Shalin Siriwardhana

Search, growth, and digital strategy notes.

Personal notes on SEO, AI search, content strategy, and durable organic growth.

A close up shot of a person's hand holding a smartphone displaying a chat interface with a positive recommendation for a business, resting on a clean wooden table.

Notes / SEO / Sep 30, 2026

Yes, You Can Change AI’s Opinion. Here’s How.

1. Why AI Answers Surface Negative Reviews Without Context 2. What the Data Shows About AI Recommendations Before & After Added. The practical question is what this changes for SEO, content quality, and AI search visibility.

8 min read

A close-up shot of a person's hand holding a smartphone displaying a local business map, with a blurred storefront window and a street sign in the background.

Notes / SEO / Sep 30, 2026

Google on What’s Next in AI Search + 5 Local Marketing Strategy Fixes

A customer asking whether a nearby location offers a service this weekend needs more than an address. Taing said businesses. The practical question is what this changes for SEO, content quality, and AI search visibility.

6 min read

A close-up shot of a smartphone screen displaying a white warning page with black text on the Amazon website, held by a person in a dimly lit room.

Notes / SEO / Sep 30, 2026

Amazon Blocked Meta’s Muse, and Robots.txt Had Nothing to Say

Conditions of Use is the agreement a shopper accepts when they open an Amazon account, and Meta has nothing to do with it. Amazon. The practical question is what this changes for SEO, content quality, and AI search visibility.

7 min read

A person holding a smartphone in a brightly lit cafe, scrolling through a list of software recommendations on a chat interface while a coffee cup sits on the table.

Notes / SEO / Sep 30, 2026

ChatGPT Shortlists: How to Benchmark Visibility and Find Room to Compete

A practical view on ChatGPT Shortlists: How to Benchmark Visibility and Find Room to Compete, focused on the signal to inspect, the risk to avoid, and the decision it should change.

6 min read

A person holding a smartphone in one hand while a laptop screen remains open and untouched on a table beside them, showing a clear preference for the mobile device.

Notes / SEO / Sep 29, 2026

Google Desktop CTR Fell in Q2 While Mobile Rose, Data Shows

The Q2 report shows changes in average international click through rates by position from April to June compared to January to. The practical question is what this changes for SEO, content quality, and AI search visibility.

6 min read

Notes / SEO / Sep 29, 2026

Google on What’s Next in AI Search + 5 Local Marketing Strategy Fixes

6 min read

A close-up shot of a professional's hand holding a printed one-page AI scorecard with a pen, resting on a wooden table next to a closed laptop.

Notes / SEO / Sep 29, 2026

MIT & Harvard Data Show How SEO and Paid Media Managers Become Directors

David Rotman's article in the MIT Technology Review analyzes the bet behind every AI tool in your marketing stack. Hyperscalers. The practical question is what this changes for SEO, content quality, and AI search visibility.

6 min read

A close up shot of a person's hand holding a smartphone displaying a Google Lens scan of a physical product on a wooden table.

Notes / SEO / Sep 28, 2026

Google Spam Update, Image Search Data in GSC, SEO Pulse

Google began rolling out the September 2026 spam update on Sept. 24, with a rollout window of up to two weeks. The update started. The practical question is what this changes for SEO, content quality, and AI search visibility.

6 min read

A close-up of a person's hand holding a smartphone displaying a Chinese-language website, with a physical printed English document resting on a wooden table beside it.

Notes / SEO / Sep 28, 2026

AI Workflows Outscored Human Translators in 4 of 6 Content Types, China Benchmark Study

Professional human localization was tested against fourteen machine and hybrid workflows across six content types. It finished. The practical question is what this changes for SEO, content quality, and AI search visibility.

8 min read

A close up shot of a person's hand holding a highlighter over a printed spreadsheet of data, with a coffee cup sitting on the table beside the paper.

Notes / SEO / Sep 28, 2026

The Generative AI Report Sucks, Let’s Make It Brilliant

Google's Generative AI Report gives you visibility. That's it. But add commercial data and traffic dependency and you can. The practical question is what this changes for SEO, content quality, and AI search visibility.

8 min read