Techme101.com

If your organic traffic looks flat while impressions stay steady, you’re not imagining it.
We’ve seen this pattern across B2B SaaS and ecommerce accounts since late 2023. Rankings hold. Clicks slip. Meanwhile, leadership’s awareness of why competitors appear in ChatGPT responses while your content doesn’t is crucial. That tension is the real story here. SEO still works, but the way people discover information is changing faster than most marketing teams are planning for.
This isn’t about panic. It’s about timing. And, the teams treating AI visibility as “next year’s problem” are already behind.
The uncomfortable truth about search right now
Google traffic hasn’t vanished. But user behavior has shifted in ways most dashboards don’t make obvious.
When someone asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Gemini a question, they often don’t click anything. They get an answer. Sometimes that answer cites sources. Sometimes it doesn’t. Either way, the discovery moment happens upstream from your website.
We see it first in qualitative feedback. Sales calls where prospects reference insights you’ve never published. Customers who clearly researched but never touched your blog. Founders who swear they “saw you somewhere” but can’t remember where.
That “somewhere” is increasingly an AI interface.
SEO teams still measuring success only through rankings and sessions miss this entirely. Clarifying how AI visibility influences traditional metrics like rankings and traffic helps you understand the full scope of changes across the search landscape. The brand impact is real, but the attribution trail is broken.
Why AI chat adoption matters more than traffic loss
Here’s the thing. This shift doesn’t hurt everyone equally.
Strong brands with evident expertise are pulled into AI solutions early. Weak or generic content gets ignored. The gap widens quietly, then suddenly.
We’ve watched companies lose mindshare before they lose traffic. First, they stop being cited. Then competitors become the default answer. Months later, organic clicks drop. By the time it shows up in GA4, it’s already a brand problem.
Which means the right question isn’t “Is SEO dead?” It’s “Are we visible where discovery actually happens now?”
How AI systems decide who gets cited
Large language models don’t rank pages the way Google does. They synthesize information from sources they consider authoritative, consistent, and trustworthy.
From what we’ve observed across dozens of accounts, three patterns matter most:

Clear topical ownership. Sites that stay narrowly focused outperform broad content farms.
Original insight. Rehashed explainers rarely get cited.
Brand signals beyond your site. Mentions, links,s and reputation elsewhere matter more than most teams realize.

This is why some brands with mediocre SEO suddenly appear everywhere in AI tools. They’ve built authority outside traditional search, which should inspire teams to see new avenues for growth and influence.
Why “just keep doing SEO” isn’t enough anymore
Classic SEO advice still works, but it’s incomplete.
Publishing keyword-targeted posts without a clear point of view doesn’t move the needle in AI systems. Neither does scaling content volume with AI writers and hoping something sticks.
We’ve audited sites with thousands of posts and zero AI visibility. We’ve also seen lean blogs with thirty high-quality articles cited repeatedly.
The difference isn’t technical SEO. It’s a strategy. Integrating AI-focused content into your existing SEO plan, such as creating authoritative guides and building external brand signals, can help you adapt to discovery methods effectively.
AI systems reward clarity over coverage. They prefer fewer, stronger sources over many average ones. That’s a fundamental shift from how SEO teams have been trained to think.
What AI visibility actually looks like in practice
Teams doing this well don’t chase every AI tool. They build assets designed to be referenced.
That usually means investing in:

Authoritative guides that thoroughly answer a question, not just target a keyword.
Original data, benchmarks, or frameworks that others don’t have.
Clear authorship and expertise signals tied to real people.
Distribution strategies that earn citations, not just clicks.

