DEV Community: Tom Morgan

Guest Posting With AI: Google's New Rules Explained

Tom Morgan — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 16:41:01 +0000

Last updated: October 20, 2026.

What changed in Google Search, 2024 to October 2026 2. Google Search Status Dashboard, ranking incident history and May 2026 core update. Google Search Central, Discover core update, February 2026.

Key takeaways

Google Search Central, Spam policies, including the site reputation section.
Search Engine Journal, Google tells sites to fact-check AI content before publishing, October 2026.
Search Engine Roundtable, September 2026 spam update is done.

PPC Land, September 2026 spam update coverage.

Read the full article: https://www.bestprompt.art/ai-guest-post-opportunities/

AI API Docs Tools: Prose They Write, Behavior They Miss

Tom Morgan — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 10:11:26 +0000

The tools worth adopting are the ones that turn merged code changes into reviewable documentation pull requests, not the ones that generate a whole reference…

A model reads a spec, code, or comments and writes descriptions, examples, or guides. Code changes after docs ship. A tool watches merged changes and proposes edits.

Key takeaways

A tool reading a pull request sees code.
My position Do not let any tool publish AI-written reference content straight from code.
Fix the spec first.

If a tool fails this test on your spec, the likelier fix is the spec, not a different vendor.

Read the full article: https://www.trendix.tech/ai-api-documentation-tools/

$10K Niche Site in 14 Months: The Real Math Required

Tom Morgan — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 10:06:12 +0000

The division problem for monthly ad revenue is pageviews ÷ 1,000 × RPM.

That works out to about $35 per 1,000 sessions. Ahrefs’ author says his niche sites hit $1,000 a month within 12 months. That is about $417 a month. mediavine Raptive now requires a minimum of 25,000 monthly pageviews.

Key takeaways

Affiliate or product revenue lowers the traffic requirement.
At $20 RPM, that is roughly 20,800 pageviews a month, and at $10 RPM, about 41,700.
For example, 10,000 pageviews at month 8 needing 500,000 by month 14 means 50x in six months, or about 92% growth every month.

Then divide trailing 30-day ad revenue by sessions to get your real revenue per 1,000 sessions.

Read the full article: https://www.seohack.info/niche-site-10k-month-14-months-math/

AI Can't Predict Black Swans—Here's How to Prepare

Tom Morgan — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 09:56:15 +0000

Direct answer: AI cannot predict a true black swan, because such an event sits outside the data and assumptions any model was built on.

And the loss ran at roughly $10 million per minute ($460 million ÷ 45 minutes). For each system that acts without a human approving each action, estimate the worst-case loss per minute and divide the loss you can absorb by it. Knight’s rate was about $10 million a minute.

Key takeaways

Enforce limits outside the system.
The SEC and Knight’s filing differ on the loss, and I report both.
Do this next: Pick the one automated system in your organization with the largest worst-case loss rate.

Knight’s order, share, and loss figures come from the SEC’s announcement and Knight’s 10-K.

Read the full article: https://www.neuralgrimoire.com/ai-cant-predict-black-swans/

Secrets They Don’t Want You to Know — WordPress

Tom Morgan — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 09:42:33 +0000

Remember Me: Selecting "Remember Me" increases the length of time until you’re asked to log in again on this device. To keep your account secure, use this option only on your personal devices. Lost your password? ← Go to Forbidden AI: Secrets They Don’t Want You to Know

Key takeaways

Read the full article: https://www.forbiddenai.site/wp-admin/post.php?post=2963&action=edit

Marketplace Category Pages: Rank Without Unique Copy

Tom Morgan — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 09:34:46 +0000

Direct answer: A marketplace category page can rank without unique copy when its live listing set is genuinely distinct and sits inside a browseable hierarchy.

Copy is not what separates a ranking category page from a doorway. Pages whose listing sets overlap heavily with other indexed pages, or that sit empty, are the ones that should not be indexed at all. A store writes its category pages.

Key takeaways

How much text does a category page need?
A category with one stale listing is a search-results page in disguise. google To find your floor, don’t guess.
Use indexed share and clicks per indexed page rather than total indexed URLs.

Next step Export your category URLs with live listing counts.

Read the full article: https://www.contentevaluator.online/2026/10/20/marketplace-category-pages/

Did AI Really Cut D2C CAC by 40%? Hard Evidence

Tom Morgan — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 09:28:56 +0000

What the data says: Advantage+ beat manual on incremental ROAS for 42% of brands, so 58% did better with manual campaigns (Haus).

Advantage+ led the manual by about 9% at the experiment midpoint but trailed by about 12% at the end (Haus). Treat the Meta findings as a warning about how to test, not as proof about other platforms. Holdout data shows Advantage+ beating manual on incremental ROAS for 42% of brands.

