TL;DR: The flood of 101+ unanswerable questions swamping the SEO community is not a sign that we need more technical answers. It is a sign that the entire paradigm has shifted. Chasing tactical answers about CTR, reranking, or "temperature" is a losing game in a probabilistic, black-box system. This article deconstructs why these "known unknowns" are a strategic distraction. The only viable solution is to stop hacking the algorithm and start engineering undeniable authority through verifiable "Answer Assets" (GAIO) and a resilient "Trust Layer" (SEVO).
James here, CEO of Mercury Technology Solutions.
An SEO specialist Metehan Yesilyurt recently shared a list of over 100 unanswered questions that haunt him. It’s a brilliant, terrifying, and deeply insightful list that perfectly captures the collective anxiety of our industry.
It includes granular questions like:
- "Does OpenAI also use CTR for citation rankings?"
- "How do vector embeddings determine semantic distance differently from keyword matching?"
- "How many rerank layers occur before the model picks its citations?"
- "Why does a site with zero backlinks outrank authority sites in LLM responses?"
- "What’s the easiest way to track prompt-level visibility over time?"
Reading this list feels like standing on solid ground as it turns to quicksand. Every "best practice" we've mastered over the last fifteen years is now a "known unknown." The old playbook is gone, and the new one appears to be an unreadable, constantly changing black box.
This chaos is a symptom, and the 101 questions are the wrong ones to ask.
Deconstructing the Anxiety: The Themes of Our New "Black Box"
The 101 questions are not random; they cluster around a few core strategic anxieties.
1. The Ghost of Old SEO
A large portion of the questions ("Does CTR matter?," "Do bounce rates impact citations?") are desperate attempts to fit our old, comfortable metrics into the new paradigm. We are asking if the old rules still apply, hoping the answer is yes.
2. The Black Box of Mechanics
This is the technical core of the anxiety ("What is the temperature?," "How many rerank layers?," "How do tokenizers work?"). We are trying to deconstruct the machine to find a new lever to pull, just as we did with PageRank. We want to find the new "hack."
3. The Crisis of Measurement
This is the cry of the professional who is no longer in control ("How can we track brand mentions?," "How do we know which prompts bring citations?," "Why are answers always changing?"). If we can't measure it, we can't manage it. And right now, we can't measure anything with the certainty we once had.
4. The Crisis of Authority
This is the most profound theme ("Why is E-E-A-T easily faked?," "How can a new brand get into training data?"). All our questions about trust, entity, and validation are now up in the air.
The Strategic Fallacy: Why Chasing These Answers is a Trap
I will be blunt: Trying to find the definitive answers to these 101 questions is a sucker's bet.
Why? Because the new system is fundamentally different from the old one in two critical ways:
- It is Probabilistic: The old Google was a deterministic, rules-based engine. If you did X, Y happened. The new LLM-driven engine is probabilistic. The "temperature" settings alone mean the same prompt can yield different results. You are trying to nail down the "rules" for a system that is designed to be non-deterministic.
- It is Constantly Evolving: The old Google updated its core algorithm a few times a year. The new AI models are being updated, retrained, and fine-tuned continuously. The answer you find today to "How do rerankers work?" will be obsolete in six months, if not six weeks.
Chasing tactical answers in this environment is like trying to map the precise location of a single wave in the middle of the ocean. You are wasting your energy on the symptom, not the cause.
The Real Solution: Stop Hacking the Algorithm. Start Training It.
The 101 questions are the frantic plea of the tactician. The leader, the architect, must ask a different, better question:
"In a system defined by probabilistic outcomes and constant change, what is the only durable, long-term strategy that wins?"
The answer is to stop trying to hack the algorithm and start engineering a foundation so strong that the algorithm has no choice but to find and cite you. You must become the bedrock of verifiable truth.
1. Architect "Answer Assets," Not Content (GAIO)
The old world was about keywords. The new world is about concepts. Our GAIO (Generative AI Optimization) methodology is built on this. Stop writing 500-word blog posts to "match a keyword." Start engineering 5,000-word, data-rich "Answer Assets" that are the single most authoritative and comprehensive answer to a high-value customer question. When an AI's goal is to provide the best answer, it will be magnetically drawn to your definitive asset.
2. Build a Verifiable "Trust Layer," Not Just Links (SEVO)
The old model used backlinks as a crude proxy for trust. The new model is far more sophisticated. It triangulates trust by looking for consistent signals across the entire web—a practice we call SEVO (Search Everywhere Optimization). It looks for your brand mentioned in forums, your data cited in news articles, and your experts quoted in other publications. These consistent, distributed signals build a verifiable "Trust Layer" that tells the AI you are a credible entity, far more effectively than any link-building scheme.
3. Engineer for "Citability," Not Just Layout
The questions about "short paragraphs" or "page layout" are missing the point. The AI doesn't see your page; it parses it. The solution is technical and structural. This is Pillar 1: The Technical Foundation. Implement robust Schema (Organization, Person, FAQ) to tell the AI exactly who you are and what you're an expert in. Structure your content with clear, "quotable-by-default" definitions, statistics, and tables that an AI can lift with high confidence.
Conclusion: From Tactical Anxiety to Strategic Confidence
Those 101 questions are symptoms of an industry clinging to an old paradigm. They are the panicked questions of a tactician who has lost their tools.
As leaders, we must rise above this. We must be the architects who provide a new, more resilient foundation. Do not get lost in the tactical weeds of "temperature" and "reranking layers." Focus all your energy on the only two things you can control:
- Creating the most authoritative, verifiable Answer Assets in your industry.
- Building the most resilient, multi-surface Trust Layer for your brand.
When you do this, you stop chasing the algorithm. You start training it. And that is how you win.
Mercury Technology Solutions: Accelerate Digitality.
