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​Google Search Console's AI reports now available globally. These reports, as well as the search generative AI controls, have been rolling out for a few months and Google confirmed that all sites now have access.

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​Google Trends adds new category filters. On the Explore page, Google Trends now allows users to filter trends by category, even if the user doesn't include a query.

☁️

​Google recommends against cache busting your sitemap to trigger daily crawls. This 'hack' is an alternative to using the lastmod element but John Mueller advised against it because stable URLs are important.

📷

​Google Business Profile tests new photo verification option. Typically, the verification methods include phone, text, email, live video call and even a postcard. This has not been confirmed by Google yet.

❇️

​Google launches Gemini 3.8 Flash and Gemini 3.8 Flash Cyber. 3.8 Flash is built for agents and complex coding, while 3.8 Flash Cyber is a cybersecurity-focused model for detecting security vulnerabilities.

🌏

​Merchant Center AI performance reports expand to new countries. Previously only available in the US, these insights are now available in Australia, Canada, India and New Zealand.

New research: Comparing ChatGPT & AI Mode

We analyzed 126M+ prompts to get clarity on the key levers and characteristics of ChatGPT and AI Mode, helping you to grow your brand’s AI visibility in each.

Discover the differences in the brands being mentioned, the sources being cited, and the competitive sets they create across 22 industries.

Another voice in the wall part 2

​Myriam Jessier at Search Evolution Summit points out your phone “voice to text” is a good rough test on how you enunciate in terms of auto-transcription and LLM ingestion.
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Some other little tips for video: don’t say “it” - name the product/service to get subject/predicate/object relations embedded.

Search on your crazy diamond

​Gianluca Fiorelli at Search Evolution Summit says a million keyword export on a spreadsheet is not the way to start keyword research.
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Start with:

• Ontology: what are you talking about?
• Taxonomy: how are we categorising it?
• Entities: what exists within these topics
• Words: are how you make it happen

All of this is done i context to the audience/personas.

The great prompt in the sky

“The buying decision is made in the prompt”.

​Dixon Jones points out that mentions, despite not driving clicks, can have a significant impact on revenue.
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My experience has been these mentions can drive branded search in traditional search engines too.
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(Maybe this was unsolicited #AEO tip 🤡?)

Wish you were Waikay

​Bengü Sarıca Dinçer at Search Evolution Summit recommends Waikay to take you further than citations and start to measure your brands recognition and proximity in categories you want to lead.

Links (in the air)

"All agencies are buying links if they're honest".

Nope, and it's not because I care so much about what Google says, there are technical/ROI reasons that Candour does not:
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💅 Genuine digital PR coverage gets you links that are hard for competitors to replicate. They can't just go to a vendor and buy them.
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🪴Great stories grow themselves. I've worked on digital PR campaigns that are still attracting links 10 years later. You build real equity.
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📈 We know from the Google exploit we found that people searching for your website/brand and clicking is a big component in "site_quality_score" which is the gateway to other search features
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📣 Getting mentioned in real publications builds brand, sentiment, and position you. You're creating the exact footprint to get yourself embedded into AI training data, and a great source for RAG.
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⚠️ You don't need to factor in the risk to your expected value. Paid links can suddenly be worth zero, or in a worst case scenario, actively damage you. This isn't the case with genuine coverage.
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🐕 For our client Vetster, in just 6 months we landed 238 pieces of coverage, 28% increase in referring domains, ~17M brand views and drove a 23% increase in brand searches. https://withcandour.co.uk/work/vetster-digital-pr-case-study​

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