Hey friend!

ChatGPT turned two over the weekend—and boy, what a ride it’s been. Here are some ways its launch has rippled across the online and offline world:

• AI-generated LinkedIn posts have grown by as much as 189%.

• User activity on Stack Overflow dropped by 25% within six months of ChatGPT's release.

• About 20% of U.S. adults report using ChatGPT for work.

• Close to 40% of college students use it for school.

• As for shopping, 44% plan on using it this holiday season to find deals and product info.

If you’re wondering what year 3 looks like for OpenAI, Sam Altman and a few of his colleagues took part in a Reddit AMA last month. Here’s one particular search-relevant exchange worth noting:

Now, onto the latest news in search and AI!

–Thenuka

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What’s new in AI and content?

🔍 Google’s November 2024 core update has overflowed into December

On November 11, Google began rolling out its November 2024 core update. It was expected to complete within two weeks, but has now extended beyond that timeline into December. What’s the current damage look like? Early observers saw little movement but more recent reports say there were big ranking fluctuations and traffic drops at the end of November. Needless to say, it’s rough timing for small websites and e-commerce going into the holiday season.

• What this means for SEO: Hard to read what the prolonged rollout and volatility from Google mean. Some traffic drops may correlate with seasonal holiday behavior, but some speculate that based on current ranking shifts, this core update could disproportionately affect smaller websites. Keep an eye on your site’s performance and refresh yourself on Google’s quality guidelines to mitigate potential penalties. 

🗣️ Google Search Console’s recommendations are live

Google has officially launched its recommendations feature in Google Search Console, following an experimental phase that began in August. The feature provides optimization tips for indexing, crawling, and serving based on existing data within Search Console. Recommendations are only visible if Google has actionable suggestions for a specific site, and the advice is updated periodically. Read more about the feature from Google.

• What this means for SEO: Google Search Console’s guidance ranges from highly useful to generic or irrelevant, so best to exercise some discretion rather than following all of its recommendations blindly. Still, this feature is a big win all around for SEOs, especially those working in agencies, since it could help streamline reporting and client optimization efforts.

Expert Insights

🇪🇺 Kevin Indig: “Why is Google losing market share in the EU?”

In his newsletter Growth Memo, SEO expert Kevin Indig explores Google's declining search market share in the EU, pointing out notable drops in countries like France (-5.6%) and Germany (-3.3%) over the last decade. Driven by regulatory changes like GDPR and rising user privacy concerns, the decline has created opportunities for competitors like Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Ecosia. Still, Google’s search revenue continues to grow, so don’t expect it to fall off the map anytime soon. But as Kevin’s analysis suggests, it’s worth thinking about diversifying for other platforms like Bing as the search ecosystem continues to evolve.

>> Read more

📥 Sudharshan Narasimhan: Programmatic SEO for driving inbound leads

Sudharshan Narasimhan of the SaaS marketing agency TripleDart recently shared on LinkedIn his inbound wins over the past month. One of his recommended levers for generating inbound leads: programmatic SEO. According to Sudharshan, his team connects info from TripleDart’s client products to dynamically generate content in a templated format. Since starting in May, they’ve successfully gotten 15-20 meetings per month. Consider that a sign to give programmatic SEO a shot in your inbound strategy.

>> Read on LinkedIn