WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.080 Say I search for a plumber, and Google's written a little paragraph about what they do. Right there on the listing. 00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:06.960 Is it right? 00:00:06.960 --> 00:00:12.960 Mostly. Except it says they install water heaters. They stopped doing water heaters years ago. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:14.480 Huh. Where'd it get that? 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:19.280 Nobody knows. But their own website still says it too. 00:00:19.280 --> 00:00:20.160 Oh no. 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:25.040 Yep. Still on the services page. Right under a photo of a truck they sold. 00:00:25.040 --> 00:00:27.440 So it might just be reading them. 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:30.560 Old them. Old them is a liability. 00:00:30.560 --> 00:00:34.720 Okay, to be fair to Google, it's a test, and Google, 00:00:34.720 --> 00:00:37.600 Don't. Save it. We've got a whole episode. 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:40.160 We do have a whole episode. 00:00:52.001 --> 00:01:03.121 This is After the Demo. I'm John Arndt. I run about fifteen small software products out of Sacramento, most of them built and run with AI agents, plus an AI consulting practice. 00:01:03.121 --> 00:01:04.161 And I'm Kate. 00:01:04.161 --> 00:01:15.121 So, in the last month or so, there's been a lot of news about Google business listings. Google's testing its own AI summary on some of them. And on Maps, it put the full list of reviews behind a sign in. 00:01:15.121 --> 00:01:16.801 Wait, the reviews? 00:01:16.801 --> 00:01:23.041 The full list. And it's pausing new reviews on some profiles after it spots a spike in spam reviews. 00:01:23.041 --> 00:01:29.681 So Google's writing about your business and putting your reviews behind a sign in. When did anybody ask you? 00:01:29.681 --> 00:01:33.521 Nobody asked. Which is why this one's about what you can actually check. 00:01:33.521 --> 00:01:40.321 What I want out of this. Should you just opt out. Can a review push backfire. And what do you check this week. 00:01:40.321 --> 00:01:42.321 And where that paragraph comes from. 00:01:42.321 --> 00:01:43.121 Do you know? 00:01:43.121 --> 00:01:47.841 No. Nobody does. Google hasn't said. But I'll tell you what we actually know. 00:01:47.841 --> 00:01:53.041 Great show. And if he says it depends without telling me on what, I'm stopping him. 00:01:53.041 --> 00:01:57.121 She will. Okay. Get your phone out. Let's look at one. 00:02:00.401 --> 00:02:08.801 So. Search for a business. Any local business. On a phone, the listing's up near the top. On a computer, it's the big box on the right. 00:02:08.801 --> 00:02:11.681 The one with the hours and the photos and the stars. 00:02:11.681 --> 00:02:22.801 That one. Now, in this test, the top of that box says AI Overview. Under that there's a paragraph Google wrote about the business. And under that, a button that says Show more. 00:02:22.801 --> 00:02:24.961 And Show more does what? 00:02:24.961 --> 00:02:29.841 Opens a chat. You can ask it follow up questions, and it works like Google's AI Mode. 00:02:29.841 --> 00:02:35.281 Wait. So on the business's own listing, Google's the one talking. Not the business. 00:02:35.281 --> 00:02:36.761 In this test, yes. 00:02:36.761 --> 00:02:43.281 Is everybody getting this? Because I feel like people would be talking about a chatbot on the pizza place's listing. 00:02:43.281 --> 00:02:57.681 No, not everybody, and that matters. A guy named Ben Fisher posted an example on LinkedIn. Then Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable got it to show up himself and wrote it up in September. He thinks Google's been testing versions of this for a while. 00:02:57.681 --> 00:02:59.681 One guy's screenshot. 00:02:59.681 --> 00:03:08.401 Two guys. Schwartz made it happen on his own screen. But some people are seeing it, and you may not yet. Treat it like a test, because that's what it is. 00:03:08.401 --> 00:03:12.801 Do it with me, then. Say you run a dental office. What's the paragraph going to say? 00:03:12.801 --> 00:03:16.561 Honestly? We don't know what Google feeds it. Google hasn't said. 00:03:16.561 --> 00:03:22.001 Then how is anybody supposed to fix it? You can't fix a paragraph when you don't know where it came from. 00:03:22.001 --> 00:03:27.281 Fine. So, the one example we've got. Schwartz looked up the summary on his own company. 