<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/duane-forrester-search-engine-land-20-for-20.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Duane Forrester-Search Engine Land 20 for 20" decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/duane-forrester-search-engine-land-20-for-20.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/duane-forrester-search-engine-land-20-for-20-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/duane-forrester-search-engine-land-20-for-20-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/duane-forrester-search-engine-land-20-for-20-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>AI is forcing SEO to evolve fast, but Duane Forrester says success still comes from serving users, building trust, and learning continuously.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/duane-forrester-search-engine-land-20-for-20.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Duane Forrester-Search Engine Land 20 for 20" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/duane-forrester-search-engine-land-20-for-20.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/duane-forrester-search-engine-land-20-for-20-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/duane-forrester-search-engine-land-20-for-20-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/duane-forrester-search-engine-land-20-for-20-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5cU_K6Hjcuk?feature=oembed" rel="noopener noreferrer">Watch this video on YouTube</a>
</div></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://searchengineland.com/author/duane-forrester">Duane Forrester</a> has watched search evolve from the days of meta keyword stuffing and penny clicks through mobile, personalization, “(not provided),” AI, and LLMs.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">After more than 25 years in the industry, including a decade at Microsoft, Forrester believes search is entering another foundational shift. To him, it feels a lot like the industry&#8217;s earliest days.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In our conversation for Search Engine Land&#8217;s 20th anniversary, Forrester reflected on the moments that shaped search, what he learned from working inside Bing, the career advice that changed how he works, and why SEOs need to become lifelong learners to survive what comes next.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Here are some highlights from our Search Engine Land 20 for 20 conversation.</p>



<h2 id="h-seo-is-back-in-the-wild-west" class="wp-block-heading">SEO is back in the Wild West</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Forrester started in SEO before Google existed. At the time, practitioners had little documentation, few tools, and almost no direct access to search engines.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Learning meant running experiments, reading code, and sharing discoveries with other SEOs in online communities and at conferences.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Today feels surprisingly familiar.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">AI has created another period where the rules are being written in real time. The difference? Practitioners now have an overwhelming amount of research, documentation, and technology.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Keeping up with all of it? Forget it.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Anyone trying to stay at the absolute leading edge of AI is setting themselves up for frustration, Forrester said. Unless you work inside companies such as Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, or Anthropic, you probably can&#8217;t see the true leading edge anyway.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Instead, focus on making steady progress. Keep learning and keep the leading edge in sight.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Forrester said he feels more exhausted — and more excited — than at any other point in his career.</p>



<h2 id="h-the-seo-community-was-built-on-sharing" class="wp-block-heading">The SEO community was built on sharing</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In search&#8217;s early years, communities such as WebmasterWorld served as a shared knowledge base.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">People built reputations under usernames by answering questions, sharing discoveries, and helping each other understand a field that barely had a playbook.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Conferences brought that community together in person. Forrester remembers realizing there were other people who spoke the same strange language he did, and who were eager to trade ideas and help one another.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">He said that spirit still exists, although the industry has become more insular in the AI era.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">His advice is simple: participate. Publish what you&#8217;re learning. Go to meetups. Talk to people. Ask questions.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Forrester follows the same approach with <a href="https://duaneforresterdecodes.substack.com/">his Substack</a>. He uses it to document what he&#8217;s learning, which exposes him to more research, people, and ideas.</p>



<h2 id="h-working-inside-a-search-engine-changed-some-seo-assumptions" class="wp-block-heading">Working inside a search engine changed some SEO assumptions</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">One of Forrester&#8217;s biggest surprises after joining Microsoft was seeing how compartmentalized search engines are.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">He recalled asking someone on the Bing Webmaster Tools team for backlink data. The employee responded by asking whether links actually affected rankings.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Forrester was stunned.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The employee wasn&#8217;t joking or trying to mislead him. Links simply weren&#8217;t part of his job. He didn&#8217;t have access to that part of the system.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That experience permanently changed how Forrester interpreted statements from search engine representatives. Working at Google or Microsoft doesn&#8217;t mean someone understands every part of search.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">It also taught him another lesson: SEOs can obsess over tiny details that have little practical impact.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Today, Forrester focuses on the &#8220;big blocks&#8221; instead of the small ones. Or, as he puts it with a cooking analogy, stick with the &#8220;chunky onions.&#8221;</p>



<h2 id="h-search-engines-really-do-care-about-the-user" class="wp-block-heading">Search engines really do care about the user</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Forrester also pushed back on the idea that search engines and SEOs are natural adversaries.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">When Google tells SEOs to focus on users and their journeys, Forrester said that isn&#8217;t simply corporate misdirection.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Search engines are chasing the same customers marketers are.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That doesn&#8217;t mean Google will explain every ranking system or reveal proprietary information. It also doesn&#8217;t mean every Google employee can answer every SEO question.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">But the underlying goal — satisfying the user — is real.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That&#8217;s also why Forrester believes SEOs need to move beyond labels such as &#8220;technical SEO&#8221; and &#8220;content SEO.&#8221; Technical excellence won&#8217;t save content that misses user intent. Likewise, great content can struggle if a site lacks the technical foundation needed to earn trust.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Modern search requires both.</p>



<h2 id="h-not-provided-changed-seo-in-many-ways" class="wp-block-heading">&#8216;(not provided)&#8217; changed SEO in many ways</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Few Google decisions still frustrate Forrester like the loss of keyword referral data.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">He described &#8220;(not provided)&#8221; as a slap in the face to the SEO industry because it removed valuable data and forced businesses to make decisions with less information.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">But it also had an unintended effect.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The data gap created demand for third-party SEO platforms. Forrester pointed to companies such as Semrush, Ahrefs, and Conductor as examples of tools that became increasingly important as marketers sought additional data sources.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In his view, that shift helped SEO grow beyond its &#8220;cottage industry&#8221; roots.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">He still wants the data back.</p>



<h2 id="h-the-career-lesson-that-changed-everything" class="wp-block-heading">The career lesson that changed everything</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">One of Forrester&#8217;s most important career moments came when a Microsoft manager told him he was underperforming.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Forrester thought he was about to lose his job.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Then he had lunch with longtime industry veteran <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanspencer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stephan Spencer</a>.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Spencer helped him realize the problem wasn&#8217;t his ability. He was simply trying to keep too much work in his head.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Forrester built a system that broke projects into subprojects, tasks, deadlines, and individual work items.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Within months, his performance improved dramatically. By his annual review, he hadn&#8217;t lost his job. Instead, he earned a promotion and the largest bonus available.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">He still organizes both his professional and personal projects using versions of that system.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The lesson is simple: when your workload becomes overwhelming, the answer isn&#8217;t always to work harder. Sometimes it&#8217;s to build a better system.</p>



<h2 id="h-search-won-t-disappear-it-will-become-infrastructure" class="wp-block-heading">Search won&#8217;t disappear. It will become infrastructure</h2>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">So what does Forrester think search will look like 20 years from now?</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Agents.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Instead of manually researching a new coffee maker, we may tell a digital assistant what we need. It will research the options, apply what it knows about us, and return a shortlist — or eventually complete the purchase for us.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That doesn&#8217;t mean search disappears.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Forrester expects search to become an infrastructure layer beneath these experiences. It will supply the information agents need to understand and act on our requests.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Content will still matter. Trust may matter even more.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Brands and businesses need to demonstrate their trustworthiness to people and machines.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Despite all the technological change, Forrester believes the core job of search marketing will remain remarkably familiar.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Understand what someone wants at the moment they want it — and be the best answer.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The technology will change dramatically.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The mission probably won&#8217;t.</p>


