Month: July 2026

  • Stop Boosting Your Competitors: Why Listicles Are Killing Your AI Search Visibility

    Why are your listicles helping your competitors? Research from folks like Lily Ray and Rand Fishkin are pointing out that listicles might be doing more harm than good for GEO/AEO. Why? Step back and think about how large language models work. They’re semantic engines, paying attention to not only words, but word order and the…

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  • Almost Timely Reader Survey Summer 2026

    [embed]https://youtu.be/618FxYW5fEQ[/embed] As I mentioned in the Sunday newsletter, I’m sending out this reader survey and I’m asking your help in completing it. It’s 6 questions long and can take anywhere from 2-15 minutes depending on how verbose you want to be. This survey serves two purposes. First, it helps me know what you want more…

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  • Stop Wasting Your AI Budget: How to Plan with Smart Models and Execute with Cheap Ones

    Plan big, act small. With Anthropic’s latest model release, the fabulously expensive Fable 5, it’s a timely reminder that when you have a big, expensive model, you should use it to do planning, and then hand off the execution to a small, fast, cheap model that doesn’t have to think, it just has to follow…

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  • Almost Timely News: 🗞️ The Biggest Problem with AI Today (2026-07-05)

    _Almost Timely News: 🗞️ The Biggest Problem with AI Today (2026-07-05) :: View in Browser_ The Big Plug 👉 New merch! My new LLMS.txt skill is now available in the merch store. Content Authenticity Statement 99% of this week’s newsletter was made by me, the human. You’ll see a list that Claude made in the…

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  • Stop Chasing the AI Hype: Why Good Ideas Always Find Their Way to Your Ecosystem

    If it’s a good idea, it’ll work back to your ecosystem. The AI hype train loves to shout that this or that is about to change everything, and that if you’re not using XYZ thing, you’re forever left behind, a Neanderthal amidst modern man, a third class passenger on the Titanic in steerage. The thing…

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  • So What? How to Measure AI Visibility

    Summary In today's episode, I walk through a practical framework for measuring AI visibility across your marketing analytics stack, including what you cannot measure and what you can. Here's what this means for you. You gain a tiered approach to tracking how AI tools interact with your brand, so you can stop chasing unreliable promises…

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  • Stop Measuring the Impossible: How to Navigate Marketing in the Age of Probabilistic AI

    “You can’t manage what you don’t measure” is the nearly ancient axiom of management. And it remains largely true. Seth Godin said at one point, “if you don’t change what you eat or how you exercise, don’t bother getting on the scale”. Also true. But AI creates a new wrinkle. All forms of measurement up…

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  • The Hidden Cost of AI: Why Running Local Models is the Key to Sustainable Tech

    The outrage about data centers is ironic. For decades, the global north has outsourced its pollution and resource drain to the global south, to poorer countries. Manufacturing waste, overfishing, and slave labor in Southeast Asia. Mineral extract leaving wastelands and warlords all over Africa. Deforestation and outright murder of indigenous peoples in South America to…

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