychology of Conversational Search
• Mapping Content to User Goals & Intent

AI Retrieval, Ranking & Synthesis

• How Generative AI in Search Works
• Structuring Content for AI Extraction
• Authority Signals & Schema Markup for AEO
• Structuring Content for Multi‑Turn AI Conversations

Measuring AI Visibility & Performance

• How to Measure AEO Performance
• How to Attribute AI Traffic
• Building an AEO‑Ready Team

These resources provide the context and best practices that inform the checklist, helping you stay visible and trusted as search continues to evolve

Key Takeaway

The SEO Checklist for 2026 shows that success is no longer just about rankings or clicks. It is about visibility, credibility, and influence.

It is about being recognized and referenced in meaningful ways, building authority that shapes perceptions, and creating lasting impact even when users do not click immediately

SEO isn’t dead, SEO evolved and we now have to adapt. Following this checklist ensures your brand stays ahead, adapts to change, and becomes a trusted source in its field.

The post SEO Checklist for 2026: How to Stay Visible and Trusted in an AI-First Search World appeared first on SEO Services Agency in Manila, Philippines.

Organic search has always been a fast-paced, ever-changing game, but in 2025 the rules are shifting faster than ever. With Google AI Overviews rolling out and appearing for more and more queries, SEOs and marketers face one of the biggest disruptions to visibility and CTR in recent years.

These AI-generated summaries appear prominently at the top of search results, often above organic listings, pulling information from multiple websites. While Google CEO Sundar Pichai says that they boost click-through rates (CTR) to websites they cite, the reality is clear: AI Overview impacts organic visibility, and CTRs are declining.

How Google AI Overviews Work

Google’s AI Overviews are powered by large language models (LLMs) that generate concise answers to complex queries. Here’s what makes them disruptive:

• Prominent placement – AI Overviews appear above traditional organic results, often pushing the #1 ranking further down the page.
• Summarized answers – Users get the information they need instantly (with some AIO providing information for anticipated follow-up questions), which reduces the incentive to click through.
• Inconsistent citations – While sources are sometimes cited, attribution is unclear and often buried within the summary.
• Triggered primarily by informational queries – AI Overviews show mostly on informational queries (though there are chances of seeing them for commercial and transactional keywords). These queries are the lifeblood of blogs and content-heavy sites, which now face reduced visibility.

The Impact of AI Overviews on Click-Through Rates

Research and industry data from the last year show the real-world effect of AI Overviews:

• Ahrefs: 34.5% drop in CTR for position #1 page when an AI Overview is present (April 2025).
• Amsive: Average CTR decline of 15.49% across 700,000 keywords, with drops as steep as 37% when combined with Featured Snippets (April 2025).
• MailOnline: Reported a 56% drop in CTR after AI Overviews rolled out (May 2025).

The hardest hit? Informational, non-branded keywords, where AI Overviews almost always appear.

Interestingly, branded searches are more resilient. In the same study mentioned above, Amsive found only 4.79% of branded queries triggered AI Overviews—and in those cases, CTR actually increased by 18.68%. This may mean that brand recognition helps offset potential losses in an AI-driven SERP.

Why Marketers Should Care About AI Overviews

The data is clear: AI Overviews are stealing clicks from organic search results. The implications are significant:

• Lower organic visibility and ROI – Ranking #1 doesn’t mean what it used to. Even your best-performing, top-of-page keywords may no longer deliver the same traffic or conversions.
• Murky attribution – Your content might fuel the AI Overview, but that doesn’t mean your brand gets the credit—or the clicks.
• Unclear reporting – Google Search Console doesn’t provide any AI Overview data (yet), leaving you in the dark about how much traffic (if any) they’re driving.
• Increased competition for paid search – As organic traffic declines, more brands may end up turning to Google Ads, which in turn will drive up costs.
• A bigger disruption than Featured Snippets – Like Featured Snippets before them, AI Overviews are changing search behavior. But this time, the impact is broader, deeper, and harder to work around.

Adapting Your SEO Strategy for an AI Overview World

The search landscape has changed, but it’s far from over. Here’s how marketers can adapt:

1. Top Rankings Still Matter, But They’re Not Enough

Landing in the top 8-10 spots is still important, but it’s no longer a guarantee of clicks. AI Overviews often grab attention first, so the real win is combining strong rankings with as much AI Overviews and Featured Snippet visibility as you can achieve.

2. Optimize for Featured Snippets

Featured Snippets remain highly clickable and generally easier to understand and target for most SEOs. Plus, their average CTR is a whopping 42.9% because Google only features one source, which massively increases the odds that users will click through. 

Use FAQ sections, lists, concise definitions, and other content formats to increase your chances of capturing snippets.

3. Focus on High-Intent, Non-Branded Queries

Broad keywords may bring volume, but they’re also more likely to trigger AI Overviews. Instead of chasing broad, top-of-funnel keywords, target mid- to bottom-funnel search terms with clear purchase or action intent. These are less likely to trigger AI Overviews and deliver more meaningful traffic.

4. Strengthen Brand Visibility

When people search for your brand directly, AI Overviews are less of a threat. And even if your brand keywords prompt an AI Overview, you’re more than likely to be one of the cited sources in its generated answer. 

Invest in optimizing your Google My Business profile, partnerships, and other brand building and awareness campaigns so users search for your brand directly, bypassing the AI layer.

5. Diversify Beyond Google

AI Overviews highlight the risk of heavily depending on Google to drive traffic. I suggest exploring alternative discovery platforms such as TikTok search, YouTube, niche forums, and even aiming to get your brand featured on answer engines such as ChatGPT or Perplexity – where answer engine optimization (AEO) will come in handy.

6. Monitor AI Overview Citations

Even if AI Overviews reduce clicks, they can still drive visibility when your content is cited. Keep an eye on which pages are being referenced, evaluate whether those mentions align with your brand positioning, and adjust your content strategy to improve the odds of being cited in future AI summaries.

While Google Search Console will not disclose impressions and clicks coming from AI Overviews where your content is cited, SEO tools like SE Ranking are adding trackers to help you monitor your visibility in this front.

Looking Ahead: The New SEO Playbook

Google claims AI Overviews generate “higher-quality clicks.” The evidence says otherwise: organic clicks are shrinking. With antitrust scrutiny looming and ad competition heating up, marketers must rethink what success in search looks like.

The future of SEO will be about more than just rankings. To thrive in an AI-driven search ecosystem, businesses must:

• Create content structured for both Featured Snippets and AI Overviews.
• Prioritize high-intent and branded queries.
• Invest in multi-channel visibility beyond Google.
• Track performance carefully and adapt quickly to CTR fluctuations.

Search is no longer just about being found on Google—it’s about being visible wherever your audience seeks answers.

That’s why my ongoing series on AEO dives deeper into how brands can adapt for visibility in answer engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini. You can read up in the first of the series, which covers how this generative engine era has shifted search behavior in the last year. 

Key Takeaway

Google AI Overviews are impacting your CTR, and accelerating the shift toward the era zero-click search. While they reduce CTR for traditional organic results, forward-thinking SEOs and marketers can still win by adapting content strategies, doubling down on brand visibility, and diversifying traffic sources. Success in this new landscape means working towards your organic search rankings, but updating your content strategies, and building authority and trust across multiple channels.

