Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Google's quality signals.
The unedited post-launch conversation between Mark McNeece and Sean Hamilton about the Lockerfella build. Trust, area pages, AI Discovery Files, prices, and the locksmith version of mission control. The primary source behind the case study.
Sean Hamilton wanted a website that "looked proper". He didn't ask for schema, AI Discovery Files, or 18 unique area pages. He didn't need to. Inside the Lockerfella build, the case study that turned a one-line brief into a 100/100/100/100 PageSpeed locksmith site cited in AI search within ten days of launch.
Google rolled out its first core update of 2026 yesterday, the third algorithm change in four days. More than half of monitored sites are seeing ranking shifts. The update targets scaled AI content but rewards AI-assisted pages built on original expertise. Here's the five-minute audit that tells you which side of the line your content is on.
I gave detailed, expert feedback on a LinkedIn post about AI visibility. The response? "Sounds a bit AI-ish." The person who wrote the AI Discovery File Specifications was told their comment about those very specifications looked automated. This is what happens when people judge writing style over substance.
An "SEO expert" on LinkedIn told his followers to create "Top 10 [Service] in [City]" pages and rank themselves first. His followers loved it. Google's spam policies don't. Here's why self-referencing listicles now trigger penalties, and what to do instead.
Google released its first-ever Discover-specific core update on 5 February 2026. It boosts local content, cracks down on clickbait, and rewards topic expertise. The local relevance change is good news for UK businesses, and with the global rollout weeks away, there's time to prepare.
Google's December 2025 core update caused the highest search volatility of the year. Affiliate sites lost 71% of traffic. UK publishers dropped 50-98% in Discover. But the data reveals something most analysis missed: sites with strong Core Web Vitals and professional design were far more resilient.