iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 11h

Glad to see SOMEONE is getting @johnmu.com and @methode.bsky.social to FINALLY tackle the big questions at Google Search Central Live. 🐱 Photo via @lindahogenes.bsky.social

How important is cats.txt question on submitted question screen at Search Central Live

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 16h

I got an email from a SearchNorwichXL sponsor today that said their teams unanimous feedback is that it was "the best conference that weve partnered with in the UK so far" and it made my day 🥲

An audience sitting in a dimly lit theater or auditorium, with red velvet seats arranged in rows. Many audience members are holding up smartphones to record or take photos, while others look on towards the stage.

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 27/09/2026

SearchNorwichXL done. Went gud. Happy.

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 23/09/2026

Setting up for SearchNorwichXL tomorrow 🫶🏻

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 16/09/2026

It's okay. We have a 'human in the loop'.

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 11/09/2026

Me: "make an image of a table with this data" Gemini:

a literal picture of a table with text over the top

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 11/09/2026

SearchNorwichXL banners are in and looking grand! You can use code LASTCHANCE for 25% off to join us on 24th September to see some of the best speakers in SEO: searchnorwich.org Headline sponsor: WhitePress®

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 10/09/2026

You don't get anything 'extra' currently for being a paid subscriber to my Substack, but I think I'm going to put some more time over there for subscriber-only posts with more detail. Thank you to everyone that has chosen to support me just because you enjoy my writing! 🫶

Graphic on an orange background with a quote from a new paid subscriber praising Mark Williams-Cook's SEO content over other influencers.

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 09/09/2026

People Also Ask answers approaching 100% AI generated. Meanwhile, Google:

WHY WOULD I DECEIVE YOU? Meme saying "USERS LOVE AI GENERATED ANSWERS"

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 08/09/2026

⚠️ Massive change by Google: We are likely to see 100% AIOs within "People Also Ask" answers in the next few weeks 🤖 @alsoasked.com took a sample of 19.2M English language made in 2026, 97% of PAA answers in the first week of September are AIOs. Seems likely we are on track for 100% shortly.

Bar chart by AlsoAsked showing the percentage of PAA (People Also Ask) questions answered by AI Overviews rising from 22% in January 2026 to a peak of 97% in September 2026.

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 08/09/2026

Wow.... Thanks Gemini. That is so great. I can barely tell the sytlistic difference. I especially love how you ignored all the data.

Gemini failing to change a graph in spectacular fashion

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 03/09/2026

Thanks for the @alsoasked.com MCP shout out at Search Evolution Summit @gfiorelli1.bsky.social 🫶🏻

Gianluca showing AlsoAsked on stage at Search Evolution Summit

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 01/09/2026

Had a lovely experience diving in the Rhine, being guided by @divingfor.fun

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 28/08/2026

MRW to 'pSEO' click/impressions hype on LI.

A two-panel meme featuring Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman from American Psycho, wearing glasses and a suit in an office setting. In the top panel, he smirks with white text reading "IMPRESSIVE, VERY NICE". In the bottom panel, he leans forward with a critical, squinting expression and gestures with his hands, with text reading "NOW LET'S SEE TRAFFIC IN 6 MONTHS".

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 24/08/2026

Great memories from Search 'n Stuff conference back in June. Look at these lovely folks playing the "Doodle yourself" game on the Candour stand. Those faces! 🤩

A photo collage featuring several candid portraits of smiling and laughing attendees at a professional conference

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 23/08/2026

I thought maybe I was being grumpy, so I just asked Gemini to summarise and rate the support I got from Google's live chat about an ongoing technical issue. Gemini was even more savage than me 😅

Screenshot of a dark-mode chat interface displaying an AI summary and 1/5 rating for a support agent's poor technical resolution and communication.

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 19/08/2026

You can now connect @alsoasked.com directly to your AI assistant with our MCP Server. No copy-pasting exports, no half-remembered summaries of a research doc from three weeks ago: your assistant queries real People Also Ask data at the moment you need it. help.alsoasked.com/en/articles/...

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 19/08/2026

If you're thinking about coming to SearchNorwichXL on 24th September, now is the time: Ticket prices go up in less than a week! 🎟️ searchnorwich.org

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 17/08/2026

It's annoying that GSC and Bing Webmaster tools use opposite blue/purple for colouring clicks / impressions, so I made a Chrome extension that flips Bing's colouring to give it parity with GSC. Enjoy the freed up 0.1% brain RAM. chromewebstore.google.com/detail/bing-...

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 15/08/2026

I’ve never been able to screenshot one of my dreams before.

An emergency alert from the UK government warning people not to do things like have barbecues

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 14/08/2026

Grab a SearchNorwichXL ticket before the price rise in 2 weeks! Any questions, let me know 🎤 searchnorwich.org

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 13/08/2026

Claude is really helping with my SEO now

fake gsc graph of "traffic go up" big numbers of clicks, with "geneated by claude" watermark all over the image

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 13/08/2026

Valid AWS credentials hard-coded into public JS file? Sounds like vibe coding to me. BeaconCRM powers over 1,000 charities (I've had emails from 2 charities now saying my details have been compromised)

A security update notice from Beacon detailing a cyber incident where customer database files were downloaded due to a compromised AWS access key.

