- AI search is becoming the dominant force in 2026, with platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI-driven results shaping how users find and trust information, shifting the focus from "being found" to "being chosen as the answer." - Advertising is evolving to integrate with AI-driven search, moving from keyword-based targeting to context-aware, conversational ads. This change means brands must optimize for being cited as authoritative sources rather than just ranking for keywords. - The financial pressure on AI platforms is driving the shift to advertising, as seen with OpenAI's hiring of ad experts and internal revenue projections. This signals that 2026 will be a critical year for brands to adapt or risk falling behind in the new AI-driven marketing landscape.

I get these daily from Grok (per an automation I setup). I generally don't share them with the group because I don't want to muddy the airwaves. However, I'm starting to feel some are just too good to pass up. Please keep in mind, I didn't write any of this. I'm just playing messenger :-) Would love to have a discussion around some of what's going on! I thought the piece about "context engineering" was especially interesting. @Julian Lopez is this a term you've heard before? Any insight to add? -------------- The AEO conversation is heating up as AI-driven search reshapes visibility, with experts emphasizing the shift from traditional SEO's keyword hunts to delivering concise, structured answers that LLMs like ChatGPT and Perplexity can easily extract and cite. Recent articles highlight AEO's role in combating "zero-click" searches, where users get answers without visiting sites—Forbes warns that without AEO, traditional SEO is "destroying" itself, introducing the CASH framework (Concise, Authoritative, Structured, Helpful) to boost rankings in AI overviews. On X, marketers like @optume_ai stress AEO's power to reduce bounce rates by hooking users with immediate value, while @samuelrdt shares a quick build of an AI SEO article generator using tools like Supabase and OpenAI, showing how AEO workflows can automate content optimization. Skeptics on Reddit push back, calling AEO "marketer trap" jargon, but the consensus is clear: it's essential for future traffic. Emerging strategies focus on content formatting—lead with bullet points, headings, and schema markup for LLM readability—and measuring success via tools tracking AI citations rather than clicks. New terminology like "Context Engineering" (orchestrating user data, tools, and memory for autonomous agents) and "Agentic RAG" (advanced retrieval pipelines with reasoning loops) are bubbling up, as seen in @femke_plantinga's thread on evolving prompt engineering into full ecosystems.

This is an interesting discussion about which of the biggest Swiss Ecommerce sites are blocking ChatGPT User-agent! You can check the source and here's the translation: "Which Swiss Top 50 Online Shops Block the ChatGPT Agent? ⏩ Spoiler: It looks better than expected! With the ChatGPT agent, online shopping could now be possible. But are the top 50 Swiss online shops also usable or even accessible for the agent? To check this, I commissioned the agent to do so based on the Carpathia AG Top 50 B2C Shops in Switzerland. Here are the findings, which I have manually re-checked in individual cases. The vast majority of shops can be visited by the agent. The "party" in the club can therefore begin. I find that very positive. The following "blocks/bouncers" were observed by the agent and myself: ❌ JUMBO A captcha in the form of a sliding puzzle appears here for the explicit purpose of bot defense. ❌ Orell Füssli Thalia AG and DeinDeal AG The bot is shown the Cloudflare Turnstile for bot defense. It is not known whether this is intentional or "just" because it was recently introduced by Cloudflare for all AI visits. I had seen this same display a few days ago on Apfelkiste.ch. Apparently, they have already reacted there. ❌ Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund (migros.ch) Even after several attempts, including with deep links, a maintenance page is always displayed, and the agent cannot access the shop. ❌ La Redoute A technical error is received here, which, however, points to bot defense. ❌ Amazon (de/fr/it) and AliExpress A technical error is also displayed here—apparently, the large platforms only want to grant access to their own agents. 🟰 At Nestlé Nespresso SA, there were initial problems, but in further manual tests, the agent was then able to access the site. Apparently, a redirect was not properly interpreted there. Pearl in Switzerland is now called emall.com and can be reached by the agent.