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<h4 id="-"> </h4><h4 id="listen-to-the-full-episode-of-“the-critic’s-corner”-podcast-&gt;-"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://tinyurl.com/334p4ykt">Listen to the full episode of “The Critic’s Corner” Podcast &gt; </a></h4> <hr /> AI is now an intrinsic part of content operations, and teams are harnessing it at every level. AI agents are performing tasks across the content supply chain, and executives want more automation everywhere. Meanwhile, regulation and compliance are reshuffling the deck, putting risk front and center.In this new landscape, have the foundations of content really changed – or are they simply more exposed?On this episode of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cms-critic-the-critics-corner-podcast/id1801794414">The Critic’s Corner podcast,</a> CMS Critic’s lead analyst and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/critics/matt-garrepy">Chief Critic Matt Garrepy</a> talks with <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/critics/mike-spenceley">Mike Spenceley</a>, a veteran of enterprise knowledge management and content operations at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.pwc.com/us/en.html">PwC</a>, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.jnj.com/">Johnson &amp; Johnson</a>, and other global, compliance‑heavy enterprises. Mike brings a rare blend of creative and operational perspective – from growing up as a drummer in a deeply musical family to leading large content programs in high‑stakes environments.Matt and Mike trace his journey from economics and finance into knowledge management just as big firms were standing up centralized functions. They unpack the familiar, persistent content cycle he’s seen for nearly two decades (centralizing, decentralizing and sprawling, then wrestling it back under control) and how AI could be the catalyst that makes content king again.<h3 id="the-human-factor-and-why-relationships-still-matter">The human factor and why relationships still matter</h3>Throughout the podcast episode, Mike argues that the foundations of content and content operations haven't changed. Institutions still want clear governance, defined ownership, and a strategy that solves real business problems. As he puts it, even as AI accelerates and tooling gets more sophisticated, the basics are non‑negotiable.“I think the important thing in this space is that the fundamentals don't go away," Mike says. "As the technology evolves and gets better, and we introduce AI to help support some of this work, the fundamentals are still there. Governance. Content ownership. You need subject matter experts from the business who have the knowledge to really contribute the content, review it periodically, and make sure it's accurate and up to date. They really play an active role in that whole process.”That human factor is just as critical on the change‑management side. Mike points out that content teams often know what “good” looks like, but can’t assume stakeholders will simply fall in line. Tools and workflows only go so far without relationships, storytelling, and a clear vision for why things must change. Content operations leaders, he argues, also have to be “relationship‑driven,” meeting business partners where they are and bringing them along on a journey rather than dictating new rules from the center. <figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://youtu.be/UjYwXY2VXBc"><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:56.2493%"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UjYwXY2VXBc" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;top:0;left:0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div></figure> Drawing on nearly two decades in content strategy, Mike advocates for treating content more like structured data than just finished pages – providing a record that holds global rules and local nuance for delivering tailored experiences across websites, portals, search, and AI interfaces. Instead of rewriting similar information for every channel and audience, he frames a model where a single record becomes the source of truth, and technology handles how it’s assembled and rendered for different contexts.That philosophy leads directly to one of Mike’s favorite concepts: MVP content. Rather than starting with everything and trying to cover all the edge cases, he suggests flipping the approach and beginning with the smallest possible set of “minimum viable” content that actually solves a problem.“I've always had this idea that you should start with what I call MVP content," he says. "What is the bare minimum amount of content you need to solve this problem? And if that doesn't solve it, you can always add more later.”In large enterprises, that mindset becomes a survival skill. It reduces the volume that needs to be governed, lowers the maintenance burden on subject matter experts, and helps teams avoid the trap of sprawling FAQs and knowledge bases that no one can realistically keep current – especially when regulation and compliance are part of the equation.<h3 id="how-ai-is-making-content-king-again">How AI is making content king again</h3>From there, the conversation shifts squarely into AI. Mike and Matt examine the impact through three lenses: using AI to support the content lifecycle itself, making content readable and consumable by AI and answer engines, and governing the content that actually trains and powers generative chatbots and agentic experiences. In Mike’s view, this is where AI is putting the crown back on content in a very real, enterprise‑grade sense.