Shalin Siriwardhana

Search, growth, and digital strategy notes.

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

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Notes / SEO / Oct 19, 2026

AI and Local Search: the New Rules of Visibility in 2027

A practical view on AI and Local Search: the New Rules of Visibility in 2027, focused on the signal to inspect, the risk to avoid, and the decision it should change.

6 min read

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Notes / SEO / Oct 19, 2026

The New Rules of Journalist Outreach, Based on Millions of Emails

In the AI era, there are a LOT more PR professionals in the space than ever before and they outnumber journalists. In the U.S., I. The practical question is what this changes for SEO, content quality, and AI search visibility.

8 min read

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Notes / SEO / Oct 18, 2026

Google’s Indexing API Docs No Longer Explain How to Get Approval

Before the Oct. 16 update, the quota page said the API "provides initial default quota for testing, and it requires additional. The practical question is what this changes for SEO, content quality, and AI search visibility.

6 min read

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Notes / SEO / Oct 17, 2026

Rank Tracker Data, ChatGPT Tags & AI Search Links, SEO Pulse

From Sept. 13 to Oct. 9, 8.0% of the Google results pages that rank tracking company Nozzle could check against each keyword's. The practical question is what this changes for SEO, content quality, and AI search visibility.

8 min read

A person holding a smartphone in a brightly lit cafe, scrolling through a news website where a small, clear "Free" badge is visible next to a headline.

Notes / SEO / Oct 17, 2026

The Real Reason the New York Times Puts Free Content First

Not every article needs to drive an immediate subscription. Nor is it going to. Making selected articles free to air helps. The practical question is what this changes for SEO, content quality, and AI search visibility.

6 min read

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Notes / SEO / Oct 16, 2026

It’s Possible Your Migration Issues May Be Due to Site Quality

I believe that not only does a site migration trigger a new review of site quality from Google, but also that Google's standards. The practical question is what this changes for SEO, content quality, and AI search visibility.

6 min read

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Notes / SEO / Oct 16, 2026

Google Takes Applications for a UGC Pipeline Separate from Crawling

The Search Central documentation changelog links to the page under the entry for Oct. 8: "Added documentation on the UGC Fresh. The practical question is what this changes for SEO, content quality, and AI search visibility.

9 min read

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Notes / SEO / Oct 15, 2026

How Entity Confusion Can Hurt Your Brand’s AI Visibility

A practical view on How Entity Confusion Can Hurt Your Brand’s AI Visibility, 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 person's thumb hovering over a smartphone screen, where a single "Web" filter button is visible beneath a large block of AI generated text.

Notes / SEO / Oct 15, 2026

SERPs Stop Being the Default Between 2028 & 2030

In May 2024, Google launched a "Web" filter that shows only text based links, sitting alongside Images, Videos, and News or. The practical question is what this changes for SEO, content quality, and AI search visibility.

7 min read

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Notes / SEO / Oct 15, 2026

96.8% Chance of a Panda Style Update Within a Month According to Prediction Model Signals

Panda rolled out in February 2011 and was a site level quality classifier. Google trained it on human judgments of pages and. The practical question is what this changes for SEO, content quality, and AI search visibility.

7 min read