00:03:27.281 --> 00:03:28.961 The reporter checked himself. 00:03:28.961 --> 00:03:35.841 Yep. And he said most of it is correct. But the part about his niche solutions was, his words, a tad old. 00:03:35.841 --> 00:03:37.121 A tad. 00:03:37.121 --> 00:03:43.761 And then the line I like. He said he can't blame the AI, because the content on his corporate site is super old as well. 00:03:43.761 --> 00:03:47.681 Wait. So by his own account, the robot didn't make it up. 00:03:47.681 --> 00:03:48.801 That's how he tells it. 00:03:48.801 --> 00:03:49.841 Old you did. 00:03:49.841 --> 00:03:51.921 That's going on a mug. 00:03:51.921 --> 00:03:55.041 Old them strikes again. I said it at the top. 00:03:55.041 --> 00:04:02.321 You did. But careful. That's one guy reading his own listing. One example. And Google hasn't said what it reads. 00:04:02.321 --> 00:04:06.521 Might be the website, might be something else, and nobody's telling. 00:04:06.521 --> 00:04:17.481 Right. So worry about the half you control. You can't control what Google reads. You can control whether the services page you wrote five years ago still says something that stopped being true. 00:04:17.481 --> 00:04:19.881 Great. The homework is cleaning your room. 00:04:19.881 --> 00:04:22.601 Your old rooms. The ones you forgot you had. 00:04:22.601 --> 00:04:24.401 Like what? Give me rooms. 00:04:24.401 --> 00:04:29.441 A service you stopped offering, but the page is still up. Hours from before you changed them. 00:04:29.441 --> 00:04:30.961 The town you moved out of. 00:04:30.961 --> 00:04:38.161 Oh, that's a good one. You moved across town three years ago, and there's still an about page saying proudly serving the old neighborhood. 00:04:38.161 --> 00:04:39.201 Proudly. 00:04:39.201 --> 00:04:40.881 It's always proudly. 00:04:40.881 --> 00:04:45.361 Wait. People don't go to the about page. Nobody's reading that. 00:04:45.361 --> 00:04:47.761 You're not reading it. Something might be. 00:04:47.761 --> 00:04:50.641 Hm. That's creepier than I wanted it to be. 00:04:50.641 --> 00:04:56.801 And you won't find out from a phone call. Nobody calls to say, hey, your Google paragraph thinks you still do water heaters. 00:04:56.801 --> 00:04:58.401 They just call the other plumber. 00:04:58.401 --> 00:05:00.881 And you never even find out you lost the call. 00:05:00.881 --> 00:05:09.121 I want to push on the old rooms thing, though. Say you didn't write your website. Somebody's nephew did, in a weekend, and nobody has the password. 00:05:09.121 --> 00:05:11.641 That's real. That's very real. 00:05:11.641 --> 00:05:16.161 Telling them to go clean it up is like telling them to clean a room they don't have the key to. 00:05:16.161 --> 00:05:20.721 Then the first step is finding the key. Who has the login. Before anything else. 00:05:20.721 --> 00:05:22.441 That's a less fun homework. 00:05:22.441 --> 00:05:26.841 It's a five minute email, though. And you need it for everything else we're going to talk about. 00:05:26.841 --> 00:05:31.521 Fine. Now let me tell you what Schwartz actually thought of the whole thing, because I read the rest. 00:05:31.521 --> 00:05:33.921 You read the rest? Voluntarily? 00:05:33.921 --> 00:05:41.481 Some of us read. He said he's honestly not a fan. He's not sure he wants AI describing his business when he can do it himself. 00:05:41.481 --> 00:05:41.841 Yeah. 00:05:41.841 --> 00:05:50.041 And honestly? Same. If it's your business, you write the paragraph. Not a robot that might've read your about page from three years ago. 00:05:50.041 --> 00:05:50.841 I get that. 00:05:50.841 --> 00:05:52.988 You get it, but you're making a face. 00:05:52.988 --> 00:06:00.921 I'm making a face because you're not going to win a fight with Google over the pen. What you can do is make sure everything Google might read is current. 00:06:00.921 --> 00:06:02.481 That's the boring answer. 00:06:02.481 --> 00:06:04.195 It's usually the boring answer. 00:06:04.195 --> 00:06:07.001 With you it's always the boring answer. 00:06:07.001 --> 00:06:09.601 Boring works. That's the annoying part. 00:06:09.601 --> 00:06:13.561 Actually, wait. Can you just tell Google no? Is there a button? 00:06:13.561 --> 00:06:16.161 There's a button. It might not do what you think. 00:06:16.161 --> 00:06:17.441 Then I say push it. 00:06:17.441 --> 00:06:18.481 Let's argue about it. 00:06:23.255 --> 00:06:29.895 Formal debate. I'm for the button. You're against. Two minutes each, and nobody says it depends. 00:06:29.895 --> 00:06:31.415 You're really holding me to that. 00:06:31.415 --> 00:06:33.655 I said it in the intro. It's binding. 