“I've spoken and written about this concept of how AI is making content king again," Mike explains. “For those of us working in large enterprises, we've all known for years and years that there's just a lot of garbage content out there.”That “garbage” was always a problem, but in a search‑and‑browse world, the damage could be partially contained. Now, as organizations plug AI into those same intranets, portals, and policy libraries, the weaknesses are amplified. Slightly conflicting versions of a policy, audience‑specific nuances that aren’t labeled, or outdated documents that never got retired can all lead to risky or downright wrong answers when an AI becomes the interface.Finally, Mike and Matt dive into AI in 2026 and where it's helping to make content king again by supporting the entire lifecycle. They discuss the importance of rendering content readable for the new audience of answer engines, and governing the content that powers generative chatbots and agentic experiences. They also thread the needle with <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://review.content-science.com/what-is-answer-engine-optimization-aeo/">AEO (Answer Engine Optimization),</a> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/mx-to-the-max-tom-cranstouns-new-book-decodes-machine-experience-for-humans-and-agents">MX (Machine Experience),</a> corporate risk, and why relationships still matter more than any tool.If you’re responsible for knowledge management, content operations, CMS strategy, or AI‑driven experiences, this episode is a practical guide to which fundamentals you can’t outsource to AI – and how these new automated technologies might be putting the crown back on content.<h3 id="articles-by-mike-on-cms-critic:">Articles by Mike on CMS Critic:</h3><ul><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/the-roi-trap-why-ai-needs-more-than-individual-productivity-gains">The ROI Trap: Why AI Needs More Than Individual Productivity Gains</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/an-operating-model-to-optimize-content-operations-and-probably-lots-of-other-stuff">An Operating Model to Optimize Content Operations (and Probably Lots of Other Stuff)</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/generative-ai-is-making-content-king-again">Generative AI is Making Content King Again</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/the-pressure-is-on-tips-for-content-teams-during-challenging-times">The Pressure is on: Tips for Content Teams During Challenging Times</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/what-it-takes-to-build-a-high-performing-content-team">What It Takes to Build a High-Performing Content Team</a></li></ul><h3 id="“the-critic’s-corner”-podcast-with-mike-spenceley">“The Critic’s Corner” Podcast with Mike Spenceley</h3> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-ai-is-making-content-king-again-with-mike-spenceley/id1801794414?i=1000783928633">Listen to the full episode &gt;</a><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cms-critic-the-critics-corner-podcast/id1801794414">Subscribe on Apple Podcasts &gt;</a> <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:69.05%"><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-ai-is-making-content-king-again-with-mike-spenceley/id1801794414?i=1000783928633" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/08/critics-corner-apple-podcast-mike-spenceley.jpg" /></a></figure> <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:36.69%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/open-source-cms-26.jpg" /><h4 id="open-source-cms-26"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26">Open Source CMS 26</a></h4>October 20–21, 2026 – Utrecht, NetherlandsJoin us for the first annual edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to making open source CMS better. This event is already being called the “missing gathering place” for the open source CMS community – an international conference with confirmed participants from Europe and North America. Be part of a friendly mix of digital leaders from notable open source CMS projects, agencies, even a few industry analysts who get together to learn, network, and talk about what really matters when it comes to creating better open source CMS projects right now and for the foreseeable future. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26/tickets">Book your tickets today.</a> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/joyconf"><img style="width:34.57%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/07/joyconf-2026-logo.png" /></a><h4 id="storyblok-joyconf-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/joyconf">Storyblok JoyConf 2026</a></h4>October 28 - 29, Rheingoldhalle, Mainz (Frankfurt)JoyConf 2026 is where developers, marketers, and digital innovators come together from all around the world, united by one powerful idea: great content isn’t built by tools alone – it’s built by people who rely on systems to deliver their best work to the world. In an era where technology is increasingly shaped by AI, Content Confidence becomes your competitive advantage. When you can create, manage, and scale content that performs seamlessly across channels, platforms, and AI, you don’t just keep up – you win. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/joyconf">Book your seats today.</a> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/"><img style="width:36.36%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/07/sitecore-symposium-2026.png" /></a><h4 id="sitecore-symposium-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/">Sitecore Symposium 2026</a></h4>November 10 - 12, Orlando, FloridaWelcome to “Marketing Rewired” at Sitecore Symposium 2026! Sitecore's annual flagship global conference brings together customers, partners, developers, marketers, and digital experience leaders to explore the latest innovations in digital experience, content management, AI, personalization, and customer engagement. This year's event features keynote presentations from Sitecore executives and industry experts, product announcements, hands-on learning, technical sessions, customer success stories, and networking opportunities focused on helping organizations build more intelligent, connected, and AI-powered digital experiences. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/">Book your seats today.</a>

The Critic's Corner Podcast: Mike Spenceley Brings a Creative Eye to AI and Its Impact on Content Operations

cms-critic-staff

