AI search pulls from more sources than most SEOs track. Here’s a tiered view of which data sources deserve your attention first

Google is sending email notifications to Google Merchant Center users if their e-commerce platform supports Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) and if so, telling them that “your products are now eligible for native checkout.” This means that your eligible products are automatically included, so if you don’t want people buying directly on Google, and you want them to buy on your site, then you need to turn it off.

Decide whether Google Ads Customer Lifecycle Goals fit your business, and avoid settings that inflate ROAS or exclude valuable prospects.

Fiverr’s holiday survey finds more of its search freelancers reporting rising GEO requests than Google-ranking requests, though most still back SEO long term. The post GEO Requests Rise Among More Search Freelancers Than Google SEO appeared first on Search Engine Journal .

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today…

Buying groups arrive with vendors already chosen. AEO cannot fix a shortlist formed months earlier

It looks like spammers are taking advantage of Gemini Notebook, public NotebookLM, pages to spam Google with all sorts of content. This includes pages on sex toys, porn, peptides, coupon codes and more.

Google is placing links, normal looking links, within the AI Overviews that take you into AI Mode instead of taking you to web pages and web sites. These links appear at the bottom of the AI Overview and prompt follow-up questions that take you into AI Mode.

Google added a new section to the Google Store ratings: An overview for Merchants within Google Merchant Center detailing the requirements for Google Store ratings. This was added a week or so ago, and it says you need at least 100 reviews, an average star rating of 3.5 to 5, a 24-hour timeframe and the ratings are geo-segmented.