Watch this video on YouTube








Duane Forrester has watched search evolve from the days of meta keyword stuffing and penny clicks through mobile, personalization, “(not provided),” AI, and LLMs.
After more than 25 years in the industry, including a decade at Microsoft, Forrester believes search is entering another foundational shift. To him, it feels a lot like the industry’s earliest days.
In our conversation for Search Engine Land’s 20th anniversary, Forrester reflected on the moments that shaped search, what he learned from working inside Bing, the career advice that changed how he works, and why SEOs need to become lifelong learners to survive what comes next.
Here are some highlights from our Search Engine Land 20 for 20 conversation.
SEO is back in the Wild West
Forrester started in SEO before Google existed. At the time, practitioners had little documentation, few tools, and almost no direct access to search engines.
Learning meant running experiments, reading code, and sharing discoveries with other SEOs in online communities and at conferences.
Today feels surprisingly familiar.
AI has created another period where the rules are being written in real time. The difference? Practitioners now have an overwhelming amount of research, documentation, and technology.
Keeping up with all of it? Forget it.
Anyone trying to stay at the absolute leading edge of AI is setting themselves up for frustration, Forrester said. Unless you work inside companies such as Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, or Anthropic, you probably can’t see the true leading edge anyway.
Instead, focus on making steady progress. Keep learning and keep the leading edge in sight.
Forrester said he feels more exhausted — and more excited — than at any other point in his career.
The SEO community was built on sharing
In search’s early years, communities such as WebmasterWorld served as a shared knowledge base.
People built reputations under usernames by answering questions, sharing discoveries, and helping each other understand a field that barely had a playbook.
Conferences brought that community together in person. Forrester remembers realizing there were other people who spoke the same strange language he did, and who were eager to trade ideas and help one another.
He said that spirit still exists, although the industry has become more insular in the AI era.
His advice is simple: participate. Publish what you’re learning. Go to meetups. Talk to people. Ask questions.
Forrester follows the same approach with his Substack. He uses it to document what he’s learning, which exposes him to more research, people, and ideas.
Working inside a search engine changed some SEO assumptions
One of Forrester’s biggest surprises after joining Microsoft was seeing how compartmentalized search engines are.
He recalled asking someone on the Bing Webmaster Tools team for backlink data. The employee responded by asking whether links actually affected rankings.
Forrester was stunned.
The employee wasn’t joking or trying to mislead him. Links simply weren’t part of his job. He didn’t have access to that part of the system.
That experience permanently changed how Forrester interpreted statements from search engine representatives. Working at Google or Microsoft doesn’t mean someone understands every part of search.
It also taught him another lesson: SEOs can obsess over tiny details that have little practical impact.
Today, Forrester focuses on the “big blocks” instead of the small ones. Or, as he puts it with a cooking analogy, stick with the “chunky onions.”
Search engines really do care about the user
Forrester also pushed back on the idea that search engines and SEOs are natural adversaries.
When Google tells SEOs to focus on users and their journeys, Forrester said that isn’t simply corporate misdirection.
Search engines are chasing the same customers marketers are.
That doesn’t mean Google will explain every ranking system or reveal proprietary information. It also doesn’t mean every Google employee can answer every SEO question.
But the underlying goal — satisfying the user — is real.
That’s also why Forrester believes SEOs need to move beyond labels such as “technical SEO” and “content SEO.” Technical excellence won’t save content that misses user intent. Likewise, great content can struggle if a site lacks the technical foundation needed to earn trust.
Modern search requires both.
‘(not provided)’ changed SEO in many ways
Few Google decisions still frustrate Forrester like the loss of keyword referral data.
He described “(not provided)” as a slap in the face to the SEO industry because it removed valuable data and forced businesses to make decisions with less information.
But it also had an unintended effect.
The data gap created demand for third-party SEO platforms. Forrester pointed to companies such as Semrush, Ahrefs, and Conductor as examples of tools that became increasingly important as marketers sought additional data sources.
In his view, that shift helped SEO grow beyond its “cottage industry” roots.
He still wants the data back.
The career lesson that changed everything
One of Forrester’s most important career moments came when a Microsoft manager told him he was underperforming.
Forrester thought he was about to lose his job.
Then he had lunch with longtime industry veteran Stephan Spencer.
Spencer helped him realize the problem wasn’t his ability. He was simply trying to keep too much work in his head.
Forrester built a system that broke projects into subprojects, tasks, deadlines, and individual work items.
Within months, his performance improved dramatically. By his annual review, he hadn’t lost his job. Instead, he earned a promotion and the largest bonus available.
He still organizes both his professional and personal projects using versions of that system.
The lesson is simple: when your workload becomes overwhelming, the answer isn’t always to work harder. Sometimes it’s to build a better system.
Search won’t disappear. It will become infrastructure
So what does Forrester think search will look like 20 years from now?
Agents.
Instead of manually researching a new coffee maker, we may tell a digital assistant what we need. It will research the options, apply what it knows about us, and return a shortlist — or eventually complete the purchase for us.
That doesn’t mean search disappears.
Forrester expects search to become an infrastructure layer beneath these experiences. It will supply the information agents need to understand and act on our requests.
Content will still matter. Trust may matter even more.
Brands and businesses need to demonstrate their trustworthiness to people and machines.
Despite all the technological change, Forrester believes the core job of search marketing will remain remarkably familiar.
Understand what someone wants at the moment they want it — and be the best answer.
The technology will change dramatically.
The mission probably won’t.

AI is forcing SEO to evolve fast, but Duane Forrester says success still comes from serving users, building trust, and learning continuously.

Duane Forrester: AI is rewriting SEO, but the mission is the same

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/e-e-a-t-checker.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="E-E-A-T checker" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/e-e-a-t-checker.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/e-e-a-t-checker-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/e-e-a-t-checker-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/e-e-a-t-checker-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Build an AI-powered E-E-A-T auditor that crawls websites, applies Google's quality guidance and generates polished reports in minutes.

AI agents, AI-connected IDEs (Integrated Development Environments), and coding assistants such as Claude Code, Cursor, and OpenClaw are gaining traction. Production typically relies on two distinct techniques:
Building an AI tool within the platform (for example, Claude Code through Claude Desktop) that you can use across multiple sessions. 
Using these technologies to build a standalone tool that runs outside the AI environment. The code may still be AI-assisted but is deployed independently on platforms such as Netlify or Vercel.
In this article, I’ll focus on path 1 because it’s more accessible to marketers, though I’ll also touch on path 2. Specifically, we’ll build a Google E-E-A-T checker with Claude Code in Claude Desktop. The same techniques apply easily to other AI coding tools and platforms.
Why focus on E-E-A-T specifically?
E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) is Google’s framework for evaluating the quality, credibility, and trustworthiness of content.
Dig deeper. User-first E-E-A-T: What actually drives SEO and GEO



Unlike page speed and Core Web Vitals, Google’s E-E-A-T guidance isn’t exposed through simple API endpoints. Instead, Google provides a framework and broad methodology for people to apply.
AI excels at processing large amounts of unstructured information and applying that kind of framework. That’s why an E-E-A-T checker stood out as a useful example. If implemented well, it’s an area where AI can provide meaningful insight and value.
Project build stack
This tool is built and run primarily in Claude Desktop using Claude Code. You can download Claude Desktop and sign in with a free Claude account. However, using Claude Code requires a Claude Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise subscription, unless you purchase separate Claude Code API credits.
If you’re using another AI-powered IDE or desktop AI platform, that’s fine. The overall workflow is similar and should translate easily to other tools.
You’ll need a GitHub account to back up your project.
The project generates a Microsoft Word audit document, so Microsoft Office is recommended. If you don’t have it, you can adapt the approach to generate an HTML/CSS/JavaScript application or use alternatives such as LibreOffice or OpenOffice.
Getting started
Ensure you have either a Claude plan that supports Claude Code (Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise) or an Anthropic API account with billing enabled.
Download and install Claude Desktop
Sign in to Claude Desktop and connect it to your Claude or Anthropic account.
If you’re using a different desktop AI agent or an AI-powered IDE, launch it and be ready to follow along.
Once everything was set up, it was time to start building.
I created a new Claude Code session in Claude Desktop called “E-E-A-T Checker Demo” and gave Claude the following instructions:

			
				




Normally, if you give Claude a list of URLs to examine, it uses its built-in Web Fetch. That approach can be blocked by some websites, so I instructed Claude to launch a headless Python browser instead.
I already had Python installed, so Claude easily connected to my existing installation and created a headless browser for the task. If required, Claude Code can also install missing Python libraries and modules because it can use Command Prompt and PowerShell.
This is how Claude responded to my request:

			
				




For the headless browser, Claude chose the Chromium engine, which is a standard choice. Google Chrome is built on Chromium, making it a robust and widely used browser. 
Many developers use the Chromium engine with Python automation libraries such as Selenium for automated testing. Here, we’re repurposing the same technology to acquire website content and resources for analysis.
Once Claude had processed the source materials and built an initial scaffold, it returned the following message:

			
				




At this stage, Claude reported that:
It had processed the source materials into its chosen data structures, creating the first version of its E-E-A-T knowledge base.
All content and knowledge extraction was completed successfully.
The scoring rubric had been synthesized.
It had a strategy for keeping verbatim copyrighted material out of the GitHub repository.
The local project repository was created successfully.
You don’t have to scrape these materials from the web. You could review the source content yourself, then provide Claude with your own tailored guidance and reference materials instead.
Deepening and testing the build
With the framework in place, it’s time for a quick test. However, connecting Claude to a single page won’t provide a meaningful E-E-A-T assessment of an entire website. 
Instead, you should choose representative page types. While you could analyze a complete site crawl, that’s usually unnecessary.
For this demonstration, I simply asked Google which page types are most useful for an E-E-A-T assessment:

			
				





			
				




In this case, we’ll check:
The Search Engine Land homepage – https://searchengineland.com/
The Search Engine Land staff / meet the team page – https://searchengineland.com/staff
Danny Goodwin’s page – https://searchengineland.com/author/danny-goodwin
The About Search Engine Land page – https://searchengineland.com/about
The latest posts page – https://searchengineland.com/latest-posts
A recent post by Barry Schwartz – https://searchengineland.com/top-stories-roll-out-in-google-ai-overviews-482615
My own Search Engine Land author page – https://searchengineland.com/author/james-allen
The Search Engine Land guides page – https://searchengineland.com/guide
A recent guide by Veruska Anconitano – https://searchengineland.com/guide/ai-and-llm-optimization
The webinars page – https://searchengineland.com/webinars
The intelligence reports page – https://searchengineland.com/intelligence-reports
The SMX events page – https://searchengineland.com/smx
The Search Engine Land contact page – https://searchengineland.com/contact
The privacy page – https://searchengineland.com/privacypolicy
The terms of use page – https://searchengineland.com/termsofuse
This will do for our demonstration.

			
				




Here, Claude is told which pages to examine and given guidance on the desired output format, which we’ll build next.

			
				




Claude then outlined its next steps. Importantly, it confirmed that it would capture both the raw HTML source and the rendered page content. Because Claude is operating a headless browser, it can execute and render code before analyzing the page.
After some time, Claude completed its initial production run:

			
				




Claude reported that it had generated the audit document:

			
				




This is the audit Claude produced on its first run:

			
				





			
				





			
				




Overall, the first audit is solid. If needed, we can refine it further:

			
				




This was a substantial, detailed prompt for Claude to process. Claude’s Fable 5 model handled it comfortably, and Opus 4.8 was already capable of managing structured prompts of this complexity. In this pass, we asked Claude to improve the document’s formatting and readability before reviewing the output again.
This is what Claude returned on the second pass:

			
				





			
				





			
				




You can download the PDF version to examine here.
Backing up and wrapping up
The document now looks polished and reads well. We could continue refining it by incorporating more data and source material or by taking a more critical approach to the audit and its structure.
For this demonstration, though, we’ve achieved the objective, so it’s time to wrap up and back up the project.

			
				




Claude then returned with an update on its backup process and repository preparation:

			
				








Next, add the token to the .env file so Claude can create the GitHub repository:




I then manually created the GitHub repository so Claude could push and manage the project.




