Publisher Growth Briefing #2: Google Discover Update, Bing Webmaster AI Tracker
PLUS: New details about my forthcoming SEO & AI Visibility training course.
Thanks to everyone that has supported my first briefing - so let’s continue my rocket-fulled romp through the digital media stories that caught my attention this week. Chocks away!
Google Discover Update Flutter?
It’s barely been a week since Google released a Discover core update specifically targeting (initially) US local news and eliminating more spam. Curiously, many SEOs outside of the US have reported fluctuations in their Discover performance since the core update was rolled out. This is not unusual as there’s often a gap between what Google announces and what actually happens in search. Worth keeping an eye on.
And on the Google front. I attended the News in the Digital Age conference on Wednesday, hosted by FT Strategies and Google. Sulina Connal (Google’s Managing Director of News & Books Partnerships) didn’t give much way about their immediate plans but she did allude to the new set of tools publishers will be getting to control how their pages appear in AI Overviews. Sounds like the tool will be a bit more complicated than a simple ON/OFF switch. As for getting more performance data from Google (in GSC) her response was: ‘We hear you’. And that was the end of that.
Kudos to Alan Smith (Head of Visual and Data Journalism, FT) who managed to captivate an audience when his slot ran 20 minutes into lunch break - that’s no small feat. Also, following a fireside chat and demo with Steven Johnson (Co-Founder of NotebookLM) I suddenly realised I need to be using this tool much more than I do as I wasn’t fully aware of all the functionality before. Hmm, giving yourself more homework, Steve.
Bing Webmaster tools Gets an Update
A company that has been listening to webmasters and SEO soothsayers is Bing who have delighted the community with a new addition to Bing Webmaster - the AI Performance tab. I was pretty surprised to see the sheer amount of citations for one of my websites in this tool. Why can’t we get this kind of data in Google Search Console?
Although it lacks a lot of detail it’s still useful to see which pages are being cited as these can often be pages that businesses forgot about years ago. So, great to have a free tool that can show where your brand appears across Microsoft Copilot and AI-generated answers in Bing. Still no click data from AI surfaces though - now that would be special!
Microsoft Publisher Content Marketplace
Continuing the general Microsoft BIG UP (I must declare I did work for them for a period of time) is the announcement of the expansion of the Microsoft Publisher Content Marketplace. This marketplace is designed to give publishers a new revenue stream, provides AI systems with scaled access to premium content, and deliver better responses for consumers. More of this please.
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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT. I am pleased to share with you a new SEO & AI Visibility course I will running on March 31st 2026 in London for Journalism UK. I’ll cover:
**The new visibility landscape:**Unpack how Google, Discover, and AI-driven platforms decide what news gets seen—and what gets buried.
**SEO essentials for journalists:**Learn practical, newsroom-friendly techniques to boost your stories’ reach without compromising editorial integrity.
**Structuring for success:**Discover how to craft headlines, choose images, and format articles so they perform across search, news feeds, and AI overviews.
**Real-time optimisation:**Find out how to make breaking news, live blogs, and evergreen features more discoverable—right when it matters most.
**Tools & analytics:**Get to grips with Search Console and other tools to track your performance and spot new opportunities.
**Editorial strategy for the AI era:**Explore how to adapt your newsroom’s workflows and planning to thrive in a world of zero-click results and AI-powered discovery.
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Mueller criticises Bot-specific markdown
One of the consequences of the general confusion over AI search visibility is the idea that you can use markdown to do the main donkey work to boost your AI visibility. Something that the King Kong of search, John Muller, has recently promptly quashed.
A Mathematical Approach to Understanding AI Search
I’m a being fan of Joshua Budman’s Substack who attempts to tackle some of the key questions around AI visibility using his particular logical approach. There’s a lot of AI Visibility myth-busting here alongside heaps of ‘correlation is not causation.’
How The Guardian is Responding to AI
A great interview here with Caspar Llewellyn Smith, The Guardian’s new Chief AI Officer who interestingly gave us The Observer Music Monthly which was always a feature in our student household on a Sunday morning after spending the whole night listening to Aphex Twin.
The Athletic’s Content Strategy to Counter AI Scraping
“The one thing that AI isn’t as good at is the live experience. And so we can be that expert for you in the moment. Humans will always be faster.” That’s Sarah Goldstein, Editorial Director at The Athletic. Thus follows an interesting overview of The Athletic’s strategy to counter AI sucking all their content up. Just make sure when you invest in live blogs that you also hire a good consultant to make sure your blogs get the visibility in search they deserve - often tricker than it sounds.
And on the topic of sport…
Smartoco Release A Sport-Specific User Needs Model.
When Dmitry Shiskin started to talk about his user needs model at the BBC over ten years ago - he facilitated a whole new content strategy conversation around producing targeted content over ‘spray and pray’. Well, just in time for the Winter Olympics Smartoco have upped their game with the release of Sport-specific user needs. If you work in sports journalism this is pretty essential reading and I would encourage you to create your own versions if you feel the model doesn’t fit your company culture/language/approach.
Beef up Your SEO/Strategy Game
Just as Dmitry often shares his best reads that have helped him in his career (so follow him), Pedro Dias has shared som great advice and recommendations here for levelling up your SEO and general life game. Hmm, methinks I should do the same in a future post.
And lastly, a few of you know what I do a spot of electronic music, and I’m pleased to announce the release of my new track **Chrétien de Troyes’ out on Friday 13th. This must surely win an award for ‘Most Pretentious Title Track Ever’ but what is bloke interested in Arthurian Romance poems to do?
Enjoy the rest of your week.