No Hacks: Optimising the Web for AI Agents

Duane Forrester, 30-year search veteran who co-launched Schema.org and built Bing Webmaster Tools, explains why AI systems prioritize trust above all else. We discuss machine comfort bias, chunk-level content optimization, why SEO is now a multidisciplinary role, and how to prepare for a world where LLMs decide who gets cited.About the GuestDuane Forrester is the author of "The Machine Layer" and search industry pioneer30 years in search and digital strategySenior Product Manager at Microsoft - built Bing Webmaster ToolsCo-launched Schema.org structured data standardLeadership roles at Bruce Clay Inc. and YextFounder of Unbound Answers, creator of CitationIQChapters00:00 - Intro01:01 - The biggest shift SEO has ever seen03:30 - Machine Comfort Bias: the 5 layers of trust09:19 - Chunking: writing for AI and humans16:01 - Making content citation-ready18:35 - Schema.org: the trust infrastructure25:46 - Ironman vs Superman: AI as amplifier, not savior32:28 - EEAT, Universal Verifiers, and why trust is everything42:59 - Latent Choice Signals: the invisible metrics52:35 - The Machine Layer book57:53 - Emerging roles in AI discoverability01:01:16 - Where to find DuaneKey TakeawaysTrust is the new algorithm - LLMs need multiple dimensions of verification before citing you. If you can provide everything they need without them having to guess, they'll lean into that "machine comfort bias"Chunking matters, but not how you think - Don't reformat your entire page into 300-word blocks. Instead, put key facts, figures, and bullet points at the top. LLMs get "lost in the middle" of long-form contentBe the canonical source - Your goal isn't rankings, it's being seen as THE source of knowledge on your topic. If you haven't expanded the LLM's training data with net new information, you won't be citedSEO is now multidisciplinary - Technical SEOs must understand branding, conversion, engagement, PR, and UX. Silos are killing companies in the AI discovery layerAI is Ironman, not Superman - These systems amplify your skills but require you to drive them. Hope is not a strategy. Always ask self-referencing questions to verify outputsLLMs want to save money - They won't waste tokens looking elsewhere if you provide everything they need. Consistency and trust reduce their computational costsResources MentionedDuane's WorkBook: The Machine Layer - Available on Amazon (Kindle & Paperback)Website: duaneforrester.com - Free frameworks from the book availableSubstack: duaneforresterdecodes.substack.comLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dforresterConnect with No HacksWebsite: https://nohackspod.comNewsletter: Subscribe for weekly episodesNo Hacks is a podcast about web performance, technical SEO, and the agentic web. Hosted by Slobodan "Sani" Manic.

Your website might rank #1 on Google but be completely invisible to ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity. In this episode, let's break down why a huge chunk of the web is fundamentally broken for AI systems - not because of bad content, but because of technical decisions that made sense for humans but make sites invisible to the AI systems rapidly becoming the front door to the internet.Chapter Timestamps00:00:00 - Introduction: The new game your website is losing00:01:43 - The Scale of the Problem: AI crawler traffic explosion00:05:19 - The JavaScript Problem: Why AI crawlers can't see your content00:10:28 - The Bot Protection Paradox: Accidentally blocking AI00:14:40 - The Speed Requirement: Why 200ms matters00:17:46 - AI Agents Are Struggling Too: Browser agents and their limitations00:20:46 - How to Fix It: 6 things you need to do00:25:33 - Closing: The web is adapting againKey Statistics569 million GPTBot requests on Vercel's network in a single month370 million ClaudeBot requests in the same period305% growth in GPTBot traffic (May 2024 to May 2025)157,000% increase in PerplexityBot requests year-over-year33% of organic search activity now comes from AI agents~40% failure rate for the best AI browser agents on complex tasksThe 6 Things to FixImplement Server-Side Rendering (SSR) - If your site uses a JavaScript framework (React, Vue, Angular) with client-side rendering, switch to SSR or static site generation immediately. Use Next.js, Nuxt, or a pre-rendering service.Add Structured Data with JSON-LD - Expose key information in machine-readable format using schema.org markup. Microsoft confirmed Bing uses this to help Copilot understand content.Optimize for Speed - Target server response time under 200ms. First Contentful Paint under 1 second. Largest Contentful Paint under 2.5 seconds.Check Your Bot Protection Settings - Review Cloudflare, AWS WAF, or your CDN's bot management. Make a deliberate decision about GPTBot, ClaudeBot, and PerplexityBot access.Kill Infinite Scroll and Lazy Loading for Content - Use paginated URLs with standard HTML links. Ensure high-value content is in the initial HTML response.Keep Sitemaps Current - Maintain proper redirects, consistent URL patterns, and fix broken links.Tools MentionedGlimpse - Free tool to test how AI sees your website: glimpse.webperformancetools.comShow LinksSources Referenced in This EpisodeAI Crawler Statistics:Vercel Blog - The Rise of the AI CrawlerCloudflare 2025 Year in ReviewCloudflare - From Googlebot to GPTBotSearch Engine Land - AI Optimization GuideJavaScript Rendering:Prerender.io - Understanding Web CrawlersSearch Engine Journal - Enterprise SEO Trends 2026No Hacks is a podcast about web performance, technical SEO, and the agentic web. Hosted by Slobodan "Sani" Manic.