I could have avoided this step by connecting Claude to GitHub through Git using OAuth. In that setup, Claude would have been able to create, manage, and configure repositories’ settings and permissions automatically. Instead, I used a fine-grained personal access token, which is simpler to set up but requires a few extra manual steps.
After that, Claude successfully created the remote repository and pushed the project from my local machine:




You can find the public GitHub repository for this demonstration here.
If you point your own Claude Code instance at the repository, you can clone it and start using the project immediately. Note that it’s designed as an agentic project. If you open it in a traditional IDE such as Visual Studio, it won’t function as intended. You’ll need an AI coding environment such as Claude Code, Cursor, or OpenClaw.
Conclusions
In a single session, we built a tool that reads Google’s E-E-A-T documentation, stores it in local memory, crawls a selected set of pages, and produces a scored audit as a formatted Word document.
No traditional software development skills were required. The most technical steps involved pasting a token into a configuration file and clicking Create Repository.
A few key takeaways:
E-E-A-T was a deliberate choice. It evaluates unstructured guidance rather than an API, making it well suited to an AI agent. The same approach could be applied to brand guidelines, editorial standards, accessibility reviews, and similar frameworks.
Understand the tool’s limitations. E-E-A-T isn’t a direct ranking factor, and no checker can guarantee improved search rankings. Instead, it measures how closely a site aligns with the guidance Google uses to evaluate content quality. That’s still a valuable benchmark.
Treat the first output as a strong draft. Review it, make corrections, and feed those changes back into the project. Because the tool stores its knowledge in local memory, each refinement improves future audits.
Back up the project. Once the memory files, prompts, and scripts are pushed to GitHub, the tool’s entire knowledge base is preserved. If your machine fails, restoring the project is as simple as cloning the repository.
Try it on your own website. Clone the repository, point Claude Code at your site, and review the results. In my test, Search Engine Land performed well overall, but the audit still identified stale legal pages and an undisclosed lead-generation hub.
If you want to pull my repo into your own Claude Code or other agentic IDE, here’s a prompt you can place in a new session / chat:
# Set up the E-E-A-T Checker project
I want to set up the **E-E-A-T Checker** project from this public repo:
**https://github.com/jamesallenseland/eeat-checker-demo**



It's an *agentic* project: its instructions, memory files and skills are all in the repo, written for an AI coding assistant like you.



## What to do



1. **Clone the repo** into a sensible projects folder for my system, then work inside that folder for the rest of this session.



2. **Orient yourself.** Read, in this order:
   - `README.md`
   - `CLAUDE.md`
   - `docs/FILES-MAP.md`
   - `memory/MEMORY.md`



   Follow the reading order the memory index sets out before doing any work.
3. **Check prerequisites** against README.md:
   - Python 3.10+
   - `playwright` (with chromium installed), `pypdf`, `python-docx`, `pymupdf`
   - The **Lato** and **Inter** fonts (free, Google Fonts)



Tell me what's missing and install what you can - but **ask me first** for anything system-level. I'm aware the Word finalise step is Windows-only; if I'm not on Windows with Word, use the documented alternatives.



4. **Don't regenerate the raw corpora.** The source documents and crawl captures are deliberately absent (third-party copyright). The digests and rubric in `memory/` mean the project works without them.



## When you're done



- Confirm the project is operational
- List the **two project skills** it ships with
- Ask me for a **target website** plus a basket of **~15 URLs** so we can run my first E-E-A-T audit



> Do not audit anything until I've confirmed the target.



The prompt above is shown in a code block for readability. To improve its effectiveness, you can enrich it with markdown formatting to provide a clearer structure and richer context for the AI.

Build an AI-powered E-E-A-T auditor that crawls websites, applies Google's quality guidance and generates polished reports in minutes.

How to build an E-E-A-T checker with Claude Code

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/parasitic-review-content.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Parasitic review content" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/parasitic-review-content.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/parasitic-review-content-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/parasitic-review-content-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/parasitic-review-content-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Learn how to separate meaningful engagement from vanity metrics using practical evaluation methods and performance benchmarks.

Review content creators — including YouTubers, websites, and social media personalities — can add significant value, even if some long-term effects become parasitic.
By parasitic, I mean something specific: over time, a review publisher may continue earning commissions from customers who already knew about the brand, were researching it, or were otherwise already in its sales funnel. In those cases, the review may still build trust and help close the sale, but it no longer primarily serves as a means of customer acquisition.
This is where proper measurement and coordination across marketing teams become essential.
Review creators work with:
Affiliate marketing
PR
AEO/GEO
SEO (I separate this from AEO and GEO now, as the skills and techniques are similar but different enough for their own channels)
Brand
Social media marketers
Influencer managers
In many companies, these teams aren’t talking to each other.
The PR team pays a media fee and sends the product. The affiliate manager then adds the creator to the affiliate program, allowing them to earn commissions on top of the media fee they’ve already received.
Next, the AEO/GEO team sees the publisher being cited or sourced and decides to pursue more coverage. Then the social media team notices the creator’s growing momentum and begins collaborating with them and amplifying their content.
The problem is that the company may have created much of that momentum itself.
A publisher can still provide real value. But when teams operate independently, a company can end up paying multiple times for the same relationship, then mistake the resulting visibility for organic third-party validation.
That’s why incrementality matters.
An affiliate platform can tell you a publisher participated in a transaction. It can’t necessarily tell you whether that publisher caused the transaction or whether the customer would have purchased anyway.
Before addressing incrementality, though, many teams also need a stronger understanding of the FTC’s rules and guidance on reviews, endorsements, and disclosing material connections, including sponsorships, affiliate relationships, pay-to-post arrangements, free products, and other forms of compensation.
Before working with creators, familiarize yourself with the FTC’s Endorsement Guides FAQ, the FTC’s Endorsement Guides, and the FTC’s Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule. Then consult a licensed attorney about the best practices for your company.
This applies whether you’re working with Reddit users, TikTok creators, YouTubers, bloggers, media companies, or other reviewers.
The value of review content depends on your team’s goals. Below are some of its primary use cases, along with the benefits, drawbacks, and attribution considerations to help you incorporate review content into your company’s strategy.
Combating negative PR and misinformation
Driving initial sales while creating potential long-term margin leakage
Building trust through credible third-party validation
Strengthening AEO/GEO signals and increasing visibility
Shaping how people understand your brand
Increasing conversion rates on your website and in advertising
Combating negative PR and misinformation
One benefit of investing in review content—through affiliate, brand, PR, or influencer partnerships—is creating accurate, up-to-date third-party content that can compete with negative, outdated, or misleading information about your brand in search results and AI-assisted discovery tools like ChatGPT and Claude.
Many review creators require the freedom to share both the positives and the negatives. Brands can still ask creators to cover factual talking points, product features, compatibility, or specific testing scenarios, as long as creators remain free to share their honest experiences and conclusions.
Examples include:
Correcting myths and inaccurate claims
Explaining compatibility
Demonstrating new features, services, or use cases
Addressing false claims by showing what the product or service actually does
Tip: If you want a new review to compete with older or negative content, promote it. Amplify it through advertising, feature or embed it on your website when appropriate, and support it with SEO and AEO/GEO efforts.
Paid promotion alone won’t cause a review to rank in Google or become an AI citation. The goal is to make genuinely useful content easier to discover and give it more opportunities to earn visibility.
You can measure the impact through higher conversion rates, customer reviews that mention specific use cases (such as “it works for XYZ”), and fewer live chat or customer support questions about particular features, compatibility, or intended uses.
Initial sales increases with potential future margin losses
When a review first goes live, it reaches the creator’s subscribers and regular audience. If it generates comments, shares, likes, or other engagement, it may continue gaining visibility and introducing new customers through search, YouTube recommendations, social platforms, and other discovery channels.
Over time, though, the economics can change.
If the review is viewed primarily by people already searching for your brand, comparing products they already know, or otherwise showing purchase intent, affiliate commissions may increasingly represent margin leakage rather than customer acquisition.
For example, if a review appears in Google, an AI-generated answer, YouTube, or another discovery platform and includes an affiliate link, you may end up paying commissions on customers who were already in your sales funnel.
That doesn’t make the review worthless.
It may still build trust, answer objections, demonstrate the product, and increase the likelihood of conversion. But that’s different from acquiring a customer who had never heard of your brand.
That’s why attribution alone isn’t enough.
A publisher generating $100,000 in attributed affiliate revenue doesn’t necessarily mean your company would lose $100,000 in sales if that publisher disappeared.
Instead, ask questions like:
Was the customer new to the brand?
Had they already visited your website?
Had they searched for your brand before finding the review?
Were they already an email subscriber or existing customer?
Was the review the first meaningful touchpoint or one of the last before conversion?
Would they have purchased without the affiliate review?
If customer reviews or non-affiliate creators appear for the same searches and provide the same confidence, you may retain more margin because you aren’t paying a recurring commission every time someone converts.
This is what I mean when I say review content can become parasitic from an attribution perspective.
Instead of relying exclusively on affiliate reviews, you can also work with creators on flat-fee arrangements and encourage authentic customer reviews, where you aren’t paying a commission every time the content is viewed, clicked, and leads to a sale.
That doesn’t mean affiliate reviews are a bad investment. It means they should be evaluated based on incremental value, not just the revenue attributed to them by an affiliate platform.
Trust from a credible third party
Whether it’s a media brand or a microinfluencer, seeing a product or service demonstrated through images and video can add credibility.
The person can watch as the product arrives or a service provider begins, see the full process of it being used or the work being done, and visualize the end result as the reviewer shows the completed solution.
If it worked for the reviewer, the potential customer can better understand whether it might work for them too.
This is where a lot of the value comes from.
A thoughtful review provides third-party evidence that your products or services can work in a real-world use case and can help a potential customer understand why your business might be a solution for their needs.
The credibility of the reviewer matters here.
A media company or influencer is not automatically trustworthy simply because they have an audience. Their value comes from things like actual testing, expertise, transparency, honest opinions, clear disclosures, a relevant audience, and a history of producing useful information.
AEO/GEO signals for increased exposure
While I don’t expect today’s tactics to work forever, I’m currently seeing niche creators and influential websites appear to influence AI-generated answers and recommendations.
When affiliate sites, media companies, YouTube creators, and social media influencers publish reviews and listicles, I’ve observed some of the brands we track appearing more often across AI-assisted search and answer engines.
That’s an observation and correlation—not proof that paying for the coverage caused the increase.
One possible explanation is retrieval.
Many AI search and answer systems retrieve current information from the web when responding to users. As a result, third-party reviews, comparisons, videos, and articles can become source material when these systems evaluate which products fit a particular use case.
That doesn’t mean this happens in every industry or on every platform.
But when legitimate third-party publishers accurately discuss your product’s features, benefits, compatibility, and use cases, they create more content connecting your brand with those concepts.
I’ve also seen other marketers report similar observations.
As AI systems improve at distinguishing independent editorial coverage from paid or commercially influenced content, the value of paid reviews may change. For now, though, third-party coverage appears to provide benefits in at least some of the markets we track.
One especially interesting example is what Time has reportedly done with content served to AI crawlers.
Reporting in 2026 found that Time served machine-oriented versions of some pages to AI crawlers, including sponsored content that wasn’t necessarily presented the same way to human visitors.
Source: G-Squared Interactive Facebook page



