Mark Traphagen
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marktraphagen.bsky.social
Mark Traphagen
@marktraphagen.bsky.social
1.7K followers 790 following 170 posts
VP Product Marketing & Training at seoClarity (all opinions my own) #seo. Out & proud queer non-binary #TransLivesMatter #BlackLivesMatter. Mandolin & vocals with String Break Band. Durham NC
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BREAKING!

In the seoClarity Research Grid, no matter which US ecomm domain we look at, we're seeing a dramatic rise in AIOs in transactional keywords at the same time the Product feature is starting to decline.

7 min video on what this means >> www.seoclarity.net/research/eco...
Here's a more detailed follow up to my post yesterday using @seoClarity data to show Google is increasing the number of AIOs that rank lower than 1st position.

Thanks to @sengineland for asking me for the data and insights!

searchengineland.com/google-ai-ov...
Google AI Overviews rank below Position 1 in 12.4% of cases: Study
Google’s AI Overviews seem to be slipping in search rankings, opening new chances for SEOs to outrank them and reclaim lost clicks.
searchengineland.com
Research from the seoClarity Research Grid for US keywords on desktop shows the steady growth of keywords with an AIO where the AIO no longer ranks in the first position.

This represents about 10% of the keywords we track.

And AIOs are in positions 4-10 about 3% of the time now
Reposted by Mark Traphagen
MASSIVE good news for trans people in the United States.

A federal judge has just granted class action status to transgender people looking to update their passports.

This means that very shorty, the window will open to update your passports with the correct gender marker.
How often do AI Overviews rank lower than position one?

Not very often according to our latest seoClarity data tracking AIOs in US keywords on desktop.

AIO Rank Positions
1 = 97.7%
2 = 1.2%
3 = 0.5%
4 = 0.3%
4 or less = 0.2%
“Our confusion and misery comes from not knowing that the gold is right here—and from always looking somewhere else.”

Pema Chodron - The Compassion Book
Top 20 Industries Showing AI Overviews in January 2025

Fresh from our seoClarity Research Grid, here are the industry groups that showed the most AI Overviews in January.

These have remained relatively stable over the past several months, with only a few categories switching places.
Reposted by Mark Traphagen
What happens to human created content?

Are companies too lost in AI?

How will Google monetize AI answers?

Crazy smart people on Webcology🔥@schachin.bsky.social @marktraphagen.bsky.social @jennyhalasz.bsky.social @jimhedger.bsky.social - & I was also there

redcircle.com/shows/webcol...
The It's the End of the Year as We've Known It Edition
Listen to Webcology on RedCircle
redcircle.com
Reposted by Mark Traphagen
Webcology: The It's the End of the Year as We've Known It Edition
An all star SEO panel -> Mordy Oberstein (@mordyoberstein.bsky.social), Mark Traphagen (@marktraphagen.bsky.social), and Jenny Halasz (@jennyhalasz.bsky.social) join Jim & Kristine to look back & forward redcircle.com/shows/webcol...
The It's the End of the Year as We've Known It Edition
Listen to Webcology on RedCircle
redcircle.com
Finally in a poly where there truly are no hierarchies, no jealousy. It's so gloriously wholesome
Reposted by Mark Traphagen
WE ARE STILL IN THIS.
Wipe your tears.
This is the difficult business of hope and defying expectation.
We do not give up.
We run through the tape.

Y’all aren’t allowed to throw in the towel until I do. 😉

Big breath. Locked in. Let’s do this.
Over the next several posts here I'm going to provide evidence for that, but the graph below shows point number one: AIOs make up less than 5% of US keywords.

BETTER: Get ALL the evidence behind my hot take at >> www.seoclarity.net/blog/should-...

🧵3/3
I've been studying AIOs daily since they were SGE. But better than that, with the power of seoClarity I have access to amazing data and insights into how they are REALLY impacting thousands of sites.

SPOILER: AIOs are NOT a major priority (at least for now) for your SEO.

🧵2/3
Should you try to rank for AI Overviews? #HotTake

The assumption has been that Google's AI Overviews are competing with you for significant traffic, and therefore you should be spending considerable effort trying to appear in them.

But is that really the case?

Continue this 🧵to find out! 1/3
Reposted by Mark Traphagen
At its heart, Star Trek is a utopian fantasy about a society so advanced that they are capable of holding productive meetings that last no longer than three minutes
Letting go of attachment has perhaps been the most fulfilling advancement I've made in my whole life
Hello, I’m nëgahpart, a spatula that will never be your favorite
Your IKEA product name is your name spelled backwards with an umlaut.

Hello, I'm Wërdnå, a small hexagonal wicker basket.
Your IKEA product name is your name spelled backwards with an umlaut

Hello, I'm ennazüs, which is a cat shaped doormat.
Gotcha! Makes total sense now. I just shared the Heinlen quote with my ‘cule. Love it!
Reposted by Mark Traphagen
“Jealousy is a disease, love is a healthy condition. [We] often mistake one for the other, or assume that the greater the love, the greater the jealousy, in fact, they are almost incompatible; one emotion hardly leaves room for the other.” - Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land
Did you leave out a “not” there?
Sit with and be honest about them. Talk them out. Don’t hide them.

It’s not that I never experience jealousy or anxiety.

It’s that I know how to get myself back to the deep security I feel with my partners.
Yes! I think we all know we have the capacity to love more than one person at a time, but we grew up in an ancient system centered around owning people as property.

Key to poly is the concept of compersion: the ability to have joy in the joy of another even if the cause of their joy isn’t you
My polycule has a new theme: Mutually Assured Joy

It's what we seek, feed, nurture and encourage

Looking forward to celebrating that with them and other kindred spirit friends as I host my first Friendsgiving Saturday

BTW I'm open about my ethical nonmonogamy so AMA
Green bean casserole with shoestring fried onions on top
For sure sweet potato casserole or sweet potato anything.
Favorite Thanksgiving day side dish?