This is why AI visibility looks closer to digital PR than content at scale. It’s about becoming the source, not filling the index.
The internal challenge no one talks about
Most teams know something is changing. The problem is prioritization.
You’re already juggling paid media volatility, broken attribution, sales pressure, and budget scrutiny. Adding “optimize for ChatGPT” sounds like another shiny object.
The teams that move fastest aren’t the ones chasing hype. They’re the ones reframing AI visibility as a defensive strategy.
If prospects learn from AI before they ever hit your site, you want your perspective baked into that learning phase. Waiting means letting competitors define the narrative for you.
How we’re advising teams to start
Not with tools. With focus.
The most effective first step is to identify where AI-generated answers already influence buying decisions in your category. Pricing questions. Comparison questions. Implementation questions. These show up on sales calls long before they appear in keyword reports.
From there, the work looks like building a modern authority engine. Fewer pieces. More depth. Stronger points of view. And intentional promotion beyond your own channels.
We’ve documented this approach in detail in our core guide on AI visibility, including how to structure content, earn citations, and measure progress even when traffic doesn’t move immediately. Establishing new KPIs beyond traffic and rankings ensures you can track success in this evolving landscape.
The bottom line
SEO isn’t dead. But discovery has fractured.
Teams that treat AI chat as a side experiment will feel the impact later, when it’s more complex and more expensive to catch up. Teams that adapt now build leverage quietly.
The window where this feels optional is closing. The good news is that the playbook rewards quality, clarity, and genuine expertise—things strong teams should be doing anyway.
The post SEO isn’t dead. But AI chat adoption is faster than most teams realize. appeared first on ReadWrite.

On January 12, the Isle of Man government renewed its commitment to the iGaming industry, despite headwinds and pressures from different directions.
The message sent out was that the Isle of Man remains open for business and welcoming to the sector, in the face of challenges from changing tax landscapes in other jurisdictions and the threat of the unlicensed black market. 
The Isle of Man is a British Crown Dependency with self-governing status, located in the Irish Sea, between England and Ireland. 
It is an entity that has autonomy to set its own laws and policy framework, while maintaining a positive working relationship with the United Kingdom.  
Isle of Man remains a secure, stable jurisdiction
Since 2001, under the oversight of the Gambling Supervision Commission (GSC), the Isle of Man has punched above its weight as a gambling destination, alongside the likes of Malta and Gibraltar.
This isn’t in the form of a betting mecca like Macau in the Far East or even Las Vegas, but as a reputable base for gambling operators underpinned by the GSC and its focus on stringent, transparent oversight. 
The statement issued by the Isle of Man government last week strived to emphasize that its reputation “continues to underpin confidence in the Island as a premier jurisdiction for high-quality iGaming businesses.” 
Chief Minister Alfred Cannan reflected on the importance of the iGaming sector for the Isle of Man’s economy over the past two decades and how the dynamic regulatory environment has been a mutual success story. 
“In the face of a more complex and challenging global environment in recent years, the Government has invested significantly in strengthening our understanding of risk and ensuring we have the right resources and frameworks in place to recognise and respond effectively to emerging threats, said Cannon.
He continued, “As we look ahead to ICE 2026 and other major industry events over the next 12 months, we will continue to work across industry and all agencies to ensure the Isle of Man remains a secure, stable, and trusted jurisdiction for high-quality and well-regulated iGaming businesses.”  
ICE 2026 is the massive global gaming industry convention, with this year’s edition hosted in Barcelona, Spain, from January 19-21. 
Crucial reassurance for the iGaming industry
The statement from the Chief Minister was largely welcomed by the industry, as reflected in a response from Mark O’Neill, managing director of Global Gaming Solutions. 
In his communication on behalf of the commercial gambling developer, he conveyed that the government provided vital reassurance following “a year that tested confidence across parts of the industry”.
“The Isle of Man Government’s reaffirmation of its commitment to the iGaming sector provides important clarity and reassurance for existing licence holders and the wider global industry,” said O’Neill.
He added the Isle of Man’s “long-standing focus on robust regulation, awareness and mitigation of emerging risks and constructive engagement with industry continues to underpin its reputation as a trusted and well-governed jurisdiction”.

