Decision log: what I shipped, and what happened
The big decisions behind my work: who I was building for, what I decided and why, and what the data showed after. Newest first, last updated .
- A decision
- A mistake, and the fix
- A measured result
High scores
The Crawler's Cookbook holds 6 of the 15 records and streaks below. Every number is recomputed from my Search Console, Bing and Copilot data each time I pull it, and the 5 that are out of date or past their peak say so on the card.
Records
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High score
Most Google clicks in one day
669 clicks
The Crawler's Cookbook, October 9, 2026
Not a spike: the 14 days around it had a median of 530.
Google Search Console, data through Oct 11, 2026
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High score
Most Bing clicks in one day
152 clicks
WireRef, August 26, 2026
Not a spike: the 14 days around it had a median of 115.
Bing Webmaster Tools, data through Oct 9, 2026
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High score
Best month on Google
13.8K clicks
The Crawler's Cookbook, September 2026
Complete months only. October is not finished.
Google Search Console, data through Oct 11, 2026
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High score
Best month on Bing
2.8K clicks
WireRef, September 2026
Only 1.8% above the month before (2.8K): a record, but a plateau, not a climb.
Bing Webmaster Tools, data through Oct 9, 2026
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High score
Biggest month-over-month jump
4.8K clicks
The Crawler's Cookbook, June 2026 to July 2026
1.9K to 6.6K, both engines. Compares months; does not prove what caused it.
Google Search Console + Bing Webmaster Tools, data through Oct 9, 2026
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Running total
All-time portfolio search clicks
65.4K clicks
All public sites, Feb 11 to Oct 11, 2026
Google 40.7K + Bing 24.7K. Since tracking began: Bing history starts Mar 27, 2026, so earlier Bing clicks are missing and this undercounts. Bing-syndicated clicks (DuckDuckGo, Yahoo) are not in either tool.
Google Search Console + Bing Webmaster Tools, data through Oct 9, 2026
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High score
Most-cited page in AI answers
24.5K Copilot citations
WireRef, 90-day export window ending Aug 26, 2026
Data through Aug 26, 2026
/ampacity/ on WireRef. Citations are how often a Bing AI answer cited the page, not visits. Next best is under half that (10.5K).
Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance (manual export), data through Aug 26, 2026
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High score
Biggest slice of one AI answer
80.75% citation share
Title Town PDX, 90-day export window ending Aug 26, 2026
Data through Aug 26, 2026
“portland fire wnba roster 2026” (390 citations). Floor of 100 citations; below that, shares of 85% exist on 71 citations and mean little. Citation share is a Bing preview metric; definition taken from secondary sources.
Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance (manual export), data through Aug 26, 2026
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High score
Most AI citations in one day
14K Copilot citations
All public sites, August 25, 2026
Data through Aug 26, 2026
Falls in the last three days of the export (Aug 24, 2026 to 08-26), all well above the two days before. No export since 08-26 to confirm it held.
Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance (manual export), data through Aug 26, 2026
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Old high score
Most AI referral visits in a month
1.1K sessions
All public sites, May 2026
Peak, not current
A peak, not current: it has fallen every month since (September: 364). Visits from ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude, Perplexity and Gemini referrers.
Google Analytics 4 (AI referrer sources), data through Oct 10, 2026
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Comeback
AI citations bounce back
51.8K Copilot citations in a week
All public sites, weeks of Jul 20 to Aug 10, 2026
Data through Aug 26, 2026
Fell 42% in one week (51.6K to 29.8K), then set a new weekly high two weeks later. No zero-report days in the dip, so it is a real drop, not a gap. The Bing-click 'comebacks' were a July 4 week, a two-day reporting gap and a football bye week, so they are left out.
Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance (manual export), data through Aug 26, 2026
Streaks
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Streak
Days in a row with 100+ Google clicks
92 days
The Crawler's Cookbook, Jul 12 to Oct 11, 2026 (still going)
Every day since mid-July. Breaks the first day under 100.
Google Search Console, data through Oct 11, 2026
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Streak
Days in a row with 25+ Bing clicks
82 days
WireRef, Jul 20 to Oct 9, 2026 (still going)
Still going, though its weekly clicks are down about a quarter from the late-August peak.
