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Google's Spam Team Is Hunting Scaled AI Content. (But Using AI Isn’t the Trigger)
AI Search Brad Bartlett 9/1/26 AI Search Brad Bartlett 9/1/26

Google's Spam Team Is Hunting Scaled AI Content. (But Using AI Isn’t the Trigger)

Google's own VP confirmed the spam team is still actively hunting scaled content — and four documented case studies show exactly what got hit. Here's the actual rule, in Google's own words, and why it's not what most people using AI to draft are afraid of.

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Google Got Called “Really Unfair” in Court This Week. It Shipped More AI Mode Ads Anyway.
AI Search Brad Bartlett 8/31/26 AI Search Brad Bartlett 8/31/26

Google Got Called “Really Unfair” in Court This Week. It Shipped More AI Mode Ads Anyway.

A judge told Google in open court that using publisher content for free “seems really unfair.” Three days later, Google shipped two new AI Mode ad formats.

Here's what changed this week, what it's already costing your click-through rate, and why I don't think this settles down anytime soon.

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Google's Preferred Sources Button Is Still Sitting There Unclaimed
AI Search Brad Bartlett 8/28/26 AI Search Brad Bartlett 8/28/26

Google's Preferred Sources Button Is Still Sitting There Unclaimed

Google's Preferred Sources button is free AI Overviews visibility — but only if your site already qualifies. Here's the 60-second check almost nobody mentions.

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The ChatGPT Citation Premium Nobody Else Gets — and Why Most Brands Shouldn't Chase It
AI Search Brad Bartlett 8/27/26 AI Search Brad Bartlett 8/27/26

The ChatGPT Citation Premium Nobody Else Gets — and Why Most Brands Shouldn't Chase It

Three clients sent me the same headline this week: publishers with an OpenAI licensing deal are getting cited on ChatGPT 48% more than everyone else.Here's what that study proves, why most of us can't chase the lever anyway.

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Is ChatGPT's Reddit Citation Drop a Warning About “Rented AI Visibility”?
AI Search Brad Bartlett 8/20/26 AI Search Brad Bartlett 8/20/26

Is ChatGPT's Reddit Citation Drop a Warning About “Rented AI Visibility”?

Reddit's visible share of ChatGPT Search citations just fell 86% — with no confirmed cause. Here's why the real lesson isn't about Reddit at all.

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Google's New AI Visibility Report Has a Data Problem. Don't Mistake It for a Ranking Drop.
AI Search Brad Bartlett 8/19/26 AI Search Brad Bartlett 8/19/26

Google's New AI Visibility Report Has a Data Problem. Don't Mistake It for a Ranking Drop.

Google confirmed a logging bug in Search Console's new AI report, starting Aug 13, 2026. Here's what it means — and doesn't — for your AI visibility.

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AI Search Referral Traffic Is Growing. That Doesn't Mean It's Your Best Channel Yet.
AI Search Brad Bartlett 8/14/26 AI Search Brad Bartlett 8/14/26

AI Search Referral Traffic Is Growing. That Doesn't Mean It's Your Best Channel Yet.

AI referral traffic is up 197% year-over-year, according to Shopify's fresh Q2 data. Organic search grew too — 12% — and still sends more total traffic than every AI platform combined. Here's what’s worth trusting, and the check for whether it should change what you're doing.

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Google Just Showed Where Freshness Matters in AI Search
AI Search Brad Bartlett 8/10/26 AI Search Brad Bartlett 8/10/26

Google Just Showed Where Freshness Matters in AI Search

Google just shipped a feature that proves timeliness is a citation signal in AI Overviews — embedding live Top Stories directly inside AI-generated answers instead of a static synthesized paragraph. Here's what that means for a B2B content calendar.

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Google's AI Said There's “Gold in Surveillance Cameras”. Here's Why That’s a Problem.
AI Search Brad Bartlett 8/8/26 AI Search Brad Bartlett 8/8/26

Google's AI Said There's “Gold in Surveillance Cameras”. Here's Why That’s a Problem.

Google's AI Overview spent part of this week telling people that surveillance cameras contain gold and copper worth hundreds of dollars. They don't. Here's what the sourcing failure behind it means for any team that drafts content with AI and hasn't named who's accountable for checking it.

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The GEO Audit Checklist That Isn't Guessing
AI Search, AI Citability, GEO Brad Bartlett 8/5/26 AI Search, AI Citability, GEO Brad Bartlett 8/5/26

The GEO Audit Checklist That Isn't Guessing

Every GEO audit checklist says the same five things — schema, FAQs, question headers. A 2026 Ahrefs study found the top tactic on that list does almost nothing for AI citations. Here's the 5-point version with a study behind every claim.