<hr /> When <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://karpathy.ai/">Andrej Karpathy</a> coined the term “vibe coding” last year, it felt like a joke. Memetic, even. “Embrace the exponentials,” he said in a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://x.com/karpathy/status/1886192184808149383?lang=en">Tweet heard ‘round the tech world</a>.The co-founder of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://openai.com/">OpenAI</a> – who famously called English the “hottest new programming language” – evangelized in that post about giving in to the vibes. He said LLMs were getting so good that he could simply talk to <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cursor.com/blog/composer">Cursor Composer</a> via <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://superwhisper.com/">SuperWhisper</a> and build while barely touching his keyboard.Little did he know that he was tearing at the fabric of modern development. In the nearly 18 months since its casual inception, vibe coding is now an accepted discipline. Today, a software developer rarely builds anything from scratch. They use a prompt window and natural language in almost every step of their work to automatically generate code.  “I just see stuff, say stuff, run stuff, and copy-paste stuff,” Karpathy said. “And it mostly works.”That word mostly is the key, because as miraculous as AI is, it’s not infallible. And therein lies the problem: vibe coding has accelerated development tenfold, but it’s exacerbating technical issues. In other words, the magic is also making a mess.  Since last year, I’ve been tracking the precipitous sprawl of vibe-coded apps. The depth of the problem became material when <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.producthunt.com/p/general/a-new-high-watermark-over-600-products-submitted-to-product-hunt-for-today-s-leaderboard?utm_campaign=discussion_thread_created&amp;utm_content=26382172&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=notification">Product Hunt’s Chris Messina blasted an email</a> about the explosive increase in new apps to the platform. In a high-watermark moment, over 600 products were submitted in February (the previous record was just over 500 a month before). Chris told me this was a direct result of vibe coding, and competition for new apps on the platform’s leaderboard was intensifying.Sure, Product Hunt attracts the skunkworks, the earliest stages of proving out an idea. This is where vibe coding has been a godsend, enabling teams to deliver a prototype at incredible speeds and with less friction. But it’s not just downstream startups on a wing and a prayer. Vibe coding is now a part of every internal development practice. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://webdeveloper.com/news/jetbrains-survey-90-percent-ai-adoption/">90% of developers use AI coding assistants</a> at work, and 46% of developers say <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://claude.ai/">Claude Code</a> is their “most loved tool” among the many engines and harnesses.For enterprise teams that utilize AI, there’s a persistent question of reliability. There are countless reasons supporting this – just look at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/how-ai-models-from-openai-and-anthropic-went-rogue-a28e29ee">OpenAI and Anthropic’s recent model mishaps</a>. As such, proving the production safety of an app is becoming a critical requirement, and people are becoming a bottleneck for shipping with confidence. Often, it’s not talent holding back a product launch, but a lack of visibility into the blockers.Now, humans can get real help on this leg of the journey with <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://rda-production-readiness.pages.dev/">RDA’s Production Readiness Review.</a> The digital consultancy – which has been <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/agency-of-change-rdas-world-class-nps-reflects-a-deep-focus-on-digital-and-ai-transformation">building technology solutions at the edge for almost 40 years </a>– recently launched an evidence-based process that provides a diagnostic of your internally vibe-coded app, giving stakeholders a scorecard for their app that reinforces its readiness to ship. The rubric for RDA’s system is a clear set of production requirements. The report identifies the hard blockers, prioritizes the fixes, and traces everything back to your code – so you have line-of-sight to the underlying problems. The report metrics are granular and substantive, so you’re not just getting a vague health check, but a performant roadmap.RDA is also offering the review at no cost. This makes it a no-brainer for any organization that’s driving an idea or application towards a real-world launch.   <img style="width:37.19%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/08/image-1786909600683.png" />RDA’s Director of AI Innovation, John Sedlak. Source: LinkedIn I recently spoke to <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsedlak/">RDA’s Director of AI Innovation, John Sedlak,</a> about the gap that their Production Readiness Review addresses in the age of vibe coding, and why products tend to stall. The range of applications – and the state they’re in – underscores the need for a structured, neutral diagnostic.“It could be that a company is building a custom application, or even someone’s husband or nephew vibe coded this this POC for us,” he said, laughing. “Which we run into more often than you would expect. Then it comes down to a question of IT finding out, and now they want control. They want to lock it down, and everything comes to a grinding halt, and they don't know where to go for answers.”<h3 id="what-is-rda’s-production-readiness-review?">What is RDA’s Production Readiness Review?</h3>At its core, the Production Readiness Review answers a simple question: How close are you to done, and what’s left to fix? It provides a complete, in-depth analysis of an application from the inside out, keying in on what graduates a POC to a shippable, production-worthy solution.  The report distills everything into a legible scorecard that identifies the hard blockers and defines a roadmap for remediation. The scoring makes the overall intelligence more accessible for leaders while giving IT and technical teams an actionable path forward.