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Google released Gemma 4 this week, and while the tech press is treating it as a developer story, Cassie argues it's actually one of the most important content strategy stories of the year. Open-weight models mean companies can download a frozen snapshot of Google's AI and deploy it into internal chatbots, customer support tools, and vertical search products that run for years — each one carrying a frozen version of how the model understood your brand on training day.

Cassie also unpacks a double whammy hitting Google Search Console right now: a long-running impression-logging bug dating back to May 2025 that's finally being corrected, and the March 2026 core update, which completed its 12-day rollout the morning of this recording. Together, those two events — plus the recent spam update — are about to make your data look weird for reasons that have nothing to do with your content strategy. The episode wraps with quick hits on Anthropic's Claude Mythos Preview and Project Glasswing, plus Microsoft's viral Copilot Terms of Service moment.

In This Episode:

• Why Gemma 4 is a content strategy story, not a developer story, and what "open-weight" actually means for how AI tools get built on top of Google's models
• How every open-weight model release creates a frozen snapshot of the internet that gets deployed into internal chatbots and enterprise tools for years after training ends
• Why enterprise software upgrade cycles mean a Gemma-powered chatbot built next month could still be shaping buyer perception of your brand in 2028
• Why Google Search Console has been over-reporting impression counts since May 2025, and what to do when your numbers drop over the next few weeks
• How to interpret Search Console data when three Google updates — the spam update, the March 2026 core update, and the impression bug fix — all hit in the same window
• Anthropic's Claude Mythos Preview and Project Glasswing: a quick look at the model Anthropic decided not to release
• Microsoft's "Copilot is for entertainment purposes only" ToS moment and what it says about building long-term strategy around any single engine

Let’s connect:

LinkedIn → Cassie Clark | Fractional Content Strategist
Website → https://cassieclarkmarketing.com

Download Freshness, Structure, Authority: The Framework for AI Search Visibility:

Amazon

P.S. Is your brand losing its "Answer Authority"?

Most series A/B and enterprise brands are being "nudged" out of AI search results because of entity gaps and "stale" content. I am opening a limited number of specialized audit slots to help you reclaim your Share of Voice using the FSA Framework (Freshness, Structure, Authority).

Request your 7-Day AI Search Visibility Audit: https://cassieclarkmarketing.com/ai-search-visibility-audit/

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If you've been wondering how to actually get AI engines to start citing your brand, this episode is for you.

Cassie sits down with Paul Rowe, founder and Chief Generative Engine Officer at NeuralabX, who has been heads-down researching generative engine optimization since the Princeton GEO study was published in June 2024. Paul brings a rare combination of original research, live citation testing, and a refreshingly clear point of view on what's actually working inside ChatGPT, Copilot, Perplexity, and Google AI Mode right now.

Spoiler: the brands getting cited aren't winning because they nailed traditional SEO. They're winning because they understand something most marketers haven't caught onto yet.

In this episode, Cassie and Paul cover:

• What knowledge graph enrichment actually means in a GEO context (and how it's different from the SEO definition you already know)
• How Paul is running live screen-recorded citation tests across four AI engines—and why that kind of original content is catnip for AI engines
• The AI citation benchmark study Paul is running on his top competitors, and what the data is showing
• Why service-based businesses have a built-in GEO advantage through case studies
• The recency stat from Profound that should change how you think about content updates (spoiler: 56% of citations come from sources updated within the last month)
• What "updating a post" actually means, and why changing the date doesn't count
• Why the "SEO is GEO" narrative Google keeps pushing is only about half true

Resources:

Princeton's GEO study

What is the FSA Framework?

Let’s connect:

LinkedIn → Cassie Clark | Fractional Content Strategist
Website → https://cassieclarkmarketing.com

Download Freshness, Structure, Authority: The Framework for AI Search Visibility:

Amazon

P.S. Is your brand losing its "Answer Authority"?

Most series A/B and enterprise brands are being "nudged" out of AI search results because of entity gaps and "stale" content. I am opening a limited number of specialized audit slots to help you reclaim your Share of Voice using the FSA Framework (Freshness, Structure, Authority).

Request your 7-Day AI Search Visibility Audit: https://cassieclarkmarketing.com/ai-search-visibility-audit/

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📬 Love the podcast? You’ll love the newsletter.
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Google's March 2026 core update just hit, and it's one of the most volatile updates in recent memory. But if you've been paying attention to how AI engines choose sources, the signals Google is rewarding shouldn't surprise you.