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Why the Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)  Checklist Everyone's Copying Won't Get You Cited
AI Search, AI Citability Brad Bartlett 7/30/26 AI Search, AI Citability Brad Bartlett 7/30/26

Why the Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) Checklist Everyone's Copying Won't Get You Cited

Search "answer engine optimization" and the first ten results say the same five things. Google's own guidance now calls copied, easily-produced content exactly what it won't cite. Here's what to do now.
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OpenAI Presence Was Just Released — What It Is, and What "Agent-Ready" Content Means
AI Search Brad Bartlett 7/23/26 AI Search Brad Bartlett 7/23/26

OpenAI Presence Was Just Released — What It Is, and What "Agent-Ready" Content Means

OpenAI launched Presence on July 22 — and the takes are already wrong. It won't cite your content. But the shift underneath it matters: your writing now feeds two non-human audiences — the public engines that cite you, and your own agents that speak for you.

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Nearly Half of B2B SaaS Is Invisible to AI. Are You?
AI Citability, AI Search Brad Bartlett 7/22/26 AI Citability, AI Search Brad Bartlett 7/22/26

Nearly Half of B2B SaaS Is Invisible to AI. Are You?

A 2026 benchmark tested 50 B2B SaaS brands and found nearly half are invisible to AI-assisted buyers — while earning near-perfect sentiment. Being liked and being retrieved are two different problems. Here's why the gap exists, and how one client landed on the cited side of it.
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AI Disclosure Is Becoming Law – So Human Authorship Just Became That Much More Important
AI-Smart Content Strategy, AI Search Brad Bartlett 7/9/26 AI-Smart Content Strategy, AI Search Brad Bartlett 7/9/26

AI Disclosure Is Becoming Law – So Human Authorship Just Became That Much More Important

On August 2 the EU starts labeling AI-generated content, and the US bill is right behind it. Most brands read it as a compliance headache. Read it as the moment the market starts paying a premium for content it can trust came from a person.

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Should You Opt Out of Google AI Search Overviews?
AI Search Brad Bartlett 7/8/26 AI Search Brad Bartlett 7/8/26

Should You Opt Out of Google AI Search Overviews?

Google gave site owners a switch to disappear from AI Overviews. Don't flip it. Here's why opting out costs you the citation — and the three GEO tweaks that get AI to cite you instead.

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Why Your B2B Content Sounds Like ChatGPT Output (And the Fix That Works)
AI Search, Content Marketing Brad Bartlett 6/17/26 AI Search, Content Marketing Brad Bartlett 6/17/26

Why Your B2B Content Sounds Like ChatGPT Output (And the Fix That Works)

AI search skips content built for volume. Smart content — answer-first structure, named positions, and proprietary evidence — is what gets cited.
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What to Know About the Google May 2026 Core Update (So Far)
AI Search, News Brad Bartlett 5/27/26 AI Search, News Brad Bartlett 5/27/26

What to Know About the Google May 2026 Core Update (So Far)

Google’s second broad core update of 2026 started rolling out May 21. Here’s what changed, who got hit hardest, and the four-step diagnostic small businesses should run in Search Console right now.

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Google Just Turned the Search Box Into an AI Agent. Here’s What It Means for Your Content.
GEO, AI Search, News Brad Bartlett 5/20/26 GEO, AI Search, News Brad Bartlett 5/20/26

Google Just Turned the Search Box Into an AI Agent. Here’s What It Means for Your Content.

Google rebuilt the search box as an AI agent. Here's what agentic search does to your traffic — and the 90-day plan to stay cited.

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Google Just Confirmed GEO — But Strategy Still Wins
News, AI Search, GEO Brad Bartlett 5/18/26 News, AI Search, GEO Brad Bartlett 5/18/26

Google Just Confirmed GEO — But Strategy Still Wins

On May 15, Google quietly retired a cottage industry. Here's what the new AI search guide actually changed, why your competitors keep getting cited, and what the real work looks like now.

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ChatGPT Has Ads. Your Content Needs to Earn the Right to Appear Next to Them.
AI Search Brad Bartlett 5/5/26 AI Search Brad Bartlett 5/5/26

ChatGPT Has Ads. Your Content Needs to Earn the Right to Appear Next to Them.

ChatGPT ads are live. The AI's organic answer next to your ad is what the prospect trusts — and you don't write it. Build the organic citation authority first, then run the ads.

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