Next in my AEO/GEO series: How to Map Content for Users and AI

The post AI Overviews, Zero-Click Search, and the Future of SEO appeared first on SEO Services Agency in Manila, Philippines.

Search has always been about connecting people to answers, but the way users search has changed dramatically. 

Gone are the days when short, keyword-heavy queries dominated. Today, people engage with search engines more naturally—asking full questions and expecting instant, tailored responses. The rise of generative AI has accelerated this shift, reshaping user expectations and shortening the path to information.

For businesses and marketers, this evolution means SEO can no longer rely on keyword matching alone. To stay visible, strategies must adapt to how users want their search journeys to happen, and how they want the answers they look for presented to them. 

Your survival in the organic search landscape depends on how well you understand these shifts, and how fast you can evolve with them. 

TL;DR

What’s Changing in Search Behavior

AI-powered tools are becoming a core part of how people search. 

In the U.S., 21% of users now turn to platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity, and Deepseek more than 10 times a month—up from just 8% adoption in 2023 to 38% in 2025. Gen Z, in particular, shows strong trust in these tools, and AI overviews are increasingly embedded directly into search results. 

This shift is transforming not only where people search but also how they engage with information. And as AI answers more queries upfront, the ripple effects are clear: 

1. Fewer clicks, more in-SERP satisfaction. AI Overviews and summaries often answer queries directly, reducing click-throughs for top organic results. Studies show significant CTR drops when AI Overviews appear.
2. Zero-click searches are rising. Users who see an AI summary click traditional links much less often than before.
3. Search is becoming more conversational. Users increasingly ask a broad question and then follow up iteratively in the same session — the AI remembers context across turns, so the session becomes a compact discovery-and-decision loop. This behavior shortens the distance from research to action.
4. Trust and presentation shape outcomes. Design and content elements (citations, tone, confidence signaling) influence whether users accept AI answers — even if those answers are sometimes incorrect. This magnifies the importance of being included and accurately cited.
5. Publishers are feeling it. Major outlets and trade press report measurable referral traffic declines and are rethinking reliance on organic search as the primary distribution engine.

Why is Search Behavior Changing?

So what’s driving these shifts in how people search? The rise of AI isn’t just about new tools appearing in the results page — it’s about how those tools fundamentally change user expectations.

Take, for example, this result for “how do i start SEO on my website”

In place of traditional blue links is now a result that synthesizes all the information the user (presumably) needs to answer their concern.

As people experience faster, more conversational, and seemingly complete answers, their habits adapt around the efficiency AI provides. That evolution comes down to a few key forces:

• Better language understanding: Models synthesize, summarize, and map user intent from a single, conversational prompt.
• Convenience wins: Humans prefer fast, frictionless answers; a succinct AI summary often “feels” finished.
• Context stacking: Multi-turn memory means fewer, deeper queries — the AI narrows recommendations without users re-entering new keyword queries.
• Presentation bias: Well-crafted, confident prose with citations looks authoritative and reduces the incentive to verify.

What this Means for Brands, Publishers, and Webmasters

The fact that you searched for this topic, found this article, and kept reading all the way here shows you already understand these shifts aren’t just theory — they’re directly shaping how your site wins visibility, traffic, and trust. Here’s what being “seen” by AI really means in practice:

• Visibility =/= site visits. If an AI includes your content in a summary but the user never clicks, your brand’s traffic, ad revenue, and direct relationship with that user are at risk. 
• Quality > volume (for now). Visits that do arrive tend to be further down the funnel and higher intent — potentially more valuable per session. 
• Reputation & metadata matter. Platforms favor sources they trust — clear authorship, up-to-date facts, structured data, and explicit expertise raise the chance of being surfaced and cited. Make sure you know how to do your schema markups, make an author’s page, and update your content when needed.
• Trust fragility. Users can be misled by plausible but wrong AI answers. If your content is omitted or misrepresented, it’s hard to correct the impression

Quick FAQ on AI and SEO

With AI becoming a central part of how people search, you might wonder: is traditional SEO still relevant? If you’ve been asking questions like these, you’re in the right place — here’s what you need to know:

Q: Will SEO die?

A: No. SEO evolves. The ranking signal set expands: structured data, E-E-A-T, snippet-friendly copy, and content that feeds iterative prompts matter more. Organic visibility still matters — but “visibility” now includes being cited inside AI summaries, not just ranking position.

Q: Should we fight AI Overviews?

A: Not practical long-term. Instead, optimize to appear in those summaries or to serve as the next-click resource when users want more than the summary.

Q: How do we test if an AI is using our content?

A: Run representative prompts in AI Mode, ChatGPT, and Perplexity; save responses and record whether your domain appears in citations or recommended links. You can also track click-through rates from common AI surfaces through filter settings in GA4 (more on that further down in this article).

A Checklist for Quick Wins You Can Finish in a Day

Feeling overwhelmed and don’t know where to start? The good news is that you don’t need to overhaul your SEO strategy just yet. Here’s a quick checklist you can work on to start adapting your pages to AI-driven search:

• Add a 1–2 sentence “direct answer” near the top of high-value pages.
• Add/update structured data (FAQ, HowTo, Article) for your top pages.
• Create a “next questions” block on product, service, and pillar pages (3–5 follow-ups).
• Run 10 conversational prompts in Google AI Mode, ChatGPT, and Perplexity; capture whether your site is cited.
• Audit your author bios to make sure they’re complete and establish your authority, and add explicit citations to source material.
• Build an email capture flow on pages losing organic referrals (to reclaim audience).

These steps help your content stay discoverable, citable, and engaging, laying the foundation for a more comprehensive AI-focused SEO strategy covered in my upcoming AI search/AEO/GEO playbook.

New Measurements & KPIs You Should Be Tracking

With these shifts in how users search, how you should position your website to meet them, and how you guide them through new journeys, it’s clear that the way you track the ROI of your website efforts must evolve too. Traditional metrics like pageviews and rankings are no longer enough.

• Citation share in AI summaries (how often your domain is cited in AI Overviews/Perplexity /ChatGPT/other Generative Search sources) — treat this like “featured snippet ownership.”
• Intended-click rate — of visits from search, how many convert or spend meaningful time (compare pre/post AI).
• Engagement per click (pages/session, conversions per organic visitor) — quality vs. quantity.
• Prompt-driven traffic — traffic from queries that match conversational prompts you’ve tested.
• Brand lift & direct queries — search for your brand name in AI contexts (are people asking the AI about you directly?).

Tracking AI/Generative Engine Sessions in Google Analytics 4

To track traffic coming from AI tools (like Chatgpt):

• Go to Reports > Acquisition > Traffic Acquisition to access your traffic data.
• At the top, click “Add comparison.”
• Set the filter to Referral & Affiliate traffic and click Apply.
• Add another filter by selecting Dimension > Session Source/Medium.
• For Match Type, choose “matches regex.”
• In the Value field, paste the regex below, then click Apply:

(.*gpt.*|.*chatgpt.*|.*openai.*|.*neeva.*|.*writesonic.*|.*nimble.*
|.*outrider.*|.*perplexity.*|.*google.*bard.*|.*bard.*
|.*edgeservices.*|.*gemini.*google.*)

If you want to append new sources to the regex above, then follow these steps:

1. Copy the full regex expression.
2. Before the closing parenthesis ), add a | (pipe symbol).
3. Insert your new source wrapped with .* so it can match variations.
4. You can also use .* before and after the word to capture variations (e.g., chatgpt, chatgpt.com, ai-chatgpt).