Cassie also digs into a Search Engine Land piece that challenges one of the most popular narratives in GEO right now: that brands need a Reddit and Wikipedia strategy to earn AI citations. The data tells a very different story—and it reinforces why authority means consistency in your category, not virality on someone else's platform. The episode wraps with a preview of Google Cloud Next (April 22–24) and what marketers should be watching for as AI Mode in Search continues to expand.

In This Episode:

• Why the March 2026 core update is the most volatile since August 2024, with Semrush Sensor hitting 9.5/10 and over 55% of tracked sites showing significant movement
• How Google's spam update and core update worked as a one-two punch—clearing bad actors first, then recalibrating quality signals
• The pattern behind who's losing: generic content, mass-produced AI content without unique value, and the "publish for every keyword" playbook that's now collapsing
• Why Experience and Authoritativeness—the signals Google just tightened—map directly to how AI engines decide who gets cited
• How the FSA Framework explains why some brands are insulated from core update volatility and others aren't
• New data showing 80% of Reddit threads cited by AI have fewer than 20 upvotes, with an average post age of roughly 900 days, proving that Reddit virality is not an AI visibility strategy
• Why your website is still your most powerful asset for AI visibility, and why manufactured presence on third-party platforms is the wrong play for most brands
• What to watch for at Google Cloud Next: Gemini API updates, AI Mode in Search expansion, and the rise of agentic AI systems

Resources:

What is the FSA Framework?

Let’s connect:

LinkedIn → Cassie Clark | Fractional Content Strategist
Website → https://cassieclarkmarketing.com

Download Freshness, Structure, Authority: The Framework for AI Search Visibility:

Amazon

P.S. Is your brand losing its "Answer Authority"?

Most series A/B and enterprise brands are being "nudged" out of AI search results because of entity gaps and "stale" content. I am opening a limited number of specialized audit slots to help you reclaim your Share of Voice using the FSA Framework (Freshness, Structure, Authority).

Request your 7-Day AI Search Visibility Audit: https://cassieclarkmarketing.com/ai-search-visibility-audit/

Send us Fan Mail

📬 Love the podcast? You’ll love the newsletter.
Get the weekly 3-2-1 on AI search + marketing: Subscribe

If you've spent years building your local SEO, you're closer to AI search visibility than you think. But the signals work differently than you might expect.

In this episode, Cassie sits down with Tommy Landry, founder of Return On Now in Austin, Texas. Tommy has been in search marketing since 2009 and made a significant pivot toward AI optimization in 2022. He and Cassie dig into how local SEO fundamentals translate directly to AEO and GEO, and where the blind spots are that most businesses don't see coming.

The conversation covers NAP consistency, entity signals, the growing weight of review sentiment inside AI engines, why digital PR matters more than ever for LLM visibility, and a Better Business Bureau story that should make every brand audit their online reputation immediately.

In This Episode:

• Why local SEO signals like NAP consistency and location schema already feed AI-generated answers
• How AI engines use third-party mentions—even without a link—to validate your brand
• Why review sentiment is now being ingested by AI platforms and how negative reviews can tank AI visibility
• The Better Business Bureau example that proves AI engines are surfacing reputation data
• Entity consistency: why saying the same thing about your brand, the same way, everywhere is a foundational AI search strategy
• How digital PR is making a serious comeback as a driver of LLM visibility
• Why the brands already doing local SEO well have a leg up in AI search

Resources:

What is the FSA Framework?

Let’s connect:

LinkedIn → Cassie Clark | Fractional Content Strategist
Website → https://cassieclarkmarketing.com

Download Freshness, Structure, Authority: The Framework for AI Search Visibility:

Amazon

P.S. Is your brand losing its "Answer Authority"?

Most series A/B and enterprise brands are being "nudged" out of AI search results because of entity gaps and "stale" content. I am opening a limited number of specialized audit slots to help you reclaim your Share of Voice using the FSA Framework (Freshness, Structure, Authority).

Request your 7-Day AI Search Visibility Audit: https://cassieclarkmarketing.com/ai-search-visibility-audit/

Send us Fan Mail

📬 Love the podcast? You’ll love the newsletter.
Get the weekly 3-2-1 on AI search + marketing: Subscribe

This week on Found in AI, Cassie is covering two major developments and one fascinating research study that all point to where AI search is heading — and what marketers and founders should be paying attention to right now.