Google just made two massive moves in 48 hours, and together, they could reshape how AI interacts with commerce forever.First: the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), an open standard that lets AI agents shop on your behalf. Discovery, checkout, payments, post-purchase, the whole journey, with one common language. Backed by Shopify, Walmart, Target, Visa, Mastercard, and 20+ others.Second: a multi-year deal with Apple. Gemini will power the next generation of Apple Intelligence, including Siri. That's Google's AI running on 2 billion Apple devices.In this episode, I break down what UCP actually is, how it works, why the Apple deal matters, and what this means for merchants, developers, and anyone building for the agentic web.CHAPTERS00:00 – The Anthony Joshua smile meme (and what it has to do with Google) 02:59 – The landscape: AI agents, fragmentation, and the assistant wars 06:36 – What is UCP? Universal Commerce Protocol explained 11:04 – Who's backing UCP and what it enables today 14:21 – The Apple-Gemini deal: what it means 17:55 – Why Apple chose Google (and what happens to OpenAI) 21:00 – Connecting the dots: Google's full strategy 24:00 – What this means for merchants and developers 26:30 – The bigger picture: who controls the agentic web? 29:07 – Closing thoughtsLINKSUCP Documentation: https://ucp.devUCP GitHub: https://github.com/Universal-Commerce-Protocol/ucpGoogle's UCP Announcement: https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/agentic-commerce-ai-tools-protocol-retailers-platforms/Google-Apple Joint Statement: https://blog.google/company-news/inside-google/company-announcements/joint-statement-google-apple/Shopify's UCP Deep-Dive: https://shopify.engineering/UCPKEYWORDS/TAGSGoogle, UCP, Universal Commerce Protocol, AI agents, agentic commerce, e-commerce, Apple Intelligence, Gemini, Siri, AI shopping, MCP, Shopify, OpenAI, retail technologyNo Hacks is a podcast about web performance, technical SEO, and the agentic web. Hosted by Slobodan "Sani" Manic.

Jono Alderson, a Technical SEO specialist known for his insights on content strategy and AI-driven web discovery, discusses the end of traditional digital marketing. He reveals that most websites are now 'zombies' with outdated content that AI finds worthless. Jono emphasizes the need for 'Upstream Engineering,' focusing on reputation and clarity instead of mere optimization. He warns against manipulative marketing tactics that AI filters out and explains why brands must adapt to a new landscape where identity is derived from various online signals.

If 2025 felt like a constant, high-pitched ringing in your ears, you aren't alone. We call it "Digital Tinnitus", the exhausting result of two years of AI hype, "pivot or die" mandates, and confident mediocrity.In this 2025 finale, let's shut off the noise.We look back at why "Fatigue" was the word of the year, and why the crash of the hype cycle is actually the best news for serious professionals. Sani breaks down why Deep Work is the only antidote to the chaos and reveals the massive strategic shift coming to No Hacks in 2026.The internet is changing. We are moving from an Attention Economy to a Utility Economy. And next year, we focus on one thing only: The Non-Human User.In this episode, we cover:The Hangover: Why 2025 broke us, and why the silence of 2026 is a gift.Deep Work vs. Shallow Hacks: Why "Vibe Coding" is a trap and true craftsmanship is the only moat left.The 82:1 Prediction: Palo Alto Networks predicts 82 AI agents for every 1 human online. What does that mean for your website?The 2026 Mission: Announcing the sole focus for next year: Optimizing the Human Web for Non-Human Users.Links:Connect with Sani on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/slobodanmanic/Subscribe to the Newsletter: https://nohacks.substack.com/See you in 2026.No Hacks is a podcast about web performance, technical SEO, and the agentic web. Hosted by Slobodan "Sani" Manic.

Join digital marketing strategist Joe Doveton, founder of GEO Jetpack, as he unpacks the seismic shifts in SEO caused by AI and zero-click searches. Discover the 'Crocodile Mouth' phenomenon where brands see clicks evaporate despite high impressions. Joe introduces essential new metrics like Generative Engine Optimization and stresses the importance of quality content. The conversation explores the decline of outdated metrics and highlights a return to meaningful customer engagement in a rapidly changing digital landscape.