Bing Webmaster Tools, data through Oct 9, 2026
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Streak
Weeks of growth in a row, Google
8 weeks
The Crawler's Cookbook, weeks of May 25 to Jul 20, 2026
133 to 2K clicks a week. Ties WireRef's 8 weeks on Bing, which started from a July 4 holiday week, so this one is cleaner.
Google Search Console, data through Oct 11, 2026
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Streak
Months up in a row
5 months
The Crawler's Cookbook, April 2026 to September 2026
Each month more than 10% above the last (the decision log's 'flat' line). WireRef's Bing run is 4, because September was +1.8%, which counts as flat.
Google Search Console, data through Oct 11, 2026
6 achievements unlocked and 4 leaderboards
Achievements unlocked
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Achievement unlocked
First 1K-click month
1.1K clicks
WireRef, May 2026
First site to pass 1K search clicks in a complete month, both engines combined. Nearly all of it from Bing.
Google Search Console + Bing Webmaster Tools, data through Oct 9, 2026
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Achievement unlocked
First 10K-click month
10.6K clicks
The Crawler's Cookbook, August 2026
First single site past 10K search clicks in a complete month.
Google Search Console + Bing Webmaster Tools, data through Oct 9, 2026
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Achievement unlocked
Portfolio 10K-click month
11.3K clicks
All public sites, July 2026
Followed by 20K in September 2026.
Google Search Console + Bing Webmaster Tools, data through Oct 9, 2026
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Achievement unlocked
Full house, every site cited by Copilot
10 sites
All public sites, August 25, 2026
Small numbers
The day the last public site (SaltCellCheck) got its first Copilot citation. Its count is tiny (3); this is an unlock, not a volume claim.
Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance (manual export), data through Aug 26, 2026
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Achievement unlocked
Cited by AI in under a week
3 days
Hear Homer, July 21, 2026
Small numbers
First Copilot citation 3 days after the first commit. Small numbers (under 100 citations in total); the speed is the point. Sites already cited on Mar 28, 2026 (Car Fact Sheet, WireRef) were cited before tracking began, so their first date is unknown.
Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance (manual export), data through Aug 26, 2026
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Achievement unlocked
First site to 100K AI citations
100K Copilot citations
Car Fact Sheet, June 26, 2026
Earliest date unknown
Counted from Mar 28, 2026, when the citation history begins, so the real date may be earlier.
Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance (manual export), data through Aug 26, 2026
Leaderboards
September 2026 search clicks
- The Crawler's Cookbook14.9K
- WireRef2.8K
- The Quack Report1.5K
- Car Fact Sheet474
- Title Town PDX290
- GageRef262
- CheckMyTap147
- RatingPlate14
- Hear Homer8
September 2026, clicks
Latest complete month, both engines side by side. Sites under 50 are shown as 'too small to read'. SaltCellCheck has no search data in the pulls and is not ranked.
Google Search Console + Bing Webmaster Tools, data through Oct 9, 2026
Bing, last 28 days
- WireRef2.4K (-11%)
- The Quack Report1.1K (+54%)
- The Crawler's Cookbook964 (-21%)
- Car Fact Sheet412 (-25%)
- GageRef238 (-8%)
- CheckMyTap121 (-29%)
- Title Town PDX62 (-58%)
- RatingPlate11 (-27%)
- Hear Homer5 (-55%)
Sep 12 to Oct 9, 2026, clicks
Honest board: the portfolio is down 8% on the 28 days before (5.8K to 5.3K). Only The Quack Report is up, most likely football season. SaltCellCheck has no search data in the pulls and is not ranked.
Bing Webmaster Tools, data through Oct 9, 2026
Copilot citations, last 28 days of data
- Car Fact Sheet87.1K
- WireRef73.5K
- The Crawler's Cookbook15.1K
- GageRef9.5K
- CheckMyTap7.2K
- Title Town PDX3.1K
- The Quack Report1.5K
- RatingPlate534
- Hear Homer69
- SaltCellCheck3
Jul 30 to Aug 26, 2026, citations
Data through Aug 26, 2026
Data stops Aug 26, 2026 (manual export, no API). Re-export before showing this as current.
Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance (manual export), data through Aug 26, 2026
Best Bing click rate in the top 3
- GageRef30.6%
- The Quack Report21.7%
- Car Fact Sheet21.1%
- The Crawler's Cookbook14.2%
- WireRef10.3%
- Title Town PDX8.6%
Jul 10 to Oct 9, 2026, CTR
Query-days where Bing's average impression position was 1 to 3; sites with 1K+ such impressions. CheckMyTap shows 52% but on 923 impressions of tiny local queries, so it is below the floor. Google is left off: only one site has volume there.
Bing Webmaster Tools, data through Oct 9, 2026
Public sites only. A record compares periods; it doesn't prove what caused the change. Generated by scripts/export-high-scores.py, so nothing here is typed by hand.
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Rebuilt this site around the people who actually look me up
SEO peers, colleagues and fans each arrive with a different question. Every page now starts from one of those readers and what they need next, and the strategy leads while my own sites serve as the proof.
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Answered a question fans kept asking before anyone had the answer
Readers of a book series wanted to know when Book 9 was coming. Instead of guessing, I built the page around what was confirmed, what was rumor and when it was last checked.
What I weighed, and what happened after
Outcome: It became the biggest way into The Crawler's Cookbook: 43% of the site's Google clicks from July 11 to October 8, 2026.
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Shit, got busy, whoops. Let’s catch up: From a side-projects perspective, launched hearhomer.com (find your audiobook match for the Odyssey) and SaltCellCheck (cause there’s a gap in the market for this information), among a million other things. Also continuously improving my other projects. A few of them are taking off!!!! Very busy! Keeping momentum flowing. just haven’t had time to update this site much.
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Joined Optimal, a OneMagnify company, as Senior SEO Manager
Leading SEO and AI visibility for enterprise brands across many industries, with the same way of working I'd built on my own sites.
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Stopped fighting Google for my reference sites and went where the decisions were happening
When Google almost stopped showing WireRef and GageRef, the data showed people were still finding them through Bing and AI answers. I moved the effort there: clear tables a machine can quote, and pages built to be cited.
What I weighed, and what happened after
Outcome: WireRef's Bing clicks grew from 655 in April to 2.8K in September 2026, and Copilot cited it about 320K times in three months.
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New Website Launch (PASSION PROJECT): Oregon Ducks Football Fan Site. Go ducks baby. this year is our year?????
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New Case Study: Wireref.com
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New Case Study: Gageref.com
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New Template design system for Programmatic AI and SEO best practices
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Build a scalable local-intent SEO system for a buyer-first water project
What I weighed, and what happened after
Options considered: Many. There are roughly 30 versions of the site.
Outcome: The project launched with standardized page structures for comparisons and solution education, with consistent internal linking and content modules designed to reduce ambiguity for both users and crawlers. Currently in the wait-and-see phase, monitoring how Google treats the site over time.
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Started building my own sites as a public test bed
I wanted somewhere to test ideas where I own the data and can show every result, including the misses.
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Use day-by-day GSC performance data combined with AI analysis to interpret organic visibility trends
What I weighed, and what happened after
Status: Active. Ongoing evaluation as reporting cycles accumulate.
What I changed each month, and what happened
Every change I make to my own sites is logged by my dashboard. Here's the count for each complete month, next to that month's search clicks. Search moves for plenty of reasons, so this lines the two up; it doesn't prove one caused the other. What the changes were stays private.
Source: my dashboard's Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools pulls, through October 8, 2026. A month shows only when every day is in. A change under 50 clicks is called too small to read.