Covered in this episode:

• Why Google's 19.5-hour spam update rollout is historically significant and what it tells us about enforcement speed
• What SpamBrain targets and why clean, structured content doesn't get caught in spam updates
• How the FSA Framework (Freshness, Structure, Authority) maps to spam-proof content strategy
• Why OpenAI's Instant Checkout failed and what Walmart's conversion data revealed
• How ChatGPT is pivoting from in-app checkout to product discovery — and which major retailers are already integrated
• Why Walmart is embedding its own AI chatbot (Sparky) inside ChatGPT instead of using OpenAI's infrastructure
• What Sora's shutdown and the collapsed Disney deal signal about OpenAI's priorities ahead of its IPO
• Why conversational product discovery is a visibility and entity play for brands
• What Anthropic learned from 81,000 qualitative interviews about what people want — and fear — from AI
• How all three stories connect to the bigger picture of trust, authority, and AI visibility

Resources:

Google’s Spam Policies

OpenAI: Powering Product Discovery in ChatGPT

Anthropic: What 81,000 People Want from AI

Let’s connect:

LinkedIn → Cassie Clark | Fractional Content Strategist
Website → https://cassieclarkmarketing.com

Download Freshness, Structure, Authority: The Framework for AI Search Visibility:

Amazon

P.S. Is your brand losing its "Answer Authority"?

Most series A/B and enterprise brands are being "nudged" out of AI search results because of entity gaps and "stale" content. I am opening a limited number of specialized audit slots to help you reclaim your Share of Voice using the FSA Framework (Freshness, Structure, Authority).

Request your 7-Day AI Search Visibility Audit: https://cassieclarkmarketing.com/ai-search-visibility-audit/

Send us Fan Mail

📬 Love the podcast? You’ll love the newsletter.
Get the weekly 3-2-1 on AI search + marketing: Subscribe

In this follow-up to last week's episode with Jonathan Bentz, Cassie Clark documents what happened when she tested one of Jonathan's top recommendations: using press releases to strengthen entity authority in AI search.

On Friday, March 20th, Cassie published a press release through EIN Presswire announcing her ebook, Freshness, Structure, Authority: The Framework for AI Search Visibility. Within two hours, she was appearing in AI-generated answers across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, and Gemini — listed alongside established names in the AI search space.

This episode breaks down exactly what happened, why it worked through the lens of the FSA Framework, and addresses a recent Search Engine Journal article claiming AI search barely cites syndicated press releases. Cassie also discusses the ethical considerations of using press releases for AI visibility and provides clear guidance on what qualifies as valid press release news.

In This Episode:

• The full timeline of what happened after the press release was distributed
• Why PRLog and EIN Presswire produced different levels of impact
• How the FSA Framework (Freshness, Structure, Authority) explains the results
• A response to Search Engine Journal's article on AI citations and press releases
• Why the data may look different for smaller brands versus large enterprises
• Ethical guardrails: what counts as valid press release news and what doesn't
• How to replicate this strategy responsibly for your own brand

Resources:

Case Study: How a Single Press Release Landed My Brand in AI-Generated Answers in Under Two Hours

FSA Framework Ebook: Freshness, Structure, Authority: The Framework for AI Search Visibility

Search Engine Journal Article: AI Search Barely Cites Syndicated News Or Press Releases

EIN Presswire: einpresswire.com

Let’s connect:

LinkedIn → Cassie Clark | Fractional Content Strategist
Website → https://cassieclarkmarketing.com

Download Freshness, Structure, Authority: The Framework for AI Search Visibility:

Amazon

P.S. Is your brand losing its "Answer Authority"?

Most series A/B and enterprise brands are being "nudged" out of AI search results because of entity gaps and "stale" content. I am opening a limited number of specialized audit slots to help you reclaim your Share of Voice using the FSA Framework (Freshness, Structure, Authority).

Request your 7-Day AI Search Visibility Audit: https://cassieclarkmarketing.com/ai-search-visibility-audit/

Send us Fan Mail

📬 Love the podcast? You’ll love the newsletter.
Get the weekly 3-2-1 on AI search + marketing: Subscribe

This week on Found in AI, Cassie is covering two major developments that signal where AI search is heading, and what marketers and founders should be paying attention to right now.

