Real numbers.
Real strategies.
Case studies, teardowns, and what I'm seeing in SEO and AI search. Written from the work, not for the algorithm.
Browse the Statistics Library Every statistics article in one place, grouped by theme and fully cited. →I Recently Did a 180 on AI Search. I'm Going All In. Here's Why...
I used to see AI search as just an extension of SEO. Then I watched what it actually converts like. What changed my mind, and the citation obsession that's leading most companies astray.
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A Brilliant Brand That's Invisible in Search.
Marshmallow is one of the best-looking brands in UK insurance. Their SEO is a different story. 36,000 monthly visits sounds fine, until you see where it all comes from.
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One Insurer. Three Niche Brands. £422K/month in Organic Traffic.
Acorn Insurance built three niche brands generating 241K monthly organic visitors worth £422K in traffic value, without relying on aggregators. A full breakdown of how they did it.
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Local SEO Statistics 2026: The Numbers Behind Near Me Search
A data-rich, fully cited rundown of the local SEO numbers that matter in 2026, from near me search growth and Local Pack click share to Google Business Profile performance, reviews and the rise of AI local recommendations.
Read the full post →AI Search Statistics 2026: What ChatGPT and AI Overviews Are Doing to Search
ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity usage, how far Google AI Overviews now reach, and what they are doing to organic click-through rates and traffic, with every stat cited to its original study.
Read the full post →GEO Statistics 2026: The Data on Generative Engine Optimization
Generative Engine Optimization in 2026: adoption and budgets, how LLMs pick citations, brand mentions versus links, AI referral conversion benchmarks and crawler behaviour, all sourced and cited.
Read the full post →Digital PR Statistics 2026: Links, Journalists and AI Visibility
How digital PR stacks up against other link building channels, journalist and pitching numbers, campaign and cost benchmarks, and why digital PR now drives brand visibility in AI search.
Read the full post →AI Search Adoption Statistics 2026: Who Uses AI, How Often, and Whether They Stick
A data-led look at AI search adoption in 2026: how many people use AI chatbots, daily versus occasional use, adoption by age, UK versus global figures, business uptake and why non-users stay away, with every stat cited to a named study.
Read the full post →AI Search Behaviour Statistics 2026: How People Query, Click and Verify
A data-led look at how people actually behave inside AI search in 2026: query length, prompts versus keywords, session length, click-through rates, verification habits, device split and how the UK diverges, with every stat cited to a named study.
Read the full post →AI Referral Traffic Statistics 2026: How Much AI Assistants Actually Send
A data-led look at AI referral traffic in 2026: how much AI assistants send, which platforms dominate, growth rates, sector differences, traffic quality, crawl-to-refer ratios and why GA4 undercounts, with every stat cited to a named study.
Read the full post →AI Search Conversion Rate Statistics 2026: Does AI Traffic Really Convert Better?
A data-led look at AI search conversion in 2026: whether AI-referred visitors convert better than organic, what an AI visitor is worth, order values, engagement, CTR under AI Overviews and where selection effects mislead, with every stat cited to a named study.
Read the full post →AI Citation Statistics 2026: Which Sources AI Actually Cites
A data-led look at AI citation behaviour in 2026: how many sources each engine cites, which domains dominate, how little the platforms agree, and how fast citations churn, with every stat cited to a named study.
Read the full post →AI Brand Visibility Statistics 2026: How Often AI Names Brands
A data-led look at AI brand visibility in 2026: how often AI answers name brands, how unstable those recommendations are across platforms and prompts, what correlates with inclusion, and how consumers act on them, with every stat cited.
Read the full post →AI Trust Statistics 2026: Who Believes AI Answers, and Who Checks
A data-led look at trust in AI answers in 2026: who trusts AI, who fact-checks it, how trust splits by generation and country, and where the line sits on money, health and legal advice, with every stat cited.
Read the full post →AI Hallucination Statistics 2026: How Often AI Gets Facts Wrong
A data-led look at AI hallucination rates in 2026: benchmark leaderboards, newsroom audits, legal and medical studies and the labs' own system cards, showing how error rates swing with the task, with every stat cited.
Read the full post →ChatGPT vs Google Statistics 2026: Search Volume and Market Share
A data-led comparison of ChatGPT and Google in 2026: search and prompt volumes, market share, user counts, referral traffic and the antitrust-trial record, with every stat cited to a named source.
Read the full post →ChatGPT Statistics 2026: Users, Growth and Revenue
A data-led look at ChatGPT in 2026: weekly active users and the growth timeline, message volumes, demographics, the free versus paid mix, revenue, app downloads, enterprise adoption and site traffic, with every stat cited to a named source.
Read the full post →ChatGPT Search and SEO Statistics 2026: How It Picks and Cites Pages
A data-led look at ChatGPT as a search and SEO channel in 2026: regulator-grade EU usage, how often it searches the live web, query fan-out, which pages win citations, and how marketers use it, with every stat cited to a named source.
Read the full post →ChatGPT Shopping and Ecommerce Statistics 2026: Traffic and Conversion
A data-led look at ChatGPT as a shopping channel in 2026: Instant Checkout reach, retail referral traffic growth, conversion quality, AI-influenced revenue and merchant readiness, with every stat cited to a named source.
Read the full post →Google AI Overviews Statistics 2026: Trigger Rates, Reach, Citations and Ads
A data-led look at Google AI Overviews in 2026: how often the answer box appears, how many people it reaches, who gets cited, and how ads have moved inside AI Overviews and AI Mode, with every stat cited to a named source.
