Search Me! Leeds 26

Felt cute, might delete later. A bit of fun at carlhendy.com.

One of yours @iamrofe? domainlore.uk/themissingsock…

Is your site sitting behind Cloudflare? If yes, Go to Security -> Settings -> Configure AI bot policies Under "Training" section make sure "Allow (do not block)" is selected. Do this before 15th of September. Why? From this date onwards, If you have selected the block training option, Cloudflare will block multi-purpose crawlers (specifically those that combine Search with Training) such as Googlebot, Applebot, and BingBot. This will destroy your SEO work. Take action and pass this on to your devops/developers.

Friendly reminder to be very careful taking technical SEO advice from LLMs; they will confidently make statements about how sites operate that simply aren’t true in many cases, because most LLMs can’t render JavaScript. This includes Claude.

If your customers are searching on TikTok, YouTube or ChatGPT… are you ready? 🍵 Take the 25-question quiz from #ReflectDigital and get your search readiness score: bit.ly/4qCGQjY

"People want to make it a debate. Do you believe in AI or is it a bubble?" — @bgurley

AI overreliance.

More great work from Evri. Apparently their driver fell down a dark hole today 🤷‍♂️

I'm working on a story about how much the average creator actually earns on OnlyFans. Looking to speak to anyone who is/has been a creator on OnlyFans who'd be happy to share their experience (bonus if they can share how much or little they earn too). #journorequest #prrequest

I know a lot of SEOs and tools are catching up to and trying to 'reinvent' SEO topical authority as a 'new thing' in the wake of AI search because they were sleeping on this all these years. We've built @keywordinsights about 5 years ago to solve this exact problem.

New page designs can often directly improve SEO performance! Here's a real example from an SEOTesting client. 👇 They ran a split test, rolling out a new design to a set of pages. The outcome? 📈 The redesigned pages consistently outperformed the old ones organically. 📈 The uplift wasn't just short-term; it held steady well after the launch date! Why this matters: Too often, we think of design purely in terms of UX and CRO. But design changes can also send strong signals to both users and search engines: ➡️ Better structure --> clearer relevance. ➡️ Improved layouts --> stronger engagement. ➡️ Cleaner pages --> Higher click-through and retention. The key: Don't just publish and hope. Test it. Measure it. Scale it. #SEO #SEOTesting

Psst... quite possibly SEO play of the year here, given Google is now ranking ChatGPT extremely high. Traffic skyrocketed recently, directed at Custom GPTs. Ranking high for "logo creator", "cover letter generator", "math solver" etc. Massive opportunity to rank a Custom GPT 👀

Who agrees with this? 🙋‍♂️

The fact that 'position 1' in GSC means: Ranking in the top organic position AND/OR Ranking anywhere in AI Overviews (when AIO is at the top of the page) ...even when you're the 5-10th link in AIO... ...is soooo unhelpful.

Google has shown once again why they are unbeatable when it comes to Shopping, releasing their competing product to ChatGPT a few days later. The release of Google's product recommendations in AI Mode is here, and I'm quite impressed by the experience so far after testing out ChatGPT Shopping. Here are some important points worth highlighting: • Consistency: when you submit the same query multiple times in AI Mode, the results don't differ too much. In my opinion, this is how it should be if the AI truly understands the brief (ChatGPT shows completely different results each time) • Experience: the Shopping experience is much more seamless. While both have the knowledge panel function when clicking on results, Google has a competitive advantage with feeds submitted via GMC Next – making the information much higher quality and accurate • Difference: the major difference among AI Mode product recommendations and standard free listing results that show as grids is that pages are referenced to uncover products, which are then produced in the free listings form – I can see this being quite useful for shoppers compared to browsing a more extensive catalog of options • Reference Links: it seems that Google has introduced a new form of reference for product information, providing a thorough overview of product-related information that goes beyond a standard knowledge panel. When opening a link with an underline in a new window, it takes you to a very extensive product-feed driven experience which works quite well For more difficult queries that standard Google Shopping results weren't providing useful results for, I can see this AI Mode release being especially useful to shoppers. And if you read my ChatGPT Shopping review: brodieclark.com/chatgpt-shop… this underscores how far ahead Google are in this arena. For sites that want to optimise for AI Mode Shopping results, the same principles of free listings optimisation tactics apply here: brodieclark.com/google-organ…. The important difference is that the free listing results are being referenced in specific review articles (which you can check). This, combined with eligibility to appear within the knowledge panel results is the best combination for success.

🔍“Google can replace aggregators, but they can’t ship you a Rubik’s cube.” In this sharp convo with @GeoffKennedy, @HathawayP shares why e-commerce remains critical to Google's strategy — and how the platform is positioning itself in the face of Amazon’s growing dominance. Catch the full interview 👇

🤖 AI & SEO: A match made in... the future? In our latest "What does the future hold for SEO" interview, @GeoffKennedy sits down with @HathawayP to discuss optimizing for AI, the rising importance of entities, and keeping your brand's info up-to-date. Dive in! 👇

🎙️ @HathawayP joins @GeoffKennedy to talk real about Google’s AI strategy, the shifting role of technical SEO, and why client reporting is harder than ever. A must-read for SEOs navigating today’s challenges! 👇 buff.ly/IbEjr38 #SEO #DigitalMarketing