Tips Tuesday – AI Tracking is Unstable, Brand Invite, Meta’s Evil Stunt

Tips this week include:

• WordPress 7.0.1 released
• Meta’s evil stunt and my $.02 on it
• AI visibility tracking metrics are unstable
• Google AI tracking is not effective either
• Why you need the whole metrics story
• I got a brand invite!!
• Why brands are desperate for reviews

WordPress Tips

WP 7.0.1 Released

The first bug fix for WP 7 rolled out on the 9th. 

It fixed 31 bugs and a couple of security concerns.

This should have been an auto update for you, but if it didn’t, please go ahead and update manually.

Social Media Tips

Meta’s Evil Stunt

Instagram quietly snuck in an evil little change on us.

Last Tuesday, Meta announced their new AI image generator called Muse Image.

They opted everyone into sharing all of their images and reels with Meta’s AI training.

But the public blowback was so fierce that they removed it just three days later. And they didn’t just remove the feature. They shut down the whole project.

I think legal pressure from SAG-AFTRA and other such organizations is what ultimately made Meta pull the plug on it.

My 2 Cents On It

I can’t believe that Meta is living under such a giant rock that they didn’t know this was a bad idea to begin with. The sexual exploitation of AI images/videos made from photos/videos of famous females and minors is well known.

The fact is, Meta’s ToS states that they have the right to do anything with your content that they like, more or less. Most every platform we use has the same agreement.

But maybe there was some legal loophole about using those images for AI training that this “opt in by default” setting got them around.

Even with them removing the feature, the damage is already done. They’ve got the images for their AI training now.

I know you’re mad about this – everyone is. And I would not put it past them to sell that data and those images, or use them in other nefarious ways.

AI SEO Tips

AI Visibility Tracking Metrics are Unstable

Big businesses are desperate to know how their products and info pages are ranking in AI searches.

That means that the AI tracking service businesses have boomed over the past 2 years.

Even though they are getting paid big bucks, at best, they can only deliver inaccurate results that change every time they do a query on something.

This article on Search Engine Journal covers yet another study that backs up just how unstable AI ranking metrics are.

Basically, the metrics show nothing more than statistical noise.

The main culprit – inherent randomness.

Every time an AI chatbot is queried, it inserts some randomness into the response.

So, if you only count how many times your posts/products were cited in a single run, that’s not going to tell you the whole story.

If you run that same query again the next day, you’ll get a different response, with different sources cited.

Google AI Tracking is Not Effective Either

You can see the AI crawlers and chatbots hitting your site in GA4.

And you can see how many times your content was cited in Google Search Console.

But, none of these metrics are stable or tell the whole story.

For one thing, these AI bots are spoofed a lot, meaning they are coming from other sources, not the one named.

For another thing, Google Search Console only shows you Google Search. There are 4-5 other AI searches, like from ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity that you are not seeing.

Bad Data In, Bad Decisions Out

I’ve seen 100 ads for how to rank better in AI searches.

Here’s the thing – how would you know if they’re working or not?

With such horribly bad AI tracking metrics, you would have no way to know if your content was actually getting cited more in them.

The only real measurement you have would be an increase in traffic to your site – but that does not tell you the metrics on how often you showed up in AI search.

In other words, you have no CTR (Click Through Rate) metric.

Why the Whole Metric Story Matters So Much

Here’s an example of why you need Impressions and CTR data.

I have a post on Heartwood Art for how to make your own circular saw straight edge guide.

It shows up a LOT in Google Search.

But, my CTR is VERY low.

Here’s why that is and why I’m perfectly okay with it.

The first word in the title of my post is DIY. It’s intended for folks who want to make their own.

But, if someone just types “circular saw straight edge guide” or similar into the Search box, Google has no idea at that point if they want to buy one or make one. 

So it shows them both, including my post and/or video.

This means I get super high Impressions. But folks who just want to buy the thing don’t click on my post or video.

There is 100% nothing wrong with my post. There is nothing I need to fix to make the CTR go higher.

The fact is, my post is so perfect in the eyes of Google that it ranks super high for the generic search on that topic.

My post and/or video gets shown even higher than posts/videos on products many times.

But, if I didn’t have the SEO experience that I do, and I didn’t look at ALL of the data, I might be tempted to tweak that post to get more clicks.

I ain’t touching nothing because I know better!!!

I get nearly 100% of the clicks for folks who want to DIY this thing. It’s just that the ratio of DIYers is very small compared to the number of folks who want to just buy one. Hence, the CTR number.

This method of discernment in what content to tweak and what to leave alone is something that I’ve taught in the DIY SEO course for over a decade.

So, be sure you have ALL your data, and that you can track whether or not new changes actually worked before you fall for “sounds good” snake oil SEO advice.

Monetization Tips

I Got a Brand Invite

You may recall me reporting that last year I started doing product reviews in a new Homeowner Tips section on Heartwood Art. That is a nice tangent for this site and YouTube channel as most woodworkers live in a house rather than an apartment or such.

And this year I’ve been doing more product reviews for things I use in the shop too, like the mini air blower and rubber tipped broom review I did recently. And I’ve got a new review on various corner clamps that will be published later today.

I’m literally just doing them as I use that product during a project, and they are super fast to put together.

Well, guess what?

A brand reached out to me through the YouTube Partnership Program and they want me to review one of their tools.

And get this – it is EXACTLY the specialty tool I need for the next project I have planned!!!!!!!!!!

So, I’ll definitely be replying to the invitation once I get my Partnership page setup on my YouTube channel. And I’ll be documenting that page setup process and teaching it in the DIY SEO course soon too.

I’ll keep you posted on how this brand deal works out.

Brands are Desperate for Reviews

FYI, several of my clients regularly do brand deal work. In fact, one of them has so many offers that she can hardly get to them all. 

And another client just happened to mention a product she liked and that brand contacted her immediately for a review – even though she doesn’t have any other product reviews on her channel.

The big reason brands are being so proactive with reaching out to creators is that they need all of the brand mentions they can get now. It’s the only way for them to rank well in AI searches.

The more an AI crawler sees a brand mentioned, the more popular it thinks that brand is.

And there is definitely money to be made in doing these reviews too.

So, seriously consider doing some yourself.