“It gives you a high-level grade,” John explained, “A, B, C, D, E, F, and then breaks down a complete backlog of items that you should take a look at.”The process focuses on key “lenses” into code and architecture, AI/ML components, integration and legacy map, security and compliance, and operability and observability. Each category is weighted on a scale of 0-5, weighing the overall fragility versus robustness. <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:78.72%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/08/image-1786909600600.png" /></figure>RDA’s Production Readiness Review scorecard. Source: RDA “It’s a composite analysis to understand the hard, technical dependency chain and the composition of your infrastructure,” John added. “It also looks at whether the application is assembled on the right building blocks.”The report details specific ship blockers that can be addressed. For example, if a build is missing vital authentication or authorization layers in the backend, or lacks a durable event store or read model resulting in a critical memory issue.  <img style="width:79.21%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/08/image-1786909600680.png" />RDA’s Production Readiness Review ship blockers. Source: RDA What I like is that it also prioritizes issues based on severity and classifies the effort needed to fix them as small, medium, or large. This remediation plan allows teams to cogently strategize around developer resources and utilization. Case in point: addressing LLM resilience issues could require a bigger lift than a basic problem with an MCP call – but both are ranked as high-severity issues. <img style="width:84.33%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/08/image-1786909600666.png" />RDA’s Production Readiness Review remediation plan. Source: RDA Finally, the report provides backlog alignment, comparing any findings against documented GitHub issues to define what’s well-tracked, partially-tracked, and untracked. It also provides a milestone assessment and recommendations for making the app ship-ready. <img style="width:84.56%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/08/image-1786909600660.png" />RDA’s Production Readiness Review issue alignment and backlog. Source: RDA The efficacy of the report leans on RDA’s engineering strength and depth. As John said, it’s not just box-checking or cursory oversight. They’ve baked in decades of wisdom to deliver sound outcomes. “I think this is where our 38 years of just pure engineering comes in handy,” he punctuated.<h3 id="who-the-product-readiness-review-is-for-–-and-when-to-use-it">Who the Product Readiness Review is for – and when to use it</h3>While you might not have a nephew vibe coding your prototype for you, there’s still a tremendous amount of risk associated with AI-generated code and assembly. Brands are moving faster than ever to push products into production while running lean teams, and this is where problems emerge. But it’s rarely the fault of AI. Agents are an easy scapegoat, but most problems occur due to a lack of governance and human judgement. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.ruh.ai/blogs/amazon-kiro-ai-outage-ai-governance-failure">Just ask Amazon about its Kiro assistant,</a> which is used by over 80% of its developers. Instead of fixing a minor bug, the autonomous agent decided the most efficient solution was to delete the live production environment and recreate it from scratch. That resulted in a 13-hour outage. RDA’s Production Readiness Review isn’t a silver bullet, but it can help product owners achieve greater confidence across both internal and external customers, and ultimately improve outcomes.“Where it makes the most impact is with the owners of a project who have to report to leadership that this is why we went to this platform, or this is how we're making the best use of all these integrations,” John said. “At the end of the day, they're under a lot of pressure to move fast and leverage these newer, modern systems. But they have to tell their leaders, ‘Hey, we moved to <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/netlify">Netlify</a> and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/storyblok">Storyblok</a>, and here's why. Here's the proof, and here's the report that says we're ready to go.’”From a practical perspective, the Production Readiness Review is designed to help engineering leads with complex builds or POCs that are facing real traffic and scrutiny. Obviously, you want to run the check before your product launches. When and where in your development cycle comes down to your prototype or MVP and how close it is to real-world delivery. The best bet is to <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.rdadigital.com/contact">talk to RDA’s team</a> about where you are in your journey. Governance is perhaps the most urgent imperative. Tack on the complexity of AI sprawl, overlapping tools, a multitude of integrations, and sticky compliance requirements, and suddenly a new app is a powder keg waiting to ignite. That’s the most compelling reason to run this review.“It feels like overnight, everybody's using the terms ‘governance’ and ‘observability,’” John added. “Those come up everywhere. They're a part of our daily life now, because you have to prove that the systems and experiences you're creating meet a certain standard. That’s especially true with AI and generated content on a factual, quantitative level. Whether that's compliance with ADA, HIPAA, or just branding standards.”<h3 id="building-is-easier-than-ever-–-but-shipping-safely-is-hard">Building is easier than ever – but shipping safely is hard</h3>If you type in “Vibe Coding Cleanup Specialist” on LinkedIn, you'll find a long list of developers pitching that description. I'm not making it up. Here's what a quick search surfaced for me: <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75.25%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/08/image-1786913662858.png" /></figure>Source: LinkedIn The listings go on for a few pages. It's funny. But also telling. AI has radically transformed our development practices, and we’re moving at a breakneck pace. At the same time, vibe coding has democratized app creation for citizen developers, checking code at the door and allowing almost anyone to stand up a working prototype using a wide range of tools. It’s not surprising that problems have surfaced, but we don’t always see them. That goes for novice builders and seasoned coders alike. Further, we’re not standardizing the right governance processes to address these issues before we ship our products – and that’s resulting in everything from bad CX to brand damage to legal liability.RDA’s Production Readiness Review is a triumphant step in closing this loop. It’s a safer bridge from POC to production, providing the missing, evidence-based step between “this works” and “this will hold up under real-world pressure.” It gives human judgement a shot in the arm, so organizations have a more solid foundation before they ship.