Someone is Googling more than you.
And they ain’t human: Cloudflare CEO says bots now make up the majority of web requests, pulling 57% of the world’s web traffic versus 43% for us humans.
Where a shopper pokes around five sites, an agent blitzes through thousands, piling on server load without the clicks, ad views, or customer relationships you planned for.
That’s another sign that your content needs to be machine-readable and human-readable.
Speaking of who wins with the machines: Aleyda Solis’s analysis of SISTRIX data from Google’s May core update found that authority alone no longer makes the winners.
Big names took it on the chin. nytimes.com and nih.gov both dropped, while original sources climbed and the middlemen slipped.
The thing that made a difference was source-type fit. Did the page show up with the right tool for the job? Match the query’s intent, market, and result type, and you’re in.
Her advice: For each query that matters, spot which result type gained, then make sure your page is that type and not an echo of whoever already owns the spot.
And finally, Google’s saying no: It published new guidance on third-party SEO tools, services, and advice, making it crystal clear that it endorses exactly none of them.
The bits worth pocketing:
- Third-party tools can’t see Google’s internal ranking data, so trust no one.
- Side-eye anything waving an “approved” or “Google-acceptable” badge.
- Hold AI-search tools up against Google’s own official guidance.
- For SEO audits, hand over read access to Search Console only.
Google’s source of truth is Search Console, which pulls its data straight from the horse’s mouth. Keep on top of the documentation, and you should be golden.
