The ongoing battle over default search deals caught my attention recently as critics argue these arrangements exclude competitors and restrict choice for users, advertisers, and rival companies.
The U.S. Justice Department, along with several states, is challenging a federal judge’s ruling regarding Google’s search antitrust case. They plan to appeal the decision made by the judge, which determined Google was illegally monopolizing search but didn’t impose significant changes like breaking up Chrome or stopping default search agreements completely.
What’s happening. Just yesterday, the DOJ and state attorneys general filed their appeals, focusing on U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta’s remedy ruling from September. Reports from Bloomberg and Reuters highlighted these developments.
Judge Mehta, back in August 2024, had found that Google unlawfully maintained its search monopoly through default search deals with companies like Apple and Samsung—deals costing Google over $20 billion every year.
Following a further remedies trial in 2025, Judge Mehta did not enforce the government’s suggestion to split up Chrome or halt payments for default search status. Instead, he required Google to rebid its default search and AI app agreements yearly.
Why we care. This appeal leaves me wondering just how much of a grip Google will retain on search placement. This control plays a crucial role in determining who gets traffic. Should stricter changes be implemented, it could alter default search settings, foster competition among search engines, and shift how we all engage with search across our devices.
Yes, but. So far, the DOJ and states haven’t revealed their exact legal strategies. The court submissions are vague about which aspects of the ruling are under fire, although Chrome and Google’s default deal with Apple are expected to be central points of contention.
What to watch. Later this year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will examine the case, and I’m keen to see how it unfolds. For now, Google continues operating as usual, but its key contracts will face annual scrutiny, and the potential for harsher consequences looms.
What they’re saying. David Segal, VP of public policy at Yelp, expressed approval of the appeal. In a statement to Search Engine Land, Yelp criticized the trial court’s remedies as insufficient for reinvigorating competition in search:
“Unfortunately, the measures put forth in the trial court’s remedy decision are unlikely to restore competition — for instance, it allows for Google to continue to pay third parties for default placement in browsers and devices, which was the primary mechanism by which Google unlawfully foreclosed competition to begin with.
Internet users, online advertisers and others who rely on and seek to compete in the industry deserve a level playing field with more, higher quality, and fairer search options — and the need for a more competitive space is all the more clear as Google seeks to leverage its vast power over the web, especially search indexing and ranking, to come to dominate the GenAI space.”
I might be witnessing a significant shift as Google seems to be tightening its grip on self-promotional ‘best of’ listicles. This trend was highlighted by Lily Ray, who leads SEO strategy and research at Amsive.
Recently, many SaaS brands experienced a sharp decline in visibility, ranging from 30% to 50%. These companies often featured content that ranked their own products as ‘Number 1’ in their fields, frequently updating with the latest year to capitalize on recency signals.
Understanding the Trend. Following the December 2025 core update, there was noticeable volatility in Google search results throughout January, as reported by Barry Schwartz. Although Google hasn’t confirmed any updates for this year, the timing matches the visibility drops experienced by major SaaS and B2B brands. Lily Ray observes:
• In several situations, organic visibility dropped by as much as 50% within weeks. The losses were primarily in subfolders containing blogs, guides, and tutorials.
• These sections often housed numerous self-promotional listicles for ‘best’ queries, with the publishers typically ranking themselves first. Most articles were minimally refreshed with the addition of ‘2026’ to their titles, without substantial updates.
• “It seems likely that these declines in Google organic rankings might also affect visibility across other search engines and AI platforms that utilize Google’s results, like Gemini and ChatGPT,” Ray explained.
Why This Matters. There has been a longstanding practice of using self-promotional listicles to sway search rankings and AI-generated responses. If Google is reconsidering this kind of content, any strategies focusing on ‘best’ queries might face substantial challenges.
The Controversy. Ranking oneself as ‘the best’ without independent verification or third-party endorsement is often seen as a dubious SEO move. While not outright banned, it conflicts with Google’s guidelines on reviews and trustworthiness.
• Google maintains that quality reviews should display firsthand experience, originality, and clear evaluation. Self-serving listicles frequently fall short, particularly when bias isn’t disclosed.
