🤖 Google Search “AI Mode” Dropping Soon

Welcome back to the newsletter that’s here to remind you that, as of this week, this is officially a tool at your disposal:

Use it wisely. And often.

Anyway, here’s what’s good this week:

→ Are Hashtags #Over 🪦
→ Search’s “AI Mode” Dropping Soon 🤖
→ Google Doubles Down w/ ANOTHER December Update 😵
→ more, obviously 💬

But first…

​This Week's Video 🗣️🎙️​

In this week's video, I dive into my plans to launch a WordPress hosting company in 2025. Drawing from my previous ventures, I see a huge opportunity in the managed WordPress hosting space, a field brimming with potential for innovation. I’ll document the journey openly, sharing challenges and wins to inspire collaboration and possibly find a partner. I aim to make hosting accessible, even for non-technical users, in a market ready for innovation. So tune in for more!​

​YouTube​​​​

What’s Going Down @ Google 📊

→ Basically the moment that the core update wrapped up, Google dropped a December spam update— go ahead, look at the replies, I dare you. Here, I’ll get you started:

lol. Too real.

→ Here’s the DL on the Core Update, which many say was brief but brutal as it was “a big update, causing many of the third-party tracking tools to spike significantly, showing a lot of volatility.”

→ In Google’s response to the DOJ’s monopoly ruling, it asked the judge to “allow it to continue to pay other companies for its search engine to get prime placement… But it said those agreements should be less restrictive than in the past.” The proposal’s main changes can be summarized as: Non-Exclusive Search Agreements, Unbundling Android App Licenses, and Annual Review of Search Deals… Basically? It’s a little unserious. Minimal at best. So, we’ll see how that works out for them.

→ Here’s an interesting one. Google is once again letting advertisers use IP addresses for ad targeting, reversing its previous position of calling this a “privacy risk.”

AI Insight 🤖

→ Speaking of Google, Search is getting an “AI Mode” that some are saying will look "nearly identical to its Gemini AI chatbot." 2025 should be interesting as OpenAI and Google chase each other’s tails.

→ According to the Wall Street Journal, The Next Great Leap in AI Is Behind Schedule and Crazy Expensive. What’s the issue? “OpenAI also started developing what is called synthetic data, or data created by AI, to help train Orion. The feedback loop of AI creating data for AI can often cause malfunctions or result in nonsensical answers, research has shown.”

→ US OpenAI users can now call 1-800-CHATGPT for 15 minutes of free chatbot consultation per month. Kind of a cheesy gimmick, but don’t hate it.

→ Another day, another massive Perplexity valuation— ICYMI, Perplexity just secured another $500M, raising its valuation to $9B. That’s three times as high as it was like… half a year ago?

Social Media Round-up 📲

→ Meta just dropped a new affiliate link set-up: “Affiliate links will now be more prominently displayed directly on your Reels, videos, photos, and text posts to help encourage more of your followers to purchase products through your unique link.”

→ If you can’t stomach LinkedIn and are opting out of the LinkedIn grind, I respect it. But, if you are on the LinkedIn grind, I respect it, and this might be good for you to know: the platform testing larger in-stream videos as part of its aggressive strategy to be more like TikTok, but still LinkedIn, which tbh sounds awful.

→ ICYMI: seems like hashtags are #over. On X, Elon says “Please stop using hashtags. The system doesn’t need them anymore and they look ugly.” LinkedIn's talking heads also say they're practically useless. Instagram removed the option to follow hashtags. It’s basically only Threads trying to keep hashtags relevant— and listening to Threads on what’s relevant is a good way to become about as relevant as Threads (derogatory).

→ Buckle up, folks. The TikTok ban case finally goes up in front of the US Supreme Court in January.

YouTube is now making it an option to opt-in or opt-out of allowing your videos to be used as third-party AI training data… Click through to learn how to stayed opted-out… or opt in, if you’re feeling generous.

Jacky Chou​
Founder of Indexsy
hello@indexsy.com
Let's Connect on Twitter👇

​​

1238 Seymour Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 6J3
​Unsubscribe · Preferences​