00:06:33.655 --> 00:06:36.855 Fine. Ground rules first, the stuff we both agree on. 00:06:36.855 --> 00:06:37.575 Allowed. 00:06:37.575 --> 00:06:49.975 There's a setting in Search Console. Flip it, and Google keeps your site out of its AI answers. AI Overviews, AI Mode, even the AI Overviews in Discover. And as of August thirty first, Google says every site has it. 00:06:49.975 --> 00:06:52.295 Opt out meaning what, exactly? 00:06:52.295 --> 00:06:59.095 Two parts. Your pages stop showing up as a link in those answers. And Google stops using your pages to write the answer. 00:06:59.095 --> 00:07:00.615 Good. That's the whole point. 00:07:00.615 --> 00:07:08.535 I know. Hold onto that. And the report next to it is the one we did in episode one. Impressions, no clicks. I'm not doing that again. 00:07:08.535 --> 00:07:10.455 Thank you. My case. 00:07:10.455 --> 00:07:11.415 Floor's yours. 00:07:11.415 --> 00:07:17.175 Nobody asked. Google started writing paragraphs about businesses and didn't check with anybody first. 00:07:17.175 --> 00:07:17.815 True. 00:07:17.815 --> 00:07:25.735 And Schwartz, who covers this for a living, said he's not sure he wants AI describing his business when he can do it himself. I'm with him. 00:07:25.735 --> 00:07:26.615 Also true. 00:07:26.615 --> 00:07:34.455 So if the robot's going to quote old you, stop feeding it. Why let a machine paraphrase you badly when you can just say it yourself? 00:07:34.455 --> 00:07:35.815 That's a good closing line. 00:07:35.815 --> 00:07:37.815 It's my opening line. Your turn. 00:07:37.815 --> 00:07:49.255 Okay. The button takes your pages out. Your pages. Nothing we've read says it stops Google describing your business from other sources. And nothing we've read says it touches that summary on your listing at all. 00:07:49.255 --> 00:07:51.575 Wait, so the paragraph stays? 00:07:51.575 --> 00:07:57.015 As far as anything we've read, the answer still gets written. It just gets written from everybody else's pages. 00:07:57.015 --> 00:07:59.815 From who? Who else is writing about a plumber? 00:07:59.815 --> 00:08:06.215 Directories. Review sites. Some best of roundup a local blog did three years ago. Whoever wrote about you. 00:08:06.215 --> 00:08:07.255 Oh. 00:08:07.255 --> 00:08:11.895 So you push the button, and you've fired the only writer who can actually fix old them. 00:08:11.895 --> 00:08:17.815 I hate that that's good. Wait, though. The directories at least have the hours right. 00:08:17.815 --> 00:08:19.975 Do they? Who updated them? 00:08:19.975 --> 00:08:22.775 Nobody updated them. 00:08:22.775 --> 00:08:33.175 Nobody ever updates them. And there's a second problem. If your pages stop showing up in Google's AI answers, the one official report you get from Google has nothing of yours left to count. 00:08:33.175 --> 00:08:34.935 So you'd be flying blind. 00:08:34.935 --> 00:08:42.695 Blinder. It wasn't a great view to start with. Even Google's John Mueller said in September that the way they count this stuff will evolve over time. 00:08:42.695 --> 00:08:44.415 That is not reassuring. 00:08:44.415 --> 00:08:48.135 It wasn't meant to be. But a bad view still beats no view. 00:08:48.135 --> 00:08:49.695 Time. That was two minutes. 00:08:49.695 --> 00:08:51.335 That was ninety seconds. 00:08:51.335 --> 00:08:58.615 It felt like two. And hang on, you keep saying nothing we've read. That's a lot of nothing. 00:08:58.615 --> 00:09:06.615 It is. Google hasn't said much. So I'm only telling you what Google says the button does, and Google says it does that to your pages. 00:09:06.615 --> 00:09:17.015 My real problem, though. Half the people listening haven't touched their website since the nephew built it. If the site's that bad, isn't Google better off ignoring the site completely? 00:09:17.015 --> 00:09:26.855 Then the button doesn't save them either. Google probably just skips the one page that's theirs and describes them from the directory listing they set up once and forgot about. Which is likely older. 00:09:26.855 --> 00:09:28.935 Older than old them. 00:09:28.935 --> 00:09:29.975 Ancient them. 00:09:29.975 --> 00:09:41.775 No. We're not doing ancient them. Comeback. Say Google's AI answer keeps quoting the owner's page wrong. They fixed the page, it's still wrong, and nobody at Google picks up the phone. 