However. Self-promotional listicles may only be one of several factors affecting organic visibility. Affected sites often showed signs of fast content expansion, automation, aggressive year-based updates, and other risky tactics.
• Nevertheless, the prevalence of self-promoting ‘best’ content among the most impacted sites suggests that this signal might now be more influential, especially when used extensively.
What’s Next. The outcome for self-promotional listicles in terms of gaining recognition and organic visibility is still uncertain, as Google seldom implements changes uniformly or immediately.
• If this volatility is linked to updates in Google’s review system, the trend is evident: Content aimed mainly at influencing rankings, rather than offering credible evaluations, poses growing risks.
• The enduring lesson for brands seeking online visibility is clear: SEO shortcuts may yield effective results, but only until they don’t.
I recently discovered some updates that Google made to its help documents, clarifying the file limits for Googlebot’s crawling abilities. They shared insights about how much data Googlebot can process for different file types.
In these updates, Google specified the limits for crawling by file type, some of which continue from previous guidelines and aren’t entirely new. These updates cover:
15MB for web pages: According to Google, by default, their crawlers only process the first 15MB of a file. This means any content beyond that limit gets ignored.
64MB for PDF files: When it comes to PDFs, Googlebot has a larger limit, crawling up to the first 64MB. This applies when Googlebot indexes PDFs in Google Search.
2MB for supported file types: Googlebot processes the first 2MB of other supported file types, along with the 64MB limit for PDFs.
Rest assured, these limits are pretty generous, meaning most websites won’t be affected or even reach these thresholds.
Google’s documentation explains, “By default, Google’s crawlers only process the first 15MB of a file. Individual projects may have different limits, and they might differentiate between file types, providing larger limits for PDFs compared to HTML.”
Furthermore, the data beyond the specified limit doesn’t get indexed as Googlebot halts the fetch after the limit is reached. This applies to all resources referenced in the HTML, like CSS and JavaScript, except PDFs.
Why should we care? Knowing these limits can enhance your website’s SEO strategy, even though most won’t come close to these limits. Still, it’s vital to be aware of the boundaries set for Googlebot’s crawling.
The rapid emergence of the agentic web has left many of us pondering: Are we genuinely ready for this new frontier?
To get to the bottom of this, let’s start by addressing some foundational questions:
What’s the agentic web? How can it be utilized? What benefits and drawbacks does it present?
This piece is not aimed at pressuring AI skeptics to dismiss their valid queries regarding the agentic web.
Additionally, it doesn’t pass judgment on how you, as an individual or professional, engage with this digital landscape.
With diverse opinions swirling around the agentic web, I hope to offer some clarity, devoid of any marketing varnish.
Disclosure: While I am employed by Microsoft and have faith in their direction with the agentic web, my aim is to maintain a platform-neutral perspective.
Now let’s delve deeper into what exactly the agentic web entails.
The agentic web consists of advanced tools or agents, tailored to our preferences, that perform time-consuming tasks with our permission.
For instance, using one-click checkout allows me to transmit my payment details to a merchant seamlessly.
Neither the merchant nor I need to manage the minutiae; instead, I just consent to the transaction.
Curious about how AI defines the agentic web, I posed this question to four AI models, discovering intriguing variations in their answers.
Copilot describes it as a layer of the internet where AI agents turn human intentions into outcomes, keeping user choice intact. Gemini, Perplexity, and Claude offer similar but varyingly nuanced definitions.
Understanding these varying views helps underscore the fact that AI models are trained on differing data, resulting in diverse responses.
The clear sentiment divide arises from whether we view the agentic web as a user-friendly layer or an overwhelming digital entity.
Gemini mentions APIs, crucial for communicating within this space, emphasizing how saved preferences will increasingly play a role.
To truly grasp the agentic web, we must explore two protocols, ACP and UCP, that underpin its operations.
The Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) focuses on actions initiated by express user intent, streamlining transactions via standardized AI interactions.
Meanwhile, the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) encompasses the whole shopping experience, facilitating interactions across platforms and payment systems.
ACP and UCP are not competitors; rather, they enhance different stages of the user journey, supporting precise or exploratory shopping needs.
