Google Search Profiles vs AI spam on Reddit

New AI retrieval tools let marketers quantify how closely content matches a query, but the article warns that high cosine‑similarity scores are still approximations, not guarantees of relevance. Misreading these metrics can lead to over‑optimisation and blind spots, so practitioners must pair scores with deeper validation.

Companies selling peptides and hormone therapies are flooding the r/biohackers subreddit with promotional posts designed to be scraped by AI models. As ChatGPT and Google’s AI search increasingly cite Reddit, these campaigns aim to bias chatbot answers toward their products, prompting moderators to ban such content.

Google introduced Search Profiles, a dedicated, shareable page that lets publishers and creators centralise articles, videos, and social posts on Search and Discover. Eligible creators can claim a profile, add bios and links, and gain follower functionality, starting in the US with plans to expand globally.

A 90‑day experiment monitoring over 62,000 AI bot visits showed that only 0.1% accessed the /llms.txt file, and the presence of the file did not boost overall AI crawler traffic or rankings. The results refute claims that llms.txt improves AI search discovery or citation frequency.

Google introduced Search Profiles, a dedicated, shareable page that lets publishers and creators centralise articles, videos, and social posts on Search and Discover. Eligible creators can claim a profile, add bios and links, and gain follower functionality, starting in the US with plans to expand globally.

Britain's Competition and Markets Authority has ordered Google to give UK publishers the ability to exclude their content from AI‑generated search overviews and to provide clearer attribution. The move, intended to restore traffic and strengthen bargaining power, will be rolled out through new publisher controls.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai says AI Mode will gradually become the default search experience, but sources and links will remain part of results. He frames the shift as a "continuum" rather than a sudden cut, emphasizing that user expectations and referral traffic still matter as AI Search gains momentum.

Marketing veteran Ann Handley says AI literacy isn’t about prompt engineering but “judgment literacy”, the ability to know when to stop using AI. She highlights a missing gap in training programs, which rarely teach marketers when the tool’s speed undermines valuable learning.

Rick Rubin claims the audience comes last, warning that relying solely on customer feedback can produce safe, predictable work. This newsletter argues marketers should balance audience insight with vision, distinguishing current, aspirational and accidental audiences to avoid over‑fitting and unlock fresh ideas.

YouTube users averaged 99.1 minutes per day in 2025, overtaking Netflix’s 93.4 minutes, driven by a shift to TV viewing and expanded content deals. The trend signals YouTube’s move from social clips to a dominant global attention platform.

Meta is extending its self‑serve ad system to connected‑TV inventory through SSP partnerships, potentially letting small advertisers run TV campaigns from the same interface they use on Meta. This could lower entry barriers that have kept TV ads limited to large brands, though challenges remain around inventory quality and pricing.

ESPN used AI to animate a historic photo of Spurs legend Tony Parker for a Finals promo, but the uncanny result sparked social media backlash. The network said it is reevaluating AI‑driven graphics for future broadcasts, highlighting growing scrutiny of AI in sports advertising.

ESPN used AI to animate a historic photo of Spurs legend Tony Parker for a Finals promo, but the uncanny result sparked social media backlash. The network said it is reevaluating AI‑driven graphics for future broadcasts, highlighting growing scrutiny of AI in sports advertising.

Marketers are rapidly adopting generative AI, with 95% of teams using it and 76% delivering emails within three days. The shift pushes email creation into chat‑based interfaces, but current AI can’t reliably generate production‑ready HTML or honor brand design systems, so human oversight remains essential.

Google has added a native link between Google Business Profile and Google Analytics, letting marketers view local actions, calls, direction requests, messages, bookings, and more, directly in GA reports. The data is retained for six months and currently aggregates across all linked locations, offering a unified view for single‑location businesses.