00:09:41.775 --> 00:09:50.135 That's the real case for the button. For the AI answers, anyway. The summary on your listing, nothing we've read says it touches. I'll give you that one. 00:09:50.135 --> 00:09:50.695 Ha. 00:09:50.695 --> 00:09:58.695 But it's the last resort. Fix the page first. Check your listing info. And if the answer's still wrong after all that, then you think about it. 00:09:58.695 --> 00:10:01.895 That sounded an awful lot like it depends. 00:10:01.895 --> 00:10:06.055 It depends on whether you fixed the page. I told you on what. That's legal. 00:10:06.055 --> 00:10:08.055 I'll allow it. 00:10:08.055 --> 00:10:08.935 Closing argument? 00:10:08.935 --> 00:10:11.415 Thirty seconds. I'm timing you this time. 00:10:11.415 --> 00:10:18.535 Your instinct is right. You want to control your own story. The button just takes your voice out of the room and leaves everybody else's in. 00:10:18.535 --> 00:10:23.975 Okay. Fine. You win. Nobody's pushing the button. 00:10:23.975 --> 00:10:24.695 Thank you. 00:10:24.695 --> 00:10:25.735 Don't gloat. 00:10:25.735 --> 00:10:27.975 I'm not gloating. This is just my face. 00:10:27.975 --> 00:10:29.495 That's your gloating face. 00:10:29.495 --> 00:10:31.415 It's the same face. 00:10:31.415 --> 00:10:33.015 But it goes on Kate's list. 00:10:33.015 --> 00:10:34.215 What's Kate's list? 00:10:34.215 --> 00:10:35.575 Things I'm coming back to. 00:10:35.575 --> 00:10:36.455 Am I on it? 00:10:36.455 --> 00:10:37.895 You'll know it when you're on it. 00:10:37.895 --> 00:10:39.255 That's a little ominous. 00:10:39.255 --> 00:10:43.175 So really, the answer is make old them less wrong. 00:10:43.175 --> 00:10:45.095 Yes. The boring one again. 00:10:45.095 --> 00:10:46.535 Two for two on boring. 00:10:46.535 --> 00:10:47.655 Boring's undefeated. 00:10:47.655 --> 00:10:51.495 What about the reviews, then? Because that's the part people actually read. 00:10:52.003 --> 00:10:54.643 Oh, I have thoughts on reviews. 00:10:54.643 --> 00:10:56.323 I was afraid of that. 00:11:01.038 --> 00:11:04.798 Before you start, I read this one, so I'm going first. 00:11:04.798 --> 00:11:05.918 You did homework. 00:11:05.918 --> 00:11:17.038 I did. As of the end of September, Google Maps asks you to sign in to a Google account to see all the reviews on a business listing. To sort them, too. And to leave one. 00:11:17.038 --> 00:11:17.598 Huh. 00:11:17.598 --> 00:11:20.238 You've never seen that wall, have you? 00:11:20.238 --> 00:11:22.478 Isn't everybody signed in to everything? 00:11:22.478 --> 00:11:25.278 Strangers aren't. Are you signed in on your phone? 00:11:25.278 --> 00:11:27.198 Probably. I've never checked. 00:11:27.198 --> 00:11:31.958 Of course you haven't. So you're the one person who can't see what a stranger sees. 00:11:31.958 --> 00:11:34.078 That's fair. 00:11:34.078 --> 00:11:35.598 Signed in John. 00:11:35.598 --> 00:11:37.038 Is that going to be a thing? 00:11:37.038 --> 00:11:38.238 It's a thing now. 00:11:38.238 --> 00:11:39.358 Why'd Google do it? 00:11:39.358 --> 00:11:50.238 Schwartz's guess? Stopping bots, AI platforms and other companies from scraping the reviews. And he says straight out it's a guess. Google hasn't said why, as far as we've seen. 00:11:50.238 --> 00:11:54.158 So a stranger looking you up might see less than you think they see. 00:11:54.158 --> 00:11:55.918 Less than you see, anyway. 00:11:55.918 --> 00:11:57.518 Okay. I have a pitch. 00:11:57.518 --> 00:11:58.478 Oh no. 00:11:58.478 --> 00:12:13.038 Hear me out. Google's AI is starting to write summaries of listings. Reviews matter. So now's the moment. A review push. Email everybody you've done work for in the last year. This week. Get a pile of reviews in before the summaries settle. 00:12:13.038 --> 00:12:16.078 Everybody from the last year. In one week. 00:12:16.078 --> 00:12:17.398 That's the beauty of it. 00:12:17.398 --> 00:12:20.358 That's the problem with it. Cross examination. 00:12:20.358 --> 00:12:21.318 I wasn't done. 00:12:21.318 --> 00:12:23.318 You were done. Exhibit one. 00:12:23.318 --> 00:12:24.398 There are exhibits? 00:12:24.398 --> 00:12:33.758 There are three. Exhibit one is an email Google's been sending some owners. Quote, Google has detected a spike in spam reviews on your Business Profile. 00:12:33.758 --> 00:12:35.838 Spam. Mine wouldn't be spam. 00:12:35.838 --> 00:12:43.678 Hold that thought. It removed them, and it says new ratings, reviews and other user contributions have been temporarily paused. 00:12:43.678 --> 00:12:44.878 Paused for how long? 00:12:44.878 --> 00:12:49.678 Google says it lifts the pause once the risk is mitigated, typically within a few days. 00:12:49.678 --> 00:12:52.078 Okay, a few days isn't the end of the world. 