Hi SODP community,

Let’s recap on what’s been happening, the new content, industry updates, tips, and more.

TIP OF THE WEEK

Cloudflare just changed the game for publishers: blocking AI bots by default and introducing a pay-per-crawl model.

This isn’t just a technical setting—it’s a shift in power. For too long, publishers have watched their content fuel LLMs without credit, permission or compensation. Cloudflare’s move gives us something we’ve lacked in the AI era: control. But here’s the catch - blocking crawlers isn’t enough. The real leak? People.

If someone can access your content—paid or not—they can feed it straight into an AI system - screenshots, copy-pastes, PDF downloads, and even phone photos of the screen. AI doesn’t need a crawler if your user already has access. And once it’s in the prompt box, your IP can be repackaged, summarised, and redistributed—without attribution.

At the same time, discoverability is being redefined. If audiences now go to ChatGPT instead of Google, then: Being invisible to AI = being invisible, full stop. That’s the paradox: You need to protect your content while ensuring you’re present in AI-driven answers.

So what kind of content should you focus on? Here’s where publishers can protect and monetise high-value editorial assets:

• Opinion pieces – Unique, brand-defining commentary that reflects editorial voice

• Exclusive features – Longform, narrative journalism that AI can’t replicate

• Investigations – Time-intensive work with significant IP and reputational value

• Data explainers – Proprietary visualisations, charts and research-backed breakdowns

• Curated evergreen guides – SEO-rich, human-verified content like buyer’s guides, reviews or lists

• Interview content/Q&As – Original thought leadership with brand ownership

These formats are ideal for:

a. Licensing under pay-per-crawl agreements (e.g. via Cloudflare)

b. Inclusion in content alliances or direct deals with AI platforms

c. Controlled syndication via APIs or plugins

Here’s how the broader AI content economy is unfolding:

• Control & Monetise: Block by default, then grant licensed access to premium content types.

• Partner & Feed: Structure your content via APIs or ChatGPT-style plugins to drive safe, trackable discovery.

• Optimise for AI Surfaces: Build visibility into LLM-generated results just like you would for Google—think AI SEO, snippets, and attribution-friendly markup.

What should publishers do right now?

1. Audit crawl logs – who’s indexing your site and how often?

2. Align with your CDN or host to configure bot permissions

3. Classify your content by “AI value” – what’s most likely to be used or summarised

4. Educate editorial, tech, and commercial teams on AI’s impact

5. Start building a discoverability plan beyond Google

This isn’t about rejecting innovation. It’s about protecting creativity, labour, and trust—on your terms.

SODP POSTS

What Makes a Good AI Prompt? Here are 4 Expert Tips

“And do you work well with AI?”

As tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot and other generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems become part of everyday workflows, more companies are looking for employees who can answer “yes” to this question. In other words, people who can prompt effectively, think with AI, and use it to boost productivity.

In fact, in a growing number of roles, being “AI fluent” is quickly becoming as important as being proficient in office software once was.

But we’ve all had that moment when we’ve asked an AI chatbot a question and received what feels like the most generic, surface level answer. The problem isn’t the AI – you just haven’t given it enough to work with.

Think of it this way. During training, the AI will have “read” virtually everything on the internet. But because it makes predictions, it will give you the most probable, most common response. Without specific guidance, it’s like walking into a restaurant and asking for something good. You’ll likely get the chicken.

Your solution lies in understanding that AI systems excel at adapting to context, but you have to provide it. So how exactly do you do that?

Crafting better prompts

You may have heard the term “prompt engineering”. It might sound like you need to design some kind of technical script to get results.

But today’s chatbots are great at human conversation. The format of your prompt is not that important. The content is.

To get the most out of your AI conversations, it’s important that you convey a few basics about what you want, and how you want it. Our approach follows the acronym CATS – context, angle, task and style.

READ MORE

JOB BOARD

➡️Seven West Media (SWM) is looking for subeditor to subedit and proofread the Advertising department’s print publications, features and advertorials to ensure copy is free of errors, factually correct and well written, and also liaise with the journalists and editor to check facts and stories to ensure they are accurate and adhere to copyright laws. (Australia). SEE MORE

➡️ Broadsheet Media is looking for the London editor who will play a pivotal role in the success of Broadsheet London, and set the tone and direction for the brand, laying the groundwork for their editorial and brand voice across written, video and social content. (UK). SEE MORE

COMMUNITY BUZZ

Industry News

➡️ As Yahoo’s creator program matures, the company is increasingly evolving from a publisher into a creator platform in its own right. Yahoo launched Yahoo Creators, a creator publishing platform, in March 2024. In the year and three months since, creators have taken on a more visible role on Yahoo’s homepage, with a dedicated creator vertical and creator content appearing alongside traditional publisher content on the Yahoo app and in the company’s newsletters. READ MORE 

➡️ Sixteen months have passed since we showed you how Google’s algorithm was killing independent websites by favoring big media publishers that were abusing their reputation to sell you bad products. Since then, Google enforced a new spam guideline called “site reputation abuse” by removing entire sections of major websites from their search index… at least for a few months. While this drama was unfolding, Google rolled out AI Overviews under the slogan, “Let Google do the searching for you.” READ MORE 

➡️ A week or so ago, Cloudflare announced it would block AI bots by default and offer a new pay per crawl initiative to compensate you all for your content that AI just consumes for free. But as most SEOs know, Google AI Mode and AI Overviews can't be blocked without really blocking your site from Google Search. But the CEO of Cloudflare, Matthew Prince, believes Google will give them a way to block AI Overviews and Answer boxes without being forced to block class search indexing. He wrote on X, "Gemini is blocked by default. We will get Google to provide ways to block Answer Box and AI Overview, without blocking classic search indexing, as well." READ MORE 

Social Media Discussions

➡️ Gisele Navarro on LinkedIn:

Are Google AI Overviews leading you to the best results on the web? Or is this just a new prime spot for selling you products you will regret buying?

Well, it turns out this rabbit hole is a deep one...

We spent weeks researching air purifiers we have reviewed at HouseFresh to determine whether Google Search results and AI Overviews are leading consumers to good advice.

Our analysis shows that AIO will likely recommend buying whatever you show interest in, even if the product doesn’t exist.

The more we searched, the clearer it became that, regardless of the product, the AI Overviews salesman would always present a version of the same script, repeating the same salesy expressions over and over like a parrot.

It all started to make more sense once we visualized our data...

43.1 % of the facts cited by AIO when we asked whether a product was worth buying came directly from the product manufacturer, with 38.6% of the sources pointing to product listings and PR content.

CONTINUE READING

These are the highlights for the last week.

Until next!

Vahe Arabian and the editorial team at SODP