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- [00:00]
A
RingCentral's AI receptionist uses Voice AI to answer on the first ring so you'll never miss a call again. In just a few minutes, you can personalize your own AI receptionist to answer questions, route calls, schedule appointments, and even send texts in multiple languages. Plus, it's easy to scale create unlimited AI receptionists across any phone system. It's all powered by one reliable platform for effortless AI communications. See for yourself@ringcentral.com RingCentral Voice of your
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B
Business if you're a podcast host, listen up. This one's for you. My name is Allie Jackson. I'm the host of Finding Mr. Height, a dating and relationship podcast that I've been doing for four years now, sharing my positive and practical approach to dating that's built on my own life experience. And I wanted to share another experience that I've had. My secret behind monetizing my show. It's called Red Circle, and I was just telling my colleague about how much I love their platform. With Red Circle, not only am I getting a seamless hosting experience, but I also love the support I receive in ad sales. I it's not just typical ad sales either. It's targeted opportunities based on my show and my life. And the platform is super simple. You just set your preferences and Red Circle matches you with sponsors that align with your show. You can vet every opportunity and their platform gives you great analytics. More recently too, my Red Circle team has brought me opportunities outside of my podcast on social media to really augment the podcast partnerships. Bring them full circle. I just can't recommend them enough. If you want to give it a try, go to redcircle.com to get your free trial. That's redcircle.com for a free trial.
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C
Foreign.
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D
Welcome to SEO 101 on WMR FM episode number 525. This is Ross Dunn, CEO of Step 4th Web Marketing, and my co host is my company senior SEO Scott Vanek. All right, I've got to get to my notes here, and I already moved them over to my way. So what's first here?
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C
Yeah, I had to zoom in on my notes because I'm getting old. I guess at 48 you're not allowed to read computer screens anymore, so you got to zoom into 500% old lady status.
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E
Yeah.
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C
What do we have first? So this one I just thought was kind of funny. And what makes it even funnier is that Barry posted it because he thought it was funny. It has no real value, but I guess Patrick Garrett posted to Blue sky and oh, I have to say this, there was a US politician camper who remember who it was, that recently referred to it as Blueski. So I think I'm gonna start calling it Blueski. Anyways, totally random irrelevant facts. Anyways, posted to Blue sky, asking Ginny Marvin, who's a Google Ads liaison, any chance you could work your magic and get the ads support hold music updated with an average hold time of three to five minutes and a repeating 25 second classical musical piece. It's enough to drive one crazy longer musical piece or a fresh rotation would be amazing. And then Ginny responded. Hey, Patrick, I haven't the slightest insight into hold music program programming, much less sway over it, but I will pass this along for feedback. So I want to second that even though I haven't been on hold with Google Ads. You know, cell phone providers, they all have the worst elevator music that repeats on like 10, 15, 20 second loops.
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D
That.
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C
Yeah, anyway, so Google's not doing that well either.
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D
So. Yeah, I was on hold with Visa yesterday and on the way to it actually was quite delighted. It was AI and everything and it was very well done. I didn't feel like I was being put upon. But then, is it okay, we're gonna put you in hold now? I'm like, okay. And then the same at. I swear, I don't, I don't understand where they get this music from. It's the same music on every bloody system. The exact same music piece and it just kills me. As soon as I hear it, I get angry. They gotta know this. I mean, it just boggles my mind that they would know that they wouldn't build this out. So that or test this or I don't know. Anyway, yeah, it's very aggravating.
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C
I think they do it on purpose to tick people off so they just get angry and hang up. Yeah, you don't have to talk. I bet there are people that do that. I. I bet there's a stat to that that I'm not going to look up and confirm, but I bet there is one.
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D
Thankfully, after a few minutes of torture, they said that they'd call me back, so I got to leave my number. Oh, I'm so grate when they do that.
- [04:20]
C
That's Good.
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D
Yeah. Okay. OpenAI continues to expand ads in ChatGPT and test ads manager. All right. OpenAI is currently testing an ads manager for Chat GPT advertisers. The ad manager dashboard will allow marketers to run, monitor and optimize their campaigns in real time. When we first reported about chatgpt ads in early January, advertisers were not able to make adjustments themselves. In addition, OpenAI currently sends advertisers CSV files with account data weekly. The ad manager should streamline all of this. We can only hope. Currently, ChatGPT ads are still testing and available only to select advertisers. No word yet on when it will be open up to everyone. We'll certainly be keeping a close eye on that. I'm looking forward to testing that. There's. I think being an early adopter may prove valuable, but we'll see. Just see how good it is, I guess.
