AI search research by Jacob Whitmore

Where search is heading. Called early, scored in public.

I’m Jacob Whitmore. I’ve worked in SEO for around 12 years, and most of my thinking now goes on how AI is changing search: AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and who still gets the click.

I publish original research, make dated predictions, and come back to mark them right or wrong.

Latest research

Which AI crawlers do the UK’s biggest news sites block? Nine of the UK’s ten biggest newsbrands block at least one AI crawler, but they block training bots far more often than the bots that fetch pages for AI answers.

What’s here

• The research uses data I collect myself, and each study publishes its raw data.
• The predictions page is a public list of dated calls. Each one is marked on its check date, and wrong calls are shown in red.
• The blog has shorter pieces built on the research.
• The method note explains how the research is done and what it won’t claim.

Follow along on LinkedIn

I share new research, predictions and what I’m seeing in AI search on LinkedIn first.