Key Takeaway

Search has evolved from short keyword inputs to conversational, AI-driven experiences where answers are synthesized directly in the SERP. To stay visible, brands need content that is clear, authoritative, and structured in ways AI can cite and surface. Just as important, they must diversify how they build direct relationships with audiences outside of search.

This shift makes it clear: SEO strategies must go beyond rankings. Optimizing for AI-driven visibility, strengthening brand authority, and meeting user intent at every stage are now essential. The brands that adapt to these changes will not only keep their search presence strong but also future-proof their digital strategies in the generative era

Next in my AEO/GEO series: How AI Overviews and Zero-Click Search will Shape SEO

The post From Keywords to Conversations: SEO in the Generative Era appeared first on SEO Services Agency in Manila, Philippines.

Screaming Frog has just rolled out its most significant update yet with SEO Spider 22.0—and it’s not just another routine update. It introduces AI-powered features that elevate how SEOs analyze, audit, and optimize websites, thanks to advancements in semantic analysis and intelligent content discovery.

SEO Spider 22.0 offers powerful enhancements that are designed to streamline workflows and reveal deeper and more meaningful SEO opportunities. Let’s take a closer look at what’s new in this game-changing update from Screaming Frog.

Semantic Similarity Analysis

In previous versions, Screaming Frog only relied primarily on detecting exact keyword matches to assess content relevance. 

But with the newest update, with the integration of AI and large language models, Screaming Frog can now analyze the actual meaning and context of your page content. Instead of just checking for exact words, it evaluates how closely a page aligns with a specific topic or query, even if the phrasing differs.

This semantic similarity analysis is the standout feature of version 22.0 and marks a significant leap beyond traditional keyword-based matching.

Semantically Similar Pages

Imagine two blog posts delivering the same message with different phrasing. These might have slipped through unnoticed. But now, the AI-driven analysis of this new version can detect those subtle overlaps and hidden duplicates by comparing their meaning, not just language. 

This is especially useful for spotting hidden duplicate content, content cannibalization, or opportunities to consolidate and strengthen pages that may be competing for the same keywords. It gives SEOs a smarter way to clean up and refine site content for better performance.

Low-Relevance Pages

The new update can also help in identifying pages that do not align well with the overall theme and context of your website. 

For instance, if your website is an online clothing store but includes a page about car repair, running it through Screaming Frog will show and flag it as off-topic using semantic similarity analysis. 

Therefore, auditing your website using this version will ensure that your content stays focused and relevant to your niche—helping your website maintain topical consistency while signaling stronger thematic relevance to search engines.

Content Cluster Visualization

Another standout feature in SEO Spider 22.0 offers a powerful way to visually understand how your website content is organized. 

Note: To access, go to Visualisations > Content Cluster Diagram

Think of it as a map that groups your pages based on their meaning rather than just keywords. Pages that cover similar topics are positioned close together, forming natural content clusters. If a page appears far from the rest, it could be an outlier—either off-topic or lacking strong connections to related content.

This feature makes it easier to identify gaps in your content strategy, spot isolated pages that may need better internal linking, and ensure your website is clearly structured around well-defined themes and topics.

Semantic Search Feature

The new version also involves the Semantic Search Feature, which takes content discovery to a whole new level. Instead of using the find function (“CTRL + F”) to search for specific words, you can now type a concept or idea—and the tool will show pages that are related in meaning.

For example, if you run a car repair shop and search for “engine trouble,” the tool might highlight pages that mention “car won’t start,” “strange engine noises,” or “check engine light”—even if they don’t use the exact term. 

This smarter search capability makes it easier to locate related content, identify gaps, and improve internal linking across related topics.

Enhanced AI Integration

SEO Spider 22.0 takes automation and workflow efficiency to the next level. With improved integrations and smarter tools, analyzing, generating, and organizing data across your SEO projects has been easier. It works more smoothly with leading AI platforms such as OpenAI, Gemini, and Ollama. 

This upgrade allows users to tap into advanced AI capabilities directly within their SEO workflows, enabling more advanced content generation and semantic analysis during your website audits. It’s a useful tool in this age of AI-driven SEO. 

Here’s what’s new with the enhanced workflow features:

AI-Powered Image Extraction

Instead of relying on traditional methods to pull image data, the update enables AI to intelligently analyze and extract images and related information from your website. This is particularly useful for auditing alt text, flagging missing or duplicate images, and ensuring your visual content aligns with SEO best practices

Custom Export Configuration

Rather than sifting through cluttered spreadsheets filled with irrelevant columns, you can now define exactly which data points to include so you get only the data you need. This lets you save time and keep your reports focused.

Google Sheets Integration

This update enables you to automatically sync your crawl data to a shared spreadsheet in real time. This makes collaboration smoother by giving your team or clients instant access to the latest audit results—no need for manual exports or email attachments.

Multiple Sitemap Downloads

In previous versions, Screaming Frog could only crawl one XML sitemap at a time, which limits efficiency, especially for larger or more complex websites. But with version 22.0, you can now download and crawl multiple sitemaps simultaneously. This is particularly useful for websites that use sitemap index files or have separate sitemaps for different content types, such as products, blog posts, and categories. 

This update speeds up large-scale audits, ensures broader coverage, and helps you spot inconsistencies or errors across your entire sitemap architecture. 

It is actually a time-saving enhancement designed for more comprehensive and scalable SEO analysis.

Column Configurator

This new Screaming Frog feature gives you complete control over the data you see in your crawl reports. 

Instead of scrolling through dozens of default columns (many of which may not be relevant to your specific audit), you can now customize the interface to display only the metrics that matter to you. This helps reduce visual clutter, speeds up analysis, and ensures your exports are clean, concise, and aligned with your reporting goals. 

The result? A more efficient auditing process and clearer insights for you and your team.

Key Takeaway

Screaming Frog SEO Spider 22.0 isn’t just an update—it’s a major leap forward, transforming the way we approach audits and optimization. Now, when you start crawling websites, you will begin to discover more valuable insights, from broken links and missing metadata to deeper content gaps and structural issues, all of which can significantly impact your website’s performance and search visibility.

With smarter tools and deeper insights at your fingertips in this version, you will uncover opportunities you might have missed, giving you the edge to stay ahead in the competitive SEO landscape.

The post What’s New in Screaming Frog SEO Spider 22.0? A Major Update Introducing AI-Powered Features appeared first on SEO Services Agency in Manila, Philippines.

Back in 2024, Google CEO Sundar Pichai pushed for the company’s move towards AI-powered search. A move that started with Google Bard, then Gemini, then AI Overview. 

Back in 2024, I also shared my thoughts on where AI and SEO were headed and how AI chatbots were about to reshape search as we knew it. I predicted that AI-generated answers would take over Rank 0—and sure enough, AI Overviews made that prediction a reality.

Now, Google is entering its next phase: AI Mode. First tested in Google Labs just three months ago, this Gemini-powered experience is rolling out to the public, bringing yet another major shift in how search works—and challenging us SEOs to adapt fast.

In this article, I’ll unpack what AI Mode is, how it interacts with today’s search engines and content platforms—and more importantly, show you how to evolve your SEO strategy for this new era of AI-driven discovery.