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C
These early advertisers are spending insane amounts of money to be there and testing it out. And I find it insane that if they want to make changes to their campaigns, they have to contact somebody and a human has to go in and make those changes. And then they have to wait for their weekly update if they want to see how they're, you know, the clicks are performing and that kind of stuff. And, and it's one thing to get an update, but to have no way to log in and see your account data. Yeah, it's just the fact they that they even launched it in beta without that capability is kind of mind boggling to me. But I guess, I don't know, maybe they have to prove the concept before they want to spend the money developing.
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D
It's. I forget the the term for it, but it's the way people do it now. You just run with it first and then iterate as you go and improve. Improve or abandon it. Yeah, there's a whole discipline around it that I'm totally slipping a name on. But anyway, I remember there so yeah, yeah, I remember reading up on a lot. It was a really big trend and gapping Anyway, SEO News Yahoo Yahoo Yahoo CEO says that Google AI mode is the biggest threat to web traffic Jim Lanzone Yahoo CEO is warning that answer engines are starving publishers of clicks. No news there. But anyway he says I think that the LLMs are one big reason the publishers are under threat with AI mode in Google being the biggest challenge. Those publishers deserve traffic and we're not going to have the content to consume to give great answers if publishers aren't healthy. I 100% agree. I think Google seeing this and doing a better job of providing citations and sources within AI answers. How this will look later on, who knows. It's always moving and always changing but as long as it doesn't cut into their bottom line, I'm sure it'll continue. Now case in point there's an article by Axos, I believe it was. It was. I guess they own chartbeat.com they said. Small publishers are hit hardest by search traffic declines. Over the past two years, referral traffic from traditional search engines has declined by 60% for small publishers, compared with 47% for medium sized publishers and 22% for large publishers. As per Chartbeat, traffic from AI driven search experiences and chatbots isn't close to offsetting declines from traditional search. Page views from Google Search and Google Discover, the two biggest refers of traditional search traffic globally fell 34% and 15% respectively from December 2024 to December 2025. That's a huge drop. Holy smokes. While page views from ChatGPT referrals have increased by more than 200% during that period, chatbots still account for less than 1% of all publisher page view referrals. A lot of dismal stats there. I would not want to be a publisher. We all do a bit of publishing, I guess in a sense with our blogs and whatever writing we do, but to financially survive on it, it gives me the willies. I feel for them. However, as Jim Lenzone said, or essentially animated, we've. We can't live without them. I mean, AI won't function well without them. So something has to be done and we'll see just how that pans out. Google expands Personal Intelligence what's this all about?
- [09:20]
C
Yeah, so if you're in the U.S. google is bringing personal intelligence across its AI mode in search. The Gemini app and Gemini in Chrome Beta was announced in January and is now moving into a broader consumer use. Personalization is, is, you know, making it harder for SEOs and everybody to replicate results track rankings, especially in AI mode. This is not going to make it any easier. Results are based on user history, purchases and behavior, so they can really, you know, personalize more than ever before. With personal intelligence, users can connect apps like Gmail and Google Photos and Google can then use these connections to tailor responses using personal context. So some examples of these types of searches and things may be shopping recommendations based on past purchase and brand preferences, troubleshooting, using receipt data to identify exact devices. That's kind of interesting. You scan your receipt, I guess, and they can figure out exactly what model it is that could be useful. Travel suggestions using flight details, timing data from past trips, all that kind of stuff. So, you know, this personalization definitely has its advantages. It's still kind of scary for those with privacy concerns especially. Google did emphasize that users must opt in to connect apps, connections can be turned on or off at any time. Models do not train directly on Gmail Directly. Ross pointed this out. Do not train directly on Gmail or photo content. What does that look like indirectly?
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D
I don't know.
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C
Prompts and responses may be used to improve systems as well. So you know when they say this training call or this call may be monitored for training purposes. Yeah, Google does the same thing. No, no surprise there, really. The features are available for personal accounts only, not workspace users. Google did also recently note that for personal intelligence users, AI mode will remain ad free for now. They said in the future we anticipate that ads will operate similarly for people who choose to connect their apps in AI mode. Ads will continue to be relevant to things like your query, the context of your response, and your interests.
- [11:38]
A
RingCentral's AI receptionist uses Voice AI to answer on the first ring so you'll never miss a call again. In just a few minutes, you can personalize your own AI receptionist to answer questions, route calls, schedule appointments, and even send texts in multiple languages. Plus, it's easy to scale create unlimited AI receptionists across any phone system. It's all powered by one reliable platform for effortless AI communications. See for yourself@ringcentral.com voice of your business
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E
the Bleacher Report app is your destination for sports right now. The NBA is heating up, March Madness is here, and MLB is almost back. Every day there's a new headline, a new highlight, a new moment you've got to see for yourself. That's why I stay locked in with the Bleacher Report app. For me, it's about staying connected to my sports. I can follow the teams I care about, get real time scores, breaking news and highlights all in one place. Download the Bleacher Report app today so you never miss a moment.
