Scott Clark

Full time SEO/PPC Pro - Silicon Valley Transplant - Dad/Husband - Hiking and Mountain Biking Nut - Coder in Past Life.

[Scott Clark @scottclark]

@NeptuneMoon tough day.. but it does give us a chance to try our new ad pausing logic. :-)

[Scott Clark @scottclark]

@lilyraynyc Topic clusters continue to win.

[Scott Clark @scottclark]

@csaba_kissi https://t.co/HCJ2lXsng5 + GIT + Cloudflare

[Scott Clark @scottclark]

@sparktoro did y'all move the https://t.co/3ol1hLLXXT ? I'm getting 404'd on that bookmark now.

[Scott Clark @scottclark]

@lilyraynyc Get while the gettin's good... that's the strategy.

[Scott Clark @scottclark]

@CyrusShepard After trying LLM.TXT out 5x with zero chang in citations:

[Scott Clark @scottclark]

I'm so nerdy I love building #AIagents that do work for me. But I don't save any time because I'm too nerdy not to witness them in action.

[Scott Clark @scottclark]

@glenngabe Scrolljacking next?

[Lily Ray 😏 @lilyraynyc]

Wow. Something interesting was just brought to my attention regarding self-promotional listicles: in some cases, they may actually be *against the law,* according to FTC rules that took effect in October 2024.

There is already precedent for this: A few years back, a company was sued for publishing hundreds of fake "best of" review pages that ranked their own services #1, included fabricated reviews of competitors whose products had never been used, and posted fake reviews on third-party platforms. The BBB eventually censured the company for unsubstantiated claims. (Note: I am being vague/anonymous on purpose 👀 )

This case took place before the FTC formalized these prohibitions, so the legal exposure today would presumably be much worse.

I've been researching and writing about self-promotional listicles for months - the "Best [X] Companies" and "Top 10 [Y] Tools" pages where the publishing company ranks itself #1. This has arguably become the most popular GEO tactic over the last year or two because it has worked (surprisingly well) to influence SEO & GEO results.

In my articles about this, I've been approaching this as a potential search quality problem. But it turns out the FTC's Consumer Review Rule (16 CFR Part 465) explicitly prohibits several practices that are common in these pages:

* Creating a company-controlled site that presents itself as providing independent reviews (§465.6)
* Publishing reviews of products or services you've never actually used (§465.2)
* Attributing reviews to people who didn't write them (§465.2(a))

And the penalties? Up to $53,088 PER VIOLATION. Plus, each page could be a separate violation (!!)

The FTC issued its first enforcement warning letters under this rule in December 2025 to 10 companies.

One way to interpret this for SEOs/GEOs: if your client (or your agency) is publishing "best of" listicles that rank themselves #1 based on scores they made up, about products or competitors they never used, on a site that looks like an independent review authority... that's not just a Google quality guidelines issue anymore. It's a potential legal liability.

Based on FTC guidance, the line appears relatively straightforward: you can *absolutely publish comparison content that includes your own product.* Just be honest about who you are and don't fabricate reviews of products or competitors you've never used. (BTW, this part is recommended in Google's Reviews guidelines as well.)

That said, this might be tricky for most of these listicles, given that the author almost never actually tried and tested competitor products; usually they're just doing research based on publicly available data about the company.

I used Claude to put together a quick reference table (see image below) breaking down what's legal and what's not under the FTC rule.

(BTW, I’m not a lawyer and this isn’t legal advice; just my interpretation of the FTC’s published rules. If you’re doing this at scale, it’s worth checking with legal counsel.)

[Scott Clark @scottclark]

@NotebookLM I'd prefer a revision of voice overviews first, folders later. The banter-mode drives me nuts. Can we please have tedtalk mode? or roundtable mode... or something?

[Scott Clark @scottclark]

@JulianGoldieSEO It's slick, but the audio overviews are like fingernails on chalkboards for me. I REALLY hope they allow format/voice modifications soon on there.

[Scott Clark @scottclark]

#Github down for others?

[Scott Clark @scottclark]

#lexky - side streets feel MUCH slicker than earlier with the new snow on them - sliding even at a crawl pace. Use extra care on streets with cars parked on them as the tracks from earlier cars will pull you sideways!

[Scott Clark @scottclark]

@lilyraynyc I hope they are talking to clients that way - it'll flood the pipeline

[Glenn Gabe @glenngabe]

Heads-up! I saw this live yesterday before the announcement today. It's super-alarming and should be for all publishers. When you click "Show more" in the AIO, you are TAKEN OUT OF SEARCH and into just the AIO (you cannot scroll past the AIO to the search results). Then if you type a question in the "Ask anything" field, you are taken directly to AI Mode. This is not a great feature for any publisher ranking in the 10-blue links below the AIO. I'll provide some examples soon, but you can see the video below and in Barry's post.

[Scott Clark @scottclark]

.@WallControl - why must we feel regrets every time we see omniwall's full-set screwdriver holders?

[Barry Schwartz @rustybrick]

Tips from Google and @scottclark on how to secure your Google Ads account with the rise of Google Ads account hijacks https://t.co/XW8SCmZQeA

[Scott Clark @scottclark]

@SchmelebeckPPC Wait wait wait. MS Ads lets you import Meta ads!!!! WIN WIN. /jk

[Scott Clark @scottclark]

@lilyraynyc Add GPT for sheets and your LLM APIs in the sheet, and then run that answer through a sentiment prompt to see brands at a glance. :-)

[Scott Clark @scottclark]

@natmiletic Amagine awards programs with performance metrics as the criteria. The winner in MER YOY % is......