John G

I recently searched Google for “hypertufa trough” because I am looking at making some planters for a garden project. A hypertufa trough is basically a lightweight, stone-effect planter made from a mix such as cement, perlite and peat moss, or sometimes a more sustainable alternative such as coconut coir. It is the sort of practical … Read more

Over the last few posts, I have been thinking a lot about non-commodity content. By that, I mean content that is not just a repeat of what anyone could ask AI to produce. A basic AI article can explain a topic. It can list the steps. It can summarise the pros and cons. It can … Read more

One of the features often linked with non-commodity content is proprietary data. That phrase can sound quite intimidating. When people hear “proprietary data,” they may imagine a huge research project, a professional survey, a large database, or a detailed industry report produced by a major company. But it does not always need to be that … Read more

One thing I have been thinking about recently is how Google recognises the difference between ordinary information and genuinely useful, experience-led content. This came up for me after doing a live search experiment. I searched Google for: How to repair a corroded battery compartment Google returned an AI Overview with the basic steps. Remove the … Read more

I tried a small live search experiment today, and it helped me think more clearly about the difference between commodity content and genuinely helpful content. The search was very simple. I Googled: How to repair a corroded battery compartment Google returned an AI Overview explaining the basic process. In summary, the AI answer said that … Read more

A useful way to understand the difference between ordinary content and genuinely helpful content is to ask this question: Could someone create almost the same article by reading a few Google results and asking AI to rewrite them? If the answer is yes, the content is probably commodity content. That does not mean it is … Read more

For years, one of the standard ways to build a niche website was to look for keywords, write articles around those keywords, and hope Google sent traffic. That model is changing. Google is no longer just showing a list of blue links. More and more searches now include an AI Overview, which gives the searcher … Read more

I saw an advert recently showing someone rubbing over a scratch on a car. It was one of those simple visual adverts that makes the job look almost effortless. Rub here. Scratch gone. Problem solved. So I wondered what someone would see if they searched Google for something like: “How do I repair a scratch … Read more

There has been a lot of discussion recently about whether websites are still as useful as they used to be. It is a fair question. The internet has changed very quickly. Google now shows AI answers at the top of many searches. People increasingly ask ChatGPT and other AI tools for information instead of visiting … Read more