“I think at the end of the day, it’s all about trust and confidence,” John said. Now that's a vibe we can all give in to.<hr /><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://rda-production-readiness.pages.dev/">Learn more</a> about getting your own Production Readiness Review. <h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:36.69%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/open-source-cms-26.jpg" /><h4 id="open-source-cms-26"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26">Open Source CMS 26</a></h4>October 20–21, 2026 – Utrecht, NetherlandsJoin us for the first annual edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to making open source CMS better. This event is already being called the “missing gathering place” for the open source CMS community – an international conference with confirmed participants from Europe and North America. Be part of a friendly mix of digital leaders from notable open source CMS projects, agencies, even a few industry analysts who get together to learn, network, and talk about what really matters when it comes to creating better open source CMS projects right now and for the foreseeable future. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26/tickets">Book your tickets today.</a> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/joyconf"><img style="width:34.57%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/07/joyconf-2026-logo.png" /></a><h4 id="storyblok-joyconf-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/joyconf">Storyblok JoyConf 2026</a></h4>October 28 - 29, Rheingoldhalle, Mainz (Frankfurt)JoyConf 2026 is where developers, marketers, and digital innovators come together from all around the world, united by one powerful idea: great content isn’t built by tools alone – it’s built by people who rely on systems to deliver their best work to the world. In an era where technology is increasingly shaped by AI, Content Confidence becomes your competitive advantage. When you can create, manage, and scale content that performs seamlessly across channels, platforms, and AI, you don’t just keep up – you win. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/joyconf">Book your seats today.</a> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/"><img style="width:36.36%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/07/sitecore-symposium-2026.png" /></a><h4 id="sitecore-symposium-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/">Sitecore Symposium 2026</a></h4>November 10 - 12, Orlando, FloridaWelcome to “Marketing Rewired” at Sitecore Symposium 2026! Sitecore's annual flagship global conference brings together customers, partners, developers, marketers, and digital experience leaders to explore the latest innovations in digital experience, content management, AI, personalization, and customer engagement. This year's event features keynote presentations from Sitecore executives and industry experts, product announcements, hands-on learning, technical sessions, customer success stories, and networking opportunities focused on helping organizations build more intelligent, connected, and AI-powered digital experiences. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/">Book your seats today.</a>

Is your AI app ready to ship? A new diagnostic can help validate your vibe coding with confidence

matt-garrepy

<hr /> Every Thanksgiving, my father – our family’s resident storyteller and spinner of fish tales – revisits his 2011 trip to Brazil over a zesty slice of key lime pie. My favorite chapter takes place in the Amazon Basin, where he and an intrepid crew of tourists venture through the densely majestic canopy to <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHayUyK-d94">Lago da Piranha</a>. This freshwater lake is a hidden gem, but it's also home to the world’s unfriendliest denizens of the deep. There’s video from the outing, and I think our paternally-carved turkey reminds him of a raw chicken being lowered into the darkly calming waters, where he and his group witness a little carnage. Tethered to some high-test fishing wire, the bird descends just below the surface of the lake. There's a scuffle. The water roils. Minutes later, the chicken is pulled back up – or what’s left of it.This snippet from <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Monsters">River Monsters </a>will give you an idea of what went down:  <figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21hfQYJ5mfU"><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:56.2493%"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/21hfQYJ5mfU" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;top:0;left:0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div></figure> Right now, AI is eating clicks like the residents of Piranha Lake. It’s been vicious. The rise of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://search.google/ways-to-search/ai-overviews/">Google’s AI Overviews</a> and the proliferation of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://thedigitalbloom.com/learn/2025-organic-traffic-crisis-analysis-report/">zero-click searches</a> have decimated website traffic – and publishers have been hit the hardest by this shift.I won’t revisit all the gory details. There's plenty of data about AI answers replacing blue links and rewriting the search experience. Some sites are fighting AI companies in court, others are building partnerships and trying to adapt to the new normal. Either way, swimming in this lake is treacherous, and it feels more like treading water in a red, chum-filled sea.I just read <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/miannelli/">Michael Ianelli’s</a> dynamite article about <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://scrunch.com/blog/surviving-the-clickpocalypse-ai-eating-the-news/">surviving this “clickpocalypse,”</a> and it was every bit as harrowing as that