Syndicated Content Chaos, Links Still Matter in 2025 & Google Trial Exposed | HighDegree* — Issue 08
New data on AI search citations, link building evolution, and Google’s ranking signals revealed
Hi friends,
Welcome to the new issue of HighDegree*: Cutting Through the Noise in SEO & Digital Marketing
Its been 124 days I last wrote this newsletter. After this long break I am back! You’ll get this marketing newsletter every week, without break. Promise!
Content syndication is creating unexpected problems for publishers trying to rank in both Google and AI search tools. Meanwhile, fresh data from Google’s antitrust trial reveals surprising insights about what really drives rankings, and new research shows links aren’t dead; they’re evolving.
This week’s newsletter breaks down these critical developments, including how AI assistants are sending traffic to non-existent pages and what ChatGPT users are actually doing with the tool.
Let’s dig into what these changes mean for your digital strategy.
➞ In This Week’s HighDegree Newsletter:
- Syndicated content is wreaking havoc on AI search rankings — Yahoo and MSN often outrank original publishers across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini, with noindexing emerging as the only reliable solution
- Link building evolves as traditional tactics fail — New data shows only 4.6% of guest post sites meet quality standards, while digital PR and brand mentions now drive both search and AI visibility
- Google trial documents reveal webpage signals trump PageRank — Internal data shows user engagement, content quality, and Chrome visit data matter more than links for rankings
- AI assistants hallucinate URLs at alarming rates — ChatGPT and other tools send visitors to 404 pages 2.87x more often than Google, creating unexpected traffic losses
- ChatGPT usage data surprises: 70% is personal, not work — 1.5 million conversations analyzed show users primarily seek practical guidance and information, with coding remaining a niche use case
➞ Subscribe
If you are not subscribed to HighDegree* Yet, please subscribe to us. I will post every issue to HighDegree* substack version, so you can get it instantly in your inbox every time I hit publish!
➞ Your Syndicated Content Might Be Sabotaging Your AI Search Rankings
Glenn Gabe’s analysis of nine publishers reveals syndication partners like Yahoo and MSN often outrank original content across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini.
The problem? These AI tools can’t consistently identify which version is canonical. In testing, syndicated content ranked above original articles, both versions appeared side-by-side, or neither showed up at all.
Even with proper canonicalization, results were inconsistent. The safest approach: negotiate contracts that require noindexing syndicated content. If that’s impossible, at minimum ensure syndicated versions canonicalize to your original URLs. Document your visibility across AI tools now, as ranking systems are rapidly evolving and what works today might change next quarter.
Read the full report from gsqi.com ➞
While syndication creates chaos, the question of whether links still matter has an equally complex answer.
➞ Link Building Isn’t Dead — But Your Old Tactics Are
Vince Nero’s analysis of multiple 2025 studies confirms links still correlate with rankings, but traditional tactics like guest posting are failing. Only 4.6% of guest post sites meet quality standards. The data shows top-ranking pages have 3.8x more backlinks than positions 2–10, and Domain Rating strongly correlates with first-page rankings. However, for AI visibility, unlinked brand mentions now outperform raw backlink counts (0.664 correlation vs 0.218).
Digital PR has emerged as the primary strategy, earning both links and mentions from authoritative publications. The key insight: stop building links just to build links. Focus on earning coverage that drives both authority signals and brand visibility, positioning you for success in both traditional search and AI systems.
Read the full report from buzzstream.com ➞
Speaking of what actually drives rankings, Google’s trial documents just revealed game-changing insights.
➞ Google Trial Exposes How Rankings Really Work: It’s Not About PageRank Anymore
Marie Haynes uncovered critical revelations from DOJ vs Google trial documents showing PageRank is now just one of many signals, and not even the most important. Google’s own expert stated “most of Google’s quality signal is derived from the webpage itself.” Every page gets a DocID storing clicks, queries, spam scores, and user interaction data.
The RankEmbed BERT model learns from 70 days of search logs plus quality rater scores to predict helpful results. User behavior even determines crawl frequency, if people aren’t engaging with your content, Google crawls less often. Chrome visit data factors into popularity signals. The message is clear: focus on creating pages people actively seek out and engage with rather than chasing links.
