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Barry Adams 📰

@polemicdigital.com
2.2K followers 559 following 1.5K posts

Specialised SEO & audience growth consultant for publishers. Co-founder of the News & Editorial SEO Summit. Consulting: www.PolemicDigital.com Newsletter: www.SEOforGooglenews.com Podcast: plinkhq.com/i/1860544621

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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 8h
How Three Brothers Built an AI Slop Empire by Buying Legitimate News Sites and Turning Them Into Zombie Content Farms That They Say Get 50 Million Page Views per Month futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com
How Three Brothers Built an AI Slop Empire by Buying Legitimate News Sites and Turning Them Into Zombie Content Farms That They Say Get 50 Million Page Views per Month
Brown Brothers Media is a media empire raking in millions of clicks with AI, fake writers, and plagiarism.
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 29/09/2026
I remember when irony used to be subtle.
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 28/09/2026
Google Has Deployed A New AI Spam Detector Called SAFE www.searchenginejournal.com/google-has-d...
searchenginejournal.com
Google Has Deployed A New AI Spam Detector Called SAFE
Google published details of it's new anti-spam system designed to detect AI content. This is why it may be a part of Google's Spam Update.
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Reposted by Barry Adams 📰
John Mueller @johnmu.com · 24/09/2026
If you have an image-heavy website, Search Console now reports on "multimodal" queries like when you take a photo w/Lens. No, you don't see the photo :-), but you can see which of your pages showed up & how often. I think it's pretty cool, but I am biased :-). developers.google.com/search/blog/...
developers.google.com
Announcing web multimodal Search performance reporting in Search Console  |  Google Search Central Blog  |  Google for Developers
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 24/09/2026
Today I’m in Tallinn speaking at the Baltic News Publisher Day organised by Google. Great venue - the botanic gardens outside Tallinn. Don’t think I’ve ever felt so zen at a conference.
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 22/09/2026
The Google office in Warsaw is pretty slick. Great views too.
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 22/09/2026
International SEO For Publishers: How To Succeed Across Borders
seoforgooglenews.com
International SEO for Publishers: How To Succeed Across Borders
Many publishers underestimate the effort it requires to become truly successful in different countries and languages.
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 22/09/2026
“…senior execs at OpenAI and Microsoft describe AI products as “largely substitutive” and an “existential threat” to publishers, alongside references to paywall workarounds and “horse trading” over content…” digiday.com/media/paywal...
digiday.com
Paywall violation ‘eviscerates’ fair use defense: What OpenAI-NYT twist means for publishers
The unsealed material could set a precedent that fuels more lawsuits against AI firms and strengthens publishers hand in licensing talks.
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 22/09/2026
Spending the day in Warsaw at the Google News Publisher Day. I’ll be delivering a talk about how AI has impacted Google traffic to news sites, showing how publishers can leverage Google to grow audience loyalty.
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 21/09/2026
Glad to see that odious twat Chris Williamson getting some long overdue public scrutiny. “The podcast bro whose toxic slurry of sexism targets impressionable young men” inews.co.uk/opinion/podc...
inews.co.uk
The podcast bro whose toxic slurry of sexism targets impressionable young men
Emily Watkins: Chris Williamson may be little known to some but he is one of Britain's most successful and influential broadcasters
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 20/09/2026
I don’t trust people who don’t read fiction.
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 18/09/2026
The tactical guide to optimising for Google Discover Slides from my talk at the Belgrade SEO Conference today: speakerdeck.com/badams/the-t...
speakerdeck.com
The Tactical Guide to Optimising for Google Discover
Slides from my talk at the Belgrade SEO Conference where I spoke about optimising for Google Discover. I cover the technical optimisations necessary for…
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 16/09/2026
Brand Protection In AI Search: How To Audit And Defend Your Brand's Identity www.searchenginejournal.com/brand-protec...
searchenginejournal.com
Brand Protection In AI Search: How To Audit And Defend Your Brand's Identity
Spot false claims and impersonators in AI search, then prioritize brand protection fixes, abuse reports, and monitoring that help users find official channels.
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 16/09/2026
International SEO for Publishers: How To Succeed Across Borders Many publishers underestimate the effort it requires to become truly successful in different countries and languages. www.seoforgooglenews.com/p/internatio...
seoforgooglenews.com
International SEO for Publishers: How To Succeed Across Borders
Many publishers underestimate the effort it requires to become truly successful in different countries and languages.
