Google AI Ranking Factors

What influences Google AI to recommend your brand or website? We asked over 130 search experts what moves the needle.

23 hrs ago • Cyrus Shepard

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Google Ranking Factors Expert Survey 2026

The results are in. Expert analysis of Google's ranking factors from 131 leading practitioners.

Sep 9 • Cyrus Shepard and Dawn Shepard

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August 2026

Content Effort: The Google Ranking Feature Nobody Talks About

Effort isn't how hard you worked - Google cares about evidence of unique value

Aug 13 • Cyrus Shepard

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Google Content Effort Audit

Use this audit to score content effort that aligns with Google guidelines

Aug 13 • Cyrus Shepard

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These SEO Strategies Drive 90% of Your AI Visibility

Why you probably focus on these instead of a separate GEO strategy

Aug 4 • Cyrus Shepard

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June 2026

Fan-out Query Tools to Improve AI Visibility

AI-based tools to automatically identify query fan-outs paired with page optimization tips

Jun 29 • Cyrus Shepard

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Fan-out Framework: 5 Steps to Improve SEO and AI Visibility

A proven 5-step process for turning AI fan-out queries into better SEO rankings and greater AI visibility.

Jun 25 • Cyrus Shepard

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May 2026

7-Step AI Citation Audit Checklist

Win more AI citations. Make your pages easy to crawl, rank, and cite

May 13 • Cyrus Shepard

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AI Citation Ranking Factors Analysis

Evidence-Based Analysis of 54 Experiments, Patents, and Case Studies. Plus get a free AI Citation checklist.

May 7 • Cyrus Shepard

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7-Step AI Citation Audit Checklist

Win more AI citations. Make your pages easy to crawl, rank, and cite

May 7 • Cyrus Shepard

April 2026

17 Content Types to Survive Google’s Zero-Click Future

No more generic blog posts. Plus a Pro content framework for every type of publisher.

Apr 21 • Cyrus Shepard

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Content Type Frameworks for Different Online Business Models

We created these content frameworks to help apply the lessons in this post:

Apr 21 • Cyrus Shepard