Is SEO Still Relevant in the Age of AI?

With the rise of so many AI-powered search features like AI Overview and AI Mode, many website and business owners are asking the same thing: Is SEO still worth the effort? Do I even bother investing my time (and money) in it?

It’s a valid concern. AI is reshaping how people search, and as Google leans into generative results over traditional link listings, it’s easy to see why many fear organic visibility might take a hit. Over the past year, I’ve seen plenty of webmasters scrambling as traffic dips and blue links become harder to find on the SERPs.

But here’s the truth: AI has been part of Google Search for nearly a decade.

Since the introduction of RankBrain in 2015, followed by BERT and other machine learning systems, Google has quietly become better at understanding natural language, user context, and intent. We’ve all been optimizing for AI—whether we realized it or not.

So yes, SEO is still worth it in 2025 (and likely will be for the years to come). 

Now some SEOs will take this opportunity to say that not only is this practice still worth it, but also optimizing for AI Overviews or conversational platforms isn’t anything new, it’s just SEO as usual. 

But the reality is, AI Mode marks a turning point. It changes how search works, how users get answers, and what it means to be visible on Google. This isn’t just another tweak. It’s a shift in the entire search experience.

What is AI Mode?

For us to understand why it presents a new search experience, I have to explain the mechanisms behind AI Mode. 

Powered by a custom Gemini 2.0 model, AI Mode builds on AI Overviews with stronger reasoning, multimodal abilities, and support for complex user queries. It combines Gemini’s advanced AI with Google’s vast search infrastructure for smarter, more dynamic results.

Let’s break down what that means. AI Mode can:

• Interpret a combination of input types, such as text, images, or potentially even voice.
• Pull information from various sources like web pages, real-time data (e.g. shopping listings), structured databases (like the Knowledge Graph), and visual content (e.g. product images).
• Generate responses that blend different formats, like summaries with images, charts, product comparisons, or links.

In short, instead of doing multiple searches, AI Mode handles layered or multi-step questions and helps you explore topics or make decisions in less keystrokes and clicks. It’s ideal for research, comparison, and follow-ups, not just quick answers.

This is brought together using what’s called a “query fan-out” approach, where Google breaks your question into smaller parts and checks multiple sources at once, to gather the most relevant information from different sources.

For SEO specialists, there’s a shift from the static, rule-based ecosystem that everyone was used to, into a more dynamic system that learns, predicts and generates information and content in real time. 

You don’t have to take my word for it. You can test AI Mode yourself now if you’re in the US. 

AI Mode vs AI Overview

Where AI Overviews emphasize content credibility and consensus, AI Mode is laser-focused on personal relevance.

Mike King has a full run-through of how AI Mode and AI Overviews work, going over the workflows that are likely used to generate answers for users. It’s well worth the read if you want the full picture.

But if you’re just looking for a quick breakdown, here’s a summary of how AI Overviews and AI Mode work, and how they compare:

AI Overview: The Generate-First, Verification-Backed Process

Information Retrieval Process

1. Receive query → User enters a search.
2. Generate summary (LLM) → The system immediately creates a natural language answer.
3. Select segments to verify → It picks out key parts of the summary that need fact-checking.
4. Retrieve candidate sources → It looks for sources to support its answer by:
   • Matching with already found pages, or
   • Doing new searches based on the summary.
5. Check for verification → It compares what it found with the summary to see if the facts match.
6. Verify or retry → If verified, it’s cited; otherwise, it tries more sources.
7. Linkify verified claims → Verified parts get linked to sources, with clickable highlights.
8. Repeat for all segments → It does this for each part of the summary to ensure accuracy.
9. Render AI Overview → You see a final, fact-checked answer with sources.

Key Characteristics

• Generative-first: Starts with an LLM-generated summary before checking sources.
• Cited post-verification: Content gets cited only after supporting the generated claim.
• Passage-level competition: You don’t need to dominate a full page—single sentences can earn citations.
• Content must be chunk-level verifiable: Precise, factual, and semantically clear writing wins.

AI Mode: Personalized, Contextual Retrieval and Generation

Information Retrieval Process

1. Collect user data → Info like your search history, clicks, location, and how you use Google.
2. Create user embedding → Builds a vector profile (a mathematical representation of a user’s preferences, past behavior, and query context) from this data. This that helps the AI understand your interests and behavior.
3. Receive task (query) → User submits a prompt or query.
4. Embed query → The AI turns your question into a format it can understand (kind of like a “meaning map”).
5. Fuse user + query embeddings → It combines your profile with your question to better understand what you’re asking and what matters to you.
6. Retrieve/generate personalized response → The AI gives you a result tailored to your needs and context.

Key Characteristics

• Personalization-first: Tailors responses based on the user’s history and preferences.
• Query + persona fusion: Two users asking the same thing may get totally different answers.
• Memory-enabled search: Prior behavior and interests shape what content gets surfaced or synthesized.
• Vector-based filtering: AI mode uses “vector-based filtering,” a technique that matches user intent and content meaning using patterns and context, not just keywords.

To summarize:

How AI Mode Changes the Search Experience (and SEO)

The biggest shift with AI Mode isn’t just how results look—it’s how search thinks.

Traditional search was deterministic: Google crawled, indexed, and displayed your content largely as-is. Visibility came from optimizing known factors like keywords, structure, links, and metadata.

AI Mode introduces probabilistic, generative retrieval. Instead of showing content directly, Google interprets it—remixing, selecting, and stitching together pieces from multiple sources to generate a new response. You’re no longer competing for a spot in a list of links—you’re competing for inclusion in the answer itself.

Content must now pass through a complex pipeline: understanding user context, generating synthetic queries, classifying intent, selecting relevant passages, running reasoning chains, and synthesizing a response. Even then, your content being cited in the final output isn’t guaranteed.

The system is dynamic, adapting in real time based on user behavior, context, and memory-based embeddings.

In short: AI Mode redefines SEO. It’s no longer just about ranking—it’s about being understood, selected, and synthesized. That requires a more strategic, deeply structured approach to content, signals, and topical authority.

The SEO Implications of Highly Personalized Search Results

Personalized search isn’t new—Google’s been factoring in your location, search history, and behavior for years. But AI Mode takes personalization to a whole new level.

In this new environment, two users entering the same query could receive completely different answers—not just reordered links, but entirely different outputs. 

Ranking is no longer global; it’s contextual and individualized. The idea of being the “#1 result” becomes meaningless if your content only surfaces for certain types of users. Traditional rank tracking tools won’t cut it—you’ll likely need to simulate user personas to understand where and how your content appears.

What truly sets AI Mode apart is that it doesn’t just re-rank results—it generates different answers based on user context. Your page might be invisible in one result but play a starring role in another because it fits that user’s intent, behavior, or history better.

What This Means for SEO:

This is where classic SEO tactics start to fall apart. 

• Content built for one-click answers or shallow intent won’t survive.
• If your page doesn’t help answer complex, layered questions or guide users through a logical thought process (called “multi-hop reasoning”), it likely won’t be included in AI-generated answers.
• To win, your content needs to be rich in entities, relationships, and layered meaning—capable of supporting nuanced questions and logical progression.

Adapting Your SEO for AI Mode Means:

• Optimizing for user personas, not just keywords.
• Structuring your content to be flexible and dynamic, ready to serve different user needs and contexts.
• Considering producing multiple content variants to align with the spectrum of searcher intent.

