The 3-pack is dead. Google replaced it with AI Overviews and only 2-3 businesses make the cut.

Here's what changed in local search this week, GBP impressions are down 54% (but it's not a problem), and one Chicago limo service is dominating every AI result.

http://willscott.me/2026/03/24/what-changed-in-local-search-this-week-ai-overviews-the-3-pack-and-agentic-seo-march-24-2026/

We analyzed 91 days of Bing's AI Performance data and found something Microsoft probably didn't intend to show us -- how Copilot's retrieval system actually selects sources, the "query fanout" pattern behind inflated citation counts, and why one page captured 69% of nearly 20,000 citations.

http://willscott.me/2026/02/18/bing-ai-performance-report/

Education marketers track web traffic (93%) for programs, followed by sources (89%), organic visits (85%), page time (70%), and bounce rates (69%).

Read more 👉 https://lttr.ai/AnpWq

#SEO #Marketing #HigherEducation

AI Video Platforms for Business: A Comprehensive 2025 Comparison

This was original published on BarnacleSEO.com on November 14, 2025 -- but bad news, that site has a manual penalty. Go figure. So I'm moving it here for your enjoyment. Executive Summary Businesses seeking to scale video production through AI platforms face a complex landscape of 10 major solutions with varying capabilities. This analysis examines Synthesia, HeyGen, Elai.io, Colossyan, Hour One, Pictory,…

http://willscott.me/2025/12/18/ai-video-platforms-for-business-a-comprehensive-2025-comparison/

Only 52% of surveyed higher ed marketers are highly aware of their continuing and online education unit’s SEO capabilities, processes, and strategies.

Read more 👉 https://lttr.ai/AkRJd

#SEO #Marketing #HigherEducation

BlockRank doesn't kill traditional SEO—it adds a layer on top of it.

Traditional signals get your page into the candidate pool.

Semantic precision wins once you're there.

You need both.

http://willscott.me/2025/10/23/blockrank-and-the-future-of-ranking-why-traditional-seo-still-matters/

From News Corp's $250M OpenAI deal to Reddit's $60M Google agreement—how content licensing shapes AI search rankings and publisher revenues in 2025.

http://willscott.me/2025/10/04/ai-licensing-deals-search-visibility-in-2025/

When should I use sameAs versus knowsAbout in Schema.org markup

When should I use sameAs versus knowsAbout in Schema.org markup to optimize a webpage for SEO, Google AI Overviews, and semantic indexing? Sometimes I ask ChatGPT for guidance before I answer a question. Sometimes I check myself after I've already answered to be sure I'm right.I was asked about sameAs vs knowsAbout usage by one of the students in my SMX GEO Master Class.

http://willscott.me/2025/07/30/when-should-i-use-sameas-versus-knowsabout-in-schema-org-markup/

On average, higher education marketers for online and continuing education programs spend $140 to generate each inquiry and $2,849 to enroll each student.

Read more 👉 https://lttr.ai/AhBz7

#SEO #Marketing #HigherEducation

SEO Automation & AI‑Driven Optimization

I was trying to get ChatGPT to render my most recent post on Search Influence as markdown so I could check a chunking tool I made -- copying one from Dejan, Dan Petrovic, (SEO Automation: How I Built an AI-Powered Question Discovery System with Make.com) and it was giving me a hard time, but it came up with this and I thought I would publish it anyway.

http://willscott.me/2025/07/24/seo-automation-ai%e2%80%91driven-optimization/