First, OpenAI published a detailed security framework on how they’re designing AI agents to resist prompt injection. They’ve confirmed this is an ongoing challenge that won’t be fully “solved,” and they’re training their systems to be increasingly skeptical of content that tries to game them. For marketers, this reinforces why genuine authority and clean structure matter more than ever.

Then, Google announced the expansion of Personal Intelligence across AI Mode in Search, the Gemini app, and Gemini in Chrome. Search is now pulling from users’ Gmail, Google Photos, and purchase history to deliver hyper-personalized answers. For brands, this means first-party data has just become a critical part of an AI visibility strategy.

Both stories point to the same conclusion: AI systems are getting smarter about trust, and the brands that earn it are the ones that stay visible.

Covered in this episode:

• What prompt injection is and why OpenAI says it’s unlikely to ever be fully solved
• How OpenAI is using automated red teaming to find new attack patterns before bad actors do
• Why AI agents being trained to resist manipulation is a signal that trustworthy, well-structured content wins
• What Google’s Personal Intelligence feature does and how it’s changing search personalization
• Why first-party data (collected ethically) has just become even more critical for AI visibility
• How entity authority is expanding from the public web into someone’s personal Google ecosystem
• How both stories connect back to the FSA Framework and what it means for your content strategy

Let’s connect:

LinkedIn → Cassie Clark | Fractional Content Strategist
Website → https://cassieclarkmarketing.com

Download Freshness, Structure, Authority: The Framework for AI Search Visibility:

Amazon

P.S. Is your brand losing its "Answer Authority"?

Most series A/B and enterprise brands are being "nudged" out of AI search results because of entity gaps and "stale" content. I am opening a limited number of specialized audit slots to help you reclaim your Share of Voice using the FSA Framework (Freshness, Structure, Authority).

Request your 7-Day AI Search Visibility Audit: https://cassieclarkmarketing.com/ai-search-visibility-audit/

Send a text

📬 Love the podcast? You’ll love the newsletter.
Get the weekly 3-2-1 on AI search + marketing: Subscribe

In this episode of Found in AI, Cassie sits down with Jonathan Bentz, Growth Strategist at Direct Online Marketing, to challenge one of the longest-standing mantras in marketing: "content is king." Jonathan makes a compelling case that AI search visibility isn't a content production problem—it's a validation problem.

If your strategy stops at your own website, you're only giving AI engines one source to work with. Jonathan breaks down the three disciplines that need to work together for AI visibility—SEO, reputation management, and digital PR—and explains why most teams are only doing one of them. Cassie connects his insights back to the FSA Framework and walks through exactly how press releases, review platforms, and unified messaging map to Freshness, Structure, and Authority.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why "content is king" no longer applies to AI search — and what Jonathan means when he calls AI visibility a validation problem
• The three marketing disciplines that need to come together for AI search success, and why SEO alone isn't enough
• How AI engines use platforms like G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius to build agreement about your brand — and what happens when that agreement isn't in your favor
• Why press releases are making a comeback as an authority and freshness strategy, even on a shoestring budget
• The role customer service and customer experience now play in how AI engines perceive your brand
• How reputation management has shifted from a defensive play to an offensive AI visibility strategy
• Why unified messaging across PR, marketing, social, and customer support is now a structural signal AI engines rely on
• How Jonathan's three disciplines map directly to the FSA Framework (Freshness, Structure, Authority) — and what to prioritize first if you only have 90 days

Resources:

Webinar (March 26, 2026, at 1 pm EST): Boardroom Ready: A CMO's Guide to GEO

Let’s connect:

LinkedIn → Cassie Clark | Fractional Content Strategist
Website → https://cassieclarkmarketing.com

Download Freshness, Structure, Authority: The Framework for AI Search Visibility:

Amazon

P.S. Is your brand losing its "Answer Authority"?

Most series A/B and enterprise brands are being "nudged" out of AI search results because of entity gaps and "stale" content. I am opening a limited number of specialized audit slots to help you reclaim your Share of Voice using the FSA Framework (Freshness, Structure, Authority).

Request your 7-Day AI Search Visibility Audit: https://cassieclarkmarketing.com/ai-search-visibility-audit/