Tips Tuesday – Bing WMT Workshop, SEO, GEO, and AEO, YouTube 2026 Priorities 

Tips this week include:

• Bing WMT live workshop this week
• Recipe carousels return to Google Search
• Difference in SEO, GEO, and AEO
• WP 6.9.1 release date
• Astro site framework joins Cloudflare
• I hit a YouTube milestone
• YouTube CEO outlines 2026 priorities

SEO Tips

Bing WMT Live Workshop This Week

Last week I sent members of the DIY SEO course a list of new and updated tutorials on Bing Webmaster Tools.

And this week, we’ll be doing a live workshop to investigate errors that Bing WMT cites, plus look at what is important in the reports.

Keep in mind that Microsoft, which owns Bing, is feeding site content and ranking data to OpenAI, which owns ChatGPT.

So, it’s more important than ever to pay attention to what Bing is crawling and ranking on your site, plus any issues that it is reporting too.

Recipe Carousels Return to Google Search

Have you heard of Frankenstein recipes?

That’s what folks call the mashup AI Overviews has made of combining a bunch of different recipes and nothing working well.

READ: Google Search Makes Recipe Results More Publisher Friendly from Search Engine Roundtable about how Google is rolling out the recipe carousel again, and it will appear above the AIO (AI Overviews) section.

I’m really glad to hear this news as AI Search has been devastating to foodie sites. Maybe this will bring some of your Google traffic back.

Differences in SEO, GEO, and AEO

For a decade we’ve been told to do Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, for Google.

These days, that may not be enough.

We need to also pay attention to GEO, which is Generative Engine Optimization, and AEO, which is Answer Engine Optimization, or Agentic Engine Optimization, depending on who you’re talking to.

There are 2 good articles that are worth reading about GEO and AEO:

• A Little Clarity on SEO, GEO, and AEO – from Search Engine Journal
• A Breakdown of Microsoft’s Guide to AEO and GEO

We might be doing a workshop on these topics in the DIY SEO course this year, but later in the year at the earliest..

Right now, I don’t think there is enough differentiation between what gets cited in AI Search compared to regular Search, when it comes to the types of blog posts that we write.

So take that into consideration when you read info about how to get seen in AI Search.

WordPress Tips

WP 6.9.1 Release Date

The proposed public release date is Feb 3 and I’ll be checking it to ensure it is safe for all of us to update.

Webmaster Tips

WordPress Playground Improvements

WP has announced several important improvements to Playground, which is a site you can quickly set up that runs in your browser.

It’s actually very good for testing plugins and such now too. I rarely set up test sites anymore because of it.

I encourage my webmasters to give it a try.

Astro Site Framework Joins Cloudflare

I strongly encourage my webmasters to check out this announcement from Cloudflare about acquiring Astro.

I know many of you create and maintain sites for small businesses. And Astro may be a good alternative to WordPress for you. 

Be sure to click the links to Cloudflare’s own pages, as they are good examples of what you can do with Astro.

Video Tips

I Hit a YouTube Milestone

Woot!!! Last week I crossed the 1 million views mark with my Heartwood Art YT channel. 

And I’m consistently getting 10k views a week. 

I’ll be publishing the new CAD tutorials at the first of February, which will make analytics for the channel easier for me to track so I can see the impact of the new tuts.

I’ll be releasing the “Tips” type vids first, that focus on a single how-to topic. There are 10 of those.

And then I’ll release the 2 full workbench model tutorials. One of them is my own workbench and I’ll feature the Bill of Materials from the CAD drawing on it too.

FYI, soon I’ll be teaching folks how to sell their build plans using Gumroad and other services too. That’s something that no one is teaching woodworkers how to do, so that should be a good niche training for me to do.

That kind of research really pays off. Find ways to cover things that others are missing.

YouTube CEO Outlines 2026 Priorities

For us to make money on YouTube, it’s helpful to know what YouTube is focusing on.

This post on Search Engine Journal has a good write up on the announcement from YouTube’s CEO.

Here’s a quick overview:

• 3 new AI tools for creating Shorts
• New spam and clickbait detection to reduce AI Slop
• Shopping with new in-app checkout
• Expansion of brand partnership tools to connect creators to brands
• Image posts on Shorts – to compete directly with Instagram

We don’t know exactly when these new features will roll out, but it’s clear to see the trend. YouTube wants folks to shop on the app, not just be entertained.