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 15/09/2026
Google rolls out pay-per-value AI licensing program to publishers digiday.com/media/google...
digiday.com
Google rolls out pay-per-value AI licensing program to publishers
Google has been quietly scaling a pay-per-value AI licensing scheme for publishers. Though some critics are skeptical of its
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 11/09/2026
This thread. 😳
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 10/09/2026
2026 Google Ranking Factors Expert Survey signal.zyppy.com/p/google-ran...
signal.zyppy.com
2026 Google Ranking Factors Expert Survey
We asked 131 SEOs, including some of the most respected in the industry, what factors are most important for ranking on Google in 2026.
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 10/09/2026
Publishers are rebuilding their newsrooms for the post-Google era - with a quote or two from yours truly: digiday.com/media/media-...
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 07/09/2026
The passport control situation at Schiphol airport is a farce of truly staggering proportions. For one of Europe’s leading airports to be this grossly inefficient and poorly organised is just astonishing.
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Glenn Gabe @glenngabe.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Disavow news (again)... If you have a manual action for unnatural links, or if you knowingly set up unnatural links, then go for it. But if you never set up unnatural links, never bought links, never participated in some link scheme, etc., THEN STEP AWAY FROM THE DISAVOW TOOL.
seroundtable.com
Google Says The Disavow Tool Does Have Effects
Google's John Mueller said the Google disavow tool "does have effects," adding, "but it has its place & time." This was in response a complaint about a site dropping in the search results after addin...
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 01/09/2026
Got my copy of @crystalontheweb.bsky.social’s book, going to enjoy digging into this one.
The new rules of AI search
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 31/08/2026
Just when you thought AI couldn’t get any weirder.
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 28/08/2026
“For users inside the EEA, the impact of the manual action won't apply. The affected section of the site may be separated in our systems so that, over time, it ranks independently from the rest of the site.” developers.google.com/search/blog/...
developers.google.com
Update to the Site Reputation Policy  |  Google Search Central Blog  |  Google for Developers
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 27/08/2026
This guy was the voice of my childhood. I grew up on Transformers cartoons. Optimus Prime was like a second dad to me.
static.klipy.com
Optimus Prime Gives a Thumbs Up!
ALT: Optimus Prime Gives a Thumbs Up!
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 27/08/2026
OH FOR FUCK’S SAKE GRIM REAPER GIVE IT A GODDAMN REST!!! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Peter Cullen: Optimus Prime and Eeyore voice actor dies
Cullen voiced the heroic Optimus Prime in the Transformers TV series and then the Hollywood films.
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 27/08/2026
Did a thing, because who said Volvos can’t be a little bit fun too?
Polestar Engineered badge on my Volvo after having it tuned for more power and responsiveness.
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 27/08/2026
If you want to pick my brain on anything SEO-related but don't want to actually talk to me, you can now use my Delphi AI bot to ask your questions: www.delphi.ai/barry-adams/... Caveat: It's probably a lot less sweary than I am in real life.
delphi.ai
Chat with Barry Adams
Message Barry Adams on Delphi.
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 25/08/2026
I’m a heavy metal guy but for the next while my playlist will feature an awful lot of Dolly’s country songs. 💔
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 25/08/2026
Lies are easy and cheap. Truth is hard and expensive.
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 25/08/2026
Finally SERP Lens is available for Windows. Been dying to play with this super powerful SEO browser. It basically replaces about a dozen Chrome plugins and 3rd party tools.
Screenshot of the SERP Lens SEO browser
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 23/08/2026
Post a picture that should be an album cover.
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 22/08/2026
Afternoon sorted. #RSAvNZ
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 22/08/2026
Using AI makes you stupid. These tools need to come with severe health warnings, on par with cigarettes and alcohol.
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 19/08/2026
New research reveals AI answers only as trusted as the newsbrands they cite pressgazette.co.uk/comment-anal...
pressgazette.co.uk
New research reveals AI answers only as trusted as the newsbrands they cite
Survey reveals crucial part publishers play in providing plausible AI responses.
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 19/08/2026
How to Audit Publisher Websites in 2026 www.leadershipinseo.com/p/how-to-aud...
leadershipinseo.com
How to Audit Publisher Websites in 2026
SEO has evolved. You're optimising for presence, accuracy, efficiency and quality. So your audit needs to evolve in line with people and bots.
