The Hex Update: Issue 037

the hex update
media
Website traffic is mostly bots–how one site owner is managing; ‘Google-Agent’ is a big mindshift for SEO; The BBC hires the Gen Z whisperer, Brandon Relph; the rise of the #hashtag; and some other cool things I came across this week
Author

Collin K. Berke, Ph.D.

Published

August 17, 2026

Let’s catch up

Welcome to Issue 037.

I hope you had a good weekend. I was fortunate to take some time off to focus on a few linger summer projects. Soon they’ll become fall projects … Some times it’s just about moving the ball forward. New week. New beginnings.

Let’s get started.

Three topics recently caught my attention:

For a bit of fun, I share an article about the rise and fall of the #hashtag. It’s an interesting look back at how a simple idea had a massive cultural impact.

You’ll also find some additional links to other items I found cool this week.

Three things

Here’s what caught my attention this week:

99% of My Website Traffic Is Bots (blog)

This blog post details the steps Nick Gray is taking to mitigate issues caused by bots and scrapers on PatronView. The key takeaway from this article is important: bot scraping is an issue faced by all sites on the internet, and although challenging, it needs to be managed. In the article, the author provides insight into how many requests crawlers were making to his site and where heavy crawler behavior is taking place. It also shares several rules and configurations that might be helpful for site owners. A key rule used for permitting crawling is pages crawled per visitor referred. In short, any crawler where this ratio is small or nonexistent gets blocked. The post then makes it very clear that this space is a moving target, as crawlers are getting more sophisticated. It was eye opening to learn about the impact of residential bot nets. Limited observability was another key point. JavaScript based measurement platforms (e.g., Google Analytics) only provide a partial snapshot of this issue. Much of this insight comes from exploring a site’s server logs. This has a real business impact, as this is directional information organizations turn to to better understand how to best serve real humans. This quote made the impact of this problem very clear:

I’m trying to run a business here. I want to know what real people read on my site, so I know what to build next. I couldn’t see them through the bots.

Why does this matter?

The article provides some sensible rules to address the significant increase in bot traffic, but it’s a moving target. There’s no clear answer here. Some bots provide more value, while others do not. The pages crawled per visitor referred is a good guiding metric for decision making, so it’s worth calculating. Also, it is critical for media organizations recognize this has real business impact beyond just serving traffic. Conversations about this topic will continue to increase.

Why Google’s New “Google-Agent” is the Biggest Mindset Shift in SEO History (blog)

This blog post makes it clear: the web, where humans once navigated pages and scrolled, is quickly becoming agentic. As such, the article suggests site owners and SEO professionals need to know how to best work with AI agents. The shift involves moving from a human-first web to a now agent-first web. Understanding protocols like WebMCP will be imperative. The article also posits the relationship between content creators and Google has now changed: the transaction was traffic for content to train AI, now this relationship is fundamentally changed. Publishers and content users need to now know how to better manage this changed relationship. The article also highlights other protocols Google suggests all SEO professionals should understand: MCP, A2A, UCP, A2UI, AG-UI.

Why does this matter?

The relationship of content for traffic has changed. However, this isn’t necessarily a loss for publishers. It’s a transition with how users interact with information on the web. This transition can be an opportunity, but the interface is changing. It’s now not just about figuring out how to get quality content to users. It’s about figuring out how to get content to users by reducing friction for agents. Adoption of these various protocols will be key.

BBC hires 26-year-old entrepreneur to help reach younger audiences (article)

This article highlights the BBC’s recent addition to their strategy team, the gen Z whisperer, Brandon Relph. It also emphasizes why this addition to the team is critical: traditional broadcasters are behind in terms of addressing the decrease in reach to younger audiences. As the article puts it, many younger audiences are turning to content creators on platforms like YouTube and TikTok. Referencing data from the UK, the article reports “78% of the over-75s still watch TV” monthly, while “less than half of 16 to 24-year-olds do so”. These trends likely map onto what’s happening in the US as well. The article also addresses how the BBC aims to flip these trends, which includes prioritising digital content and producing “bespoke YouTube content”. Indeed, as Relph is quoted in the article, there’s a limited future for the BBC if there is a lack of focus on younger people.

Why does this matter?

The key point here is media organizations operating in the legacy broadcasting space need to do two things: expand strategy teams to other folks and continue to adapt to the realities of how audiences now consume content. This also includes an increased focus on younger audiences. It’s also worth noting that audiences are now consuming content in other places beyond just linear. To have a long-term future, the focus needs to be on being in these places and packaged in ways audiences expect in these places.

Check out the links above for the full story in each item, not just my brief summary and analysis.

What I found interesting this week

I started reading The Design of Everyday Things. It’s been on my want-to-read list for a while. The text discusses the concept of interaction and experience, which is preceded by discoverability. Discoverability is defined as an understanding of what a thing does, how it works, and what is made possible with its use. This concept is a function of five psychological concepts: affordances, signifiers, constraints, mappings, and feedback. The book further defines each and provides some useful examples. Learning more about how these concepts relate to discoverability made me think more deeply about the design process.

Cool things I recently bumped into

A collection of links to things I’ve found cool recently (or was reminded are cool).

That’s it for this update. Let’s keep the ball moving forward this week. I hope it’s a productive one.

Cheers 🎉!

Let’s connect

If you found this content useful, please share. If you find these topics interesting and want to discuss further, let’s connect: