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TGIF. This is the Niche Nugget. A monthly roundup where we bring you SEO and creator news and insights from across the industry.

What happened? What's it all mean? We've got you covered.

Here’s the crispy nuggets we've cooked up for you in December👨‍🍳:

• Automattic-Mullenweg vs. WP Engine
• ChatGPT search is now free (and why you MUST try it)

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WP Engine Granted Preliminary Injunction

Lowdown

A California judge has granted a preliminary injunction to WP Engine.

On December 10th, nearly 3 months after the CEO of Automattic Mullenweg called WP Engine "a cancer for Wordpress" and proceeded to block them from accessing WordPress.org, WP Engine finally gets some reprieve.

If you're not entirely up to speed on the ongoing Automattic-Mullenweg vs. WP Engine saga, here's the TLDR:

Mullenweg, 1 of 3 voting members who ultimately control WordPress.org, feels that WP Engine doesn't contribute enough time and money back to the opensource development of WordPress. So, what did Mullenweg do? The only logical thing to do - he (allegedly) attempted to extort WP Engine for tens of millions of dollars. But WP Engine refused to comply, and so Mullenweg has been waging war against them ever since.

Takeaway

The preliminary injunction gave Mullenweg 72 hours to:

• Restore WP Engine’s access to WordPress.org, themes, plugins, and subdomains
• Restore WP Engine’s access and control of Advanced custom field (ACF) on WordPress.org
• Remove the check mark on the WordPress.org login page that asked developers to disclose if they were affiliated with WP Engine “in any way, financially or otherwise"

This is a massive positive development for WP Engine and the WordPress Community - and in my opinion, absolutely the right decision.

That said, the war is far from over.

A preliminary injunction is simply a legal tool used to return things back to the "status quo" while the courts decide on the merits of the case.

And Mullenweg's statement following the ruling made it crystal clear that he has no intention of letting up...

ChatGPT search is now available to all free users

Lowdown

Originally launched in October exclusively for paying ChatGPT Plus subscribers, OpenAI's ChatGPT Search is now available globally for free as of December 16th.

Later in December OpenAI also announced that the ChatGPT advanced voice mode now also works for search.

Takeaway

Despite the clear degradation of Google Search quality over the past few years, we all know Google still absolutely dominates search engine market share...and it's not even close.

It's obvious to any objective analyst that a search engine as entrenched as Google isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

With that acknowledgement out of the way - have you tried ChatGPT search for mobile yet?

If you haven't, take 60 seconds and go download the ChatGPT mobile app right now.

*Seriously, just go do it. Not later...right now.*

Once downloaded, create a free account and within the ChatGPT interface click the globe icon in the message field to activate Search.

Next, go ahead and click the microphone icon and try the voice interface to ask it a question.

It will BLOW YOUR MIND.

From the moment I've had ChatGPT search on my iPhone, I haven't used Google for a single mobile search.

It is by far the stickiest app I have ever used in my life, and I genuinely believe it's a 10x improvement for "standard" search queries.

Give it a go and I am confident you will come to the same conclusion I have...

Google search dominance isn't going to disappear overnight, but the future trendline is clear.

Memes of the Month 🤣

That's a wrap on 2024!!

Mike and I just want to take a second to say Happy New Year and THANK YOU all for reading and for your support - it genuinely means the world to us.

Onward.

-Keith