Read the full report from mariehaynes.com ➞
But there’s a new problem emerging with AI-generated search results that could be affecting your traffic right now.
➞ AI Assistants Are Hallucinating URLs and Sending Visitors to Dead Ends
Ahrefs’ study of 16 million URLs found AI assistants send visitors to 404 pages 2.87x more often than Google Search. ChatGPT is worst, with 1.01% of clicked URLs and 2.38% of all cited URLs returning 404 errors. These hallucinated links follow expected URL patterns but don’t exist — like /blog/internal-links/ when no such page exists. Some previously valid URLs have been deleted without redirects; others are pure fabrications.
To check your site, filter analytics for AI traffic, identify 404s receiving visits, and consider 301 redirects to relevant pages. While AI traffic represents only 0.25% of total website traffic currently, fixing these issues takes minimal effort and improves user experience for a growing segment.
Read the full report from ahrefs.com ➞
Finally, let’s look at what people are actually using AI for, based on the largest study to date.
➞ ChatGPT Users Focus on Practical Tasks, Not Code or Creative Writing
OpenAI’s analysis of 1.5 million conversations reveals 75% of ChatGPT usage centers on practical guidance, information seeking, and writing; with writing being the primary work task. Only 30% of consumer usage is work-related; the rest creates personal value often unmeasured by traditional economic metrics.
Usage patterns break down into Asking (49%), Doing (40%), and Expressing (11%). The gender gap has closed dramatically; feminine names now represent 52% of users, up from 37% in early 2024. Growth in low-income countries is 4x higher than high-income nations. Users deepen engagement over time as they discover new applications. This data suggests AI is becoming a mainstream tool for everyday decision support rather than a specialized technical resource.
➞ From Google
Everything from Google search this week —
→ Google Discover Adds Social Media Posts & Follow Buttons (searchenginejournal.com)
→ Google Preferred Sources rolling out in US and India (searchenginejournal.com)
→ Google Says AI-Generated Images Will Not Cause Ranking Penalty (searchenginejournal.com)
➞ AI + Social
Find out what’s happening in the social media and artificial intelligence world —
→ You Can’t Track AI Like Traditional Search. Here’s What to Do Instead. (ahrefs.com)
→ Report: Almost All ChatGPT Users Also Use Google (seroundtable.com)
→ Small Business Battles Google AI After Customers Demand Nonexistent Discounts (billhartzer.com)
→ Your website is about to start talking. Are you ready for this? (dejan.ai)
➞ Worth Reading
These are the articles that will help you refine your marketing knowledge —
→ ChatGPT Is Using Google Search To Answer Your Questions — Here’s What We Know (tomsguide.com)
→ Why Informational Content Still Matters in the AI Search Era (advancedwebranking.com)
→ Internal Linking Grows Up: Evolving From Link Juice To Entity Maps (searchenginejournal.com)
→ How To Measure Content Revenue and Prove Success (moz.com)
→ Trust Still Lives in Blue Links (growth-memo.com)
→ Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results (pewresearch.org)
➞ What This All Means for Your Strategy
The digital landscape is shifting beneath our feet. Syndicated content creates ranking chaos, links matter differently than before, and AI tools are reshaping how people find and consume information.
Success requires adapting your approach: control your content distribution, build genuine authority through digital PR, and optimize for actual user engagement rather than algorithmic tricks. Most importantly, monitor these changes closely; what works today might not work tomorrow. Keep testing, keep measuring, and keep evolving your strategy.
Until next week,
Nishat from HighDegree*
P.S. Have a question about implementing these strategies? Hit reply — we read every email and often feature reader questions in future issues.
➞ Who is Nishat Shahriyar?
I am a Digital Marketing Strategist, having worked in this field since 2007. Now working as a Product Marketing Lead at Fluent Forms (The best lead generation tool for WordPress), previously at Fluent Support (The best WordPress Helpdesk Plugin).
Connect with me, if you are not connected through my LinkedIn or Follow me on — X/Twitter — @rednishat
Originally published at https://highdegree.substack.com.