That’s different from saying the content becomes training data.
Training, retrieval, grounding, and citations are separate concepts.
A crawler accessing content doesn’t prove that the information changes an AI model’s underlying training or that it will appear in an AI-generated answer. But it does raise an interesting question about marketing and disclosure.
Consider a hypothetical example.
A media company is paid to review a product or include it in an affiliate listicle. It then makes a machine-targeted version of that content available to an AI retrieval system.
Later, the AI system retrieves that information when recommending products to a consumer.
If the original source was commercially influenced but the consumer has no way of knowing that, what disclosure obligations should eventually apply?
I’m not suggesting current FTC guidance requires AI assistants to disclose commercially influenced retrieved content in that scenario. It doesn’t establish a general requirement like that today.
But it’s a question I expect regulators, platforms, publishers, and advertisers will eventually have to address as AI systems play a larger role in purchase decisions.
For marketers, the key is not to confuse these mechanisms.
Getting mentioned online may increase the information available to AI retrieval systems. That doesn’t mean you’ve “trained the LLM,” and it doesn’t guarantee the system will retrieve, cite, or recommend your brand.
Shaping how people understand your brand
One of the most valuable aspects of reviews isn’t just countering negative public opinion. It’s ensuring the right use cases and benefits are represented when people research your brand.
If you sell an undershirt, different audiences may value it for different reasons. You can influence how it’s presented so reviews resonate with the customers who care most about specific benefits.
An undershirt is just a piece of clothing, but parents may want to know whether it’s tagless so it won’t itch or scratch their children’s skin. A budget-conscious customer may care more about durability than style, while a fashion-focused customer may value how well it blends with or complements signature pieces.
It’s the same product, but each creator and audience may see its value differently.
As AI-powered and traditional search systems deliver more personalized and specific answers, these niche reviews become more valuable because they create explicit third-party connections between a product and particular audiences, needs, attributes, and use cases.
More importantly, they help consumers determine whether your brand solves their specific problem.
Tip: Encourage review partners to create honest comparison content that explains your brand’s strengths and tradeoffs. This can help consumers searching for queries like “which is better” or “which should I use.”
The key is honesty. Asking a creator to cover specific factual features is very different from asking them to reach a predetermined conclusion.
Increasing conversions on your website and in ads
One thing we do with clients is embed reviews on product, category, and landing pages. With permission, we also use them in advertising.
We’ve consistently seen product demonstrations from real people and media companies increase conversions because potential customers can see a product or service in use rather than relying solely on the company’s claims.
Any company can claim it has a solution. Review partners can provide third-party evidence that the solution worked in a real-world use case.
This is one of the biggest sources of value, even when some affiliate sales come from customers who were already in the funnel.
You may also reduce production costs by repurposing creator videos in paid social campaigns when your agreement includes the necessary paid media usage rights.
The creator can continue growing their audience and earning affiliate commissions, while your company uses that content to convert the portion of your audience that still needs additional proof before buying.
Review content becomes parasitic when its ongoing affiliate commissions come primarily from customers who were already going to buy. That doesn’t mean the content has stopped creating value.
With our clients, we identify which creators and media companies are working with each team, then build a measurement framework that tracks those relationships across channels and gives the company a more complete view of their impact.
That allows us to ensure important product use cases are represented, encourage creators to remain honest in their reviews, expand awareness by amplifying valuable content with paid media, and increase conversions by giving potential customers credible third-party evidence that the brand may solve their problem.
The mistake is treating all attributed affiliate revenue as customer acquisition.
Review content serves different purposes over its lifecycle. Early on, it may introduce a brand to a creator’s audience and generate incremental customers. Later, the same review may function primarily as comparison content, social proof, objection handling, reputation support, or a final trust-building touchpoint before conversion.
Those roles still create value. They just shouldn’t all be measured the same way.

Learn how to separate meaningful engagement from vanity metrics using practical evaluation methods and performance benchmarks.

How to measure the true value of creators and review content

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/visibility-communication.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Visibility communication" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/visibility-communication.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/visibility-communication-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/visibility-communication-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/visibility-communication-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Better search outcomes depend on how your teams work together. See why communication is the foundation for adapting to AI-driven change.

Transition requires communication. There’s no way around it if you want to succeed. Whenever a transition affects other people, communication — and how it’s handled — is central to success.
Search marketers are facing an organizational transition, though they’re hardly unique. Here, too, communication sits at the center.
LLM visibility is the immediate search marketing problem. AI adoption is the broader organizational force making that problem harder. Both expose the same underlying weakness: teams built around separate channels now need to solve increasingly shared problems.
Fortunately or unfortunately, internal communication is now at our doorstep.
At the end of the day, you’re not reorganizing teams, creating new processes, or developing new ways of working.
You’re guiding people who want to meet the challenges in front of them and embrace change, but like every other human being on this planet or any other, struggle to adjust their internal worlds to it.
And that’s just hard.
The renewed value of internal comms for search marketers
Internal communication has to be the least sexy thing on the planet. There’s no direct metric. Unlike brand, no one even sees it. It’s internal — which, in marketing, is often code for “why bother?”
However, strong internal communication is probably the most important capability an organization can have right now. 
As I’ve said before, “You can’t communicate externally what you can’t communicate internally.” Marketing, in any form, is external communication (whether to people, bots, or both).
To put it in terms even Barry Schwartz would appreciate, the importance of internal communication is “not new.”
What’s new is that LLM visibility is the immediate problem in search marketing. AI adoption is the broader organizational force making that problem harder. Both expose the same underlying weakness: teams built around separate channels now have to solve increasingly shared problems.
So what are we doing here? Why am I writing this? Why are you reading it?
For the sake of shooting myself in the foot, I’m going to divide the SEO world into three buckets:
SEOs trying to hack the system (i.e., LLMs). 
SEOs who think only Google traffic matters (that’s cool, no judgment). 
SEOs who think both Google traffic and LLM visibility matter, and aren’t trying to hack the system.
I’m primarily speaking to the third group of search marketers. They’re the ones who realize the conversation about visibility has moved beyond your website to your broader digital footprint. (For the record, many SEOs have viewed rankings this way for years.)
If you think LLM visibility depends on the strength and consistency of your brand’s overall digital footprint, then the way teams are structured becomes a problem. Teams have traditionally been organized by channel, but now we’re realizing channels are more like blended scotch: they come from different barrels, yet end up as one thing.
I’m not here to tell you team silos are a problem or that now is the time to break them down. Jen Cornwell already made that case exceptionally well in this article.
What I am here to tell you is that you’re facing a problem that, at least for now, can’t be fully solved.
There’s no simple solution. No fix. No magic pill. No snake oil. No hack.
This silo problem isn’t going away, and for the most part, you can’t solve it outright. Organizations aren’t going to restructure overnight for an emerging technology that’s still evolving. 
Formal org charts may take years to change. Cross-functional operating habits don’t have to.
It’ll be a painfully slow slog through whatever muck your mind can imagine (mine goes straight to Marmite).
In fact, short of finding a genie to instantly restructure your organization and mature the technology overnight, the only thing you can really do is communicate.
At its core, you’re trying to move from one way of operating to another. You need multiple people to make that shift together.
You have no choice but to communicate with one goal: find common ground, establish shared realities, and build empathy for needs (or KPIs) beyond your own. That’s how you slowly — and I mean really slowly, with no guarantee of success — change how your organization operates.
You have to make conscious, from an organizational perspective, what was, what is, and what needs to be.
That means building organizational awareness of how your teams used to think and operate, how they need to operate now, and how they may need to operate in the future.
As a matter of commonplace human behavior, significant changes to what teams do, how they work, or how they’re organized tend to trigger vulnerability, resistance, and much more.
Those dynamics have to be talked through at some level.
Whenever you make substantial changes to what teams do, how they work, or how they’re organized, you’re asking people to step into a new and emerging reality.
Helping people cross that threshold takes a tremendous amount of communication.
Good thing talk is cheap. Otherwise, this whole process would cost a fortune.
Don’t rush to operationalize the problem
Your first instinct will be to ask, What do we do about this? That’s the wrong question.
At this stage, an action plan is one of the worst things you can reach for. It’ll set you up to fall harder than a SaaS stock. 
Rushing to a step-by-step, overly linear plan will, in my view, hold you back. It’s a safety mechanism — a way to regain a sense of control. But sometimes you have to accept that this level of control doesn’t exist.
Action plans are clean. Life is messy.
I’ll take a brief detour to quote psychologist Paul Marcus on leadership, from “The Psychoanalysis of Career Choice, Job Performance, and Satisfaction.”
“When change is perceived as programmatic, linear, sequential, and predictable, the change initiatives usually are not successful in most contexts. However, when change is conceived as a ‘complex responsive process,’ one that is ‘messier, less planned, and informal,’ and this awareness is woven into the change process, the success of the change initiative is far more likely.”
The best thing you can do right now is sit with the problem. It’s a human problem, and human problems are complicated. Yet you want a “5-step plan to improve internal communication”?
Step 1: Stop asking for a “5-step plan to improve internal communication.”
Just let the problem sit. Absorb its complexity.
It’s internal communication because it’s an internal process. If you’re going to lead — or help lead — you have to internalize the problem. You have to let it sit with you until the reality of what’s happening, and what will have to change, truly sinks in.
No one can answer these questions instantly. Awareness develops over time. You have to sit with the problem until it begins to take shape.
Once you grasp how significant the challenge really is, you can start dealing with it.
You’re reshaping how teams work, what they prioritize, what they consider, how they think, and how they make decisions. If you’re going to help shape that new reality, you need vision and perspective. The only way to develop them is to let the challenge sink in.
Your job is to help your teams do the same. Don’t rush people into changing reality. Help them recognize that reality itself has to change. Turn what feels like an overwhelming, formless idea into something they can begin to understand.
I understand the instinct to solve problems. Most of our work lives are built around it. But when you’re leading a major organizational change — especially one that’s deeply human — the best thing you can do is create space.
Give yourself space to absorb the nature, scope, and meaning of the change. Give your team that same space.
At the start of Q3, we held an offsite to discuss how we could better automate our workflows, collaborate across teams, and coordinate with teams across both SE Ranking and our sister company, Planable. Those are significant changes, and they’re challenging.
As we discussed ideas, a senior team leader started outlining an execution plan. In what was easily the best line of the offsite, SE Ranking CMO Bogdan Bobiak said, “Don’t worry about the plan right now. Let’s just absorb this.”
Exactly. 
When you’re trying to break down the walls between teams and change how they work together, you have to give people time to process it. Everyone does that differently, which means this process isn’t programmable. It doesn’t follow a neat, linear plan.
Don’t expect a clear path forward 
Once you’ve sat with the problem and are ready to move forward, expect the path ahead to be messy.
You’re slowly leading a group of people into unfamiliar, challenging territory. That’s difficult on every level, especially in the current environment.
I’ll give you a firsthand example. As we’ve pushed to become a native AI company, we’ve done more than shift the company’s strategic focus. We’re also asking our teams to build workflows, skills, automations, and new ways of working around AI.
Sometimes what we build is outstanding and gets adopted across the company. Other times it falls flat. Sometimes the work itself is excellent, but not enough people know it exists. The list goes on.
I’ll give you a firsthand example. I’ve been trying to build a Claude skill to review our research studies through the eyes of a journalist receiving a cold pitch. I want it to evaluate how compelling the study would be to someone with no prior relationship with us.
For the life of me, I can’t get it right. Every time I rework the skill, it still doesn’t do what I want. (I think of Claude skills as trying to catch the creator of the skill in a bottle.)
That’s frustrating. I see a need I could solve with automation, spend hours trying to build it, and still end up nowhere. (I’ll get there eventually.)
If we step back and look at what our company is asking of its people, it looks something like this:
A major shift in focus. 
A major shift in expectations. 
A high potential for innovation and success. 
A high likelihood of frustration and failure. 
Less stability in people’s day-to-day work. (If I build enough great skills, who needs Mordy anymore? Story of my life.)
This is incredibly challenging territory. I’d bet the industry has never faced organizational challenges at this scale before.
Take the last item on that list: less stability in people’s work. Many people are being asked to create new ways of working while wrestling with the reality that those new ways often involve automation. That’s scary.
If you’re leading a team or an organization, you have to be sensitive and compassionate about that — including with yourself.
When your organization is navigating change that touches so many emotional fault lines, you can’t expect the process to be linear. Your communication has to respond to the people experiencing the change.
Real change is never linear.
The changes facing marketers are significant. That means your response has to be equally significant. A type-A, “map everything from start to finish” mentality will hold you back.
It’ll cause you to overlook your team’s real needs, crowd out empathetic communication — which is the most important kind of communication here — and ignore the people who don’t fit neatly into the plan (more on that later).
Instead, do what I suggested earlier: sit with the problem. Absorb it. Understand what it means emotionally. Then, through clear, honest communication that doesn’t gloss over the challenges, begin moving forward together — not just in how your organization operates, but in how it thinks.
This isn’t the end of the communication. One meeting isn’t the finish line — it’s the starting point. As you move forward, you have to keep your finger on the pulse. That means being ready to:
Spend more time explaining a change you thought was straightforward.
Spend more time talking with your team as they work through new challenges.
Adjust your course when you realize your team needs something different from what you expected.
Stay open to ideas that make you uncomfortable.
I can’t list every possibility. The point is that if your approach is too programmatic or rigid, you’ll miss what your people actually need.c about organizational change in the extreme environment, you are missing the point itself. 
Again, we’re helping people face new challenges and adapt to change. That’s one of the hardest things people do.
Your team, like you, will feel vulnerable.
That’s because change means stepping into the unknown, and the unknown doesn’t come with a clear, linear path.
So flow with it. Build — and trust — your intuition about when to move, how far to move, and how fast to move. Let the process and the solutions emerge. Don’t force them.
Communication is a muscle 
To flow with change, you have to treat communication like a muscle. It has to be built. It’s also one we naturally avoid using, and many organizations don’t encourage it, which only makes the problem worse.
It’s much easier to drop a message in Slack than schedule a 15-minute conversation. From a communication standpoint, Slack is like attending a webinar instead of an in-person conference. The information may be the same, but the connection isn’t.
Communication is connection. Invest the time to build that muscle. It doesn’t have to be a highly structured process with a defined end goal. Sometimes the most valuable thing you can do is get people together, talk, and see where the conversation leads.
We often assume communication exists to produce a specific outcome: We’re communicating so we can execute a project that generates more leads.