00:12:52.078 --> 00:13:00.318 A few days where nobody can leave you a review. Right when you asked everyone to. Now. What does your push look like from Google's side? 00:13:00.318 --> 00:13:01.838 A spike. 00:13:01.838 --> 00:13:12.798 Exactly. Google's watching for spikes in spam reviews, and what counts as spam isn't public. So whether your push reads as spam, you don't get to decide. Even if it isn't. 00:13:12.798 --> 00:13:13.918 It might be fine. 00:13:13.918 --> 00:13:16.758 It might. You want to bet your listing on might? 00:13:16.758 --> 00:13:18.638 Exhibit two. 00:13:18.638 --> 00:13:29.638 One consultant commented on that story. A former client asked her about the notice. They'd opened a new location, and by her account, they were always very good about getting a steady stream of reviews. 00:13:29.638 --> 00:13:32.398 Steady. So, the opposite of a blitz. 00:13:32.398 --> 00:13:40.238 The careful version. And they still got the notice. She thinks Google questioned their methods, and that the filter needs refining. 00:13:40.238 --> 00:13:42.398 We don't know what they actually did, though. 00:13:42.398 --> 00:13:50.238 We don't. One consultant, one former client. But if the steady version got the notice, I wouldn't bet a blitz does better. 00:13:50.238 --> 00:13:51.838 Okay. Exhibit three. 00:13:51.838 --> 00:13:55.438 Exhibit three is really for you. You love a study. 00:13:55.438 --> 00:13:57.278 Don't flatter me. Read it. 00:13:57.278 --> 00:14:08.798 Two researchers put out a study in September. It's a preprint, so not peer reviewed yet. They asked AI models for local recommendations, and part of it was restaurants in thirteen American cities. 00:14:08.798 --> 00:14:09.518 Okay. 00:14:09.518 --> 00:14:19.918 The restaurants the models recommended had about three to five times as many Google Maps reviews as a typical restaurant in those cities. And ratings at most about a tenth of a star higher. 00:14:19.918 --> 00:14:21.438 A tenth of a star. 00:14:21.438 --> 00:14:25.838 Which, I'm sorry, is nothing. I can't feel a tenth of a star. 00:14:25.838 --> 00:14:27.918 Nobody can feel a tenth of a star. 00:14:27.918 --> 00:14:35.678 The picks had way more reviews and barely better stars. And a count like that takes a while to build. Nobody gets it in a weekend. 00:14:35.678 --> 00:14:39.998 One catch, though. It shows what got picked. Not why it got picked. 00:14:39.998 --> 00:14:41.758 I'll take it. Verdict? 00:14:41.758 --> 00:14:43.998 Yeah. You're right. Drop the push. 00:14:43.998 --> 00:14:45.998 Say it again, slower. 00:14:45.998 --> 00:14:49.678 You're right. Drop the push. 00:14:49.678 --> 00:14:52.638 Thank you. So what do you do instead? 00:14:52.638 --> 00:15:00.558 Ask for one review after every job. Every time. So nothing ever piles up. It just trickles in, and it never stops. 00:15:00.558 --> 00:15:01.918 And that's safe? 00:15:01.918 --> 00:15:08.158 Safer. Not safe. Exhibit two was a steady business, by her account, and they still got the notice. 00:15:08.158 --> 00:15:09.838 And if you get the email anyway? 00:15:09.838 --> 00:15:19.518 Read it. Google says if you think real reviews were removed by mistake, you can ask Google to take another look. And you can still edit your Business Profile information any time. 00:15:19.518 --> 00:15:21.758 Then that one I'm taking off Kate's list. 00:15:21.758 --> 00:15:22.878 It was on the list? 00:15:22.878 --> 00:15:27.038 It went on the second you said hear me out. Now it's off. Settled. 00:15:27.038 --> 00:15:29.518 I walked in here thinking the push was smart. 00:15:29.518 --> 00:15:31.278 You walked in signed in. 00:15:31.278 --> 00:15:33.598 I'm never living that down. 00:15:33.598 --> 00:15:39.358 Signed in John. When a stranger searches a business's name, what do they see now? 00:15:44.138 --> 00:15:45.418 Depends who they are. 00:15:45.418 --> 00:15:48.378 Nope. No. That's an it depends. 00:15:48.378 --> 00:15:50.218 I was going to tell you on what! 00:15:50.218 --> 00:15:55.498 New game, then. I read you a claim, you tell me keep it or toss it. Short answers. 00:15:55.498 --> 00:15:56.698 I don't do short. 00:15:56.698 --> 00:15:57.578 Learn. 00:15:57.578 --> 00:15:58.778 Okay. 00:15:58.778 --> 00:16:08.058 Claim one. Chris Long, who works in SEO, posted on X that ninety three percent of the brands he tested had an AI Overview when you search their name. 00:16:08.058 --> 00:16:09.738 Keep it. With footnotes. 00:16:09.738 --> 00:16:14.058 That's not short. And ninety three percent sounds like basically everybody. 