So, what is the agentic web? Truthfully, it’s still evolving alongside user behavior, placing us in a position to shape its destiny.
Next, let’s explore how we can harness the agentic web, along with its potential benefits and pitfalls.
I’ve noticed a shift as informational searches decline. Digital PR is now fueling authority, relevance, and high-intent outcomes in SEO. Here’s what I’ve discovered about its impact.
Digital PR is becoming more crucial than ever—not just a trend or a rebranded link-building tactic. The dynamics of search and discovery are evolving, and here’s why that’s important to me.
Brand mentions, earned media, and the broader PR ecosystem are redefining how search engines and large language models perceive brands. This shift influences how I approach visibility, authority, and revenue in SEO.
Informational search traffic is dwindling. Fewer people are clicking on expansive blog posts for top-of-funnel keywords.
Now, the commercial value is centered around high-intent queries, like product and category pages. Digital PR perfectly aligns with these changes.
Here are seven practical, experience-driven secrets showcasing how effective digital PR is transforming SEO in my view.
Secret 1: Digital PR can be a direct sales activation channel
While digital PR is often seen as a link-building or branding strategy—or recently, a way to influence AI and generative search outputs—its direct impact on revenue is sometimes overlooked.
Being featured in the right media puts your brand before buyers, not during passive awareness but in a critical moment of consideration.
Platforms like Google excel at understanding user intent. Digital PR leverages this by positioning you where your audience is already searching.
Executed well, two outcomes arise:
Your brand gains recognition even if your site already ranks well. Familiarity grows as your name associates with credible insights.
Exposure boosts brand searches and direct clicks. Some readers click through immediately, while others search your brand later, entering your funnel with trust that generic searches lack.
This effect, rooted in recency and familiarity, is hard to single out in analytics but significantly impacts commerce.
I’ve observed this mostly within direct-to-consumer, finance, and health markets, where purchasing is highly active and intent-driven.
In the right environment, digital PR is not just aiding sales—it’s part of the sales engine.
Secret 2: The mere exposure effect is one of digital PR’s biggest advantages
Repeated exposure in relevant media helps build familiarity, turning it into trust and then preference. This is the mere exposure effect—vital for brand growth.
This often happens through syndicated coverage, where a powerful story in regional or sector-specific media results in widespread mentions.
Historically, some SEOs undervalue such coverage due to non-unique links, missing the point.
Repetition builds a network of associations, positioning your brand alongside relevant subjects, influencing public and machine perception alike.
An ongoing digital PR strategy, rather than sporadic major hits, accelerates familiarity growth in both human and algorithmic terms.
Secret 3: Big campaigns come with big risk, so diversification matters
Large digital PR campaigns are tempting, generating excitement and industry approval. However, they also consolidate risk.
Giant campaigns might succeed tremendously or flounder silently, often failing to yield the desired links or mentions.
The reason is simple: what marketers enjoy may not meet journalists’ needs.
Journalists need prompt, engaging stories. If a campaign doesn’t translate well, it will flounder. Overinvestment in one idea leaves no backup.
A diversified digital PR approach spreads resources across smaller efforts and reactive opportunities, ensuring consistent coverage.
In the realm of digital PR, consistent reliability often trumps one-off brilliance.
It’s easy to forget the gatekeeper in digital PR: the journalist.
From a brand’s angle, goals include links and authority. For journalists, it’s about stories that capture reader interest.
They determine if your pitch succeeds, so they are, quite literally, the customer.
Effective digital PR should first simplify journalists’ tasks by offering clear angles, credible data, timely insights, and quick responses.
Helping journalists enriches your exposure, affecting search engines and AI systems favorably.
Treat journalists as partners instead of mere distribution channels.
Secret 5: Product and category page links are where SEO value is created
Not every link is created equal in SEO. Links to product, category, and core service pages are usually more valuable than those to blogs. Yet, securing these links via traditional outreach can be challenging.
Digital PR shines here. It places links naturally within product or service contexts, steering authority to revenue-driving pages.
As informational content’s traffic-generating role diminishes, ranking high-intent pages grows in economic significance.