Challenges from tax pressures in other markets
The Isle of Man enjoys a close relationship with the UK, but it has contrasting approaches to gambling laws, taxes, and frameworks. 
The Manx government maintains a business-friendly approach to attract gambling operators, with the contribution worth an estimated 11-21% of GDP. 
That is the importance of iGaming for the Isle of Man, with the major stimulus provided thanks to the progressive gaming duty of 1.5% on gross gambling yield (GGY) under £20 million ($26.9m), 0.5% on £20m to £40m, and 0.1% above £40m.
Conversely, the UK government, and particularly under the incumbent Labour administration, has prioritized stringent consumer protection and domestic market control under broader national legislation.
In November 2025, UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves hiked gambling taxes (almost doubling remote gaming duty) in a policy change that was slammed by the industry. 
Similar rises are on the horizon in France and the Netherlands. 
The Isle of Man is not immune to these changing tax pressures, and it is a headwind that it has to face. 
There is a threat to the crucial GDP contribution from iGaming as major operators based in the jurisdiction are forced to respond to a greater tax burden. 
It is a monitoring issue of the utmost importance to tax policy for the Manx government, just as Gibraltar sounded a warning on the ripples from the UK’s tax hikes for its economy.
Threat from Southeast Asia and the black market
Tax issues are not the only formidable challenge to be met to maintain the Isle of Man’s standing and reputation as a premium gambling location. 
There are increasing problems coming from the black market and bad actors, particularly those located in Southeast Asia. 
Isle of Man authorities warned last year of a burgeoning “complex and sophisticated criminal landscape” in the region, and a reluctance to embrace operators or associated businesses with established links to the Southeast. 
As detailed in the National Risk Appetite Statement:
“The Isle of Man recognises that, in common with other jurisdictions, its online gaming and gambling platforms may be targeted by an evolving and increasingly complex and sophisticated criminal landscape in East and Southeast Asia.
“That landscape has extended outside of East and Southeast Asia, impacting countries worldwide, and there has become a need for increasing vigilance when conducting business linked to this region. 
“Sources available to the domestic authorities indicate that the Isle of Man has been subject to infiltration by criminals bypassing the Island’s controls against financial crime.”
The issue has been heightened with the recent arrest and extradition to China of Chen Zhi, a businessman with links to the Isle of Man. 
UK and U.S. authorities have accused Chen Zhi of using his Prince Holding Group, a multibillion-dollar conglomerate based in Cambodia, to establish a network of casinos and compounds to facilitate elaborate scams using forced labor.
Zhi was identified as the beneficial owner of Ableton Prestige Global Limited. 
It was busted by Isle of Man police last March in connection with a major international money laundering probe.
Similarly, the National Financial Crime Strategy for 2024-2026 outlined an increase in the overall money laundering risk, with specific relevant threats to the gambling ecosystem.
The Isle of Man’s overall online gambling industry was also flagged as having a medium risk of terrorist financing, but all of this and more is why a multi-agency, coordinated approach is taken on the island to safeguard and protect the wider gambling framework.
Image credit: @IOMGovernment/X
The post Isle of Man government renews its commitment to gambling industry appeared first on ReadWrite.

The fifth man in an illegal sports betting ring has been named by the FBI. LaVonte Holmes, 24, was found to have been involved with the ring between 2022 and 2024.
It’s reported that the scheme would involve abusing stolen identities to conduct bets on vulnerable platforms. Birth dates, Social Security numbers, and more were acquired from online sources, such as the deep web, which regularly hosts reams of stolen data.
Holmes has now been sentenced to prison and will serve the second-longest sentence of the five individuals. He’s been sentenced to 30 months, double that of Lawrence Williams and five times that of two of his other co-conspirators.
The five individuals are:

Lucas Gilliam, 25, sentenced to 36 months
LaVonte Holmes, 24, sentenced to 30 months
Lawrence Williams, 22, sentenced to 15 months
Nathan Penaflor, 23, sentenced to 6 months
Joshua Penaflor, 22, sentenced to 6 months

None of the five will be able to get parole, as there isn’t that option at the federal level in the United States.
Speaking in the press release, U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant said:
“With new and ever-changing technology, applications, and platforms, criminals are using more creative and disturbing ways to commit fraud against vulnerable victims, including identity theft. For these thieves, their bets did not pay off, and were instead parlayed into prison sentences.”
The sentencing has been particularly harsh on Holmes and Gilliam, as it was uncovered that they would travel between states to conduct their scam. They would leave Tennessee in an attempt to grow the scheme.
As such, Chief United States District Court Judge Sheryl H. Lipman threw the book at all five, who pled guilty to aggravated identity theft, as well as unauthorized use of an access device.
Without parole, Holmes and Gilliam won’t be out of prison until sometime in 2028. The two Penaflors will be out this year, while Williams will be behind bars until 2027.
Featured Image: Via HAL333 on Wikimedia Commons
The post Last man in Tennessee gambling scheme sentenced to 30 months appeared first on ReadWrite.

