Google Says Why It May Ignore Robots.txt And Negatively Impact SEO
Google’s John Mueller explains a robots.txt quirk that can cause Googlebot to ignore robots.txt rules.
About
I have 25 years hands-on experience in SEO, evolving along with the search engines by keeping up with the latest research, patents and what’s happening in the search results.
I can be contacted at roger@martinibuster.com or use the contact form at: Martinibuster.com
I have presented at many search conferences over the past 20 years across the United States: Pubcon, SMX, and Affiliate Summit and have served as a Head Judge at the U.S. Search Awards.
Articles
Alphabet Q2 Earnings Show $5.85 Billion Negative Free Cash Flow
Alphabet’s Q2 release shows Google’s infrastructure spending caused it to report a negative free cash flow of $5.85 billion dollars.
Anthropic’s Claude Can Now Watch A Video And Learn Your Job
Anthropic’s Claude Cowork can turn a video of a person doing a task into a skill so that it can do it too.
Google’s Liz Reid Discusses Persistent Autonomous Search
Google’s Liz Reid discussed persistent search, a profound change to how users interact with search. A patent describes six triggers.
Google Downplays Search Console “Error” Reports. Says Many Aren’t Real Problems
Google downplays many Search Console “error” reports, saying the tool was never meant to be a checklist of things to fix.
Google NotebookLM Rebrand May Expose Your Site To More AI Scraping
Google’s NotebookLM rebrand may expose websites to more AI scraping with zero attribution unless site owners take action right now.
Google Explains SEO Connection Of Site Quality To Non-Indexed Pages
Google’s John Mueller says that overall site quality is more than just text. How users experience the page can define quality, too.
AI SEO: Writing That’s Specific May Get Cited More
AI SEO that prioritizes content that is specific may be a key to getting cited by AI search engines.
Google Says No SEO Penalty For Year-Long A/B Tests?
Google’s Mueller says long A/B tests won’t result in SEO demotions, contradicting official guidance that says they may be considered deceptive.
WordPress 7.0.1 Maintenance Release Contains 31 Bug Fixes
The WordPress 7.0.1 maintenance release improves PHP compatibility and contains a bug fix to a security-related function.
Google’s New Merchant Listing Structured Data Improves SEO
Google’s new Category and Sale Duration structured data properties give merchants a way to rank more precise product data.
AI Search Is Exposing SEO’s Risk Of Losing Ownership Of GEO Outcomes
Search marketer Tom Critchlow says AI Search is exposing the question of whether SEO still owns GEO outcomes.
An Easy Digital PR Strategy For AI SEO
Marketing a brand online for AI Search can be easier than you think. Here’s a strategy to get you started.
Google On Using Markdown For AI SEO
Google’s John Mueller responds to the trend of creating a set of markdown pages to mirror HTML content for AI SEO.
Google Answers Question About LLMs-Author.txt For SEO
Google’s John Mueller responded to an SEO using LLMs-Author.txt to separate themself from others with the same name.
Safari’s New MCP Server Lets AI Debug Your Core Web Vitals To Improve SEO
Apple’s WebKit announced a new MCP server for Safari that enables AI-based website debugging for SEO and Core Web Vitals.
Why Google’s DMCA Crisis Is Bad And Will Only Get Worse.
False DMCA claims are getting legitimate content removed from Google and there may be no way to stop it.
Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 Is Back With New Usage Limits And Safeguards
Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 returns with 50% usage limits and a new classifier that may result in false positives.
New WordPress Plugin Safely And Easily Connects AI To Your Website
WPVibe WordPress plugin makes it easy to connect virtually any AI to your WordPress site and safely edit virtually anything.
Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet 5 Is “Near-Opus Intelligence” For All Plans
Anthropic releases their new Sonnet 5 as the default model for all plans, including the free tier, plus introductory pricing on tokens.
The Absolute Best Way To Write Meta Descriptions
Google rewrites meta descriptions. Here is what you can do to take back control of those snippets.
Google: Meta Descriptions Not Required For SEO. But They’re Worthwhile.
Google confirmed that meta descriptions are not a requirement, then explained why it’s not pointless to write them.
Google Says AI Visibility Hinges On Content People Actually Want To Read
Google says publishers who want to survive in AI Search need to start making content users actually want to read.
Bruce Clay, One of the Founding Figures of SEO, Has Died
Bruce Clay, a founding figure who shaped the SEO marketing industry, has died. His concepts continue to influence professionals to this day.
Google Answers Question About SEO For AI Agents
Google’s John Mueller answered whether Google Gemini’s new AI agents change the rules for SEO.
Google Gemini Can Now Control Your Computer. Hackers Are Already Targeting AI Agents
Google warns that websites can expose AI agents to hidden traps for agentic AI navigating the open web.
WP Rocket Now Offers Free CDN For Your Most Important Pages
WP Rocket now offers free CDN, lowering the barrier to meaningful performance improvements on the most important pages.
WordPress Developers Say New AI Feature Does Not Belong In Core
WordPress developers question whether the platform’s AI ambitions are pulling attention away from what users have been asking for all along.
Google DeepMind: Traps For AI Agents Are Already Stealing Money
As AI agents proliferate into the web, a Senior Staff Research Scientist at Google DeepMind warns that scale makes failure inevitable.
Ultimate Member WordPress Plugin Vulnerability Affects Up To 200k Sites
WordPress plugin vulnerability rated 8.8/10 enables attackers to gain full site access.