Sometimes, a few high-quality, relevant links are more valuable than numerous superficial ones directed at top-of-funnel content.
Digital PR planning should prioritize these target pages from the start.
Secret 6: Entity lifting is now a core outcome of digital PR
Search engines have long emphasized context, underscoring the importance of surrounding text and brand descriptions for defining brand identity.
This has escalated with large language models, which interpret data chunks, drawing meaning from context rather than isolating links.
Repeatedly mentioning your brand with specific topics enhances your standing in those arenas, a process known as entity lifting.
This approach extends beyond individual pages, enhancing term and category rankings by bolstering overall authority.
AI systems also increasingly reference consistently relevant brands.
Digital PR offers a scalable method to spread this contextual insight.
Secret 7: Authority comes from relevant sources and relevant sections
Ex-Google engineer Jun Wu explains in “The Beauty of Mathematics in Computer Science” that authority stems from recognition within specific knowledge clusters.
In simpler terms, where you’re mentioned and the context matters as much as the site’s size.
A relevant mention within a prestigious publication’s specific section often surpasses a home-page mention in terms of value.
Effective digital PR should focus on publications and sections aligned closely with your industry and target topics.
That’s how authority is constructed for both search engines and AI systems.
Digital PR is emerging not just as a support tool for SEO but central to how brands are discovered, understood, and trusted.
As informational traffic wanes and high-intent competition surges, successful brands will blend relevance, repetition, and authority across earned media.
Through over 20 years of experience in varying SEO roles, I’ve witnessed a recurring theme: the root of SEO performance issues often stems from organizational factors, not technical glitches.
Many times, problems manifest through decision rights, lack of ownership, and insufficient processes. These often precede noticeable traffic dips, obfuscating the real issues beneath the surface.
The technical fixes may expose symptoms but rarely uncover why progress has stalled.
No governance
The real limitations become apparent much earlier, rooted in reporting structures and decision-making authority. When SEO stumbles, governance—or lack thereof—is often to blame.
I discovered that when ownership of CMS templates was unclear or when cross-departmental priorities conflicted, SEO suffered. It wasn’t until I understood governance that the underlying issues became clear.
Only two companies in my career had the right conditions, with clear ownership and structured release pathways. Leaders recognized the importance of deliberately managing visibility, rather than reacting post-traffic drops.
Elsewhere, metadata and schema often didn’t limit performance. Organizational behavior did.
Beware of drift
Quarterly sales pressures often lead to sites making numerous small, seemingly innocuous changes that accumulate over time. These can range from navigation alterations by a new UX hire to content wording tweaks.
Individually, these shifts may not seem detrimental; however, collectively, they contribute to a decline in performance. This is something industry commentary often glosses over—while tangible technical fixes are more teachable, they aren’t where SEO outcomes are typically determined.
SEO loses power when it lives in the wrong place
I’ve observed how such drift can negatively impact rankings, with SEO unjustly taking the fall. Often, the actual cause was a lack of governance, which became apparent when outside agencies confirmed conclusions I had already reached.
The placement of SEO within an organization’s structure profoundly influences whether potential issues are identified early or only discovered post-launch. It affects whether changes are implemented promptly or languish for months.
SEO embedded under marketing, product, or IT each faces a unique set of challenges, restricting its effectiveness when placed too low on the organizational hierarchy.
Changes by engineering, product, or marketing often ship without SEO input, leading to misalignments that can reduce the efficacy of SEO strategies.
Positioning the SEO function
When SEO lacks proper placement within the organizational framework, it devolves into a reactive, cleanup role. The best results come when SEO is sufficiently integrated to influence early decision-making processes.
Organizations where SEO achieved significant success had the SEO function near leadership, ensuring visibility into upcoming changes and the ability to coordinate across departments.
The most favorable outcomes arose in environments where SEO acted as an integrated part of the infrastructure, reinforcing its importance as a contributor to long-term visibility and consistency.
I’m excited to share that Microsoft has introduced a game-changing update to Bing with the global rollout of multi-turn search. As I scroll through Bing’s search results, I now see a Copilot search box conveniently positioned at the bottom, waiting to assist with follow-up queries.