00:16:14.058 --> 00:16:17.978 Basically everybody in his sample. Which is about a hundred big brands. 00:16:17.978 --> 00:16:18.778 Hold that. 00:16:18.778 --> 00:16:22.138 Short footnotes. Barry Schwartz covered it at the end of September. 00:16:22.138 --> 00:16:23.178 Barry again. 00:16:23.178 --> 00:16:30.618 Barry's having a big month. In most of the examples he looked at, the AI box sat lower on the page, below the brand's own site. 00:16:30.618 --> 00:16:32.218 Then why does it matter? 00:16:32.218 --> 00:16:37.898 Because it's still on the page. And the ones that didn't get one were Google's own name and news publishers. 00:16:37.898 --> 00:16:40.138 Google doesn't summarize Google. 00:16:40.138 --> 00:16:41.338 Not in that sample. 00:16:41.338 --> 00:16:50.178 Claim two. DemandSphere, a search data company, posted on September thirtieth that AI Overviews on branded searches tripled in September. 00:16:50.178 --> 00:16:54.298 Keep it. It's their count, not Google's, and the post doesn't give a sample size. 00:16:54.298 --> 00:16:55.818 That was almost short. 00:16:55.818 --> 00:16:56.778 I'm growing. 00:16:56.778 --> 00:17:09.218 Claim three. Malte Landwehr from Peec AI, a company that tracks AI search, posted his company's data saying the share of AI Overviews with outside links went from close to zero to over a quarter. 00:17:09.218 --> 00:17:10.298 Over what period? 00:17:10.298 --> 00:17:12.738 Doesn't say. No sample size either. 00:17:12.738 --> 00:17:18.898 Keep it, gently. And the fun part. Barry wrote it up, and he said it doesn't feel right to him. 00:17:18.898 --> 00:17:20.338 Then why'd he share it? 00:17:20.338 --> 00:17:23.858 Because it cut against what he'd been reporting. He'd been saying the opposite. 00:17:23.858 --> 00:17:25.458 Huh. Respect. 00:17:25.458 --> 00:17:29.658 He also says, same post, that he has a small investment in that company. 00:17:29.658 --> 00:17:31.658 Respect, with a footnote. 00:17:31.658 --> 00:17:33.271 Everything gets a footnote today. 00:17:33.271 --> 00:17:40.178 Okay, but stop the game for a second. These are all giant brands. Nobody ran this on a plumber in Fresno. 00:17:40.178 --> 00:17:42.298 You're right. That's big brand data. 00:17:42.298 --> 00:17:44.018 What does the plumber do with it, then? 00:17:44.018 --> 00:17:53.578 The small business version, you do yourself. Search your own business name. If there's an AI box, look at whose pages it points to. Yours, a directory, a review site. 00:17:53.578 --> 00:17:55.418 And if it's not pointing to yours? 00:17:55.418 --> 00:17:58.098 Then you know whose pages that answer is leaning on. 00:17:58.098 --> 00:18:01.178 Old them. Or somebody else's old them. 00:18:01.178 --> 00:18:05.258 Somebody else's old them is worse. That one's harder to fix. 00:18:05.258 --> 00:18:06.485 Signed out, by the way. 00:18:06.485 --> 00:18:07.698 I heard you the first time. 00:18:07.698 --> 00:18:17.738 Claim four. Neil Patel, earlier this month. He says the Search Console AI report is like a billboard company calling to tell you how many cars drove past. 00:18:17.738 --> 00:18:20.858 We did the no clicks part in episode one. I'll skip it. 00:18:20.858 --> 00:18:21.658 You will. 00:18:21.658 --> 00:18:29.098 The new bit is good, though. He says the report can't tell you whether the answer actually named you, or just read your page to write about somebody else. 00:18:29.098 --> 00:18:30.858 Wait. That can happen? 00:18:30.858 --> 00:18:33.818 That's his point. And you'd never know which from the report. 00:18:33.818 --> 00:18:38.058 So it's a billboard company that won't tell you whose name was on the billboard. 00:18:38.058 --> 00:18:39.498 That's better than his version. 00:18:39.498 --> 00:18:40.298 I know. 00:18:40.298 --> 00:18:44.698 Keep it. The report's still worth ten minutes a month. Just know what it can't tell you. 00:18:44.698 --> 00:18:54.218 Claim five. Alex Groberman, also earlier this month. He read another analyst's breakdown of a search product Google sells to businesses through Google Cloud. 00:18:54.218 --> 00:18:56.618 That's already three steps away from anything. 00:18:56.618 --> 00:19:10.298 Let me finish. He thinks Google's AI search runs on a lot of the same plumbing as that product. And he says that product cuts pages into pieces of at most about three hundred seventy five words. Which is oddly specific. 00:19:10.298 --> 00:19:15.338 Interesting. And exactly why somebody will turn it into a rule by Friday. Toss it. 00:19:15.338 --> 00:19:17.898 Just like that? You said interesting. 