Key takeaways

Paid spend divided by first-time customers in your own order data, over the same period.
Incremental CAC counts only the customers the ads caused, measured by a holdout or lift test.
Is Advantage+ better than manual Meta campaigns?

Sources Haus, The Meta Report: Lessons from 640 Haus Incrementality Experiments; Meta summary; Is Meta Incremental?

Read the full article: https://www.aiearnerhub.com/did-ai-really-cut-d2c-cac-by-40/

$5K/Month AI Agency Without Code: The Real Math Exposed

Tom Morgan — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 09:22:01 +0000

One guide promises $5,000 to $30,000 a month within the first year.

A month in which you collect $5,000 from two builds is not a $5,000/month business, because the next month starts at zero. If you land L new clients per month and lose a fraction c of your clients each month, your client count settles toward L ÷ c. Going from one client a month to half a client a month at 10% churn turns a seven-month path into a permanent shortfall.

Key takeaways

Going from 5% churn to 15% churn at one client a month delays the target by three months but still gets there.
If you close 1 in 10 conversations, one new client a month requires about ten conversations a month.
What share of people who try this reach $5,000 a month?

What does real client churn look like?

Read the full article: https://www.futurenow.click/5k-month-ai-agency-without-code/

JS Array Methods Cheat Sheet: Map, Filter, Reduce Traps

Tom Morgan — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 09:13:02 +0000

Direct answer: Use map to transform every element, filter to keep some, reduce to collapse many into one, and find / some / every to ask questions without…

Since ES2023, toSorted, toReversed, toSpliced, and with return copies have been available, so you can drop the [...arr].sort() workaround. Run ['1','2','3'].map(parseInt) in any console, and you get [1, NaN, NaN]. The map passes (value, index, array) to the callback, and parseInt reads the index as its radix argument. It is a static method on Object, not an array method, and it returns a null-prototype object.

Key takeaways

A map callback with braces and no return yields an array of undefined.
A filter callback that returns an object is always truthy.
Always give a reduced initial value.

Prefer toSorted / toReversed over in-place versions on shared data.

Read the full article: https://www.codetalenthub.io/js-array-methods-cheat-sheet/

Best WordPress AI Plugins for Prompt Blogs

Tom Morgan — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 09:04:35 +0000

Direct answer: For a blog that publishes prompts, AI Engine is the best single AI plugin, because its Playground runs one prompt across several models side by…

Add a copy-button plugin for readers, and treat the official WordPress AI plugin as a free editing helper rather than a replacement. They solve a problem a prompt blog does not have. The WordPress.org listing and changelog for a plugin, and the project’s GitHub page, are the best evidence for what a plugin does and when it last changed.

Key takeaways

For a prompt blog, the free tier covers the Playground question; the listing places Knowledge, Forms, and extra MCP tools in Pro.
What a prompt blog should install, by situation Static prompt templates, a few dozen posts.
Official AI plugin for alt text and meta descriptions, a copy-button plugin, and test prompts in the model apps themselves.

AI Engine (free first), a copy-button plugin, and a stamped test record per prompt.

Read the full article: https://www.bestprompt.art/best-wordpress-ai-plugins/

RFM 2.0: What AI Actually Adds Beyond Rankings

Tom Morgan — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 08:55:58 +0000

Direct answer: AI improves RFM mainly by replacing the quintile grid with a probability model that scores each customer individually.

Classic RFM: days since last purchase, total purchases, and total spend, each cut into tie-aware quintiles. It predicts expected holdout purchases for each customer. Target: actual purchases in the holdout.

Key takeaways

Where the model earns its place Same cell, different customers The chart shows the model’s predicted holdout purchases for customers in the two top…
Dormancy as a probability: BG/NBD gives each customer a probability of still being active.
Expected purchases in real units The model predicted 1,770 holdout purchases against 1,882 actual, about 6% low.

Check the spend model’s assumption.

Read the full article: https://www.aipersonalization.cloud/rfm-2-0/

Knight Capital & Flash Crash: Trading Bot Failures Cost

Tom Morgan — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 08:47:51 +0000

The best-documented trading-bot disasters were failures of ordinary software and risk controls, not of machine-learning “AI.” Knight Capital lost more than…

This was the SEC’s first enforcement action under its market access rule, Rule 15c3-5 (SEC). The SEC’s account is a code-deployment and controls failure. Real-time monitoring (Article 16).

Key takeaways

Pre-trade controls (Article 15) and surveillance for manipulation (Article 13) complete the framework (legislation.gov.uk).
The staff report points to a large automated sell program using a volume-based execution algorithm, amplified by high-frequency trading activity…
Is high-frequency trading illegal?

The sources in this article describe regulation of algorithmic and high-frequency trading through controls and obligations, not a ban.

Read the full article: https://www.ainvasion.com/knight-capital-flash-crash/