Open Google, search for something you sell, and scroll down to the questions box. Almost every answer sitting in there was written by a machine, and this week a number landed that shows how fast that happened.
Search and AI
Nearly every People Also Ask answer is now written by AI
AlsoAsked looked at a sample of 19.2 million English language People Also Ask results created during 2026. In the first week of September, 97 percent of the answers in those boxes were AI Overviews. In August it was 86 percent. Fourteen months ago it was 12 percent. A second tool, Allintitle’s Also Ask Miner, puts the figure at 100 percent from August onward. Mark Williams-Cook, who runs AlsoAsked, says it looks highly likely the number reaches 100 percent shortly.
That box used to be a reliable way for a smaller site to reach page one. You answered a question clearly, Google pulled your sentence in, and some of those readers clicked through. That route is closing.
Why this matters for your business: Stop judging your FAQ page by the traffic it brings. It is now raw material for a machine that paraphrases you without sending anyone your way. Two things still pay. First, write the answers only you can give, with your own prices, turnaround times and local detail, because a summary of a specific answer still has to name you. Second, move the questions your customers actually ask into formats Google cannot flatten, like a comparison page, a short video or a quote calculator.
Merchant Center now shows what AI shoppers actually searched for
Google’s Merchant Center AI Performance Insights report launched in July and has been reaching more regions this month. It has now gained three fields. You can see AI search intent, the AI search terms that surfaced your products, and AI attributes. For anyone selling online, that is the first proper look at how products get pulled into AI answers rather than ordinary results.
Why this matters for your business: If you run a Merchant Center feed, open that report and read the AI search terms before you change anything else. They will not look like your keyword list. They read as full questions with conditions attached, and the attributes column shows which product fields Google actually used to answer them.
Social
Meta launched an AI agent that can buy things for your customer
Meta released Muse on Wednesday. It is a free app and a chatbot that runs inside WhatsApp, and it connects to a person’s Facebook and Instagram profiles for context. Meta says it can open a browser, fill in forms, book travel and negotiate on the user’s behalf, and it can complete purchases in the conversation. Every user gets 100 million tokens a week at no cost. Mark Zuckerberg says Muse will also connect to Meta ads accounts to give guidance on campaigns.
Why this matters for your business: Another layer just appeared between you and your customer, and it lives inside the app most South Africans already have open. If software is going to fill in your enquiry form, that form has to be readable by software. Plain labels, real form fields, nothing that only works when a human hovers over it. The same applies to your prices and your stock. If a machine cannot find them in seconds, it will recommend the competitor whose site it could read.
X now makes every user give up the right to a class action
X updated its terms of service on Wednesday and everyone has to accept them to keep using the platform. Disputes now go to Texas courts under Texas law. Users waive the right to a jury trial and the right to bring or join a class or collective action against X. There is also new wording making you responsible for how you use the service, including features that perform autonomous actions on your behalf. The change lands while X is defending a class action.
Why this matters for your business: If you run client accounts on X, or you let a scheduling tool post for you, that last clause is the one to read twice. You now carry the liability for whatever your tools do there. Go and look at which apps still hold posting access to your accounts and revoke anything you are not actively using.
Content and web
Two WordPress form plugins are under heavy attack
Wordfence disclosed a flaw in Super Forms on 7 September, CVE-2026-14894, affecting every version up to and including 6.3.313. It lets an attacker upload a file without logging in, which leads to running code on your server. Roughly 13,000 sites use the plugin. The number that matters more is the traffic. Wordfence has blocked over 250,000 attempts against Super Forms and over 190,000 against the Elementor Pro flaw we covered on 30 August, more than 440,000 attacks in total since those patches shipped in mid August.
Why this matters for your business: A patch you have not applied is a published set of instructions for breaking into your site. If you use Elementor Pro or Super Forms, update today and then check your uploads folder for files you do not recognise. If someone else maintains your site, ask them for the date of the last plugin update and do not settle for a vague answer.
Automotive
Google Ads will now chase shoppers who are physically near you
Ginny Marvin, Google’s Ads Liaison, announced two features on 8 September for multi location retailers and local services, which is exactly what a dealer group is. Local Customer Optimization is a campaign level toggle inside Performance Max for store goals. Switch it on and Google prioritises your budget toward people across Maps, Waze and local search who are in market and nearby right now. It is rolling out already. The second, Store Sales in Data Manager, lets you link your CRM or a Google Sheet so Google can measure showroom sales against ad spend.
Why this matters for your dealership: Proximity targeting only pays if the place it sends people to is worth arriving at. Before you switch that toggle on, check that every branch has correct hours, a current photo set and a working call button on its Google Business Profile. Then get your showroom and service data tidy for the Data Manager link, because for the first time you will be able to show what search contributed to a signed deal rather than only to a form fill.
What to do this week
- Update Elementor Pro and Super Forms today, then check your uploads folder for anything unfamiliar
- Rewrite your top three FAQ answers so they carry prices, timeframes and local detail a summary cannot replace
- Open Merchant Center AI Performance Insights and read the AI search terms before you touch the feed
- Review which apps and automations still hold posting access to your X account
- Dealers, tidy every branch profile before you turn on Local Customer Optimization
If you want help rewriting the pages that AI keeps summarising, or a proper look at whether your site and forms are safe and readable, get in touch with us.
Sources
- Search Engine Roundtable, Almost 100% of People Also Ask results are answered by Google AI Overviews
- Search Engine Roundtable, Google Merchant Center AI Performance gains new metrics
- Social Media Today, Meta launches Muse personal AI
- Social Media Today, X adds new anti lawsuit provision to terms of service
- The Hacker News, Critical WordPress plugin flaws enable site takeover
- Search Engine Roundtable, Google Ads Local Customer Optimization and Store Sales in Data Manager