00:19:17.898 --> 00:19:25.618 Interesting isn't advice. It's one person's read of somebody else's analysis of a different product. Not proof of how Google Search works. 00:19:25.618 --> 00:19:30.058 Somebody listening already started chopping their website into little pieces. 00:19:30.058 --> 00:19:33.258 Then stop. Don't rewrite anything off one post. 00:19:33.258 --> 00:19:34.298 Kate's list. 00:19:34.298 --> 00:19:35.418 Of course it is. 00:19:35.418 --> 00:19:42.218 Wait. I just noticed something. Both of those posts, Patel and Groberman, end in a sales pitch. 00:19:42.218 --> 00:19:43.098 They both do. 00:19:43.098 --> 00:19:44.218 You skipped that part. 00:19:44.218 --> 00:19:50.138 I was getting there. Selling something doesn't make the observation wrong. It means you check it before you act on it. 00:19:50.138 --> 00:19:53.098 Says the guy with about fifteen products. 00:19:53.098 --> 00:19:56.138 Says the guy with about fifteen products. Check me too. 00:19:56.138 --> 00:19:57.498 Oh, I do. 00:19:57.498 --> 00:19:58.538 I know you do. 00:19:58.538 --> 00:20:03.418 So you check your name once. Then what? It changes next month and you never find out. 00:20:03.418 --> 00:20:05.658 Yeah. That's the part I got wrong once. 00:20:10.498 --> 00:20:12.178 Got wrong how? 00:20:12.178 --> 00:20:19.138 August nineteenth. The email provider behind my outbound paused sending. And nothing went out for a day before I caught it. 00:20:19.138 --> 00:20:22.338 A whole day? How do you not notice that? 00:20:22.338 --> 00:20:28.018 Because quiet looks like nothing. Nothing went out, and nothing going out looks a lot like a slow day. 00:20:28.018 --> 00:20:32.658 You run about fifteen products, and your outbound goes quiet, and you don't hear it? 00:20:32.658 --> 00:20:36.178 That's exactly how you don't hear it. Everything else is loud. 00:20:36.178 --> 00:20:38.018 Please tell me you changed something. 00:20:38.018 --> 00:20:43.258 I wrote a rule. Anything that sends on your behalf needs a health check that tells you when it goes quiet. 00:20:43.258 --> 00:20:46.498 A health check. Say that in normal person. 00:20:46.498 --> 00:20:48.818 Something that bugs you when a thing goes quiet. 00:20:48.818 --> 00:20:50.578 That's an email rule, though. 00:20:50.578 --> 00:20:57.178 It started as an email rule. For this episode I'd stretch it. Anything that matters needs a check that tells you when it changes. 00:20:57.178 --> 00:21:00.978 Hold on. A paused review feed looks exactly like that. 00:21:00.978 --> 00:21:04.498 Google does send an email. If nobody reads it, it's a slow week. 00:21:04.498 --> 00:21:08.078 Who reads email from Google? It always looks like spam. 00:21:08.078 --> 00:21:11.098 Which is a little ironic, for an email about spam. 00:21:11.098 --> 00:21:16.898 And a summary that changed? Last month it said you do water heaters, this month it says something else. 00:21:16.898 --> 00:21:26.018 Looks like nothing too. Unless you wrote down what it said before. That's what worries me about all of this. As far as we've seen, there's no alarm for that. It just drifts. 00:21:26.018 --> 00:21:31.098 Drifts is a very calm word for a listing telling people you still do water heaters. 00:21:31.098 --> 00:21:33.818 It's a calm problem. That's why it gets you. 00:21:33.818 --> 00:21:35.298 Then I'm making a rule. 00:21:35.298 --> 00:21:36.138 Let's hear it. 00:21:36.138 --> 00:21:40.378 Once a month, search your own business name. On a phone. Signed out. 00:21:40.378 --> 00:21:41.418 Why the phone? 00:21:41.418 --> 00:21:51.618 Because that's probably how a stranger's looking you up. And signed out, because as of the end of September, a signed out stranger can't read all your reviews on Maps. You want to see what they see. 00:21:51.618 --> 00:21:52.498 That's good. 00:21:52.498 --> 00:21:53.218 Say it. 00:21:53.218 --> 00:21:53.978 Say what? 00:21:53.978 --> 00:21:55.298 The two words. 00:21:55.298 --> 00:21:57.138 Signed out. 00:21:57.138 --> 00:21:59.298 Thank you, signed in John. 00:21:59.298 --> 00:22:01.538 Why monthly, though? I'd say weekly. 00:22:01.538 --> 00:22:04.938 Because monthly is the one people actually keep doing. 00:22:04.938 --> 00:22:05.538 People. 00:22:05.538 --> 00:22:08.658 You. Monthly is the one you'll keep doing. 00:22:08.658 --> 00:22:14.658 Fine. I'm taking your rule. Monthly, on the phone, signed out. And write down what it said. 00:22:14.658 --> 00:22:17.818 Write it down where? Nobody has a system for this. 00:22:17.818 --> 00:22:22.818 A note with the date on it. A screenshot. Anything that tells you next month what it said this month. 