The age of one-size-fits-all SEO is over. We’re entering an era of fractured, highly personalized discovery—and those who understand how to align with that system will win.

Future-Proofing Your SEO for AI Mode

What you do today can position you for visibility tomorrow. Here’s how to build long-term value in the AI era:

Structure Your Content for AI Understanding

AI mode thrives on clear structure. Format your content to be easily scannable and digestible:

• Make sure to use descriptive H2s and H3s for AI to better understand your content
• Add bullet points and tables to structure and provide all the information AI needs
• Implement schema markup (especially FAQ and HowTo’s)
• Make sure your answers are concise and full of facts.

This makes your content easier for AI to extract, reference, or summarize the content you provide and in turn provide it to the users. 

Double Down on EEAT

Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines emphasize Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (EEAT). AI Mode seems to reflect those values.

Ways to boost EEAT:

• Include bylines and bios
• Cite primary data or research
• Publish firsthand experiences or local insights
• Show industry credentials or real-world examples

The key is to create content that delivers information gain—offering fresh insights, original research, real case studies, or expert takes that go beyond what’s already out there.

Build Topical Depth

Instead of publishing isolated pages, build out entire topic clusters—including subtopics, FAQs, in-depth guides, and long-form articles—to demonstrate topical authority. Interlink these pages to highlight semantic relationships, helping AI better understand your site’s expertise and coverage.

To strengthen content depth, weave in relevant entities like people, organizations, locations, and key concepts. This signals contextual relevance and reinforces your authority within the topic.

Build User Personas

Beyond structure and coverage, consider how different user personas might engage with your content. What specific information are they looking for? What would they have previously searched to arrive at this specific topic? What follow-up questions might they ask after finding an answer? 

Creating and referencing detailed personas can guide your strategy and ensure your content resonates across varying user intents.

Use Chain of Thought

AI Mode uses its own version of Chain of Thought to answer complex questions at every step. Understand how AI Mode might reason through a query and see whether your content supports the steps in that reasoning chain. 

The first step is to pick a question or topic that your content targets — preferably something complex or layered. For example, “How can businesses improve organic search traffic using AI tools?”

Think like an LLM. Break the query into logical sub-questions a machine might ask to build a full answer.

Example Chain of Thought Steps:

1. Why is organic traffic important for businesses?
2. What are free AI tools relevant to SEO and organic growth?
3. What are paid AI tools relevant to SEO and organic growth?
4. How can each of these tools be used in an SEO workflow?
5. What are the benefits of using AI tools in organic search?
6. Are there real examples or case studies?
7. What are best practices or warnings when using AI in SEO?

Write these steps out in a doc or spreadsheet. If you have content for this topic already, go through your blog posts, guides, or pages and highlight which paragraphs/passages relate to each reasoning step.

If not, then you can then determine if there is enough content to write posts for each question, or if they’re better off clustered together in a longer post. 

Think of Query Classification

Search is still an experiential product, wherein Google aims to provide what the user wants — a quick fact, a detailed explanation, a product, or something fun to read.

This process is called query classification — sorting searches by intent. Most SEO tools still group search queries into old-school buckets like:

• Navigational (looking for a specific website),
• Informational (looking for answers), or
• Transactional and Commercial (ready to buy).

But this is pretty limiting, and doesn’t reflect how complex search intent can be nowadays. But AI Mode and AI Overview answers will change depending on the type of query. If your content doesn’t match the intent, it might get ignored.

So: manually review search queries and ask: “Is this person asking for a fact, explanation, choice, or something else?” Then create content that fits that purpose.

Optimize for Summary & Citation

In generative search, AI models will attempt to answer the user directly, pulling key ideas from content across the web. If your content is easy to parse and provides clear value, it’s more likely to be included in those summaries.

Write sections that are easily quotable or can be referenced. Make it easy for AI to summarize your content accurately without distorting your message. Specifically answer key questions clearly at the beginning of sections.

Use AI as a Strategic Co-Pilot

AI can be a powerful partner for brainstorming, topic clustering, and fine-tuning your on-page SEO. Tools like SE Ranking can help you audit your website to identify potential keywords, content gaps, and other opportunities to target. AI-powered plugins, like Wordlift, can also help you transform your content so it’s easily digestible by search engines. 

But like any tool we’ve created, AI is meant to enhance our work—not replace the creativity and critical thinking that only humans bring to the table. It’s easy to get comfortable and overly dependent on automation, but the real edge comes from using these tools as a way to enhance your workflows for maximum efficiency.

Experiment with Prompt Optimization

If you’re using AI tools to generate outlines for your content (as almost every other webmaster is doing nowadays), it’s not just about searching using Chat GPT, you have to learn to write effective prompts. 

The better your prompt, the better the output and the faster your SEO workflow becomes. Prompt engineering is becoming a valuable skill for content teams.

Humanize Your Content

AI-generated content is all over the internet—but human authenticity is still rare and valuable. Add anecdotes, cultural references, and brand voice. Localize your content. Inject your own personality, own your content, and make it feel genuine. . These things help you stand out to both readers and search engines.

As Mike King in an article in iPullRank puts it: “You don’t win in AI Mode by creating the best content for machines. You win by creating content that machines can extract from—and that people want to engage with.”

Key Takeaway

The future of SEO isn’t about stuffing keywords or chasing backlinks, it’s about adapting to how AI Mode understands and serves content. 

That means creating pages that AI can easily extract from, that reflect genuine human expertise, align with real user intent, and build long-term trust. 

While AI is powerful, your personal insights and lived experiences are irreplaceable. When you combine human depth with machine intelligence, your SEO strategy doesn’t just survive the shift—it helps lead it.

The post SEO & AI Mode: How It Works & How to Adapt Your Strategy appeared first on SEO Services Agency in Manila, Philippines.

The relationship we used to have with Google was simple. It was a fair-use argument: we give Google content to index, and we get traffic in return. We do a good and ethical job at creating that content, we get rewarded with better rankings than those who do not.

AI has essentially turned all that on its head. Google I/O 2024 announced several AI-powered applications, the most notable being AI Overviews, which has since been rolled out in Google US. 

It’s the beginning of a disruptive search landscape, and we have very little idea how that’s going to go. And, considering how Google plans to use AI Overviews, one has to wonder whether or not this is still fair to websites. 

Worse, it brings us to this question: “What will happen to Google — and is it still valuable for me to work towards ranking in Google’s search results?” 

The State of Google Search in 2024

Google search results today are almost unrecognizable from what it was a few years ago. Gone is the era of 10 blue links, replaced now with dynamic, “enriched” search features, displayed in such a way that, theoretically, makes it easier for a user to gain more and more information right on the results page. 

In essence, Google is becoming less of a search engine and more of a portal for users.

The biggest step towards that was the launch of the Search Generative Experience (SGE). Though all their documentation and PR say that this phase is an experiment, it’s clear Google is trying to lay a foundational long-term change to the way people search on their platform. 

To create this new search experience, SGE was powered by generative AI, which added another layer of input and output, enabling Google to not only understand more complex questions but answer them and guide users to new ones. 

But that’s all in theory, and most technology sounds really, really good when it’s just in theory. But the reality of this shift in search is more consequential than most people think.

Moving towards an AI-powered search experience means reshaping how billions and billions of people find information online — and how Google makes money. 

