April 2026 Edition

April 30|30 webinar highlights a period of stabilization as Google’s March Core Update concluded with "very little bite" compared to the "violent" December update. While the update was relatively "boring," it successfully penalized "AI slop," whereas high-authority sites in Apparel and Health Tech—such as Shein.com and Dexcom.com—saw Year-over-Year visibility gains of 24% and 23% respectively. Government sites remained largely unaffected, with Data.gov and SBA.gov reporting flat performance through the rollout.

A significant focus of the session is the ongoing instability of AI Overviews (AIO), which peaked at 47% market coverage in January 2026 before dropping to 34.4% in February. This volatility is industry-specific; Communication Services saw coverage as high as 63%, while Google continues to refine the frequency of these summaries in other sectors. Additionally, Pat warns of a confirmed Google Search Console logging error that has inflated impression data since May 2025, advising marketers to download their historical data before retroactive fixes are applied.

Looking ahead to Google I/O, Pat predicts Google will avoid making "AI Mode" the universal default to protect its ad revenue, favoring instead a "hybrid experience" or a side-by-side browsing pane. The session wraps with a look at Conductor’s new MCP server, which enables "Agentic" analysis by allowing LLMs like Claude to pull live Conductor data for instant visualization and auditing. Ultimately, Pat emphasizes that while AI evolves, the most important metric remains the "heart, mind, and soul" of the customer.

This month, Pat covers:

• April Industry Review - What I'm Seeing & Hearing
• Google's March Core Update Has Completed, Without Much Bite
• Is Google Going To Make AI Mode The Default At I/O In May? Probably Not Yet, Here's Why
• AIO Volatility Varies Drastically By Industry, Let’s Look At The Data
• So GSC Hasn't Been Accurately Logging Impressions Since May 2025?! God, I love Google
• Fun w/ Claude & Conductor's MCP (If We Have Time)