00:22:22.818 --> 00:22:25.658 A screenshot folder called old them. 00:22:25.658 --> 00:22:27.738 Honestly, that's the right name for it. 00:22:27.738 --> 00:22:32.058 Wait. How do I even sign out on my phone? I've never signed out of anything. 00:22:32.058 --> 00:22:33.938 Signed in Kate. 00:22:33.938 --> 00:22:34.738 Don't. 00:22:34.738 --> 00:22:37.298 Open a private tab. Same thing, for this. 00:22:37.298 --> 00:22:40.258 Since when do you know about private tabs? 00:22:40.258 --> 00:22:41.618 Some of us read. 00:22:41.618 --> 00:22:54.818 Okay, but that's the listing. What about the other half? Somebody asks for the best dentist near them, and say you run the place. How would you keep track of what Google's AI tells them? Nobody's doing that by hand every week. 00:22:54.818 --> 00:23:06.258 That's what Mentioned On does. It's one of mine. It asks the question a customer asks, like best dentist near me, the same questions on a schedule, never naming the business, and keeps the answer with the date. 00:23:06.258 --> 00:23:07.538 Including Google's? 00:23:07.538 --> 00:23:16.201 On paid scans, yes. AI Overviews and AI Mode, on up to six of your highest intent questions, and that Google answer can be up to a week old. 00:23:16.201 --> 00:23:18.658 And the summary on your own listing? 00:23:18.658 --> 00:23:28.418 No. It never names you, so it's reading what a customer gets, not your listing. No review monitoring either. That's by hand, or a review tool. And it can't promise anybody a spot. 00:23:28.418 --> 00:23:30.938 You just told me what it doesn't do. 00:23:30.938 --> 00:23:32.218 You'd find out anyway. 00:23:32.218 --> 00:23:35.218 That's the worst sales pitch I've ever heard. 00:23:35.218 --> 00:23:36.778 Good. It wasn't one. 00:23:36.778 --> 00:23:41.698 So the listing, the thing this whole episode is about, is still you and a phone. 00:23:41.698 --> 00:23:47.218 That's the honest split. The listing's on you. The customer's question is the part it keeps track of. 00:23:47.218 --> 00:23:49.578 Now. Kate's list. I'm reading it. 00:23:49.578 --> 00:23:50.498 Here we go. 00:23:50.498 --> 00:24:00.098 First, the button. Opting out of Google's AI. It stays on the list as only if Google's AI answers are still wrong after you fix your page. 00:24:00.098 --> 00:24:00.818 Agreed. 00:24:00.818 --> 00:24:07.218 Second, the pieces thing. Chopping your site up. Stays on the list as not off one post. 00:24:07.218 --> 00:24:09.498 Fine by me. And the review push? 00:24:09.498 --> 00:24:12.898 Already off. Settled. You lost that one fair and square. 00:24:12.898 --> 00:24:13.978 That's a good list. 00:24:13.978 --> 00:24:16.538 It's a short list. That's why it's good. 00:24:16.538 --> 00:24:18.338 So. Fifteen minutes this week. 00:24:18.338 --> 00:24:19.938 If old them isn't too bad. 00:24:19.938 --> 00:24:22.298 And if old them is really bad? 00:24:22.298 --> 00:24:24.138 Then it's a long weekend. 00:24:24.138 --> 00:24:25.418 Okay. 00:24:25.418 --> 00:24:27.458 Give me the fifteen minutes in one breath. 00:24:27.632 --> 00:24:48.592 This week, take your phone, sign out or open a private tab, and search your business name. Read it like a stranger, the AI paragraph if there is one and the reviews you can see without signing in. If something's wrong, find the page on your site that says the same wrong thing, fix that page, check your Business Profile info while you're in there, and set a monthly reminder. 00:24:48.592 --> 00:24:50.032 That was two breaths. 00:24:50.032 --> 00:24:51.472 It was one long one. 00:24:51.472 --> 00:24:56.032 And from now on, one review ask after every job. Not a blitz. 00:24:56.032 --> 00:24:57.792 One ask. Every job. 00:24:57.792 --> 00:24:59.792 And the button stays on my list. 00:24:59.792 --> 00:25:00.832 Where it belongs. 00:25:00.832 --> 00:25:06.192 Also, send this to whoever wrote your website five years ago. Or whoever keeps your Google listing. 00:25:06.192 --> 00:25:07.312 They're old them. 00:25:07.312 --> 00:25:08.432 Be nice to them. 00:25:08.432 --> 00:25:12.672 Links are in the show notes. The stories we quoted, the study, and the two posts. 00:25:12.672 --> 00:25:16.112 Back to the plumber, then. Where did Google get that paragraph? 00:25:16.112 --> 00:25:19.872 Still nobody knows. But now you know which page to check first. 00:25:19.872 --> 00:25:22.192 Which beats hearing about it from the other plumber. 00:25:22.192 --> 00:25:24.752 This has been After the Demo. I'm John Arndt. 00:25:24.752 --> 00:25:27.792 And I'm Kate. Sign out. Go look at yourself.