But what if the goal is simply to build the communication muscle? In that case, the conversation itself — when it’s meaningful and relevant — is the outcome.
If you want your teams to work more closely across functions, whether to improve LLM visibility, integrate AI workflows, or tackle anything else, you have to model the kind of communication you want to see.
The only way to do that is to build the muscle over time. The stronger your communication habits become, the more naturally your teams will rely on them.
It’s like going to the gym. If you’ve been lifting consistently, you’re going to flex those muscles the first chance you get.
Communication works the same way. When you build that muscle across your organization, people start using it because they know it’s there — and they know what it enables.
Create opportunities for people to talk. Create opportunities for vulnerability. Create opportunities for people to understand the needs of teams beyond their own.
And expect regression.
This is a dance between people developing new agency and their natural defenses pushing back against the uncertainty and vulnerability that change creates.
It’s like any relationship. When you’re trying to build healthier ways of communicating, people will naturally fall back into old habits until the new ones take hold.
Expect that regression. Embrace it. Then keep moving forward. Keep building the new way of communicating and the muscle behind it. Over time, it’ll become the default.
Honesty and the risk of reinforcing old thinking 
If you want to build the communication muscle that enables cross-functional work, you have to create an environment where people can be honest.
That sounds simple, but as Billy Joel famously sang, “Honesty is such a lonely word.”
If building the communication muscle means accepting a process that zigs and zags, it also means being open to new ways of thinking and feeling as your team works through change.
Your job is to make honest conversation possible.
Unfortunately, that’s not a given.
Organizations have a long history of doing the opposite. Too often, they’re remarkably bad at creating space for open, honest dialogue.
Once an organization develops this dynamic, it’s difficult to undo. On the surface, organizations ask for honesty and feedback. Underneath, they often discourage both through powerful pressures to conform.
Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver, whose leadership style was rooted in honesty, put it well: 
“No promises to anybody. And no lies. Those two go together; if you lie to one player, it gets around instantly. You cease to exist.”
Unspoken expectations of conformity are like an ember in a dry forest. Eventually, they burn through everything.
As a leader, you have to take the first step into the unknown. If you can’t do that, you can’t create the conditions for genuine communication.
If you don’t, your teams will pick up on the unspoken pressure to align with your thinking. Some people will conform immediately, and the rest will follow. What you’ll end up with is reinforced groupthink that prevents the organization from addressing its real problems openly and effectively.
Communication is the only way to develop new ways of thinking and working that challenge the existing culture. The last thing you want is a groupthink environment. When people feel pressure to conform — and in my experience, that pressure almost always comes from leaders’ unspoken expectations — they stop trusting their own thoughts, feelings, and ideas and fall back on the group’s way of thinking.
If that happens, your effort to move the organization toward less siloed, more cross-functional work is dead before it begins.
You have to create an environment where people feel free to think, feel, and disagree openly. Your team needs to know they can challenge your ideas without risking your approval.
Like any healthy relationship, it requires genuine give-and-take grounded in empathy for the other person’s perspective and experience.
Without that level of honesty, any cross-functional initiative will eventually snap back to old patterns. You might get it off the ground, but five months later, you’ll be right back where you started.
Hindsight will be 20/20
Transitioning a team to a new way of thinking — and, by extension, a new way of working — is difficult. Doing it while adapting to a technology that’s still evolving is even harder.
Five years from now, organizations will likely structure teams around native AI workflows, LLM visibility as a cross-functional challenge, and whatever comes next.
Until then, the only way through is together. That means fostering communication that’s honest, vulnerable, empathetic, and strong.
There will be mistakes and setbacks. Leading people through change is one of the hardest things you’ll ever do.
There’s no clean solution to the problems created by today’s organizational structures. There’s only the slow work of talking, collaborating, and gradually expanding how teams share ownership of the challenges in front of them.
Five years from now (or 10, or 12, not here for exact numbers), you’ll look back and realize what a pioneer you and your organization were.

Better search outcomes depend on how your teams work together. See why communication is the foundation for adapting to AI-driven change.

LLM visibility starts with better internal communication

<div><img width="1920" height="1097" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/google-spam-update-1920.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/google-spam-update-1920.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/google-spam-update-1920-768x439.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/google-spam-update-1920-1536x878.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>The update took 2.5 days to roll out and is now complete.

<div><img width="1920" height="1097" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/google-spam-update-1920.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/google-spam-update-1920.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/google-spam-update-1920-768x439.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/google-spam-update-1920-1536x878.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Google has confirmed the&nbsp;<a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-releases-august-2026-spam-update-485369">August 2026 spam update</a>, which was released on Tuesday, August 18th at around 12:30 pm ET, is now done rolling out. The update finished rolling out on August 21, 2026 at 4:50 am ET.<br>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Google&#8217;s announcement.&nbsp;</strong>Google posted about the update on its&nbsp;<a href="https://status.search.google.com/incidents/LEubPCm2octf2uMqCFKE">incident dashboard</a>&nbsp;and wrote:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>&#8220;Released the August 2026 spam update, which applies globally and to all languages. The rollout may take a few days to complete.&#8221;</li>



<li>&#8220;The rollout was complete as of August 21, 2026.&#8221;</li>
</ul>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">You can learn more about Google spam updates in&nbsp;<a href="https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/spam-updates">this Google help document</a>.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Why we care.&nbsp;</strong>This is the third Google spam update announced in 2026, the last one was the&nbsp;<a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-releases-june-2026-spam-update-481002">June 2026 spam update</a>. If your site was not impacted, then you are good to go – at least for now.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">There will always be cases of sites not spamming Google that get hit by a spam update but hopefully that won’t be one of your sites.<a href="https://www.semrush.com/ai-seo/overview?utm_campaign=ic_sel_0101ai&amp;utm_source=searchengineland.com&amp;utm_medium=overlay&amp;onboarding=off" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Google did say this is a &#8220;normal spam&#8221; update and that there is nothing specifically new with this update, outside of Google running it again.</p>


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Google has confirmed the August 2026 spam update, which was released on Tuesday, August 18th at around 12:30 pm ET, is now done rolling out. The update finished rolling out on August 21, 2026 at 4:50 am ET.
Google’s announcement. Google posted about the update on its incident dashboard and wrote:
“Released the August 2026 spam update, which applies globally and to all languages. The rollout may take a few days to complete.”
“The rollout was complete as of August 21, 2026.”
You can learn more about Google spam updates in this Google help document.
Why we care. This is the third Google spam update announced in 2026, the last one was the June 2026 spam update. If your site was not impacted, then you are good to go – at least for now.
There will always be cases of sites not spamming Google that get hit by a spam update but hopefully that won’t be one of your sites.



