SEO

In this week’s episode of Whiteboard Friday, Tom introduces us to Google’s AI Mode, a new tab in Search that offers a conversational, ChatGPT-like experience with longer-form AI-generated responses and the ability to ask follow-up questions. Learn how the “query fan-out" technology works, its current limitations, and what it could mean for the future of search and content visibility.

Fabrice Canel, long time Microsoft employee and the Bing Search Product Manager, said the way you optimize for AI Search is by following SEO guidelines. He echoed Google’s statement that doing normal SEO works for AI Search.

Google has been outspoken about not being a fan of the LLMS.txt file. Now, Gary Illyes from Google said it is a lot like the keywords meta tag in the early days and we all know how that went.

Google has replaced the promotions section in the merchant local knowledge panel with a deals section. There are still clipable coupons but it is renamed “Deals" instead of it saying "Promotions." There is also a new green percentage icon next to each deal.

Google’s search ranking volatility continues and continues, it is weird at this point. Google Search Live with video is finally rolling out. Google AI Mode added file uploads…

Guess what – another story on Google Search volatility and how it is heated and the chatter within the SEO industry is pretty high right now. We reported about it a lot during the Google June 2025 core update and after that core update and nope – it is not calming down yet.

😂😂😂 https://t.co/uFarhS3M70 — Mike Martin (@MikeMartinGB) Aug 1, 2025 from Twitter https://twitter.com/MikeMartinGB August 01, 2025 at 01:19PM

RT @MikeMartinGB: Your comfort zone is the priciest rent you’ll ever pay. 💸 It drains your growth, potential, and the incredible future yo… — Mike Martin (@MikeMartinGB) Aug 1, 2025 from Twitter https://twitter.com/MikeMartinGB August 01, 2025 at 01:05PM