What is multi-turn search? In essence, this feature enables me to continue my search seamlessly. Imagine typing a follow-up question in the Copilot search box right at the bottom of the results page without any need to scroll back up. It feels so intuitive and user-friendly!
Here’s a vivid screenshot that perfectly captures this experience:
And here’s a video that brings it to life, showcasing the seamless functionality:
Here’s what Microsoft had to say. Jordi Ribas, the CVP and Head of Search at Microsoft, took to X to share this exciting update, revealing that “After shipping in the US last year, multi-turn search in Bing is now available worldwide.”
Ribas went on to explain that “Bing users don’t need to scroll up to do the next query, and the next turn will keep context when appropriate,” indicating a significant enhancement in user experience.
He further noted, “We’ve seen gains in engagement and sessions per user in our online metrics, highlighting the positive user value of this approach.”
Why it’s important for us. With many search engines, including giants like Google, trying to push for more AI integration, Bing’s new feature is a step in that direction. Google’s AI Overviews, although not entirely without controversy, are pushing users deeper into AI interfaces. Meanwhile, Bing’s Copilot box, after rigorous testing over several months, is now fully available, underscoring Microsoft’s commitment to user-centered innovation.
Managing my website’s URLs efficiently is crucial to prevent crawlers from slowing it down. If you’re like me, you want your site to load fast, ensuring both visitors and search engines have a seamless experience.
Just the other day, I listened to Google’s latest insights on their year-end report for 2025. It was fascinating to hear Gary Illyes discuss on the Search Off the Record podcast about the major crawling challenges Google faces, like faceted navigation and action parameters, which make up a whopping 75% of the issues.
What’s the issue? Well, I’ve learned that crawling problems can seriously impact site performance, potentially making it unusable or inaccessible. Crawlers can sometimes get stuck in an infinite loop on a site, wreaking havoc on server performance.
According to Gary, once a set of URLs is discovered, the crawler has to check a significant portion to determine its quality. By the time this is done, the damage is done—your site slows down dramatically.
The Biggest Crawling Challenges Here’s what caught my attention as the major issues from the report:
50% relate to faceted navigation. These are very common in e-commerce sites where endless filtering options exist for products based on size, color, price, etc.
25% pertain to action parameters. These come from URL parameters that trigger actions instead of significantly changing page content.
10% involve irrelevant parameters like session IDs or UTMs.
5% are due to plugins or widgets that cause confusion by creating problematic URLs.
2% encapsulate other “weird stuff”, which includes strange issues like double-encoded URLs.
Why this matters to me is simple. A well-structured URL strategy keeps my server healthy, ensures quick page loads, and prevents search engines from misunderstanding which URLs should be indexed as canonical.
The Podcast: Here’s where you can listen to the discussion yourself:
I’ve noticed something intriguing in the responses from ChatGPT lately. If you peek into the page source, there are references to ads, even though no actual ads appear on the screen. It reads: “InReply to user query using the following additional context of ads shown to the user.” This discovery got me thinking about what’s brewing behind the scenes.
Digital marketer Glenn Gabe was the first to draw attention to this on X, highlighting the presence of ad-related phrases within ChatGPT’s source code. Other users have confirmed similar findings when engaging with commercial queries like auto insurance. This hints that there’s more at play than meets the eye.
This development could mark a significant shift, transitioning ChatGPT ads from a concept to reality, opening up a brand new high-intent advertising channel. With code logic for ads in place, it appears that OpenAI is already experimenting with targeting and eligibility to benefit early advertisers.
Given the limited ad space, and assuming ads will be seamlessly integrated into conversational responses instead of traditional banners, we might be on the brink of accessing premium advertising real estate that competes directly with organic content.
While the ads are currently invisible, their underlying logic is evidently active. This suggests OpenAI might already be testing parameters like ad eligibility, suppression rules for paid tiers, or internal mechanisms, all in preparation for a larger rollout.
OpenAI acknowledged earlier this year that ads would be introduced to ChatGPT for select users. These ads are expected to be sold on an impression basis, hinting at potentially high costs for advertisers. The groundwork is clearly set, even if ads haven’t gone live yet.