There is a new user on the internet. It doesn't have eyes, it reads code, and it has zero tolerance for bad UX.In this episode, I sit down with Jes Scholz (SEO Futurist & Marketing Consultant) to discuss the "Great Correction" coming to our industry. We talk about why a decade of obsessing over short-term metrics has "corrupted" brand marketing, and why AI is finally forcing us to fix the fundamentals we’ve ignored for too long.Jes explains why AI agents are abandoning websites with messy HTML, why "entity optimization" is the real key to future visibility, and why the popular tactic of spamming Reddit to influence LLMs is a ticking time bomb for your brand.Topics Covered:Why short-term metrics broke modern marketing (and how to fix it).The "New User": How to optimize for AI agents that read code, not screens.Why "trash" code and interstitial popups are fatal for AI discovery.The "Reddit Spam" Rant: Why trying to hack AI will destroy your brand reputation. Shocker, right?The #1 skill AI cannot replace in 2026. Can you guess what it is?Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro 00:02:07 - How Short-Term Metrics "Corrupted" Brand Marketing 00:03:59 - Why Marketers Must Relearn to Work Without Perfect Metrics 00:08:00 - AI Agents: Why They Fail on Bad UX & Messy HTML 00:17:52 - Beyond the Website: Why Entity Optimization is Key for AI 00:21:14 - Why Spamming Reddit to Influence AI Will Destroy Your Brand 00:27:23 - Final Advice: The #1 Skill to Keep & The #1 Habit to DropAbout the Guest: Jes Scholz is a global digital strategist and SEO futurist. Formerly the International Digital Director for Ringier, she has led digital transformation across 140+ media and e-commerce brands in Europe, Africa, and Asia. She is now an independent consultant helping enterprises adapt to the AI era. Connect with Jes:Website: jesscholz.comNewsletter: SEO Brief on SubstackLinkedIn: Jes ScholzConnect with Sani:LinkedIn: Slobodan (Sani) ManićWebsite: nohackspod.comNewsletter: No Hacks on SubstackNo Hacks is a podcast about web performance, technical SEO, and the agentic web. Hosted by Slobodan "Sani" Manic.

The promise is irresistible: generate anything you want, instantly, with zero effort. We’ve been told that AI is the great democratizer, but in this episode, we argue it’s actually the most catastrophic lie of the digital age.The truth is, this endless supply of cheap, fast content is fundamentally destroying value and driving the collapse of the internet as we know it. We're not seeing liberation; we're seeing an intellectual lazy river that's turning the web into a toxic digital swamp.In this episode, we break down the three deadly flaws of the zero-effort economy:The Dunning-Kruger loop: Why amassing "zero knowledge" before hitting 'generate' is so dangerous. We look at why amateurs, armed with powerful tools, lack the expertise to judge quality, creating a flood of confidently flawed content that only "kinda looks good."The meaning crisis & The Betty Crocker dilemma: If creation is instant, cheap, and disposable, why should you care? We dive into the psychology of effort and the IKEA Effect to explain why platforms had to force you to "add the human egg." The only way to save your work is to deliberately reintroduce friction.The platforms are killing at (the enshittification): This isn't just an accident; it’s calculated decay. We expose how platforms are actively boosting AI Slop (low-quality, high-volume garbage) to maximize their profits, directly crowding out genuine human creators. We reference Cory Doctorow's essential concept of Enshittification to explain how the entire internet is being systematically poisoned.The final warning: What happens when we keep chasing "more, more, more low-effort shit"? The existential threat of model collapse, where AI trains on its own garbage, fundamentally poisoning the source of all knowledge and accelerating us toward a "dead internet."The only way to fight back is to choose effort over ease.Find more No Hacks content: If you want to support the podcast, please subscribe, rate, and share this episode. You can also read more No Hacks content at nohacks.substack.com.No Hacks is a podcast about web performance, technical SEO, and the agentic web. Hosted by Slobodan "Sani" Manic.

Joining the discussion is Brent Csutoras, Founder of OGS Media and an expert on Reddit community engagement. He argues that the key to future-proofing brands lies in authentic human connections, rather than AI. Brent shares his insights on navigating Reddit's unique culture, detailing how genuine interactions can drive sales. He recalls a PR disaster that turned into a reputation win for REI, and emphasizes the importance of understanding real user problems. Brent also urges marketers to adapt their strategies in the AI era, focusing on meaningful engagement.

In a captivating discussion, Bryan Eisenberg, a pioneer in marketing and conversion-rate optimization, shares insights from his 30-year career. He emphasizes empathy as the cornerstone of effective marketing. Bryan explains why storytelling transcends tools, revealing how a press release influenced AI's perception of truth. He critiques over-reliance on technology, advocating for authenticity and listening to customers. His reflections on personal challenges and the importance of community connections provide a roadmap for thriving in the AI era.