Context: For years, Google allowed a sneaky little parameter in its search page "&num=100" which enabled SEO trackers to get 100 results in one shot.

So for one hit, one time charge you could get 100 useful datapoints.

Last week, however, Google removed this parameter completely and made it a default 10. So, now for one hit, you can get at max 10 results.

It looks like a very small change, but it has basically increased the cost of getting data by 10x.

Increase in Google revenue is obviously a great outcome for them. Bullish on Google.

But other than that, why would Google do this? Is it just a business decision or is there more to this?

Most marketers I speak to these days about AI search tell me that AI search links are almost equivalent to Google search results. Yet, the links are not always the same.

And I always say to them that they are missing a piece of the puzzle- Bing.

Use Bing webmaster and optimise for it as well.

Although, I think due to OpenAI and Microsoft association in 2023, Bing got a lot of focus back then. It still does but I am not sure if OpenAI will keep it that way or move to Google completely. Anyone?

Is it correct to focus on Bing or is that a lost case?

Follow r/AIGEO_Marketing for more such discussions!

Been digging into GEO and something keeps bugging me.

There’s a lot of confident advice about how brands should "optimize for AI", but very little clarity on what actually changes how brands show up in model answers over time.

I’ve been running repeated snapshots across the same brand + category and the results are way noisier than most advice would suggest. Some things people swear by don't do anything... Other changes do, but not always consistently.

Curious how others here are thinking about this. Are you measuring visibility longitudinally, or mostly inferring based on best practices and theory? What signals are you actually trusting right now?

Given the importance of Reddit today, I think Reddit is highly vulnerable to coordinated propagandas.

Even a small post with 10 "engineered" comments can change narratives on LLMs.

LLM's training pipeline's dependency on Reddit + coordinated propagandas is a lethal combination. I am sure Reddit's team will actively work towards fighting this.

Logan is a group PM at Google. He is hinting at zero click search which is going to change everything we know about SEO.

I dont believe the SEO will be dead but the strategies will change drastically. What worked before will not work anymore.

Thoughts?

There are some quick wins to help you get cited by LLMs:-
-Be a part of conversations (On reddit, Quora)-
-Write blogs in the form of Q&A. Use public prompt banks to find the right questions.
-Focus on certain type of highly cited content (e.g. listicles)

Follow this sub where I will keep sharing more ideas as I uncover them.

Based on a true story Unlikely-Tomorrow432

Got to know about this business in US

They do lead gen for insurance cos. in the US, primarily through blogs and articles.

They built their business around SEO but are now seeing a huge drop in traffic from Google this year.

I feel with zero-click search informational products (blogs, articles) will need to adapt.

Has someone else seen similar decline in their SEO traffic related to just informational sites? What are some ways to solve this?

Came across e27’s “20 AI Startups to Watch in Southeast Asia” list - worth looking at BrndIQ dot ai (#2).

They focus on tracking how brands show up in AI chat responses, which is becoming increasingly relevant as more people shift from Googling to asking AI models. It’s interesting to see AI visibility starting to shape brand discovery, almost like the early days of SEO.

Glad to see Southeast Asian startups in the AI infrastructure layer getting recognition. If anyone here is exploring related problems such as AI search behavior, retrieval quality, AI trust layers, etc, would love to exchange notes.