Why Open Source Projects Are Run By Benevolent Dictators For Life
It might come as a surprise that some open source projects like WordPress are said to be run by benevolent dictators for life.
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.
Need a consultation? Contact me at roger@martinibuster.com or use the contact form at: Martinibuster.com
I recently presented at Pubcon Vegas in October and March 2024, and over the past 20 years have presented at search conferences across the United States: Pubcon, SMX, Affiliate Summit & SES (Search Engine Strategies) and have served as a Head Judge at the U.S. Search Awards .
Articles
New “Voiceprint” Claude Plugin Clones Your Writing Style
Voiceprint Claude plugin clones your writing style based on five writing samples. Works with any SKILL.md-compatible tool.
Report Shows WordPress Sites Are Getting Hacked At Faster Rate
Patchstack’s state of WordPress Security report shows more sites get hacked within hours of vulnerability disclosure
Google AI Overviews Surges Across 9 Industries
Google AI Overviews shows fast growth across nine industries, now triggering AI Search in nearly half of all search queries.
Joost de Valk Exits Federated WordPress Repository Project
Lack of support for an independent WordPress plugin and theme repository leads Joost de Valk to step away.
How Researchers Reverse-Engineered LLMs For A Ranking Experiment
Researchers compared two ways to improve rankings in LLMs: Shadow Model and Query-based solutions.
SEO Fundamental: Google Explains Why It May Not Use A Sitemap
Google’s John Mueller points to site content as the reason for Search Console sitemap error messages
WooCommerce May Gain Sidekick-Type AI Through Extensions
Automattic’s James LePage describes emerging WooCommerce capabilities that will enable Sidekick-type AI extensions
CleanTalk WordPress Plugin Vulnerability Threatens Up To 200K Sites
CleanTalk WordPress plugin, installed in 200,000+ websites, exposes sites to a critical vulnerability rated 9.8/10
Antitrust Filing Says Google Cannibalizes Publisher Traffic
Antitrust filing argues Google cannibalizes audience visits to sites it uses to power AI results.
Google AI Shows A Site Is Offline Due To JS Content Delivery
A site owner blamed Google AI Search for falsely reporting their site offline. The answer was a content delivery pitfall.
WP Engine Complaint Adds Unredacted Allegations About Mullenweg Plan
WordPress co-founder and Automattic are alleged to have planned to target at least ten competitors beyond WP Engine.
New Data Shows Googlebot’s 2 MB Crawl Limit Is Enough
New data shows that most web pages fall well below Googlebot’s two-megabyte crawl limit.
7 Insights From Washington Post’s Strategy To Win Back Traffic
The Washington Post’s controversial strategy begins with a foundation, then adjusts based on what works.
Google Shows How To Check Passage Indexing
Google’s John Mueller offered a simple solution to the question of whether a passage is indexed and is ready to rank.
WordPress Publishes AI Guidelines To Combat AI Slop
WordPress published AI guidelines with five principles designed to encourage responsible use of AI.
Why Proposal To Label Sections Of AI Generated Content Is Controvesial
A new proposal suggests using semantic HTML to label sections of a page that are AI generated to support EU compliance.
Google Shows How To Get More Traffic From Top Stories Feature
Google’s new documentation shows how to get traffic from their Top Stories search feature.
WordPress Announces AI Agent Skill For Speeding Up Development
WordPress announced a new AI agent skill that enables a clear feedback loop for AI, speeding up building and experimenting with WordPress.
Google’s SAGE Agentic AI Research: What It Means For SEO
New research paper about creating a dataset for training deep research AI agents (SAGE) also provides SEO insights for content.
Chrome Updated With 3 AI Features Including Nano Banana
Chrome’s new AI features enable it to go shopping, plan trips, edit images in a browser window, and answer questions from a new side panel.
New Yahoo Scout AI Search Delivers The Classic Search Flavor People Miss
Yahoo Scout offers a clean and uncluttered classic search experience with the power of natural language AI.
WP Go Maps Plugin Vulnerability Affects Up To 300K WordPress Sites
Vulnerability in the popular WP Go Maps WordPress plugin affects affects up to 300,000 websites
Google’s New User Intent Extraction Method
Google’s user intent extraction research shows how AI on mobile devices could be used to proactively assist users and automate tasks.
BuddyPress WordPress Vulnerability May Impact Up To 100,000 Sites
BuddyPress WordPress vulnerability enables unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary shortcodes
10Web WordPress Photo Gallery Plugin Vulnerability
10Web Photo Gallery plugin vulnerability enables unauthenticated attackers to delete image comments.
Microsoft’s Guide To Winning In AEO & GEO
Microsoft explains what matters for AEO and GEO and details three strategies that influence AI recommendations.
Five Things To Do That Will Increase Authoritativeness And Earn Links
Five things that any business can do to increase authoritativeness and earn more links
Shopify Shares More Details On Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP)
Shopify’s Harley Finkelstein said agentic shopping surfaces products because they fit the user, not because brands can buy visibility.
More Sites Blocking LLM Crawling – Could That Backfire On GEO?
New data shows an increase in AI assistant crawling alongside declining AI model training access.