What Are AI Overviews

Using Google’s AI models, search queries are analyzed, and an answer is formulated. This then provides an AI card with links to publishers beneath the overview section. 

They differ from featured snippets because they don’t directly show and link relevant content from websites. Instead, content is scraped, analyzed, and mashed together to provide what the AI thinks is the most comprehensive and accurate answer to your query.

If you’ve ever tried to teach yourself something complicated and reword those super technical concepts into what you think are layman’s terms, you know this is a difficult task, and one that can easily be done wrong. 

And yes, even AI trained on countless datasets can be wrong. Other articles have covered how bad the results of Google’s AI Overviews are so far, so I won’t even bother. But it’s bad, and not very reassuring to anyone using it.

Why it Matters for Websites

Ok, so Google’s newest tool isn’t doing great, why should you care? It’s not like Google hasn’t been changing things up in the last decade, and this isn’t the first time its newest products have flopped. It’s not the first time that Google’s decentered organic results, either.

But this change won’t just push organic search results further below the fold — it’ll completely change the traditional search journey of a Google user. 

By taking steps towards becoming a search portal, Google enables users to get answers to their questions without ever having to visit a website. And, it’s not unlikely that in the next few years, Google can evolve to allow users to fulfill transactions within the search interface itself.

How it Affects Independent Websites

Where is AI Overview getting its answers? From us, from SEOs, content creators, and webmasters. Google is doing this to millions and millions of websites — taking their content, without permission, for profit. All while taking that profit from our websites.

It’s unscrupulous, and is zero comfort for those who have already been negatively affected by algorithm updates in the past year. 

And Google CEO Sundar Pichai doesn’t seem to worry about how it affects the very websites their search engine indexes and uses for profit. In a recent interview with the Verge, Pichai is optimistic that Google AI Overviews and Search will drive more traffic and engagement to websites — but then also does not commit to giving us a way to definitively see that ourselves just yet.

The reason? “The more we spec it out, then the more people will design for that,” he says. Pichai also says whether or not that data will be eventually given to websites is up to the Search team, not him. 

I want to emphasize that Google definitely has that data, but they just won’t give us access to that in the Google Search Console performance reports. So we have no idea if our links in the AI Overviews have a higher or lower CTR than the normal search results 

So, we have to trust Google. But after the recent antitrust case, the Search API document leak, and the validity of their statements being called into question, can we really trust them? 

The Downfall of Google Search…

The trust in Google has been waning for several months now, if not years. Many SEOs and affiliates even say that Google search has died — an article from Edward Zitron, called “The Man Who Killed Google Search,” details how Prabhakar Raghavan ousted people like Ben Gomes from the helm of search and made its quality less of a priority, all for the short term bottom line.

And now we’re moving into what many call a “zero-click search” era, where users are becoming less and less inclined to click on organic search results. And Google is trying to capitalize on that with its AI Overviews, and failing miserably. Worse, it’s late to the game. 

AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Perplexity did it much earlier, and arguably, much better than Google is doing now. 

…and Rise of AI Chatbots

Google’s whole point is that it’s supposed to provide the best search experience to users. So when it fails, what do people do? They abandon ship and go to what serves them best.

And right now, that’s AI chatbots like Perplexity. 

I’ve been using this for a couple of months now, and the experience is great. Sources are provided and put at the priority — always placed on top of the generated answer. Answers were factual and included citations, and so far I haven’t seen any AI-generated nonsense. 

It’s a step above other chatbots like ChatGPT as well, since it does have access to the internet and a proprietary search database, so answers are, generally, more accurate and up-to-date. I also found the generated answers to be much more detailed in Perplexity than when I tried out Google Bard (now known as Gemini) a while back. 

One of the biggest complaints about Google Search is that the results are flooded with YouTube videos and Reddit forums. Perplexity avoids this completely by allowing users to opt out of those kinds of results and providing specific focus settings for those who are looking for forum answers and videos. 

Using this, it’s not hard to see why many users have switched. After all, Perplexity does what AI overviews should be doing, and it does it better. And if Perplexity can give you the answers you want, why bother with Google and other websites at all?

The Next Step for SEO

This brings me back to the first question I posed at the beginning: If AI chatbots and AI-powered search results are summarizing answers for you, why would you bother with organic search results? And if users shift towards that mentality, what’s the incentive for websites to continue their work? Why put new content on the web? 

Is this new era fair to independent publishers? And critically, what does this mean for the future of SEO and website traffic? 

It might not happen this year, or the next, but soon enough websites will be fighting for what little organic traffic is left from Google. 

So how do you stay at the top? How do you keep getting more people to visit your website?

There are really only a few things I can recommend for this new era.

Focus on Your Customers

Chatbots like Perplexity, Gemini, and Copilot all need sources to cite. Providing detailed and accurate answers increases your chances of becoming that source. We may not be able to stop chatbots from using our content, but at least you can still gain some clicks whenever they do. 

Aside from that, I’m still of the mindset that there’s plenty of value in providing insightful, useful answers to the people who are looking for them. It helps you connect with your audience, proves your authority in your niche, and builds trust. Plus, high-quality content for nuanced answers is something that chatbots and AI writing tools have a hard time replicating anyway.

The recent Google search document leak, in my opinion, also proves just how important producing customer-centric content is. Their algorithm wouldn’t factor in so much click-related data for nothing.

Utilize Structured Data Markup

Making sure your content is easily understood by machines is the next step. Applying schema or structured data helps them understand and categorize web content, and increases the odds of you being featured in AI-generated results.

Diversify Your Traffic Sources

It’s becoming increasingly clear that relying solely on Google for traffic will become riskier as time goes on — even if you do end up building a strong brand presence, authority, and readership. 

Diversifying traffic sources and including social media and direct engagement strategies will be essential for keeping your website alive. It’s how you’ll get featured on publications, listicles, directories, and other platforms for users to find out about you.

Key Takeaway

Did Google just effectively kill independent publishers and websites? Are we entering the “zero-click search” era? Maybe, but what’s sure is that Google search will push organic search results down in favor of what they believe is an enhanced search experience. 

As Google transforms into an AI-driven search portal, what websites like mine and yours can do is shift SEO tactics, expand to other platforms, and adopt a holistic approach that emphasizes content quality, relevance, and user engagement.

The post The Future of Google: How AI Overviews & Chatbots Are Redefining Search appeared first on SEO Services Agency in Manila, Philippines.

Google’s search algorithm is, essentially, one of the biggest influencers of what gets found on the internet. It decides who gets to be at the top and enjoy the lion’s share of the traffic, and who gets regulated to the dark corners of the web — a.k.a. the 2nd and so on pages of the search results. 

It’s the most significant system of our digital world. And how that system works has been largely a mystery for years, but no longer. The Google search document leak, just went public just yesterday, drops thousands of pages of purported ranking algorithm factors onto our laps. 

The Leak

There’s some debate as to whether the documentation was “leaked,” or “discovered.” But what we do know is that the API documentation was (likely accidentally) pushed live on GitHub— where it was then found.

The thousands and thousands of pages in these documents, which appear to come from Google’s internal Content API Warehouse, give us an unprecedented look into how Google search and its ranking algorithms work. 

