Hiya,

⏰ Time for your update on SEO, SAIO, and digital marketing.

• While many companies are optimizing their content to be found and cited by AI platforms, others are trying to protect their content from being crawled by AI bots (as we reported last week). So much so that Google is exploring letting “sites opt out of AI search features” like its AI Overviews and AI Mode. Will other AI platforms follow suit? Too soon to tell.

• It’s not only about optimizing for AI chatbots… it’s also making sure your onsite search function is also running at peak performance! As search evolves, people will demand enhanced ability to search on the sites they visit as well. It’s all a part of the user experience — a critical piece of SEO success!

• What is LLMs.txt? Well, it’s “a proposal to standardize using an /llms.txt file to provide info to help LLMs use a website at inference time.” For websites trying to get citations from AI platforms, this file is a big, glittery arrow telling LLMs where to read on your website. Proposal is the key word here — it is not standardized yet. If you have someone on your team able to implement the file, then great. If not, it might not be worth the time yet.

• “How smart leaders use marketing metrics to navigate uncertainty.” Marketers need to stop thinking about analytics reporting dashboards as pass/fail tests. Rather, they should be directional guides to spot trend shifts for course correction. The iceberg analogy used by the author provides a framework for this approach to data, and the article includes a chart of data types and how to spot issues that need navigating.

• What’s the buzz in consumer research for Winter 2026? I’m glad you asked! Provoke Insights has a plethora of insights set in 15 industry-/topic-specific reports (like The Generations, Sustainability, and Home Improvement). Here are some top insights:
  • Discretionary spending: 62% of Americans are spending on apparel, while 59% are spending on vitamins and supplements.
  • Sustainability: 3 in 4 Americans are willing to pay more for brands that take sustainability seriously.
  • Fitness Gear: GenZ, Millennials, and Parents are all 17% more likely to purchase fitness gear products.

• Are you using AI agents to make purchases via channels like Amazon, Google, and ChatGPT? If so, you are among the ~30% of consumers who trust AI for this purpose. Conversely, 71% of marketers surveyed said “establishing ethical and privacy standards is the top step for preparing for AI agent-led commerce.” Read the full story for more on what marketers are thinking as AI agents grow in popularity.

• Marketers are using GenAI to make fun of GenAI. Adam Singer, VP of marketing at AdQuick said, “Because marketers are rewarded outsize for following trends early…the whole sector is conditioned to be early to things, whether that’s good or bad,” he said, citing the metaverse as an example of an early tech trend that resulted in “dollars lit on fire.” Marketers using GenAI as an intentional tool instead of an efficiency play — that’s when GenAI becomes a valuable tool, according to Omid Amidi, chief creative officer at McKinney. Thoughts to brew on as GenAI becomes part of our creative lives.

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Pandas falling… It’s cute, for sure. Funny, definitely. How about inspirational?

Those rotund, clumsy fluffballs seem to make it their business to flop about. What I think is motivational is that they always get up… eventually. 

They take their time, explore the scenario in which they’ve fallen, and maybe find an exciting new diversion.

We can take a lesson from this: when life pulls you somewhere unexpectedly, explore your surroundings and take the time you need to get back up.

Have a splendiferous rest of your week!

Natalie

Toronto Zoo’s Giant Panda Fall Compilation.

You’re welcome. 😉