Wellington, March 25 (JY&A Media) Wellington businessman Jack Yan says he has been the subject of persistent misinformation from the SEO industry for the last three months, with bot-authored stories being written about him that have subsequently plagued Google and other search engines. These have then made their way into “AI” programs and search engines using “AI” technology—a classic case of GIGO, or garbage in, garbage out.
Two of the users that he quizzed, who were prepared to put things right, said they were prompted to put their posts up because of a program called Semrush, which had reported an 8,100 volume in its ‘Keyword Magic Tool’ for the keywords google seo updates 2024 jackyan, and over 1,000 each for related terms. The total volume that Semrush reported for keywords containing jackyan was 21,290, according to a screenshot that he was sent. Mr Yan says he does not know what the volume refers to, but says there is no way that anyone would be reasonably searching for these sequences of keywords.
He suspects that these Semrush users were led to believe if they or their “AIs” authored pieces with the keywords, which they thought were trending, they would be rewarded with hits from users searching through Google. To fit their narrative, many have concocted stories about Mr Yan being an SEO expert or a Google developer, and that an algorithm was named after him—neither of which is true.
Semrush was approached for comment and an explanation of how their program worked, but to date has not responded.
Mr Yan says he has found articles with misinformation about him on Linkedin and Medium, as well as minor blogs, all of which have been indexed by Google regardless of their quality. He has managed to report the ones on Linkedin and Medium for misinformation, and most were removed.
Dozens, if not hundreds, of stories have gone up with this fiction, says Mr Yan. In his research, the oldest dates from late January, though he noticed searches for Google SEO jackyan starting to arrive at his blog even earlier.
‘This is deeply concerning that a program that claims to have 10 million users can motivate a chunk of them to upload complete fictions,’ he says.
‘I’m at a loss how my name even wound up in Semrush because there’s no way anyone would search for my name in relation to Google or SEO.
‘This is far worse than Wikipedia propagating the wrong information, or spun sites that take existing but usually correct information and rewriting it. We are talking about bots or “AIs” concocting utter fiction, and Google hoovering it all up and spitting it all out again.’
Mr Yan believes he is lucky given that the program did not inspire anyone to write anything too negative, but sees the potential for reputations to be deeply affected and ruined.
He hopes that the public can stay a step ahead and learn how to spot these “AI”-written websites, as the search engines have not been able to prevent them from being indexed.
He discovered that many stories only existed because they were designed to meet certain keywords that a program tells them are trending.
He adds that he is disappointed that Google is a step behind the bots, allowing them to game the system, and provide fodder for other “AI” programs to source from.
‘There is a real danger here as people come to rely on “AIs”,’ he says. ‘The Big Tech firms are taking fake, software-fettled blog posts and giving them the authority of their own brand, couched in convincing-sounding sentences.
‘This is the internet’s equivalent of subprime loans being bundled into A-rated securities, and fooling people into believing how good they are. It doesn’t end well.’
Images
Screenshot from Semrush Keyword Magic Tool
PNG, 100 kbyte
About Jack Yan & Associates
Started in 1987, Jack Yan & Associates has businesses in brand consulting, font software and media. JYA Creative is a branding agency with a global team spanning multiple continents. JY&A Fonts is New Zealand’s first digital typefoundry and a pioneer in the business. JY&A Media is an early pioneer in online publishing with expertise in extending online brands into print, and is the only magazine licensor in New Zealand. Jack Yan & Associates is headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand, but has representatives, licensees and other presences globally. See https://jyanet.com.
Notes to editors
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Contact
Jack Yan, CEO
Jack Yan & Associates
T 64 4 387-3213
E jack.yan
@jyanet.com
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