Google did say this is a “normal spam” update and that there is nothing specifically new with this update, outside of Google running it again.
before your competitors.
      
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The update took 2.5 days to roll out and is now complete.

Google August 2026 spam update done rolling out

<div><img width="800" height="450" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2021/10/hiring-in-search-marketing-800x450.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Search marketing jobs" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2021/10/hiring-in-search-marketing-800x450.jpg 800w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2021/10/hiring-in-search-marketing-600x338.jpg 600w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2021/10/hiring-in-search-marketing-200x113.jpg 200w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2021/10/hiring-in-search-marketing-768x432.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2021/10/hiring-in-search-marketing-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2021/10/hiring-in-search-marketing-150x84.jpg 150w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2021/10/hiring-in-search-marketing-550x310.jpg 550w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2021/10/hiring-in-search-marketing.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /></div>Land your next job in SEO or PPC. These brands and agencies are hiring to fill open search marketing positions right now.

Looking to take the next step in your search marketing career? 
Below, you will find the latest SEO, PPC, and digital marketing jobs at brands and agencies. We also include positions from previous weeks that are still open.
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Newest SEO Jobs 
(Provided to Search Engine Land by SEOjobs.com) 



SEO Specialist (SEO and AI Search)
August 20, 2026 
Company: Happy CogSalary: $75,000 – $90,000Location: United States, USA, United StatesDate posted: August 20, 2026 The Role Search has changed more in the past two years than in the ten before it, and our clients feel it every week. They still want to rank in Google, but they are also asking why a competitor gets named in ChatGPT when they […]

Organic Growth Strategist
August 18, 2026 
Company: PrivateSalary: 85,000-100,000Location: Remote USDate posted: August 18, 2026About the company We are a growth agency that helps B2B software companies build organic acquisition programs designed to generate revenue across traditional search engines and generative AI platforms. Our remote team operates with a lean, highly collaborative mindset. Research, experimentation, and continuous improvement are central to how we work. We value […]

SEO Team Lead & Account Manager (Remote)
August 17, 2026 
Company: Lexigate LLCSalary: USD $80,000 – $100,000Location: Remote USDate posted: August 17, 2026Own the strategy. Own the relationship. Own the results. Most SEO roles hand you a slice of the work. This one hands you the whole story: the strategy behind a portfolio of clients, the team that brings it to life, and the client relationships that make it all […]

SEO Outreach Executive (Remote)
August 15, 2026 
Company: Pure Medical GroupSalary: £55,000 – £90,000 per year USDLocation: Remote, United StatesDate posted: August 15, 2026 The company Pure Medical is working to make the population of the United Kingdom healthier, providing a system of comprehensive balance, energy, and proactive healing that helps you to feel your best, achieve your full potential and accomplish more of the things you […]

Manager of SEO
August 13, 2026 
Company: DealerOnSalary: $69,800 – $102,600 a yearLocation: Remote, United StatesDate posted: August 13, 2026 About DealerOn We are an online marketing company providing website and agency services to automotive dealerships across North and South America. We are known for our cutting-edge products that streamline the car buying process and provide an experience both shoppers and dealers love. Our business model […]

Technical SEO Specialist
August 13, 2026 
Company: BOLDLocation: Remote, PolandDate posted: August 13, 2026 We are looking for a Technical SEO Specialist (Mid-level) to join our Technical SEO team. In this role, you will have a direct impact on the growth of our organic audience on several websites in English as well as multiple international SEO properties in non-English languages.   ABOUT THIS TEAM We are part […]

SEO Sales Representatives
August 12, 2026 
Company: PhilscienceSalary: 300 EUR plus 10% commissionLocation: Remote WorldwideDate posted: August 12, 2026We are hiring at PhilScience: SEO Sales Representatives (5 freelance remote positions) PhilScience is looking for freelance sales representatives with experience in SEO sales (particularly link-building) to help us extend our reach for the Citation-Based Academic Link Building (CBALB) service. This is a fully remote, freelance position based […]

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Specialist
August 12, 2026 
Company: Air AppsLocation: Remote, United StatesDate posted: August 12, 2026About Air Apps At Air Apps, we believe in thinking bigger—and moving faster. We’re a family-founded company on a mission to create the world’s first AI-powered Personal & Entrepreneurial Resource Planner (PRP), and we need your passion and ambition to help us change how people plan, work, and live. Born in […]

Senior SEO & AI Search Strategist (GEO/AEO)
August 11, 2026 
Company: VirayoSalary: 120,000-140,000 USDLocation: Remote USDate posted: August 11, 2026We are seeking a senior-level AI Search Strategist (Generative/Answer Engine Optimization) to lead the development and execution of strategies to achieve visibility within AI Overviews (AIOs) and Large Language Models (LLMs), such as Gemini, ChatGPT, and Claude. This role is both strategic and client-facing. You will serve as the primary point […]

SEO & GEO Director
August 11, 2026 
Company: Search Marketing ProsSalary: $120,000 per year USDLocation: Remote, United StatesDate posted: August 11, 2026The Role We are hiring an SEO & GEO Director to own strategy, client outcomes, and team leadership across our full SEO book of business. This is not a delivery role – this is the person who sets the direction, holds the team accountable, and owns […]

Newest PPC and paid media jobs
(Provided to Search Engine Land by PPCjobs.com) 







Growth Marketing Lead
August 20, 2026 
Company: Neura MarketSalary: $160,000 – $188,300Location: Brooklyn, NY, United StatesDate posted: August 20, 2026 Overview CoinTracker is on a mission to unlock everyone's financial potential so they can build the life they want. We started with crypto, building the tax and portfolio tools trusted by millions to make digital assets simple. Today, we're going further with Nino, our AI-powered financial […]

ISV Ecosystem Growth Marketing Manager
August 20, 2026 
Company: OktaSalary: $194,000 – $292,000Location: United States (residency required)Date posted: August 20, 2026 Secure Every Identity, from AI to Human Identity is the key to unlocking the potential of AI. Okta secures AI by building the trusted, neutral infrastructure that enables organizations to safely embrace this new era. This work requires a relentless drive to solve complex challenges with real-world […]

Associate Director, Paid Social
August 19, 2026 
Company: Real ChemistrySalary: $90,000-$115,000Location: United States (residency required)Date posted: August 19, 2026 At Real Chemistry, making the world a healthier place isn’t just an aspiration—it’s our everyday reality. Our drive to transform healthcare is informed by our blend of deep scientific expertise, human-centred creativity, and AI-driven insights, fostering a unique environment where innovation thrives and our people are impact-obsessed. As […]

Paid Media Strategist
August 19, 2026 
Company: Cardinal Group CareerSalary: $50,000- $60,000Location: United States (residency required)Date posted: August 19, 2026 Paid Media Strategist COMPENSATION: Pursuant to Colorado regulations, if this job is performed in Colorado, the salary range is $50,000- $60,000 plus bonus potential. âEligible to participate in the company benefits plan. We offer health, vision, dental, and pet insurance. We offer a 401(k) retirement plan, […]

Manager, Lifecycle & Digital Growth Marketing
August 18, 2026 
Company: RedzoneSalary: $120,000 – $130,000Location: United States (residency required)Date posted: August 18, 2026Job Description Job Description Company Description Redzone, the Connected Workforce business unit within QAD | Redzone, helps manufacturers make more products for less while greatly improving the employee experience. While there is a lot of hype around digital transformation, the factory of the future, and Industry 4.0, the […]

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Own SEO and GEO strategy and performance across an assigned portfolio of clients
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Paid Media Manager (SEM/PPC), YPM (Irvine, CA)
Salary: $95,000 – $100,000
Build, launch, manage and optimize across multiple paid digital channels / search engine platforms media plans (Google, Bing, etc.) in varying verticals.
Develop and maintain strong, key relationships with clients/brands; communicate with clients and respective Google reps on strategic direction of PPC campaign initiatives, identifying key findings and recommendations.
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Develop data-driven audience segments to deliver personalized messaging across channels.
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Salary: $90,000 – $105,000
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Lead keyword research, site audits, content strategy, and campaign planning across your assigned clients
Develop multi-month strategic plans that demonstrate exceptional foresight & prioritization, ensuring elk & client teams are aligned and executing strategic implementation effectively & efficiently
Sr. Manager Paid Search, Ninja Trader (Hybrid, Chicago, IL)
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Salary: $90,000 – $110,000
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Note: We update this post weekly. So make sure to bookmark this page and check back.

Land your next job in SEO or PPC. These brands and agencies are hiring to fill open search marketing positions right now.

The latest jobs in search marketing

<div><img width="1672" height="941" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/Microsoft-Adv-CPC.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/Microsoft-Adv-CPC.png 1672w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/Microsoft-Adv-CPC-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/Microsoft-Adv-CPC-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/Microsoft-Adv-CPC-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1672px) 100vw, 1672px" /></div>Microsoft will remove Max CPC controls from new campaigns using several standalone automated bidding strategies starting Oct. 1.

