Shalin Siriwardhana

Search, growth, and digital strategy notes.

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

A person holding a smartphone in a brightly lit cafe, looking at a Google search result page where a colorful AI Overview box sits above the traditional blue links.

Notes / SEO / Oct 22, 2026

Google AI Overviews: Everything You Need to Know

A practical view on Google AI Overviews: Everything You Need to Know, focused on the signal to inspect, the risk to avoid, and the decision it should change.

6 min read

A close up of a server rack in a dim data center, with a single small amber warning light illuminated on one of the blade servers.

Notes / SEO / Oct 22, 2026

Google Reminds Sites to Serve a 503 During PHP Patch Downtime

"Serving a 503 (Service Unavailable) HTTP status code ensures already indexed URLs are preserved in Search while you work. Once. The practical question is what this changes for SEO, content quality, and AI search visibility.

6 min read

Notes / SEO / Oct 22, 2026

Rank Tracking Broke in September, the Future Is Measured by Brand & Revenue

The traditional keyword ranking position as a metric we rely on when it comes to scoping and reporting for clients faces an. 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 in a dimly lit room, the screen glowing and reflecting on their face as they type into a chat interface.

Notes / SEO / Oct 22, 2026

Does AI Drive More Direct Traffic?

A practical view on Does AI Drive More Direct Traffic?, focused on the signal to inspect, the risk to avoid, and the decision it should change.

6 min read

A close up shot of a server rack in a dim data center, with a single red status light glowing on a blade server, surrounded by black cabling.

Notes / SEO / Oct 21, 2026

Critical PHP Core Security Flaws Affect Websites, Including WordPress

PHP 8.1 and older remain on the end of life list and no longer receive regular official updates. For this emergency, PHP has. The practical question is what this changes for SEO, content quality, and AI search visibility.

7 min read

A close-up shot of a person's hand resting on a computer mouse, with a blurred browser window in the background showing the Chrome DevTools Network tab filled with scrolling request logs.

Notes / SEO / Oct 21, 2026

Wiretapping the SERP: Reverse Engineering Network Data

"Why?" is a reasonable question, and one I suspect most SEOs ask the bathroom mirror most mornings. Anyone that knows me, knows I. 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 blank image placeholder in a Google Discover feed, with a laptop open in the background.

Notes / SEO / Oct 21, 2026

Google Images & Discover Previews Don’t Support JPEG XL

"FWIW if you're hoping to get images shown in Google Images & as previews in Discover, etc, JPEG XL is currently not supported". 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 generative AI chat interface that recommends a fictional product, with a blurred television screen in the background.

Notes / SEO / Oct 21, 2026

China Wrote the First GEO Rulebook After a TV Scandal, Western SEOs Should Take Notes

To understand why the industry moved this fast, you need to know what "3·15" means in China. Every year on March 15, World. The practical question is what this changes for SEO, content quality, and AI search visibility.

9 min read

A close up shot of a person's hand typing a URL into a browser address bar, with the focus on the characters in the text field and a blurred keyboard below.

Notes / SEO / Oct 21, 2026

Google Crawls Raw and Encoded Bracket URLs Separately

Mueller traced the difference to RFC 3986, the internet standard for URI syntax, which puts brackets and plus signs in its. The practical question is what this changes for SEO, content quality, and AI search visibility.

6 min read

A person holding a smartphone in a brightly lit cafe, scrolling through a personalized feed of news articles with a coffee cup resting on the table beside them.

Notes / SEO / Oct 21, 2026

Details Emerge About Google Discover’s SDF Freshness Algorithm

The word "supersession" is derived from the word "supersede" and identifying when newer content has superseded older content is. The practical question is what this changes for SEO, content quality, and AI search visibility.

8 min read