Missouri gambling regulators have rejected the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) request to block prop bets on college games. With months of fiascos surrounding the style of betting and college-level games, it comes as a surprise that the ban wasn’t implemented.
The NCAA claims that there’s been a rise in harassment by bettors, as well as pointing to insider information being used to profit via gambling. Another implication of keeping prop bets around is that college students have been found to have bet on themselves, manipulating the game for their own gain.
Despite providing data and examples of issues that have cropped up, the Missouri Gaming Commission (MGC) rejected the NCAA’s request.
If the MGC had agreed to amend its sports betting rules, it could have put an end to some manipulation of games.
So why did the MGC reject the proposition? It comes down to how fresh legal gambling is in the state.
Sports betting was just allowed on December 1, 2025, and the Commission argues that it’s still too new to begin amending things. Commission chair Jan Zimmerman said:
“I just don’t feel that I have enough information to grant a request by the NCAA to prohibit this type of sports wagering because I don’t know enough yet.”
Prop bets, or proposition bets, rely on specifics. It’s more than just “who won”, but can be applied to multiple aspects of the game. Who takes the most shots, which players will score, and the like.
In recent months, ReadWrite has reported on multiple instances of either colleges or the NCAA itself having to deal with betting scandals. Prop bets have been the center of multiple controversies.
One of the most recent scandals reported last week involved NCAA basketball players’ “points shaving” to manipulate games for profit.
The post NCAA has its prop bet ban request sunk by Missouri watchdog appeared first on ReadWrite.

The ongoing battle to restore gambling loss deductions has failed once again. This comes as an amendment to bill H.R.7148, which was shot down in a recent committee hearing.
Representative Dina Titus, a Democrat from Nevada, urged the change. She has now found 25 other legislators from both parties to support the change, but keeps being shot down.
At the center of the issue is that Titus and other lawmakers don’t believe that taxes should count gambling losses. As it’s money that the player didn’t acquire, it’s argued that it should be 100% deductible when tax season comes around.
Speaking at the committee, Titus said:
“It’s a fairness issue. You shouldn’t tax people on money that they don’t earn.
It’s ghost money, it’s not fair, and we can fix it. I urge you all to please make this amendment in order, and let’s go back to the way things were and should be.”
Gambling tax fix just won’t stick

Funny moment from @RepMcGovern (D-MA, Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee) on restoring 100% deductibility of gambling losses (up to the extent of winnings)
“Your bipartisan amendment sounds like a no brainer, which probably means it won’t be made in order, I hope I’m… https://t.co/tb0BcKvaCU pic.twitter.com/Wkn53HAdUW
— DataBasedBets (@DataBasedBets) January 21, 2026

Highlighted on X, formerly Twitter, Rep. Jim McGovern, a Democrat from Massachusetts, said:
“Your bipartisan amendment sounds like a no-brainer, which probably means it won’t be made in order. I hope I’m wrong on that… it just seems to be common sense.”
The tactic to try and get it through this time was to attach it to a larger bill.
It was noted that during the hearing, no “direct comments” were made by Republicans present. It should also be noted that some Republicans weren’t present as part of the testimony for the hearing, as it heavily focused on ICE and the Department of Homeland Security.
The Trump Administration’s change to how taxes and gambling are handled now leaves gamblers with a 90% cap on deductibles. Despite months of pushback through 2025 and now into 2026, it looks as if the cap will remain going forward.
The post Gambling deductions tax fix shot down once again appeared first on ReadWrite.