<div><img width="1672" height="941" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/Microsoft-Adv-CPC.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/Microsoft-Adv-CPC.png 1672w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/Microsoft-Adv-CPC-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/Microsoft-Adv-CPC-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/Microsoft-Adv-CPC-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1672px) 100vw, 1672px" /></div>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Microsoft Advertising will stop allowing advertisers to set Max CPC limits on new campaigns using several standalone automated bidding strategies starting Oct. 1, as the platform pushes advertisers toward conversion-based targets and other automated bidding controls.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Existing campaigns with Max CPC limits won&#8217;t immediately lose them, while portfolio bid strategies and several other bidding strategies will retain the option.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Why we care.</strong> This removes another manual control from Microsoft&#8217;s automated bidding strategies. Advertisers that use Max CPC as a safeguard against unexpectedly expensive clicks will have less direct control when creating certain new campaigns and will instead need to rely more heavily on budgets and conversion-based targets. </p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Whether that produces better results will depend on the quality of an advertiser&#8217;s conversion data, the targets they set and how effectively Microsoft&#8217;s bidding system responds to those signals.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>What’s changing.</strong> Starting Oct. 1st, advertisers creating new campaigns using standalone Maximize Conversions, Maximize Conversion Value and Maximize Clicks bidding strategies will no longer be able to add a Max CPC.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="588" height="825" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/Microsoft-Max-CPC.png" alt="" class="wp-image-485599"/></figure>
</div>


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Existing campaigns created before the deadline will retain their Max CPC settings. Microsoft Advertising Product Liaison Navah Hopkins also confirmed that Target Impression Share, eCPC and portfolio bidding strategies will continue to support Max CPC controls.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Why Microsoft is making the change.</strong> Microsoft says Max CPC limits can interfere with automated bidding by overriding an advertiser&#8217;s stated performance goals and potentially creating spend pacing irregularities.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The company says advertisers using conversion-based bidding with target CPA (tCPA) and target ROAS (tROAS) tend to have an easier time achieving their goals than advertisers relying on legacy controls such as Max CPC.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Instead of CPC caps, Microsoft wants advertisers to communicate their objectives through controls more closely tied to business outcomes, including budgets, tCPA, tROAS, conversion value rules and seasonality adjustments.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>What happens to existing campaigns.</strong> There&#8217;s no immediate migration for campaigns already using Max CPC. Campaigns created before Oct. 1 will continue to retain the bidding control.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That creates an important distinction between existing and newly created campaigns: advertisers won&#8217;t necessarily lose Max CPC across their accounts on Oct. 1, but their ability to use it when building certain new campaigns will disappear.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Microsoft says further updates about the future of Max CPC will be provided later.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Get ahead of the change.</strong> Hopkins is encouraging advertisers to use optimization experiments to test removing Max CPC from existing campaigns before the deadline.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Doing so could give advertisers an indication of how campaigns perform when automated bidding has greater freedom, before the option disappears from newly created standalone campaigns.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That may be particularly relevant heading into the holiday season, when advertisers could otherwise encounter the new restriction while launching or restructuring campaigns.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Targets become the primary lever.</strong> Microsoft is encouraging advertisers to think of tCPA and tROAS as their primary volume and value levers, rather than trying to control automated bidding through individual CPC limits.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Hopkins also noted that Microsoft Advertising can allow campaigns to outperform their tCPA or tROAS targets regardless of whether they&#8217;re limited by budget. Where appropriate, Microsoft recommends using conversion value rules to provide the bidding algorithm with additional information about which conversions are more valuable to the business.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Bottom line.</strong> Microsoft Advertising is making automated bidding more target-driven by phasing Max CPC out of new standalone Maximize Conversions, Maximize Conversion Value and Maximize Clicks campaigns from Oct. 1 — while, for now, preserving the control for existing campaigns and portfolio strategies.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Dig deeper.</strong> <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/navahhopkins_microsoft-advertising-is-investing-extensively-share-7496203436984627201-uiIA/">Updates to Max CPC for new campaigns</a>


<a href="https://www.semrush.com/analytics/traffic/paid-search?utm_campaign=ic_sel_0101ppc&#038;utm_source=searchengineland.com&#038;utm_medium=overlay&#038;onboarding=off" target="_blank">
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Microsoft Advertising will stop allowing advertisers to set Max CPC limits on new campaigns using several standalone automated bidding strategies starting Oct. 1, as the platform pushes advertisers toward conversion-based targets and other automated bidding controls.
Existing campaigns with Max CPC limits won’t immediately lose them, while portfolio bid strategies and several other bidding strategies will retain the option.
Why we care. This removes another manual control from Microsoft’s automated bidding strategies. Advertisers that use Max CPC as a safeguard against unexpectedly expensive clicks will have less direct control when creating certain new campaigns and will instead need to rely more heavily on budgets and conversion-based targets. 
Whether that produces better results will depend on the quality of an advertiser’s conversion data, the targets they set and how effectively Microsoft’s bidding system responds to those signals.
What’s changing. Starting Oct. 1st, advertisers creating new campaigns using standalone Maximize Conversions, Maximize Conversion Value and Maximize Clicks bidding strategies will no longer be able to add a Max CPC.




Existing campaigns created before the deadline will retain their Max CPC settings. Microsoft Advertising Product Liaison Navah Hopkins also confirmed that Target Impression Share, eCPC and portfolio bidding strategies will continue to support Max CPC controls.
Why Microsoft is making the change. Microsoft says Max CPC limits can interfere with automated bidding by overriding an advertiser’s stated performance goals and potentially creating spend pacing irregularities.
The company says advertisers using conversion-based bidding with target CPA (tCPA) and target ROAS (tROAS) tend to have an easier time achieving their goals than advertisers relying on legacy controls such as Max CPC.
Instead of CPC caps, Microsoft wants advertisers to communicate their objectives through controls more closely tied to business outcomes, including budgets, tCPA, tROAS, conversion value rules and seasonality adjustments.
What happens to existing campaigns. There’s no immediate migration for campaigns already using Max CPC. Campaigns created before Oct. 1 will continue to retain the bidding control.
That creates an important distinction between existing and newly created campaigns: advertisers won’t necessarily lose Max CPC across their accounts on Oct. 1, but their ability to use it when building certain new campaigns will disappear.
Microsoft says further updates about the future of Max CPC will be provided later.
Get ahead of the change. Hopkins is encouraging advertisers to use optimization experiments to test removing Max CPC from existing campaigns before the deadline.
Doing so could give advertisers an indication of how campaigns perform when automated bidding has greater freedom, before the option disappears from newly created standalone campaigns.
That may be particularly relevant heading into the holiday season, when advertisers could otherwise encounter the new restriction while launching or restructuring campaigns.
Targets become the primary lever. Microsoft is encouraging advertisers to think of tCPA and tROAS as their primary volume and value levers, rather than trying to control automated bidding through individual CPC limits.
Hopkins also noted that Microsoft Advertising can allow campaigns to outperform their tCPA or tROAS targets regardless of whether they’re limited by budget. Where appropriate, Microsoft recommends using conversion value rules to provide the bidding algorithm with additional information about which conversions are more valuable to the business.
Bottom line. Microsoft Advertising is making automated bidding more target-driven by phasing Max CPC out of new standalone Maximize Conversions, Maximize Conversion Value and Maximize Clicks campaigns from Oct. 1 — while, for now, preserving the control for existing campaigns and portfolio strategies.
Dig deeper. Updates to Max CPC for new campaigns



  
your competitors win.
      
Analyze your competitors

Microsoft will remove Max CPC controls from new campaigns using several standalone automated bidding strategies starting Oct. 1.

Microsoft Advertising removes Max CPC from new standalone bidding campaigns

<div><img width="1920" height="1097" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/google-button-hero-1920.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/google-button-hero-1920.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/google-button-hero-1920-768x439.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/google-button-hero-1920-1536x878.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Readers who click on the Google Preferred Source won't have to leave your page anymore.

<div><img width="1920" height="1097" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/google-button-hero-1920.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/google-button-hero-1920.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/google-button-hero-1920-768x439.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/google-button-hero-1920-1536x878.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Google is <a href="https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/personalize-search-discover-news">offering</a> a new Preferred Source button for publishers that makes the subscription process smoother while keeping readers on your site.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Now when a user clicks on the Preferred Source button, it adds the site as a Preferred Source on Google and immediately directs them back to where they left off on the publisher’s page. </p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>What it looks like. </strong>Here is the user flow, showing on the left the &#8220;Add to Preferred Sources&#8221; Google button on the web page, then it opens up a page that lets you click &#8220;Add&#8221; to add that site as a Preferred Source on Google. After you click the &#8220;Add&#8221; button, you are taken right back to the page you were reading, on that publishers site.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1321" height="887" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/google-preferred-source-flow.png" alt="" class="wp-image-485549" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/google-preferred-source-flow.png 1321w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/google-preferred-source-flow-768x516.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1321px) 100vw, 1321px" /></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>The code. </strong>You can grab the new embed code on the Google <a href="https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/preferred-sources">help documentation</a>.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Preferred Sources.&nbsp;</strong>Preferred Sources let searchers star publications in the&nbsp;<em>Top Stories</em>&nbsp;section of Google Search, and Google uses that signal to show more stories from those starred outlets. The feature entered&nbsp;<a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-search-tests-preferred-sources-for-top-stories-457640">beta in June</a> of 2025, rolled out in the U.S. and India in&nbsp;<a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-preferred-sources-rolling-out-in-us-and-india-460631">August</a>, and is now expanding globally. Google rolled out&nbsp;<a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-rolling-out-preferred-sources-globally-and-announces-spotlighting-subscriptions-465975">preferred sources globally</a>&nbsp;in December 2025 and then in May, Google enabled it for <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-preferred-sources-now-works-for-all-languages-476051">all languages</a>.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Growing feature. </strong>Google also said that so far &#8220;people have already selected more than 600,000 unique sources.&#8221; So it seems like users are using this feature. In May 2026, Google said that number was 200,000, that is a 200% increase. </p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Why we care.&nbsp;</strong>Traffic from Google Search is hard and if you can get your readers, loyal readers, to make your site a preferred source, that can help. Google said those users are twice as likely to click, which can help drive more traffic.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">So add the preferred source icon to your site and encourage users to sign up. You can make Search Engine Land a preferred source by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=searchengineland.com">clicking here</a>.</p>


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Google is offering a new Preferred Source button for publishers that makes the subscription process smoother while keeping readers on your site.
Now when a user clicks on the Preferred Source button, it adds the site as a Preferred Source on Google and immediately directs them back to where they left off on the publisher’s page. 
What it looks like. Here is the user flow, showing on the left the “Add to Preferred Sources” Google button on the web page, then it opens up a page that lets you click “Add” to add that site as a Preferred Source on Google. After you click the “Add” button, you are taken right back to the page you were reading, on that publishers site.