Fast Facts About the Google Search API Documentation

• Reported to be the internal documentation for Google Search’s Content Warehouse API.
• The documentation indicates this information is accurate as of March 2024.
• 2,596 modules are represented in the API documentation with 14,014 attributes. These are what we might call ranking factors or features, but not all attributes may be considered part of the ranking algorithm. 
• The documentation did not provide how these ranking factors are weighted. 

And here’s the kicker: several factors found on this document were factors that Google has said, on record, they didn’t track and didn’t include in their algorithms. 

That’s invaluable to the SEO industry, and undoubtedly something that will direct how we do SEO for the foreseeable future.

Is The Document Real? 

Another subject of debate is whether these documents are legitimate. On that point, here’s what we know so far:

• The documentation was on GitHub and was briefly made public from March to May 2024.
• The documentation contained links to private GitHub repositories and internal pages — these required specific, Google-credentialed logins to access.
• The documentation uses similar notation styles, formatting, and process/module/feature names and references seen in public Google API documentation.
• Ex-Googlers say documentation similar to this exists on almost every Google team, i.e., with explanations and definitions for various API attributes and modules.

No doubt Google will neither deny nor confirm that this is their work. But all signs, so far, point to this document being the real deal, though I still caution everyone to take everything you learn from it with a grain of salt.

UPDATE: On May 29, 2024, a Google spokesperson gave the following statement to Search Engine Land’s Barry Schwartz:

“We would caution against making inaccurate assumptions about Search based on out-of-context, outdated, or incomplete information. We’ve shared extensive information about how Search works and the types of factors that our systems weigh, while also working to protect the integrity of our results from manipulation.”

What We Learnt From The Google Search Document Leak

With over 2,500 technical documents to sift through, the insights we have so far are just the tip of the iceberg. I expect that the community will be analyzing this leak for months (possibly years) to gain more SEO-applicable insights.

Other articles have gotten into the nitty-gritty of it already. But if you’re having a hard time understanding all the technical jargon in those breakdowns, here’s a quick and simple summary of the points of interest identified in the leak so far:

• Google uses something called “Twiddlers.” These are functions that help rerank a page (think boosting or demotion calculations). 
• Content can be demoted for reasons such as SERP signals (aka user behavior) indicating dissatisfaction, a link not matching the target site, using exact match domains, product reviews, location, or sexual content.
• Google uses a variety of measurements related to clicks, including “badClicks”, ”goodClicks”, ”lastLongestClicks” and ”unsquashedClicks”.
• Google keeps a copy of every version of every page it has ever indexed. However, it only uses the last 20 changes of any given URL when analyzing a page.
• Google uses a domain authority metric, called “siteAuthority”
• Google uses a system called “NavBoost” that has a module which uses click data for evaluating pages.
• Google tracks which search result gets the longest click during each session.
• Google has a “sandbox” that websites are segregated to, based on age or lack of trust signals. Indicated by an attribute called “hostAge”
• May be related to the last point, but there is an attribute called “smallPersonalSite” in the documentation. Unclear what this is used for.
• Google does identify entities on a webpage and can sort, rank, and filter them.
• So far, the only attributes that can be connected to E-E-A-T are author-related attributes.
• Google uses Chrome data as part of their page quality scoring, with a module featuring a site-level measure of views from Chrome (“chromeInTotal”)
• The number, diversity, and source of your backlinks matter a lot, even if PageRank has not been mentioned by Google in years.
• Title tags being keyword-optimized and matching search queries is important.
• “siteFocusScore” attribute measures how much a site is focused on a given topic. 
• Publish dates and how frequently a page is updated determines content “freshness” — which is also important. 
• Font size and text weight for links are things that Google notices. It appears that larger links are more positively received by Google.

Author’s Note: This is not the first time a search engine’s ranking algorithm was leaked. I covered the Yandex hack and how it affects SEO in 2023, and you’ll see plenty of similarities in the ranking factors both search engines use.

Action Points for Your SEO

I did my best to review as much of the “ranking features” that were leaked, as well as the original articles by Rand Fishkin and Mike King. From there, I have some insights I want to share with other SEOs and webmasters out there who want to know how to proceed with their SEO.

Links Matter — Link Value Affected by Several Factors 

Links still matter. Shocking? Not really. It’s something I and other SEOs have been saying, even if link-related guidelines barely show up in Google news and updates nowadays.

Still, we need to emphasize link diversity and relevance in our off-page SEO strategies. 

Some insights from the documentation:

• PageRank of the referring domain’s homepage (also known as Homepage Trust) affects the value of the link.
• Indexing tier matters. Regularly updated and accessed content is of the highest tier, and provides more value for your rankings.

If you want your off-page SEO to actually do something for your website, then focus on building links from websites that have authority, and from pages that are either fresh or are otherwise featured in the top tier. 

Some PR might help here — news publications tend to drive the best results because of how well they fulfill these factors.

As for guest posts, there’s no clear indication that these will hurt your site, but I definitely would avoid approaching them as a way to game the system. Instead, be discerning about your outreach and treat it as you would if you were networking for new business partners.

Aim for Successful Clicks 

The fact that clicks are a ranking factor should not be a surprise. Despite what Google’s team says, clicks are the clearest indicator of user behavior and how good a page is at fulfilling their search intent.

Google’s whole deal is providing the answers you want, so why wouldn’t they boost pages that seem to do just that?

The core of your strategy should be creating great user experiences. Great content that provides users with the right answers is how you do that. Aiming for qualified traffic is how you do that. Building a great-looking, functioning website is how you do that.

Go beyond just picking clickbait title tags and meta descriptions, and focus on making sure users get what they need from your website.

Author’s Note: If you haven’t been paying attention to page quality since the concepts of E-E-A-T and the HCU were introduced, now is the time to do so. Here’s my guide to ranking for the HCU to help you get started.

Keep Pages Updated

Content freshness is something that Google looks for, based on the attributes “bylineDate,” “syntacticDate,” and “semanticDate,” which are the dates in the byline, URL, and on-page content, respectively. 

Aside from that, an interesting click-based measurement is the “last good click.” All these being in a module related to indexing signals suggests that outdated pages and content decay can affect your rankings. 

Be vigilant about which pages on your website are not driving the expected amount of clicks for its SERP position. Outdated posts should be audited to ensure content has up-to-date and accurate information to help users in their search journey. 

This should revive those posts and drive clicks, preventing content decay. 

It’s especially important to start on this if you have content pillars on your website that aren’t driving the same traffic as they used to.

Establish Expertise & Authority  

Google does notice the entities on a webpage, which include a bunch of things, but what I want to focus on are those related to your authors.

E-E-A-T as a concept is pretty nebulous — because scoring “expertise” and “authority” of a website and its authors is nebulous. So, a lot of SEOs have been skeptical about it.

However, the presence of an “author” attribute combined with the in-depth mapping of entities in the documentation shows there is some weight to having a well-established author on your website.

So, apply author markups, create an author bio page and archive, and showcase your official profiles on your website to prove your expertise. 

Build Your Domain Authority

After countless Q&As and interviews where statements like “we don’t have anything like domain authority,” and “we don’t have website authority score,” were thrown around, we find there does exist an attribute called “siteAuthority”.

Though we don’t know specifically how this measure is computed, and how it weighs in the overall scoring for your website, we know it does matter to your rankings.

So, what do you need to do to improve site authority? It’s simple — keep following best practices and white-hat SEO, and you should be able to grow your authority within your niche. 

