📊

​Microsoft Clarity introduces branded and non-branded AI query data. Queries will be labelled and can be filtered by branded or non-branded. Share of Authority can also be broken down by branded and non-branded queries.

☁️

​Cloudflare adds AEO visibility dashboard to its AEO suite. This new dashboard joins the existing Agent Readiness tool and includes metrics such as Mention Rate, Citation Rate, Prominence and Share of Voice.

🗣️

​Google Search Console shows follow-up queries from AI Mode. SEOs are reporting queries such as 'Yes' and 'Yes go on' which are likely from users asking follow-up questions in AI Mode.

🖼️

​Google recommends using http caching to conserve crawl budget. Using a 304 Not Modified status code tells Google crawlers that there hasn't been a change since the last crawl so the crawler fetches the cached version instead.

📄

​Google updates its crawl budget optimisation guide. This update clarifies some ambiguity from the previous version and gives specific recommendations about managing crawl budget for large sites.

🛍️

​ChatGPT introduces product feed ad carousels. This feature looks similar to the Google Shopping feed and expands ChatGPT's ads from just one product at a time to multiple products in one search result.

Explore changing behaviours in how people find, click, and buy

Our latest State of Search Q2 2026 report just landed. Built with Datos' clickstream data, the largest of its kind, it tracks how search behaviour continues to shift. AI adoption, changing click patterns, zero-click growth, and where Amazon, Reddit, TikTok, and YouTube fit in. Utilizing real market-wide data, from across the US, UK, and EU.

LAST CHANCE: FREE £125 SearchNorwichXL ticket

We're giving away some free tickets for our upcoming conference, SearchNorwichXL.

So, if you've seen the amazing line up of speakers and want to visit Norwich in September, now is your chance to apply!

Fill out the form below with your details and we'll be announcing the winners this Friday.

Beautiful data can only be maintained by tireless efforts

When we discovered the Google exploit, we saw Google tag whether queries were explicit local (named a place) or implicit (implied a location). So this means ⤵️
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There is no way to force "national level" keyword research when you have implicit local queries; you need to specify a location.
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When we added the ability to specify a city in AlsoAsked searches, I kept getting questions like: "No, I want to do this search at a national level."
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That's not a thing. Every search you do on Google passes some kind of location data, and it will adjust the SERP accordingly. Of course, for many queries that are not local (explicit or implicit), Google will simply ignore the location data (so it doesn't matter which city you choose).
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There is ~no such thing~ as "national level" keyword research. Every single search you do on Google sends location data, which can alter the results based on intent.
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Tell a friend! 🤓

I have no fear of crawls

A tip from Screaming Frog that could get you out of a pickle to run audits via your mobile 📱
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With the Claude desktop and mobile app, you can setup Claude Dispatch to send instructions to your desktop Claude. Since Screaming Frog SEO Spider supports MCP, this means you can send a message to crawl a site and summarise top issues.
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You'd be lucky to catch me without my laptop though #bigscreenjobs

They say PR is the best spice

Digital PR is still one of the biggest SEO levers and hugely important for AI visibility, so how can you come up with ideas consistently that resonate? 💡
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While many of you saw the local LLM solution we have at Candour for news monitoring, I wanted to mention a neat and free feature of Finchling*, which is to view all of the trending digital PR campaigns over the last week/month.
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Having this consistent exposure to the zeitgeist; what is hot, what is working, the stories and the angles is amazing inspiration for digital PR teams, even outside of just reactive opportunities.
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*I want to be very clear, this isn't a paid post (I don't do them). Some of the Candour team were invited by Aleyda and Dave to be early testers, but this is unrelated and they didn't ask for it :)

Why do you think people believe in Clarity?

If you track AI search citations without separating branded from non-branded queries, you are flying blind. ⤵️
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​Microsoft Clarity has just added branded query segmentation to its AI Citations dashboard. You can now filter your data to see exactly when an AI cites your content for a direct brand mention versus a generic category prompt. Use this feature to accurately gauge your brand strength and identify vital opportunities for broad discovery in AI-driven search.
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h/t to Aleyda for spotting this first! (You're subscribed to SEOFOMO yea?).

He couldn't enjoy a prompt with anyone else

It is possible to out which AI search prompts are grounded and not grounded.

This will save you a huge amount of time and resources by working out what *not* to spend time on!
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​Always enjoy being involved with the OGs at Majestic.​

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