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Hi, I'm Ryan Eggolt, and as a former TV doctor, I have a deep appreciation for the fact that a healthy meal isn't just nourishment, it's the start of something stronger. Access to good nutrition is critical for neighbors facing hunger to thrive, but that access can be limited by external factors. That's why I support Feeding America. Your gift helps the nationwide network of food banks provide fresh, nourishing food. Give now and your gift can double in impact. Every $1 can help provide 20 meals. Visit feedingamerica.org health to join the movement.
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C
So like, obviously they're going to add ads to it, but for now you get it. You get personal intelligence and no ads. So there's there's a reason to get people to sign up, I guess.
- [13:22]
D
Yeah, I guess we'll see how it pans out. I, I don't know, person. Personal results are very cool when it's done right and doesn't feel creepy. So we'll just see.
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C
Yeah, it would be really creepy if, you know, you do a search for whatever, it doesn't matter what it is and in the results is an email from your Gmail account or a photo from your personal, you know, Google Photos or, you know, I, I don't want to see my stuff show up in search results unless it's, you know, public to the Internet. And I want it to be public, but I don't.
- [13:55]
D
There was a time when I had. Remember when we had Google Desktop search?
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C
Oh man.
- [14:03]
D
Yes, I, I loved it. It was fantastic. And I had it installed and I could find things on my computer in a flash. Nothing's ever touched it in terms of quality, but they shut it down of course, because I liked it.
- [14:16]
C
So they spy on you specifically to find things you like and get rid of them.
- [14:21]
D
That's how it feels sometimes. But one of the things it did was it would show in line in search results. Also for my desktop, it wasn't actually going outside of my computer. It was just being an overlay. But yeah, it was creepy. So I actually remember what that looks like. But the idea of it being surfaced after being evaluated and analyzed off my machine, that's a different thing entirely. Yeah, let's hope they don't do that. Well, yeah, I guess we'll see what happens. Google officially removes what people Suggest health search feature. So what people suggest? One year ago in March 2025, Google announced what people suggest. This is using AI. Google would organize different perspect from online conversations from Reddit x Facebook and other social media to make it easier to find reliable medical information. How could that go wrong?
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C
Reliable and medical doesn't work this month.
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D
Google has now removed that search feature. They stated that the removal had nothing to do with the safety or quality of the feature. Oh, of course not. All right, let's take a quick break. When we come back, we're going to talk about some more attacks on listicles. Welcome back to SEO101 on WMR FM hosted by myself, Ross Dunn, CEO of Step 4th Web Marketing and my company's senior SEO Scott Van AK. Okay, is Google hitting self promotional listicles hard again? And this is from. Based on a post from Lily Ray. Why don't you fill us in?
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C
Yeah. So it does look like Google is going after Listicle sites again. Or maybe not again. Just continuing to we did speak about this in early February and Lily Rae actually has some more evidence that this may be increasing. So rather than try to butcher her post, I'm just going to read her post to exit. She put up this week she says found another site with 200 plus best listicles. This one is very expensive. A very expensive exact match domain owned by an SEO agency where the number one best company in each listicle is either that agency or the exact match domain itself. It worked really well through 2025, but a huge drop started right on January 20th of 2026. Like many of the others that she's found, the sharp drop in AI search citations, including chat GPT also started a few days later. Again, plenty of sites are still getting away with this. It seems to work really well on a small scale and definitely still influences AI search responses for now. But I Wonder if the January 21st update wasn't Google's testing a way to demote this for a small batch of the worst offenders. I now have a list of about 30 sites that fit into this exact criteria. So if you run a lot of listicles, be careful. My stance is that you know, they can be a great way to add quality content to your site. But you know, do be careful. Don't focus on self promotion or like mass production. Don't put out a hundred listicles a week or anything ridiculous. Make sure they use honest real world tests, data, expertise, whatever's required for that. But keeping it honest. Don't just put yourself at top on the top all the time. Or you might be one of these sites that Lily Ray references on X.
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D
So yeah, one of the more established news sites in our industry always makes me laugh when they do the top SEO podcasts because sure enough, number one's always theirs.
