Hello Lunch Break. Trick or treat is Saturday. And, the traditional trick-or-treating has shifted as much as search. You’ve got trunk-or-treating, you’ve got “boo-ing” your neighbor and the pumpkin patches and don’t forget the costume walking tours. Back when I was a kid, you just got home from school, put on your outfit and walked out the door. Oh and, every kid on my street knew which neighbor handed out full size bars. There wasn’t a sign on the door, we just knew their name. That's what this whole issue is: Google stopped citing the business, and their name is what's left.

Alright. Clock's ticking. Back to work.

THE GAME CHANGED

Last week I told you Google said it was adding more links to its AI answers. Two days after that post went up, AI Overviews started citing half as many sources.

Maeva Cifuentes at Flying Cat tracked Google's AI answers for eight B2B software brands across 407 prompts. AI Mode averaged 16.3 sources per answer this summer, fell to about four between August 27 and 30, and has stayed there for eight weeks. AI Overviews dropped from 8.0 to 3.7 on October 17.

The brands didn't disappear. One was named in 42.5 percent of AI Mode answers before the cut and 41.2 percent after. Over the same stretch, the share of answers that linked to its pages fell from 15.5 percent to 4.1.

So who kept the links? 

FAQ blocks, schema, comparison tables and longer copy made no measurable difference.

What to do about it: Watch how often AI answers name you, and how often they link you. The link is harder to get. It mostly goes to pages near the top of regular Google results, so if you want it, the page that answers your customer’s question has to rank there.

Sources: AI Mode Cut 70% of Its Sources. Here's What It Kept., Maeva Cifuentes, The Search Spot, October 23, 2026. AI Mode Citations Fell 82% in Three Weeks, Evertune, September 23, 2026.

THE WINDOW IS NOW

Open your Google Analytics and look for visits from ChatGPT. If you find a few, you’re normal.

Marie Haynes checked 100 websites over 12 months, more than 145 million visits. For every 100 people who came from a regular Google search, ChatGPT sent fewer than one. ChatGPT visitors bought more often, 13.8 percent of the time against 3.02 percent from Google. There just weren’t many of them, so Google still produced 27 times more sales and leads than every AI tool put together. Her conclusion: Google is where AI search sends customers today, so start there.

Mike King replied a day later and agreed with every number. “The numbers are right. The category is wrong.” His point is that a customer asking ChatGPT who to hire isn’t planning to click anything. They read the answer, remember a name, and call it or search it later. Counting clicks from that conversation is like judging a Super Bowl commercial by how many people clicked it.

What to do about it: decide what you’re counting. Judge AI by clicks and it will tell you AI did nothing for you. Track how often AI names you for commercial prompts that send high intent buyers your way, and you’ll know whether you’re in the conversation.

Here’s my POV: Mentions tell you you’re being considered. Revenue tells you it’s working, so revenue is the number I’d watch. If AI names you more often and new customer revenue moves with it, the mentions are selling for you. If revenue doesn’t move, the gap between being named and getting the call is the area you should focus on improving.

Sources: GEO is a distraction, Marie Haynes, October 21, 2026. AI Search Is Not a Distraction, It's a Branding Channel, Mike King, iPullRank, October 22, 2026.

YOUR COMPETITORS ARE ASLEEP

The first rule is older. The FTC's rule on reviews has been in force since October 21, 2024. It bans fake reviews, AI written ones included, bought reviews, and review sites a company controls while presenting them as independent.

Anthropic's rule is new. It updated its usage policy for Claude taking effect November 12. One new line introduced bans using Claude to seed the sources search engines and AI systems answer from with content that misrepresents who wrote it or whether it's independent. 

Anthropic's example is a network of sites posing as unaffiliated sources that all back the same claims. The same section names fake reviews and astroturfing.

Here's the gap: When Google cut AI Mode reduced citations in their answers, Reddit and forum threads kept their citations 25 percent of the time and review marketplaces 16.3 percent. The mentions that last live inside sources that are what they say they are. Earning your name in a real thread, a real review profile, a real local roundup is real work, and it's the only version not affected by the rules.

What to do about it: ask whoever runs your marketing one question this week. Does anything we're doing involve reviews, sites or best of lists that don't clearly state who's behind them? Reputable reviews should be the only green light. If their answer takes longer than a no, request to stop it.

Sources: Usage Policy, effective November 12, 2026, Anthropic. FTC Issues Final Rule on Fake Reviews and Testimonials, Alston & Bird, October 22, 2024. Citation retention figures from Cifuentes, The Search Spot, above.

WHAT’S THE PROMPT

Okay, think of one question your best customer asks.

Start on your phone. Ask that question in Google, open AI Mode, and write down every source it links.

Then run the prompt and paste those sources where it asks.

Run the prompt

Then come back here and analyze the results. 

Most of the sources name you. You're in the short list. Keep every one of those profiles and pages current.

Competitors are named in sources you're not. Here’s where to focus. Start with any source that showed up in both ChatGPT and Google, because pages several engines already agree on held their spot best when Google cut.

You're named but never linked. The mention is working. The link comes from ranking the page that answers that exact question.

Want this run across every question your customers ask, on every engine? That's what our audit does. Start with the audit.

CITED

I asked ChatGPT for the best plumber in Wilmington. 

Bluewater Plumbing Heating & Air at 5.0 from more than 1,600 reviews got the first mention. None of the four got a link to its own website. Every source pointed at Google or a review directory, and the only button was Call.

Then I asked the question more like the way a customer standing in a wet hallway would ask: who can fix a slab leak, and who comes out on a weekend.

Bluewater wasn't in the answer. First place went to Powell's Plumbing & Air, tagged slab leak specialist, because its own site lists slab leak repair and detection as a service. Four of the five picks got a link to their own site, and one of them was East Atlantic Plumbing, the only business on both lists.

The broad question I asked first gave a list of names. The specific question handed out links, and they went to the plumbers whose sites had the service documented.

Worth saying: Bluewater's was still in the second answer: the photo beside Powell's is a pickup with Bluewater's logo on the door, Timely Plumber's photo is a Bluewater van, and on the first answer East Atlantic's photo was that same Bluewater pickup. The picture next to your name isn't always yours and ChatGPT has yet to tell us why. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Here’s a few things I’d do: 

See you next Thursday.

- Anna

THE POLL