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 19/08/2026
Surviving the clickpocalypse: What millions of search events say about AI eating the news scrunch.com/blog/survivi...
scrunch.com
Blog - Surviving the clickpocalypse: What millions of search events say about AI eating the news
We analyzed millions of news search events across AI and traditional search. The takeaway? AI takes clicks in one place and hands back visits in another.
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 18/08/2026
status.search.google.com/incidents/LE...
static.klipy.com
Joker Says 'And Here We Go!'
ALT: Joker Says 'And Here We Go!'
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 18/08/2026
How to Track Google AI Mode Traffic in Search Console suganthan.com/blog/how-to-...
suganthan.com
How to Track Google AI Mode Traffic in Search Console — Suganthan
Four ways to surface AI Mode and AI Overview queries hiding in Search Console, from a custom regex to a free classifier that labels 100,000 queries per run.
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 17/08/2026
These SEO Strategies Drive 90% of Your AI Visibility signal.zyppy.com/p/seo-strate...
signal.zyppy.com
These SEO Strategies Drive 90% of Your AI Visibility
Google says, “good SEO is good GEO”.
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Reposted by Barry Adams 📰
Dare Obasanjo @carnage4life.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
One of the reasons I expect AI usage by businesses to increase is that using AI creates problems that are only fixed by using more AI. We use AI to write code and now there’s too much code to review. Do we (A) use less AI to reduce the flood OR (B) use AI for code reviews as well Rinse & repeat.
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 17/08/2026
AI is eating your journalism. Here are the 11 tools you can use to take back control www.journalism.co.uk/ai-is-eating...
journalism.co.uk
AI is eating your journalism. Here are the 11 tools you can use to take back control
News organisations are moving from moaning about AI scraping to building an infrastructure for control, measurement and payment. This is your practical guide to Pay Per Crawl, licensing marketplaces,…
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Reposted by Barry Adams 📰
Anton Shulke @antonshulke.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
We need sponsors! 100% of your sponsorship money will go to cat and dog shelters in Ukraine. Being on the sponsor list for #SEOcharity is a medal of honor and recognition for your brand. www.seocharity.com/upcoming-con...
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 12/08/2026
Peak solar eclipse (93.5%) in Northern Ireland.
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Digital Journalism @digitaljournalism.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
ONLINE FIRST! This article by Tian Yang examines the impact of #digital intermediaries like #socialmedia and search engines on #inequalities in #news consumption, or the distribution of news exposure across the population. Available with OPEN ACCESS. bit.ly/4i2Djd9
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 12/08/2026
The appointment time for a GP is really just a vague suggestion. If the appointment is for 10am, you’ll be lucky if you’re called any time before 11am. But you still have to be there for 10am. Otherwise you lose the appointment entirely. It would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic.
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Press Gazette @pressgazette.co.uk · 12/08/2026
A coalition of almost 300 French newspapers has filed a complaint with the country's competition authority over Google's AI summaries, which launched there in July www.france24.com/en/france/20...
france24.com
French newspapers appeal to antitrust regulator over Google's AI summaries
French newspapers have asked the country’s antitrust watchdog to take action over Google’s new AI-generated summaries – which appear at the top of search results – saying they are depriving news…
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 11/08/2026
What Top Stories Inside AI Overviews Means For Publishers And Brands In 2026 And Beyond www.searchenginejournal.com/what-top-sto...
searchenginejournal.com
What Top Stories Inside AI Overviews Means For Publishers And Brands In 2026 And Beyond
Google now embeds Top Stories inside AI Overviews on 15.5% of U.S. trending news queries, and blocking Google-Extended won't remove publishers from it.
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Glenn Gabe @glenngabe.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
In Google's announcement about the Gen AI reporting, it explained that the data is in the overall Performance reporting and the Gen AI reporting is a new, separate view. So yes, you can still see AIO and AI Mode queries. That's if you can figure it out... :) www.seroundtable.com/google-searc...
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Dare Obasanjo @carnage4life.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
“We actually had an internal chatbot system that Googlers could play with even before ChatGPT came out .… our view of things from a search perspective was these models hallucinate a lot and they don't get things right, correctly”- Jeff Dean, former Google Chief Scientist ~ The innovator’s dilemma
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Barry Adams 📰 @polemicdigital.com · 06/08/2026
Had a great time in Dublin with my nephew before he embarks on his big American adventure. (Yes he’s 6’10” tall and yes he’ll be playing college basketball in the USA.)
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