Read the full post →Perplexity Statistics 2026: Queries, Users, Revenue and Citations
A data-led look at Perplexity in 2026: query and user volumes, valuation and revenue, the Comet browser, publisher deals, shopping, and its distinctive citation patterns, with every stat cited to a named source.
Read the full post →Claude and Gemini Statistics 2026: Revenue, Users and Market Share
A data-led look at Anthropic's Claude and Google's Gemini in 2026: run-rate revenue, valuations, enterprise API share, user reach and distribution, with every stat cited to a named source.
Read the full post →AI SEO Industry Statistics 2026: Adoption, Pricing, ROI and Jobs
A data-led look at the AI SEO industry in 2026: how many marketers use AI, how much of content production runs through it, what GEO services cost, the ROI marketers report, and what has happened to the job market, with every stat cited to a named source.
Read the full post →AI Shopping Statistics 2026: How Consumers Buy With AI
A data-led look at how consumers shop with AI in 2026: adoption across the US and UK, generational splits, category strength, retailer readiness and whether people will let agents buy, with every stat cited.
Read the full post →AI Agent Statistics 2026: Adoption, Commerce and Failure Rates
A data-led look at AI agents in 2026: enterprise adoption versus scaling, agentic payment rails, bot and agent web traffic, benchmark failure rates and market projections, with every stat cited and forecasts labelled.
Read the full post →AI Customer Service Statistics 2026: Resolution, Cost and Trust
A data-led look at AI in customer service in 2026: how much AI now handles, vendor resolution rates, the Klarna reversal, cost and jobs, and what customers actually think, with every stat cited.
Read the full post →AI Generated Content Statistics 2026: How Much and Can We Tell
A data-led look at AI-generated content in 2026: how much of the web is machine-written, whether it ranks, how unreliable detectors are, the dead internet theory and EU labelling law, with every stat cited.
Read the full post →The First Sale on My eSIM Store, and Why Small Wins Feel the Biggest
eSIMs for Travel made its first real sale: a 5GB Morocco travel eSIM, bought at 9:56am and delivered automatically two minutes later, completely hands off. Then the customer came back and bought again.
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Tom Riley at Search Birmingham: The Most High Level SEO Event I Have Attended
A weekend at Search Birmingham, the advanced UK SEO conference run by Charles Floate, with Koray Tugberk GUBUR on semantic SEO and a session on entity stacking.
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I Bought an Ecommerce Site. Here's Why
A six figure revenue dropshipping site with terrible CRO, awful design and poor SEO. Commercial traffic up within four weeks, then a high-risk payment processor roadblock nobody warned me about.
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Why Tom Riley Recommends Technically Creative for Brand and Web Design
Ste Bell, founder of Technically Creative, the branding studio for startups, is who I point clients to for high end brand and web design. Who he is, how he works, and the MachScale site that shows why.
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Tom Riley Wraps Up Leading SEO at Zego to Go Full Time on His Own Company
The end of a dream role leading SEO at London insurtech Zego: 400% traffic growth and 250% commercial intent growth in 12 months, and the decision to go full time helping insurance and fintech companies.
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Tom Riley Meets Callum Devine of House of Devine in London
A London meetup with Callum Devine, owner of paid social agency House of Devine, to plan Meta ads for Perfect Pet Insurance, part of the Tedaisy Insurance Group.
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Tom Riley Credited on the Main Stage at SEO Masterminders
My site on the big screen and a credit in Victoria Olsina's main stage AI automation presentation. What being named by respected experts does for entity authority.
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Tom Riley Relaunches UK Smiles: 20,000+ Leads and 150K Organic Clicks
A weekend website rebuild with Ste Bell of Technically Creative, the branding studio for startups, for the lead generation business Tom Riley helped his brother build: 150K organic clicks, 20,000+ leads and seven figure partner clinic revenues.
Read the full post →Tom Riley at Affiliate Gathering York with Craig Campbell and Kasra Dash
A couple of days at Affiliate Gathering, the UK's biggest get-together for affiliate SEOs, with Craig Campbell, Kasra Dash, James Sheldon and David Johnson.
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Tom Riley at Affiliate Gathering York with Liam Quirk, Craig Campbell and Ryan Darani
Tom Riley's first Affiliate Gathering in York, surrounded by some of the UK's best SEOs: Liam Quirk, Craig Campbell, Christopher Kelly, Ryan Darani and Andreas Karle.
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Tom Riley at SEO Underground, London: A Couple of Days with the Best SEOs in the UK
A personal write-up from SEO Underground in London. Who was in the room, Peter van der Graaf breaking down the payday loans niche, and an evening with Craig Campbell.
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The 15 Best AI SEO Consultants in the UK (2026)
An independent, research-led roundup of the 14 best AI SEO consultants in the UK for 2026: what each specialises in, their own published positioning and self-reported results, plus links to their sites and profiles.
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The 12 Best GEO Consultants in the UK (2026)
An independent, research-led roundup of the 12 best GEO consultants in the UK for 2026: what each specialises in for generative engine optimisation, their own published positioning and self-reported results, plus links to their sites and profiles.
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Top AEO, GEO & AI Search Experts (2026)
AEO, GEO and AI search all point at the same shift: getting named by ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews before a buyer ever reaches a results page. These are the people moving those citations.
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