For those keen on following this development, I recommend checking out Glenn Gabe’s tweet that showcases evidence suggesting the imminent arrival of ChatGPT ads.
I’ve noticed that in today’s digital landscape, our search performance is heavily influenced by how people engage with and trust our content, even beyond the initial click. This concept of Human Experience Optimization (HXO) connects SEO with UX, conversion rate optimization (CRO), and brand signals.
I used to think of SEO as simply figuring out what algorithms liked best—focusing on keywords, links, and technical details. But now, things have changed.
Now, my visibility is more about earning trust and being useful. It’s not just about having the right signals or being easy to crawl; it’s about experience.
Search engines today pay attention to how people interact with brands over time, marking the rise of HXO. This involves enhancing how individuals experience, trust, and engage with my brand across search, content, product, and conversion channels.
Instead of replacing SEO, HXO broadens its perspective to match how search engines now evaluate performance. Experience, engagement, and credibility are becoming essential parts of visibility itself.
Let’s dive into why HXO is crucial now and its influence on the merger of SEO, UX, and conversion strategies.
Why HXO Matters Now
Contemporary search engines now reward outcomes over mere tactics. They align with Google’s focus on user satisfaction rather than isolated page signals.
In practice, we see signals relating to questions like: Do users engage or bounce? Do they come back? Do they recognize the brand later? Do they trust the information enough to act on it?
Today, visibility is influenced by overlapping forces like user behavior signals, brand signals, and content authenticity.
HXO arises in response to the saturation of AI-generated content and diminishing returns from traditional SEO tactics unsupported by a strong experience and brand coherence.
In a nutshell, ignoring human experience is no longer an option if we want to remain competitive.
The Convergence: SEO, UX, and CRO Are No Longer Separate
SEO, UX, and CRO used to operate as distinct disciplines. But that separation doesn’t work anymore.
In modern search experiences, traffic alone means little without engagement. Engagement without a path to action limits impact. Conversion struggles without trust.
HXO acts as a unifying layer: SEO determines arrival, UX ensures understanding, and CRO transforms understanding into action.
In this realm, optimization focuses on supporting attention and trust over time, not just securing a single click.
E-E-A-T is a Business System, Not Content Guidelines
A common misconception is that E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) can be “added” to content with elements like author bios and citations. These help, but E-E-A-T requires more—it’s about long-term brand credibility.
E-E-A-T involves real expertise, transparency, consistency, and accountability, evaluated holistically by search engines.
The consistent systems and patterns reinforce E-E-A-T beyond little tweaks on a page.
First-Hand Experience Signals Are the New Differentiator
Today’s search landscape is filled with well-structured content. First-hand experience, such as original research and insights from lived experiences, sets content apart from mere aggregation.
Creators and operators excel by providing insights that reflect direct involvement and real-world expertise.
This emphasizes the importance of the human element in content creation.
Helpful Content Is a Brand Problem, Not an SEO Problem
Content that fails to be helpful often reflects a lack of clarity in a brand’s positioning and how it serves its audience.
When I look at content that resonates well, it reflects actual understanding of the audience and consistent intent throughout brand interactions.
SEO aids in discoverability, but genuine helpfulness requires brand consistency and deeper alignment.
Closing these gaps involves understanding how audiences experience and engage with the brand beyond a single interaction.
How to Start Practicing Human Experience Optimization
Practicing HXO starts with understanding people and why they search, not just focusing on keywords. It involves transforming keyword strategies into audience strategies and auditing experience across all user touchpoints.
1. Shift to Audience Strategy
Keywords are informative, but we need deeper insights into motivations and contexts.
2. Audit the Complete Experience
Consider trust, clarity, and consistency across all channels and touchpoints, not just individual pages.
3. Align Teams Around Experience Outcomes
Bridging gaps between marketing, product, content, and design teams can achieve more cohesive user experiences.
4. Measure What Truly Matters
Beyond traditional metrics, focus on engagement quality, brand recall, and trust-driven conversions.
Optimize for Humans to Earn Algorithms
Ultimately, HXO is about consistently delivering valuable experiences. Reliable brands in search are grounded in real experiences and useful content, earning visibility through the lasting impressions left on users.
