Answer Engine Optimization

If organic traffic is down this quarter, that doesn't mean a site's SEO program stopped working. In this episode of The Search Signal, Michael Transon makes the case that search is behaving more like a brand channel than a performance channel, with searches ending without a click and the tools used to measure visibility both getting less reliable at the same time. He lays out how to read rankings, AI mentions, and direct traffic together instead of relying on one...

Victorious’s Q3 2026 AI search report tracked which brands AI platforms name when buyers ask who to choose. Brands AI had already cited while buyers were researching the category got named 94% of the time, against 50% for brands with no early citation. Watch to learn what that means for research content and whether mentions or links do more to get a brand named.

Feeling torn between SEO and GEO? Think you could be falling behind as others start to optimize for AI search engines? Keep reading before making changes to your SEO strategy.

Google released Universal Cart right before the busy holiday season, leaving ecommerce brands wondering how it will affect them. Watch to learn how Universal Cart works, who it matters for, and what you can do today to get set up on it.

Anthropic updated its usage policy to ban using Claude to build networks of fake sources that sway search results and AI answers. The rule takes effect November 12 and reaches every product built on Claude. Michael walks through why he reads this as good news, how the case that prompted it got caught, where faking still works, and what to build instead.

Briefing content for writers used to be straightforward. You’d take a look at the SERP, determine an angle for your content, and provide headers, reference links, and a ballpark word count. That’s a solid approach for creating click-worthy content for human readers. But AI retrieval systems don’t “read” content like humans do. If you want your content to surface in AI-powered search results, you need to update your briefing process.  Why Content Briefs Need To Change for AI retrieval Think...

A lot of AI search advice still centers on a company's own website: fix the technical setup and publish better content, and visibility will follow. But when ChatGPT or Google's AI Mode answers a question about a category, it builds its answer mostly from other people's pages. In this episode, Michael Transon makes the case that a deliberate brand mention program, not a stronger website, drives AI search visibility. Watch to learn why expertise and co-occurrence have to come first,...

Query fan-out breaks one search into several related questions AI systems run at once, then builds an answer from whatever addresses each. Learn how to structure content so it can be cited across that full set, not just the original query.

When marketing leaders ask whether their technical SEO covers them for AI search, Michael's answer is mostly yes. Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode run on Google's regular index, and most of a standard technical audit carries over to the other platforms. This week he sorts technical work into what to keep, what to start, and the short list of things to skip, including a training-bot decision that removes your own description of your company from what the next model...

It’s time to expand our notion of formatting beyond readability and UX. If you want your brand’s content to be used and cited in AI search, shift formatting from an afterthought to become a part of your content strategy. This article is a tactical guide to formatting content for AI retrieval.