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C
Yeah, that's weird, eh? It's yeah, every year pretty coincidental that they're randomly the best. So
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D
okay, SEO tests show it's trivial to rank misinformation on Google. Let's tag team this one. So SEO John Goody discovered just how easy it is to manipulate Google with misinformation. Oh dear. What a shocker. Okay, so John was. But I love that he did this. John was crafting a newsletter using AI when he discovered a hallucination about a March twice 2026 Google Core update, which as of right now has not ever taken place. John decided to publish the article as an experiment to see how misinformation spreads the big search publications like Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Land, et cetera, ignored the post. But Some smaller independent SEOs picked it up and ran with it without first fact checking it. For the phrase March Update 2026, Google began ranking the fake news in both clients classic search and AI overviews. The issue was then compounded because as Google started repeating the information, other SEO websites began reporting on it as if it were fact, further reinforcing the fake that fake news is real. While most authoritative sites ignored this fake news, one site ran with it and Goody called them out. What did they say here, Scott?
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C
Yes, good, he says. Another site, Techbytes, went even further with a piece headlined Google March 2026 Core Update Cracking down on Agentic Slop. Which is kind of ironic. The article invented specific technical details, including claims about Gemini 4.0 semantic filter, a zero information gain classification system and a Discover 2.0 engine prioritizing long form technical narratives. It's great that the research can show all this data on something that didn't happen. It's awesome.
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D
That's terrifying.
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C
Some of John's takeaways on all this were that AI workflows should have validation built into them. Yeah, most readers don't fact check and only a few commenters even disputed the false claims. And that AI overviews and search amplify misinformation. Back in January 2025, an EU law actually went into place requiring search engines to fact check their results. And Google said at the time, it will not do that. Maybe it's time that they do because it's only going to get worse. It's going to get so much worse. This is nothing yet.
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D
Can you imagine if they had to fact check the results so it's not even possible?
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Well, that's another thing. Well, I don't know, maybe it is now with AI, I don't know, maybe. But the fact checks would still be wrong.
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D
Well yeah, it wouldn't be live and the cost, like imagine the tokens, the AI tokens that would recruit.
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C
It would be insane.
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D
Yeah, it'd be fascinating if they did it and I would love it to bits. But no, I don't know if they
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C
could do it in real time, but they could probably bake something into the algorithm to like. I don't know how it would work, you know, I'm not a programmer, but there's got to be something they could do to help reduce the fakes, especially when it comes to themselves. That's just because this one's even better because it's a Google core update that didn't exist. And you are Google and you're saying it did happen and it didn't. And anyways, I love it.
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D
Well, I think the best way to reduce it would be to. And I think reduction makes more sense is to act on flagged sites that are regularly posting misinformation. Yeah. And that they've been proven to through fact checking. And then ban them.
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C
Penalize them.
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D
Yeah. You know, just. That would be. Oh, man, I would. I would praise Google up and down if they did that. Man, that would be a huge trans. Trans. Like that would transform my thought of Google. So probably won't happen, but it would be really.
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C
Yeah, exactly. Well, because we already said they only do things to tick you off, not things to make you happy, so they not. You need to tell them that I hope they never, ever do this and then they will do it. Yes. Yes.
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D
I think it'd be the worst idea ever.
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C
Ever.
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D
Oh, dear. Well, on behalf of myself, Ross Dunn, CEO of Stepforth Web Marketing, and my company, Senior SEO Scott Van Ak, thank you for joining us today. If you have any questions you'd like to share with us, please feel free to post them on our Facebook group, Easily found by searching SEO101podcast on Facebook. Have a great week and remember to tune into future episodes, which air every week on wmr.
- [22:59]
C
Thanks for listening, everybody.
- [23:18]
A
RingCentral's AI receptionist uses Voice AI to answer on the first ring so you'll never miss a call again. In just a few minutes, you can personalize your own AI receptionist to answer questions, route calls, schedule appointments, and even send texts in multiple languages. Plus, it's easy to scale create unlimited AI receptionists across any phone system. It's all powered by one reliable platform for effortless AI communications. See for yourself@ringcentral.com ringcentral voice of your business.
- [23:49]
B
If you're a podcast host, listen up. This one's for you. My name is Allie Jackson. I'm the host of Finding Mr. Height, a dating and relationship podcast that I've been doing for four years now, sharing my positive and practical approach to dating that's built on my own life experience. And I wanted to share another experience that I've had. My secret behind monetizing my show. It's called Red Circle, and I was just telling my colleague about how much I love their platform. With Red Circle, not only am I getting a seamless hosting experience, but I also love the support I receive in ad sales. It's not just typical ad sales either. It's targeted opportunities based on my show and my life and the platform is super simple. You just set your preferences and Red Circle matches you with sponsors that align with your show. You can vet every opportunity and their platform gives you great analytics. More recently too, my Red Circle team has brought me opportunities outside of my podcast on social media to really augment the podcast partnerships. Bring them full circle. I just can't recommend them enough. If you want to give it a try, go to redcircle.com to get your free trial. That's redcircle.com for a free trial.