# ByDefault blog > Notes on AI search visibility, how assistants read the web, and what to publish. ## [AI Bot Traffic in October 2026: Meta's Crawler Spiked Again and PerplexityBot Grew 149%](https://www.bydefault.so/blog/ai-bot-traffic-in-october-2026) 2026-10-29 by Joscha What 4.69 million AI bot requests from October 1 to 27, 2026 show: requests per day rose 83%, Meta's crawler sent 874,904 requests on October 2 (most to Upstash's Vercel previews), search crawlers grew to 30% of requests and GPTBot fell 83%. Markdown: https://www.bydefault.so/blog/ai-bot-traffic-in-october-2026.md ## [Why ChatGPT Picks Resend Over SendGrid: What 4,126 AI Answers Teach About ChatGPT SEO](https://www.bydefault.so/blog/why-chatgpt-picks-resend-over-sendgrid) 2026-10-27 by Joscha Resend is ranked first in 26% of 4,126 AI answers about transactional email, SendGrid in 2%. What Resend's free tier, React Email, framework pages and pricing pages show about ChatGPT SEO. Markdown: https://www.bydefault.so/blog/why-chatgpt-picks-resend-over-sendgrid.md ## [AI Overview Sources: Only 31% of the Pages Google Links Rank in Its Top 10](https://www.bydefault.so/blog/ai-overview-sources) 2026-10-15 by Josh In a sample of 4,931 Google AI Overview links, only 31% ranked in Google's top 10 for the same question, and 44% weren't in the first 100. Markdown: https://www.bydefault.so/blog/ai-overview-sources.md ## [The Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Playbook for 2026: What 11,917 AI Answers Show](https://www.bydefault.so/blog/generative-engine-optimization-playbook) 2026-10-15 by Josh A generative engine optimization playbook for 2026 from 11,917 AI answers: what GEO, AEO and AI SEO take for a SaaS product, which pages win the first pick, and three evals to run. Markdown: https://www.bydefault.so/blog/generative-engine-optimization-playbook.md ## [Who Reads llms.txt? 1.9 Million AI Bot Requests Show Agents Do and Crawlers Don't](https://www.bydefault.so/blog/llms-txt) 2026-10-13 by Josh We analyzed a sample of 1.9 million AI bot requests. Crawlers almost never read llms.txt, while ChatGPT, Claude and Cursor read it on docs sites. Markdown: https://www.bydefault.so/blog/llms-txt.md ## [How Does AI Search Work? 7,182 Answers From ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Cursor Compared](https://www.bydefault.so/blog/how-does-ai-search-work) 2026-10-12 by Josh How AI search works in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Cursor: 7,182 answers show how each one searches the web and which pages it cites. Markdown: https://www.bydefault.so/blog/how-does-ai-search-work.md ## [ChatGPT Knowledge Cutoff vs. Web Search: How Fast 8 AI Assistants Pick Up a Change on Your Site](https://www.bydefault.so/blog/chatgpt-knowledge-cutoff-vs-web-search) 2026-10-09 by Josh We tracked 8 AI assistants after real pricing changes. ChatGPT had the new number in a day; others gave the old one for months. Data inside. Markdown: https://www.bydefault.so/blog/chatgpt-knowledge-cutoff-vs-web-search.md ## [Why Cursor recommends Neon in 97% of answers: an LLM SEO case study](https://www.bydefault.so/blog/why-cursor-recommends-neon-llm-seo-case-study) 2026-10-09 by Josh Why Cursor, ChatGPT and Codex rank Neon first for Postgres: 1,436 AI answers show what LLM SEO takes, and a playbook any devtool can copy. Markdown: https://www.bydefault.so/blog/why-cursor-recommends-neon-llm-seo-case-study.md ## [Why ChatGPT and Cursor love to recommend Clerk: a Guide on AI Search Visibility](https://www.bydefault.so/blog/why-chatgpt-and-cursor-love-to-recommend-clerk-a-guide-on-ai-search-visibility) 2026-10-07 by Josh Why ChatGPT, Claude and Cursor recommend Clerk for auth: 799 AI answers show what drives AI search visibility for devtools, and a playbook any company can copy. Markdown: https://www.bydefault.so/blog/why-chatgpt-and-cursor-love-to-recommend-clerk-a-guide-on-ai-search-visibility.md ## [AI Bot Traffic in September 2026: Meta's Crawler Grew While ChatGPT Fetches Fell 59%](https://www.bydefault.so/blog/how-ai-bots-crawled-the-web-in-september-2026-what-our-logs-show) 2026-09-30 by Josh We analyzed AI bot traffic to websites in September 2026. Meta's crawler grew fast, ChatGPT fetches fell 59%, and Claude reads mostly docs and pricing. Markdown: https://www.bydefault.so/blog/how-ai-bots-crawled-the-web-in-september-2026-what-our-logs-show.md ## [What Is AEO in Marketing? How AI Answers Pick Their Sources](https://www.bydefault.so/blog/what-is-aeo-in-marketing-answer-engine-optimization-explained) 2026-09-29 by Josh With AEO (answer engine optimization), you can get your brand cited and recommended in ChatGPT, Claude, Google AI Overview and others. Markdown: https://www.bydefault.so/blog/what-is-aeo-in-marketing-answer-engine-optimization-explained.md ## [How ChatGPT Web Search Works (2026 breakdown w/ API Example)](https://www.bydefault.so/blog/how-chatgpt-web-search-works-2026-breakdown-w-api-example) 2026-09-28 by Josh How ChatGPT web search works: when it searches, the hidden fan-out queries it runs, how it aggregates results, explained with live API runs as examples. Markdown: https://www.bydefault.so/blog/how-chatgpt-web-search-works-2026-breakdown-w-api-example.md ## [The Best AI Visibility Tools for Tracking Brand Mentions in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude (2026)](https://www.bydefault.so/blog/best-ai-visibility-tools) 2026-09-14 by Josh Compare eight AI visibility tools by model coverage, pricing, and how they track brand mentions and citations in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude. Markdown: https://www.bydefault.so/blog/best-ai-visibility-tools.md