Agency news weekly

Surprise! Ai is not going anywhere … but people don’t fully trust it yet.

• A recent study produced by Yext and Researchscape investigated more than 2,200 people in the US, the UK, France and Germany about how they use AI. Some results are pretty interesting.
• 75% of consumers use more AI search tools than a year ago, with 43% used them daily.
• Almost two -thirds (62%) of consumers trust AI to guide brand choices, the same as traditional search. However…
  • Only 10% relies on the first AI result
  • 48% verify answers on multiple platforms
  • 40% struggles with nuanced questions, and
  • 37% are concerned with a lack of reliable sources
• The study continues to identify Six “Search Archetypes” And show how consumers shred their searches on AI, search engines and social platforms.
  • 68% of consumers use AI for local product or service research, but only 19% trust AI results versus 45% for search engines.
  • Conversational AI leads traditional search for summaries (46%), creative ideas (39%), product/service data (45%) and how-to-guidelines (44%).
  • But search engines still dominate product/service data (70%) and company information (63%), while Social is still king for reviews (48%).
• There are also various breakdowns of generation when using AI:
  • Millennials combine AI and search for rapid clarity and detailed info
  • Gen Z tends to AI for brainstorming (48%)
  • Gen X uses AI for context and summaries, but remains with search engines (70%) for general knowledge
  • Boomers trust search engines (80%) and largely avoid AI

What to expect from WordPress 6.9 in December

• WordPress 6.9 is planned for December 2, 2025Marking the second major release of the year.
• Only one large release was planned for 2025, but the roadmap was expanded thanks to a recent increase in contributors.
• There will be no new standard theme with this release.
• Some of the highlights of WordPress 6.9 are:
  • The site editor receives a simplified editing mode that prioritizes contenttuftdates, while users can switch to full styling aids if necessary.
  • With a new feature for hiding blocks, users can hide blocks on the frontend, while they remain editable in the backend, which is ideal for renewing content on live pages.
  • Block level commentary is introduced to support cooperation.
  • The Commanda Palet is expanding to offer universal navigation and action -snelping couplings and to serve as a basis for future AI integrations.
  • Performance improvements deliver faster page -transitions, smarter drawers of resources, optimized buffering and improved CSS/JS treatment.
  • Developer -oriented updates include the introduction of the Skills APIimprovements to the Interactivity APIand refinements on the Block bindings And HTML APIs.
• An interesting remark is a proposal Made last week by Jenni McKinnon about the use of AI to make end user documentation.

What Geo and AEO mean for your customer’s SEO and Google AI ranking

• Generative motorcycle optimization (GEO) and answer motor optimization (AEO) appear as an important shifts in SEO.
• If these are new terms for you, Pathfinder has SEO’s Michael Lykins A useful article and video To help you arrange the alphabet soup.
• While on the left are still important in geo, Brand mentions Provide crucial context and authority for AI seeking aids and can play as much role in ranking as traditional link building.
• Effective geo strategies include targeted PR, high-quality content, influencer marketing and authentic participation in online communities to generate natural entries.
• The good news is that if you do SEO well You are probably already in a good position To show your content in AI search results such as the most important collection restaurants from Google.
• Google’s Gary Ilyes has even recently clarified that the appearance in AI overviews does not require geo or new tactics, but rather Normal SEO practices.
• In other words, staying focused on proven SEO strategies is still the safest path ahead.

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