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 11/08/2026

Starting to come together searchnorwich.org

Hand holding a light purple card that reads "East meets best" alongside stylized graphic logos and the letters "RGB".

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 11/08/2026

LOVE seeing people using the new @alsoasked.com MCP in their workflows. Currently running the beta, will be live for all Pro users this month 💅

Screenshot of a LinkedIn post by Thomas Johnson discussing an SEO content gap analysis for a banana bread recipe using Firecrawl and AlsoAsked.

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 10/08/2026

"We could have taken the lot and never written to you". What do we think about this? Not a lawyer, but pretty sure just because something is publicly avaiable does not mean you forfeit copyright. Pretty jarring approach.

Screenshot of an email offer from Waltoa requesting to license raw podcast audio recordings for AI voice model training, with the sentence "Your episodes are public downloads, so we could have taken the lot and never written to you" highlighted in a red box.

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 09/08/2026

Yesterday marked my 13th year of no smoking after having a 10 year habit. Still feel like smoking sometimes. That brain rewriting is no joke.

Two men sitting on a curb next to a road; the man on the left is wearing a red plaid shirt, and the man on the right is wearing a striped shirt and smoking a cigarette.

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 03/08/2026

SEO updates you ✨NEED✨ to know [3rd Aug]: www.linkedin.com/posts/markse...

Simple digital drawing of a person labeled "human" holding a European Union flag, stepping on a defeated robot, and shouting, "everyone! it's a robot!".

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 30/07/2026

$Venn diagram showing that only a tiny fraction of AI content meets Google's guidelines.$

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 28/07/2026

3 33 33 777 2 777 33 22 33 2 88 8 444 333 88 555 2 66 444 6 2 555 7777 8 44 2 8 6 2 55 33 8 44 33 6 666 7777 8 88 4 555 999 66 666 444 7777 33 7777

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 26/07/2026

This out take didn't age well for John when we clashed heads on design last week 😂

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 17/07/2026

Once or twice, but it makes an awful mess of my clothes.

Two male boxers stand side-by-side in a boxing ring after a tough sparring session. Both are wearing headgear, mouthguards, and groin protectors, with visible blood on their faces, arms, and clothing.

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 17/07/2026

A couple of people DMd me about my eye in the Buzzstream podcast. In answer to your question, this was 2 days before recording. 😂 Happy Friday, have a laugh at my expense (excellent shot, almost ended that contest) 🥊

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 17/07/2026

Since 5.4, ChatGPT query fan outs are doing specific site: searches. It is vital information to find out where you need to be to be. I spoke about this with Vince Nero a few months ago on the BuzzStream podcast. You can use QueryFan.com to find these at scale 😎

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 13/07/2026

SEO updates you ✨NEED✨ to know [13 July]: www.linkedin.com/posts/markse...

A cartoon of a white seagull wearing scuba diving gear, a mask, and flippers, swimming underwater alongside a purple fish and a stingray. Text on the image reads, "back from holidays, read core updates, and have a great monday."

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 10/07/2026

Happy to say @withcandour.co.uk is sponsoring Norwich Pride again this year, and supporting Norwich to be a city where everyone can feel safe and proud to be themselves. Great work by Mark Salisbury from our design team on the new tees 😎

A graphic poster with a black background featuring the word 'NORWICH' spelled out in large, colorful, stylized letters. It is accompanied by Pride-themed symbols like rainbows, hearts, and stars, with the text 'candour' and 'Proud to celebrate – always.'

A front view of a man smiling and wearing glasses, modeling a white t-shirt. The chest of the shirt features a small, colorful 'candour NORWICH Pride 26' graphic design against a solid warm background.

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 29/06/2026

SEO updates you ✨NEED✨ to know [29 June]: www.linkedin.com/posts/markse...

A simple, colorful digital drawing of a scuba diver and a purple fish underwater. The bald diver wears a lime-green vest, blue mask, and yellow fins, flashing an "OK" hand sign as bubbles rise. Text in the image reads: "i'm on holiday, so this is all you get" and "have a great monday and read core updates".

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 22/06/2026

SEO updates you ✨NEED✨ to know [22 June]: www.linkedin.com/posts/markse...

A three-panel comic where a stick figure tells a group of robots, "hey guys! i made an llms.txt". One robot responds by extending a giant mechanical thumbs-up, and then immediately goes back to staring blankly.

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 08/06/2026

THEN I uploaded the image above and just asked it to "write short alt text". What did it do? It just redrew the duck, with first prompt in another image

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Mark Williams-Cook @markwilliamscook.com · 08/06/2026

Gemini can be so hilariously shit. I asked it to remove the white background from this image and make it transparent png. It said it did it, but it just (badly) added some squares to the image as if it had done it 🤣

gemini conversation with duck picture with squares for background

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