The Crawler's Cookbook 14.9K clicks in Sep 2026
| Month | Changes made | Google clicks | Bing clicks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2026 | 9 | 42 | 77 |
| May 2026 | 9 | 491 up | 498 up |
| Jun 2026 | 2 | 1.2K up | 614 up |
| Jul 2026 | 12 | 5.7K up | 958 up |
| Aug 2026 | 15 | 9.3K up | 1.3K up |
| Sep 2026 | 4 | 13.8K up | 1.2K about flat |
WireRef 2.8K clicks in Sep 2026
| Month | Changes made | Google clicks | Bing clicks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 47 | 16 | not a full month |
| Apr 2026 | 13 | 0 too small to read | 655 |
| May 2026 | 3 | 1 too small to read | 1.1K up |
| Jun 2026 | 0 | 3 too small to read | 1.3K up |
| Jul 2026 | 6 | 1 too small to read | 1.7K up |
| Aug 2026 | 3 | 1 too small to read | 2.8K up |
| Sep 2026 | 3 | 5 too small to read | 2.8K about flat |
The Quack Report 1.5K clicks in Sep 2026
| Month | Changes made | Google clicks | Bing clicks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2026 | 36 | 9 | 23 |
| May 2026 | 3 | 16 too small to read | 57 up |
| Jun 2026 | 2 | 26 too small to read | 51 down |
| Jul 2026 | 6 | 48 too small to read | 92 up |
| Aug 2026 | 25 | 113 up | 436 up |
| Sep 2026 | 44 | 444 up | 1K up |
Car Fact Sheet 474 clicks in Sep 2026
| Month | Changes made | Google clicks | Bing clicks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2026 | 11 | 0 | 98 |
| May 2026 | 0 | 0 too small to read | 273 up |
| Jun 2026 | 0 | 0 too small to read | 383 up |
| Jul 2026 | 6 | 0 too small to read | 587 up |
| Aug 2026 | 0 | 0 too small to read | 617 about flat |
| Sep 2026 | 3 | 0 too small to read | 474 down |
Title Town PDX 290 clicks in Sep 2026
| Month | Changes made | Google clicks | Bing clicks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2026 | 46 | 89 | 69 |
| May 2026 | 21 | 197 up | 305 up |
| Jun 2026 | 2 | 1.1K up | 410 up |
| Jul 2026 | 23 | 1.2K up | 464 up |
| Aug 2026 | 17 | 305 down | 206 down |
| Sep 2026 | 6 | 200 down | 90 down |
GageRef 262 clicks in Sep 2026
| Month | Changes made | Google clicks | Bing clicks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 48 | 0 | not a full month |
| Apr 2026 | 2 | 0 too small to read | 4 |
| May 2026 | 0 | 0 too small to read | 42 too small to read |
| Jun 2026 | 0 | 0 too small to read | 127 up |
| Jul 2026 | 3 | 0 too small to read | 196 up |
| Aug 2026 | 3 | 1 too small to read | 271 up |
| Sep 2026 | 0 | 0 too small to read | 262 about flat |
CheckMyTap 147 clicks in Sep 2026
| Month | Changes made | Google clicks | Bing clicks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 40 | 2 | not a full month |
| Apr 2026 | 15 | 3 too small to read | 186 |
| May 2026 | 0 | 0 too small to read | 269 up |
| Jun 2026 | 0 | 0 too small to read | 218 down |
| Jul 2026 | 3 | 0 too small to read | 251 up |
| Aug 2026 | 0 | 1 too small to read | 222 down |
| Sep 2026 | 0 | 0 too small to read | 147 down |
RatingPlate 14 clicks in Sep 2026
| Month | Changes made | Google clicks | Bing clicks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2026 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| May 2026 | 0 | 0 too small to read | 8 too small to read |
| Jun 2026 | 0 | 0 too small to read | 14 too small to read |
| Jul 2026 | 3 | 0 too small to read | 12 too small to read |
| Aug 2026 | 0 | 0 too small to read | 15 too small to read |
| Sep 2026 | 0 | 0 too small to read | 14 too small to read |
Hear Homer 8 clicks in Sep 2026
| Month | Changes made | Google clicks | Bing clicks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2026 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Sep 2026 | 0 | 2 too small to read | 6 too small to read |
content technical data other
Why I keep a log
From the decision log on my old site: “I kept losing context on my own decisions.” And what I wrote next: “write down what you're doing and why before you know if it works. Then come back and see if the reasoning held up.”