The code. You can grab the new embed code on the Google help documentation.
Preferred Sources. Preferred Sources let searchers star publications in the Top Stories section of Google Search, and Google uses that signal to show more stories from those starred outlets. The feature entered beta in June of 2025, rolled out in the U.S. and India in August, and is now expanding globally. Google rolled out preferred sources globally in December 2025 and then in May, Google enabled it for all languages.
Growing feature. Google also said that so far “people have already selected more than 600,000 unique sources.” So it seems like users are using this feature. In May 2026, Google said that number was 200,000, that is a 200% increase. 
Why we care. Traffic from Google Search is hard and if you can get your readers, loyal readers, to make your site a preferred source, that can help. Google said those users are twice as likely to click, which can help drive more traffic.
So add the preferred source icon to your site and encourage users to sign up. You can make Search Engine Land a preferred source by clicking here.
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Readers who click on the Google Preferred Source won't have to leave your page anymore.

Google makes the Preferred Source button more seamless

<div><img width="1920" height="1097" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/google-voice-wave-1920.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/google-voice-wave-1920.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/google-voice-wave-1920-768x439.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/google-voice-wave-1920-1536x878.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Google said this helps you customize your Discover feed "with content that genuinely matches what you care about right now."

<div><img width="1920" height="1097" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/google-voice-wave-1920.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/google-voice-wave-1920.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/google-voice-wave-1920-768x439.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/google-voice-wave-1920-1536x878.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Google Discover will allow you to use conversational search to customize your feed to content that better matches your desired topics.  </p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Google <a href="https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/personalize-search-discover-news">wrote</a>, &#8220;you’ll be able to tap any three-dot menu in your feed to tell Google the exact topics or links you want to see more (or less) of, in your words.&#8221; </p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>How it works. </strong>Google will use the words you enter to customer your feed. Google said:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>&#8220;Your feed will adjust on the fly, and remember your requests. By letting you refine your tastes in real time, Discover can connect you with content that genuinely matches what you care about right now.</li>
</ul>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Video. </strong>Here is a video of it in action:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-video"><video height="1080" width="1920" controls src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/Discover-mp4-_-GIF-16x9-1.mp4"></video></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Why we care. </strong>This may be a good way for your content team to discover very niche types of content, and give them inspiration on new topics to write about.  It also may be a good way for people to discover your content within Google Discover.</p>


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Google Discover will allow you to use conversational search to customize your feed to content that better matches your desired topics.  
Google wrote, “you’ll be able to tap any three-dot menu in your feed to tell Google the exact topics or links you want to see more (or less) of, in your words.” 
How it works. Google will use the words you enter to customer your feed. Google said:
“Your feed will adjust on the fly, and remember your requests. By letting you refine your tastes in real time, Discover can connect you with content that genuinely matches what you care about right now.
Video. Here is a video of it in action:




Why we care. This may be a good way for your content team to discover very niche types of content, and give them inspiration on new topics to write about.  It also may be a good way for people to discover your content within Google Discover.
AI recommends.
      
See your AI visibility

Google said this helps you customize your Discover feed "with content that genuinely matches what you care about right now."

Google Discover lets you customize your feed using conversational search

<div><img width="1672" height="941" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/Meta-AI.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/Meta-AI.png 1672w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/Meta-AI-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/Meta-AI-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/Meta-AI-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1672px) 100vw, 1672px" /></div>Meta AI can now analyze Meta Ads performance, recommend campaign optimizations and automate reporting for advertisers.

<div><img width="1672" height="941" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/Meta-AI.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/Meta-AI.png 1672w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/Meta-AI-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/Meta-AI-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/Meta-AI-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1672px) 100vw, 1672px" /></div>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Meta is expanding Meta AI for small businesses, giving advertisers the ability to connect their Meta ad campaigns and Google Workspace data directly to the AI assistant for campaign analysis, optimization and automated reporting.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The new capabilities are rolling out across Meta AI on the web, mobile and desktop, giving paid media advertisers another AI-powered tool for understanding performance and identifying potential campaign changes.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Why we care.</strong> Meta is bringing generative AI closer to the day-to-day work of paid media management. Being able to interrogate campaign data, identify struggling creative, assess audiences and budgets, and automatically produce reports could significantly reduce manual analysis. </p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">But the bigger question will be how reliable Meta AI&#8217;s recommendations are — particularly when it&#8217;s effectively advising advertisers how to spend more efficiently on Meta&#8217;s own advertising platform.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>What’s new.</strong> Advertisers can choose to connect Meta AI directly to their Meta ad campaigns and Google Workspace, including Gmail, Docs, Sheets and Slides.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">This gives Meta AI more business context when answering questions about advertising performance and allows marketers to analyze campaign data conversationally instead of manually digging through individual reports.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Campaign optimization.</strong> Meta AI can analyze Meta Ads performance and surface recommendations about what advertisers could change next.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="961" height="678" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/MEta-AI-campaign-management.png" alt="" class="wp-image-485591" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/MEta-AI-campaign-management.png 961w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/MEta-AI-campaign-management-768x542.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 961px) 100vw, 961px" /></figure>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Meta says the assistant can identify which audiences are delivering results, uncover patterns across top-performing creative, flag ads that may no longer be resonating and identify areas where campaign budgets could potentially work harder.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Creative analysis.</strong> The update also gives advertisers another way to diagnose creative performance.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="414" height="753" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/08/MEta-AI-creative-analysis.png" alt="" class="wp-image-485590"/></figure>
</div>


<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Rather than simply showing which ads are performing best or worst, Meta says its AI can identify patterns in successful content and help explain why certain creative may have stopped resonating. That could help advertisers decide which concepts to scale, refresh or replace.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Budget insights.</strong> Meta AI can also analyze where advertising budgets are generating results and highlight areas where spend could potentially be used more effectively.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">That brings AI-generated optimization recommendations closer to the campaign data itself, although advertisers will still need to determine whether suggested changes align with profitability, incrementality and wider business objectives.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>From analysis to reports.</strong> Meta AI can turn its analysis into decks, documents and spreadsheets, combining business information with other available context.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">For paid media teams, that could reduce some of the manual work involved in transforming campaign analysis into client reports, internal presentations or performance spreadsheets.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Recurring analysis.</strong> Advertisers can also set up recurring tasks and reminders, potentially turning one-off campaign analysis into an ongoing workflow.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Instead of repeatedly requesting the same performance analysis, for example, a marketer could have Meta AI regularly review how the business is performing and provide updated reports.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Google Workspace integration.</strong> Connecting Google Workspace could make the feature particularly useful for advertisers whose campaign planning, reporting and business information already live across Gmail, Docs, Sheets and Slides.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Bringing those sources together with Meta Ads data could give the assistant more context when producing reports or answering questions about performance.</p>



<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><strong>Bottom line.</strong> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/business/news/new-meta-ai-features-for-small-business">Meta AI is becoming more directly involved in paid media workflows</a>, moving beyond general assistance to analyzing Meta Ads performance, recommending optimizations and automating reporting for advertisers.</p>


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Meta is expanding Meta AI for small businesses, giving advertisers the ability to connect their Meta ad campaigns and Google Workspace data directly to the AI assistant for campaign analysis, optimization and automated reporting.
The new capabilities are rolling out across Meta AI on the web, mobile and desktop, giving paid media advertisers another AI-powered tool for understanding performance and identifying potential campaign changes.
Why we care. Meta is bringing generative AI closer to the day-to-day work of paid media management. Being able to interrogate campaign data, identify struggling creative, assess audiences and budgets, and automatically produce reports could significantly reduce manual analysis. 
But the bigger question will be how reliable Meta AI’s recommendations are — particularly when it’s effectively advising advertisers how to spend more efficiently on Meta’s own advertising platform.
What’s new. Advertisers can choose to connect Meta AI directly to their Meta ad campaigns and Google Workspace, including Gmail, Docs, Sheets and Slides.
This gives Meta AI more business context when answering questions about advertising performance and allows marketers to analyze campaign data conversationally instead of manually digging through individual reports.
Campaign optimization. Meta AI can analyze Meta Ads performance and surface recommendations about what advertisers could change next.




Meta says the assistant can identify which audiences are delivering results, uncover patterns across top-performing creative, flag ads that may no longer be resonating and identify areas where campaign budgets could potentially work harder.
Creative analysis. The update also gives advertisers another way to diagnose creative performance.




Rather than simply showing which ads are performing best or worst, Meta says its AI can identify patterns in successful content and help explain why certain creative may have stopped resonating. That could help advertisers decide which concepts to scale, refresh or replace.
Budget insights. Meta AI can also analyze where advertising budgets are generating results and highlight areas where spend could potentially be used more effectively.
That brings AI-generated optimization recommendations closer to the campaign data itself, although advertisers will still need to determine whether suggested changes align with profitability, incrementality and wider business objectives.
From analysis to reports. Meta AI can turn its analysis into decks, documents and spreadsheets, combining business information with other available context.
For paid media teams, that could reduce some of the manual work involved in transforming campaign analysis into client reports, internal presentations or performance spreadsheets.
Recurring analysis. Advertisers can also set up recurring tasks and reminders, potentially turning one-off campaign analysis into an ongoing workflow.
Instead of repeatedly requesting the same performance analysis, for example, a marketer could have Meta AI regularly review how the business is performing and provide updated reports.
Google Workspace integration. Connecting Google Workspace could make the feature particularly useful for advertisers whose campaign planning, reporting and business information already live across Gmail, Docs, Sheets and Slides.
Bringing those sources together with Meta Ads data could give the assistant more context when producing reports or answering questions about performance.
Bottom line. Meta AI is becoming more directly involved in paid media workflows, moving beyond general assistance to analyzing Meta Ads performance, recommending optimizations and automating reporting for advertisers.
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Meta AI can now analyze Meta Ads performance, recommend campaign optimizations and automate reporting for advertisers.

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