Why a ranking page still isn't picked
A page can rank and still not get picked, so I go through what people check in the few seconds they give a result and a page, and what I change on the page so it gets picked.
Also in Search behavior and intent
AI and modern search
Search isn't ten blue links anymore.
Writing on AI Overviews, ChatGPT search, Perplexity, and how content needs to be structured to survive summarization, extraction, and multi-source synthesis across new surfaces.
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Which pages AI answers actually cite on my sites
How AI search understands your content
What AI-driven search needs to understand a page, why clarity beats completeness, and where most content fails.
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More on AI and modern search, newest first.
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Search intent when AI does the searching
The intent Bing gives the searches AI answers run before citing my sites, site by site, and why that is no reason to build a page for each one.
Also in Search behavior and intent
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Topic clusters: what to build next
What belongs in a topic cluster now that AI answers run their own searches, and how I read my own data to find the next page or the next section.
Also in Content strategy
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The recommendation layer in AI search
How I check whether a page can be found, sourced and clearly quoted, with evidence from my own sites.
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Content structure for answer-first search
When the answer shows up before the click, the page has to be the next step, so I lay out the four-part structure for one, with two worked examples.
Also in Content strategy
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Why AI Overviews appear in Google
What triggers an AI Overview, why visibility and visits stopped moving together, and what content still earns the click.
Also in Search behavior and intent
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Why informational content stalls
Informational pages rank and get read, then leave the reader with nowhere to go; the fix is helping them place their problem and see the next question.
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How misaligned intent stalls decisions
Most content stops at awareness, so this maps the links, calls to action and measurement that move a reader from learning to deciding, with real funnel examples.
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Why transactional pages fail ready buyers
Ready buyers still leave when a page skips the confirmation step, so a buying page has to answer three questions first: is this the right option for me, can I trust this business, and what happens after I click?
Bing AI citations of my sites, next to the visits AI sent
When one of Bing's AI answers names a page, the reader may never open it. Here is how often it named my sites, month by month, beside the visits AI assistants actually sent.
September brought about 17 times as many Bing AI citations of my sites as April (38,129 to 634,186), and 28% fewer visits from AI assistants (608 to 440).
Bing AI citations
- May 2026, what else happened: 1 search change
- June 2026, what else happened: 1 search change
- August 2026, what else happened: 1 search change
- September 2026, what else happened: 1 search change
May 2026: what else happened
- Google, : The May 2026 core update. Source: Google Search Status Dashboard; my sites' 14 days either side are on the log.
This is what else was going on that month. I list it for context; nothing here shows any of it moved my clicks.
June 2026: what else happened
- Google, : The June 2026 spam update. Source: Google Search Status Dashboard; my sites' 14 days either side are on the log.
This is what else was going on that month. I list it for context; nothing here shows any of it moved my clicks.
August 2026: what else happened
- Google, : The August 2026 spam update. Source: Google Search Status Dashboard; my sites' 14 days either side are on the log.
This is what else was going on that month. I list it for context; nothing here shows any of it moved my clicks.
September 2026: what else happened
- Google, : The September 2026 spam update. Source: Google Search Status Dashboard; my sites' 14 days either side are on the log.
This is what else was going on that month. I list it for context; nothing here shows any of it moved my clicks.
HI-SCORE the best month so far
| Month | Bing AI citations | Change from the month before |
|---|---|---|
| April | 38.1K | first month |
| May | 98.7K | up 159% |
| June | 195K | up 97% |
| July | 329K | up 69% |
| August | 436K | up 33% |
| September | 634K | up 46% |
Visits from AI assistants
HI-SCORE the best month so far
| Month | AI assistant visits | Change from the month before |
|---|---|---|
| April | 608 | first month |
| May | 1.2K | up 93% |
| June | 827 | down 30% |
| July | 656 | down 21% |
| August | 510 | down 22% |
| September | 440 | down 14% |
| Month | Bing AI citations | Visits from AI assistants | Citations per visit |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | 38,129 | 608 | 63 |
| May 2026 | 98,711 | 1,174 | 84 |
| June 2026 | 194,555 | 827 | 235 |
| July 2026 | 328,699 | 656 | 501 |
| August 2026 | 435,754 | 510 | 854 |
| September 2026 | 634,186 | 440 | 1,441 |
Citations: Bing Webmaster Tools AI Performance, my sites in Bing's export, data through . Visits: Google Analytics 4, sessions referred by ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude, Perplexity and Gemini combined, data through . Complete months only. The two counts measure different things, so the ratio sizes the gap; it isn't a rate.
How AI search pulls a page apart and cites it
Modern search systems don't send users to your page to read it. They pull pieces out, reassemble them into answers, and cite you if you're lucky.
Pages with original data, explicit structure, and direct answers get cited. Pages that restate what ten other sites already said get compressed into nothing.
From the Modern Search Systems page on the old version of this site, first published January 2026.