Heads-up, the branded queries filter in GSC is rolling out to all. I see it now... you should too. :) Note, you can also see this in the Insights reporting (top-level percentage) which will lead to the branded queries reporting.
Uh oh -> In a preliminary ruling, a US judge orders Perplexity to stop using Comet browser to make purchases on behalf of users from password-protected Amazon accounts
Google also taught the model how to link out (in the response, in the side panel, etc.) And things like 'which sites are the most authoritative, most trusted, most useful to people for a given query... that goodness will still work in the AI world.'
Interesting interview about Google's AI systems -> "A lot of these AI systems that are trying to get real-time information are effectively using Google to query. Google will perform a bunch of queries based on your initial question and start to build the response...."
More: "Instead, I want to talk about why you should probably be skeptical of anyone selling it to you. Including me."
www.reddit.com/r/AI_SearchO...
From the cofounder of an AI search visibility platform -> The GEO Bullshit - State of GEO in 2026
From him: "I’m a co-founder at an AI search visibility platform. By all accounts, I should be writing a hype post about why GEO is the only thing that matters this year. Instead, I want to talk..."
"Sometimes AI helps people build great content & sometimes it helps them create slop. It's important to separate if you used AI as a tool or to create slop? We have to fight it on the Search side. So, are you creating great content that's interesting to people or are you creating the same junk...?"
Great interview. I recommend watching it. Here is Liz about fighting AI slop:
"People have created slop for a long time before it was AI slop. AI allows them to create it faster but it's not a new problem. It's just the next-level scale of the problem. It's a cat & mouse game. You are never done."
More: I see the dreaded "10 results" when running site queries on those two sites and they don't rank for anything... even their own brand queries.
Remember the recent story about journalists being fired & replaced by AI writers? Well, that may have caught the attention of Google's webspam team. Looks like 2 of their sites might have received manual actions this weekend (maybe for 'Site reputation abuse' based on the casino content there.)
News on the disavow front. It ends up you CAN disavow an entire TLD (like xyz, biz, etc.) This was never documented by Google but John Mueller explained you can actually do that. He also said that Google probably shouldn't document it since "it's a big hammer"... I agree & think that's crazy to do.
That's not right. He's talking about a TLD and not a domain. :) So it was supported but never documented. And I agree with John, it probably shouldn't be documented.
In addition, why not send the case to Google if you are super confident that those spammy links are causing those surges/drops for your client site(s)? I'm sure they would love to see those... I would be shocked if they were causing the problems with the site.
Again, highly doubt that would have anything to do with the drops/surges. Google has been clear on that & it's what I have seen many times w/many different sites. Spammy/junky links come and go and Google is very, very good at ignoring them. If you want to share the site with me, I can take a look.
Very interesting. I don't think that's documented anywhere. :)
Highly, highly doubt that has anything to do with spammy links you are disavowing. That looks like surges/drops during major google updates, no? That would be the cause then and not the links. :)
More info: www.gsqi.com/marketing-bl...
More: And... Copilot's new AI Discover feed is not starting off well for me. The March 2026 Core Update?? That's news to me! :) That site has 0 search visibility btw. Literally none.
Like ChatGPT Pulse... and it takes a while to build -> Microsoft tests AI-generated Discover feed on Copilot web
"The updated Discover page takes ~2 min to generate a tailored feed grounded in the user's own Copilot history & memories. The result is a wall of AI-created content, text and images."
But hey, John said go for it. :) To me, if you have a manual action for unnatural links, or if you knowingly set up unnatural links, paid for them, then sure, disavow the links. But if you never set up unnatural links, then *step away from the disavow file*. You will probably do more harm than good.
Thread on the disavow file (again) -> From Barry: "As a reminder, John Mueller of Google often says that disavowing links is a waste of time. Heck, like Bing, Google may remove the disavow tool at some point. In fact, Google said the disavow tools hurts many more sites than it helps..."
If you found my latest post about AEO/GEO vs SEO interesting, you should check out the companion YouTube video I just published. I cover everything in detail & provide some additional context. My video covers all of the information we know directly from the AI search platforms AI search visibility.
More: "The change means that instead of purchasing directly from a product listing, a shopper will either need to pay through a retailer’s app or be redirected to the retailer’s own site."
Google's shopping graph is incredibly powerful. ChatGPT doesn't have one. Huge advantage Google.
Wait, nobody is actually buying things in ChatGPT? SHOCKING :) Big advantage Google -> OpenAI is scaling back shopping directly inside ChatGPT via Instant Checkout by having checkouts instead take place in the specific apps that plug into ChatGPT
Let's call this the "Inspired Taste" update.. :)
"We've heard feedback on recipe results in AI Mode, and we’re making updates to better connect people with recipe creators. Now when you search for meal ideas like “easy dinners for two,” you can tap on the dish to see links to relevant sites
Canvas in AI Mode is rolling out -> Use Canvas in AI Mode to get things done and bring your ideas to life, right in Search.
"Canvas in AI Mode is now available for everyone in the U.S. in English, offering a dedicated, dynamic space to organize your plans and projects over time."
OpenAI released GPT-5.3 Instant yesterday and explained it provides "More useful, well-synthesized answers when using the web"... But I'm' not sure about that. After testing it out, I found 5.3 Instant provides WAY LESS links than 5.2. Check out these two screenshots. It's not even close.
Important data from @randfish.bsky.social: Google is responsible for nearly 3/4 of all desktop web searches; ChatGPT is smaller than you might think...
"Most AI Search and AI Answers happen on Google. Even if you combine every prompt on ChatGPT, Claude, etc., Google dwarfs them..."
I will continue to add to this post as we learn more from the various players. And I hope that includes OpenAI at some point! You should check out my post, read the articles, watch the videos, etc. There is some great information there directly from the source.
www.gsqi.com/marketing-bl...
Some say AEO/GEO strategy & tactics are different than what you should be doing for SEO, while others say what you do for SEO should cover AI Search. Well, I wanted to provide a central place where site owners could find all of the information that the various AI search platforms have explained...