Stick to Your Niche

Speaking of niches — I found the “siteFocusScore” attribute interesting. It appears that building more and more content within a specific topic is considered a positive.

The “siteRadius” attribute, which measures how far “page_embeddings” deviate from “site_embedding,” also point towards topical authority being a ranking factor.

Author’s Note: Embeddings in this context is something that machines use to understand the semantics and correlation between words used on a page.

It’s something other SEOs have hypothesized before. After all, the more you write about a topic, the more you must be an authority on that topic, right?

But anyone can write tons of blogs on a given topic nowadays with AI, so how do you stand out (and avoid the risk of sounding artificial and spammy?)

That’s where author entities and link-building come in. I do think that great content should be supplemented by link-building efforts, as a sort of way to show that hey, “I’m an authority with these credentials, and these other people think I’m an authority on the topic as well.”

Key Takeaway

Most of the insights from the Google search document leak are things that SEOs have been working on for months (if not years). However, we now have solid evidence behind a lot of our hunches, providing that our theories are in fact best practices. 

The biggest takeaway I have from this leak: Google relies on user behavior (click data and post-click behavior in particular) to find the best content. Other ranking factors supplement that. Optimize to get users to click on and then stay on your page, and you should see benefits to your rankings.

Could Google remove these ranking factors now that they’ve been leaked? They could, but it’s highly unlikely that they’ll remove vital attributes in the algorithm they’ve spent years building. 

So my advice is to follow these now validated SEO practices and be very critical about any Google statements that follow this leak.

The post The Search Algorithm Exposed: Inside Google’s Search API Documents Leak appeared first on SEO Services Agency in Manila, Philippines.

It’s been over two weeks since Google’s March 2024 core update rolled out – and it’s one of the most significant updates I have seen to date. It’s currently sweeping the web in the same way we saw Panda and Penguin updates do more than ten years ago, and all the forums agree: this update is a big deal. 

March 2024 Core Update

After reading the official Google announcement, it was very clear that it was very different from past core updates for two reasons.

First: not only did it cover the usual major changes to ranking systems, but it rolled out at the same time brand-new spam policies were announced. Second: it was packaged with a helpful content system.

What this means is Google has updated what it will consider “spam” from sites, and we won’t be seeing any more Helpful Content Updates.

Why the March 2024 Core Update Matters

It’s no secret that Google’s reputation has fallen lately, with many users reporting poor user experience caused by the rising number of AI-generated content clogging up the SERPs.

It’s something that’s been happening for months now, and this likely is why they have decided to package this core update with several others. 

Now, I mentioned Panda and Penguin earlier – and if you’ve been in the SEO game for about as long as I have, then you know how significant my statement is.

But if you’re newer to SEO, I’ll summarize. Back when those two updates came out, Google cracked down, hard, on websites. Hundreds upon thousands of websites were penalized and even de-indeed, causing many to lose 100% of their traffic. And this all happened basically overnight.

And something similar is happening now, from what I’ve been seeing on news updates and forums. 

The Effects of the March 2024 Core Update So Far

In the days since the Google March 2024 core and spam updates have started rolling out, the SERPs have been busy. We’ve seen significant search ranking volatility, which is partially due to the algorithmic updates, and partially related to Google issuing manual actions connected to the new spam policies.

Note that this update is not over yet. These things usually take a few weeks to roll out – Google themselves said it would take about a month to finish (check their dashboard if you want to see when it finishes.)

Plus, several systems will be updated at the same time. We could see even more volatility in the next two weeks.

Here is a brief timeline of what SEOs and webmasters have been reporting on forums since the launch: 

• March 5 to 7 – Official Google announcement regarding manual actions taken for policy violators. Sites also reported that they were delisted from Google’s database.
• March 8 – Sites started seeing the first spikes in search rankings. 
• March 10 – Search volatility calmed down temporarily. However, more sites started reporting that they were hit by both algorithmic changes and manual actions. Other sites reported that they saw some reversals (although temporarily).
• March 12 – An independent study by Originality.ai found that 100% of the websites that had a manual action applied had content that was AI-generated.
• March 15-16 – Rising search ranking volatility, which is likely to be connected to the ongoing core and spam update rollout. 
• March 18 – Google urges webmasters to have patience as the Google March 2024 core update continues to roll out.
• March 19 – Google says they will collect “specific” feedback once the updates have been fully rolled out, as forums are filled with very unhappy webmasters. 

With the overlapping updates and tons of chatter on forums, there’s a lot of confusion going on for SEOs at the moment. Many who have been deranked in the last few days find it hard to keep track of what, exactly, on their website is impacting their rankings. 

The New Spam Policies to Consider

While Google will never disclose which ranking factors it’s adjusted in a core update, it will tell us what’s been added to its guidelines and policies.

Here’s what has been added to the spam policies this month:

• Expired domain abuse – Buying and repurposing an expired domain with the intent to manipulate search rankings, piggybacking on the domain’s age and authority.
• Scaled content abuse – Mass-generating content and pages for the primary purpose of manipulating search rankings, resulting in tons of unoriginal, low-quality, and unhelpful content. And yes, this is considered abuse whether or not you use AI or similar tools to do it. 
• Site reputation abuse – Publishing third-party pages without your oversight or involvement, allowing these parties to take advantage of your ranking signals and rank higher on the search results. 

This update aims to crack down on PBNs (private blog networks), AI-generated content, Parasite SEO, and other gray- and black-hat practices that benefit from cheap and dirty tactics to climb the search results. 

What Can You Do to Recover From a Google Update?

The answer to this always lies in what the update tries to fix. In this case, we can see the core update and new spam policies are meant to punish sites that don’t create helpful content, and rely on spamm-y practices to rank high.

So, if you’re doing that, you should stop immediately and audit your website to remove any offending content or pages. Refocus your strategy on building quality content that centers user experience, and follows white-hat link-building and authority-building tactics. 

If you have never relied on spam or mass-generated content, but find your website has been hit anyways, then it’s time to go back to basics and audit your website top-to-bottom. I recently finished a 4-part SEO checklist for 2024 you can follow for this. This other guide on how to fix your site after a manual action can help you if you find you we’re one of the unlucky ones affected by this update.

Do I Need to Avoid Publishing Too Much Content at Once?

I know that the statements from Google and this article both use the term “mass-generated,” so you might be asking yourself this question right now.

But here’s the thing: the issue isn’t how often you publish your content. It’s how the content you’re publishing is made.

In my experience, publishing 2-3 times a week doesn’t negatively impact a website, so long as the posts themselves follow the usual E-E-A-T and Helpful Content guidelines.

John Mueller also addressed this concern by stating:

“Content is generally not considered spam just from the way that you publish it. Some sites switch on a big batch of awesome content, and awesome is awesome. Some sites publish small amounts of junk, and well, it’s junk not because of how it’s published.”

Keep that in mind if you’re rethinking your content strategy in light of this update.

Key Takeaway

Google’s March 2024 core update shows their stance: quality trumps quantity. Creating links and content at scale will hurt you in the long run if it’s done wrong. 

Websites need to avoid depending heavily on thin or duplicated content, or easy and quick backlinks. These will only slightly benefit your website for a short while until Google once again rolls out with a new update. 

So focus on content quality, audit your website regularly, and always aim to enhance user experience to mitigate (and even benefit from) the effects of this core update, and any update to come.

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