chicken being lowered into the darkness. As the principal data scientist at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/crunch-time-for-ai-visibility-sitecores-acquisition-of-scrunch-gives-brands-an-edge-beyond-aeo">Scrunch (now a Sitecore company),</a> he’s working on the front lines of this existential shift for brands. He and his team did a deep dive into AI’s impact on human visits to news and publishing sites, analyzing millions of events between February and June of this year. This was done via an opt-in panel connecting anonymized AI conversations, Google searches, and publisher visits.What did they find? Well, in a word, weirdness. Yes, AI is devouring traffic – ferociously. But it’s also eating clicks in one place and returning visits in another.I found this revelation compelling, but it also exposed a bigger problem for marketers: conventional analytics can identify the last stop before a visit, but not necessarily the first source of influence. In other words, we’re back to chasing the shadow of attribution.I spent time reviewing this data, and I have a few reflections on what stands out and how we might adapt to it. One thing is clear: marketers are swimming with uncertainty. And it really bites. <h3 id="crunching-the-impact-of-ai-overviews">Crunching the impact of AI Overviews</h3>One of the first revelations in the research is perhaps the most profound: news searches with an AI Overview (AIO) convert to a publisher click roughly 20% of the time, versus 30% without one. As Michael suggests, that 10-point gap is the basis for this whole “clickpocalypse” narrative.But when Scrunch compared the same query appearing with and without an AIO, the difference shrank to around two percentage points. That’s awfully close to zero. In other words, Google isn’t so much reducing the clicks as deploying AIOs in searches where they were already sparse.Some other juicy nuggets surfaced in the research. For example, across news searches, AIOs appear roughly one time in four. But with low-value "almanac" queries – commodities like weather, market prices, definitions, and explainers – it’s much higher.  <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:86.02%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/08/scrunch-3.png" /></figure>Source: Scrunch But here’s the rub: these all had relatively low CTRs to begin with. Weather, for instance, had a 59% AIO rate, but only a 13% CTR when no generative overlay was present. Interestingly, searches about war and geopolitical topics hold the middle ground. A currently popular topic like elections, for example, gets an AIO 14% of the time, with a 26% CTR. Sports is a bit more anomalous; it's an almanac entry that only gets an AIO about 5% of the time. But it also appreciates 53% of publisher clicks without an AI overlay.This can feel like a lot to process, but the through line is reasonably clear. AI Overviews can reduce clicks on an individual search, but the gap is also influenced by the kinds of queries on which Google chooses to display them. We’re strangers in a strange land. Or… a piranha-infested lake. <h3 id="ai-referral-traffic-tells-only-part-of-the-story">AI referral traffic tells only part of the story</h3>And this is an important point. According to Scrunch, only 1.1% of the news site visits that followed an AI conversation carried a direct AI referral. Meanwhile, roughly three-quarters of the traffic arrived via direct navigation, with the rest coming from traditional search and referrals. So what about that 98.9%? Is it a result of AI?  <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:85.14%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/08/scrunch-2.png" /></figure>Source: Scrunch Not so fast. Referral analytics record the immediately preceding source, but not everything that shaped the decision. AI influence can disappear when someone later searches for a brand, enters its URL, uses a bookmark, or visits through another platform. As a result, traffic influenced by AI may be incorrectly credited.This is clearly an attribution blind spot. AI referral traffic measures delivery, but it doesn’t necessarily measure influence. It’s a real hardship for publishers, as modern referral dashboards simply can’t tell you if AI shaped a later search or a direct visit. <h3 id="ai-search-may-be-feeding-an-invisible-marketing-funnel">AI search may be feeding an invisible marketing funnel</h3>While it might not be altogether shocking, Scrunch discovered that when readers engage on a news topic with an AI assistant, they visit more news sites the following week. In fact, after comparing each reader against their own behavior (news versus non-news conversations), people are 20.5 percentage points more likely to visit a news site after talking to AI about news. As Michael says, the conversational AI story isn't that AI answers have completely replaced publishers – it's that the answer often becomes one step inside a larger news journey, one that doesn’t necessarily end on the open web. The problem is that conventional analytics can’t fully visualize this. There’s a key “causality caveat” here. Someone discussing news with an AI assistant already has an implied interest in the topic, and the research doesn’t prove that AI generated entirely new demand. What it does show is that AI conversations and subsequent website activity can be connected even when referral analytics can’t see that connection. And herein lies the challenge: AI may be eating the visible click while still feeding parts of the funnel marketers can’t see.<h3 id="brand-strength-matters">Brand strength matters</h3>There are some revealing metrics in the research about which news publishers are capturing readers after an AI conversation. It’s worth perusing the associations that Scrunch uncovered – particularly where a news site is or isn’t mentioned in a prompt and whether a reader was already likely to visit that news site.What stood out for me was this: being named by AI isn’t the same as being chosen by a reader. That plays out in the data. According to Scrunch, major publishers make up 82% of the names that AI assistants deliver. 17% are mid-sized, and just 1% are niche.   <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:85.2%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/08/scrunch-4-1786732542850.png" /></figure>Source: Scrunch But here’s the deal: of the visits that land on a named news site, 97% are major publishers. Mid-sized brands are getting decent exposure, but readers simply aren’t choosing them. A week later, those same big players see a 22.9% lift in site visits. Mid-size, a little less than 9%.Bottom line? Brand strength is the bomb. Readers are choosing news outlets they recognize or have familiarity with. Add existing preferences, perceived authority and trust, or even paywall access they’ve already procured, and major publishers win out.<h3 id="what-should-marketers-and-brands-focus-on?">What should marketers and brands focus on?</h3>Scrunch offers some sage advice for surviving this “clickpocalypse,” and it applies to publishers and non-publishers alike. As Michael observes, the general rule is that AI exposure doesn’t necessarily look like AI traffic. Write that on a Post-it and stick it to your screen. Marketers are in a bind when it comes to AI referrals and attribution. A news site or product can get mentioned or recommended in an answer, but a consumer might show up a week later through direct navigation or traditional search. We can’t count on an attribution dashboard to connect the dots. There’s no back door for controlling the answer engines. The best shot a brand has is through influence – and this is where an <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/06/19/answer-engine-optimization-aeo--what-brands-need-to-know/">AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)</a> platform can provide deeper intelligence. Tools like Scrunch provide detailed recommendations for enhancing answer position, but they also enable marketers to measure brand mentions, track citations, gauge sentiment, and monitor an influence score. Most importantly, they shed light on the “why” and enable marketers to take real action. If this research tells us anything, it’s that being mentioned in AI isn’t the same as being chosen. While it’s increasingly clear that <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://scrunch.com/blog/prompt-to-purchase-pipeline-how-ai-influences-buyer-behavior/">AI recommendations can have a direct impact</a> on how likely someone is to search for your products or visit your site, brand presence is the most important metric. Consumers make decisions based on credibility, reputation, and recognition across channels – so brands need to keep a watchful eye on more than AI.<h3 id="what-you-should-expect-from-your-cms">What you should expect from your CMS</h3>A big part of the AI visibility equation rests with your website’s content posture – and that waterfalls to the CMS. If it's worth its salt, your platform should help you control and maintain optimal structure and performance. In fact, some tools already provide a layer of AEO and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) readiness out of the box, helping marketers stay on point.First and foremost, audit the content in your CMS to ensure that you’ve addressed any outdated, contradictory, or incomplete information. The trouble with content debt is that it isn’t always visible, but AI has a way of finding it. The new breed of agentic CMS is making these audit sprints more efficient while streamlining the remediation.Along with governing a foundational content model and maintaining a source of truth across websites and channels, a modern CMS should allow specific content to be accessible to LLM crawlers and bots based on your internal policies (for example, gated publisher models might block certain pages). It should also support schema and machine-readable metadata without a lot of heavy lifting. Connecting your content performance with your analytics is going to be key. Some platforms have on-board visualization, but AEO platforms are aligning AI citations with the content assets that help influence them. Having this insight is becoming a non-negotiable.<h3 id="why-it-matters">Why it matters</h3>I wouldn’t recommend swimming in Lago de Piranha, but it’s comforting to know that these fish don’t generally attack humans. So we’re safe. For now.It’s true: AI is consuming traffic clean off the bone. But as Scrunch’s data points out, there’s more to the story than just a feeding frenzy. AI is shifting clicks, redistributing them based on different variables. Despite this phenomenon, AI is also driving demand – and the brands that show up in AI answers are best positioned to win.This whole chapter of AI transformation is frustrating for marketers. Yes, agents are unlocking a world of productivity. But the game has changed. While attribution has always been a challenge, we're in unknown territory, wrestling with new tools and new thinking. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://medium.com/@jane.fazackarley/heres-google-s-guidance-on-aeo-but-it-s-only-half-of-the-story-2b74275df397">Google might not be sold on AEO</a> as a separate discipline outside of search, but marketers are full speed ahead on adopting it. Whether you’re a news site or an e-commerce shop, AI needs to be able to understand you. That means getting your content house in top shape for the growing audience of agents that are visiting your site. But what people do after your brand is surfaced – whether they visit you next week or next month or via different routes – relies on your overall brand presence. That’s why building credibility, trust, and recognition in other channels is essential to surviving the “clickpocalypse.” So stay vigilant. Embrace the strategies and improve your odds. Gain actionable insight from reputable tools. And don’t get eaten. <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:36.69%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/open-source-cms-26.jpg" /><h4 id="open-source-cms-26"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26">Open Source CMS 26</a></h4>October 20–21, 2026 – Utrecht, NetherlandsJoin us for the first annual edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to making open source CMS better. This event is already being called the “missing gathering place” for the open source CMS community – an international conference with confirmed participants from Europe and North America. Be part of a friendly mix of digital leaders from notable open source CMS projects, agencies, even a few industry analysts who get together to learn, network, and talk about what really matters when it comes to creating better open source CMS projects right now and for the foreseeable future. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26/tickets">Book your tickets today.</a> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/joyconf"><img style="width:34.57%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/07/joyconf-2026-logo.png" /></a><h4 id="storyblok-joyconf-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/joyconf">Storyblok JoyConf 2026</a></h4>October 28 - 29, Rheingoldhalle, Mainz (Frankfurt)JoyConf 2026 is where developers, marketers, and digital innovators come together from all around the world, united by one powerful idea: great content isn’t built by tools alone – it’s built by people who rely on systems to deliver their best work to the world. In an era where technology is increasingly shaped by AI, Content Confidence becomes your competitive advantage. When you can create, manage, and scale content that performs seamlessly across channels, platforms, and AI, you don’t just keep up – you win. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/joyconf">Book your seats today.</a> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/"><img style="width:36.36%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/07/sitecore-symposium-2026.png" /></a><h4 id="sitecore-symposium-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/">Sitecore Symposium 2026</a></h4>November 10 - 12, Orlando, FloridaWelcome to “Marketing Rewired” at Sitecore Symposium 2026! Sitecore's annual flagship global conference brings together customers, partners, developers, marketers, and digital experience leaders to explore the latest innovations in digital experience, content management, AI, personalization, and customer engagement. This year's event features keynote presentations from Sitecore executives and industry experts, product announcements, hands-on learning, technical sessions, customer success stories, and networking opportunities focused on helping organizations build more intelligent, connected, and AI-powered digital experiences. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/">Book your seats today.</a>

AI is eating clicks. But is it feeding the funnel?

<hr /> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.author-it.com/resources/content-debt-technical-documentation">Content debt </a>isn’t like other kinds of debt. It’s quiet, sneaky, and compounds exponentially in the shadows – where no one’s the wiser. It often accrues on your website, but it can spread across your organization’s entire content ecosystem like a virus.We’ve known about content debt for a long time, lingering in the dark corners of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/google-cloud-platform">Google</a> where it can be conveniently ignored. Over time, it’s become a snowballing backlog of duplicated content, outdated topics, poorly structured text and terminology, and undocumented features. Like <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_debt">technical debt </a>in software development, content debt charges you interest. And that hefty bill pumps an invisible brake on your operations, wasting your team’s resources and hurting both your search engine rankings and AI search visibility. And at a moment when <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.axios.com/2026/07/31/google-search-publishers-seo-geo-llms-ai">traffic is dying on the vine</a> – and more customers are turning to answer engines like <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://search.google/ways-to-search/ai-overviews/">Google AI Overviews</a> and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://chatgpt.com/">ChatGPT</a> – it’s become a critical liability. But exactly how big is this problem? That’s what <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/lp/ft-longitude-content-debt-report">new research from Storyblok</a> endeavored to find out. The CMS vendor collaborated with <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://longitude.ft.com/">FT Longitude (an arm of The Financial Times)</a> to shed some light on this question. And what they found ain’t pretty. According to a survey of 550 senior executives at organizations with at least $1 billion in annual global revenue, content debt is costing enterprises $4.63 trillion worldwide. You read that right: $4.63 trillion. That's bigger than Japan's GDP. A jaw-dropping stat by any measure.The question is: how do we even begin to pay down this debt?<h3 id="ai-search-exposed-the-problem-–-and-made-it-worse">AI search exposed the problem – and made it worse</h3>Prior to the modern AI explosion, content debt was out of sight and out of mind. Businesses could bury their old or low-quality content simply by de-indexing it, removing it from their navigation, or allowing only their most optimized pages to appear in search. So it persisted – but there were fewer routes to access it.But AI has, for all intents and purposes, blown this up. LLMs are like bloodhounds, sniffing their way to inaccurate information that’s often obscured or even forgotten. This could be old product data or misrepresented pricing that could surface in an AI search, resulting in poor customer experiences. And because organizations can’t directly control what an LLM surfaces, this content is proving to be a liability. As noted, this financial impact is harrowing. But the report also revealed some other compelling metrics. For example, 67% of executives say that poor content quality or structure is reducing their visibility in search and AI-driven discovery. A clear sign that enterprise leaders understand what’s happening and what’s at stake.Respondents also indicate that there's an average of $663.4 million in content debt per company, and they’re spending roughly $4.8 million fixing the problems – and that’s 34% of the total content spend.  <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:82.43%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/08/image.png" /></figure>Source: “Content Debt: A $4.63 Trillion Business Liability” report While the data includes a global sample, the U.S. dwarfs the rest of the world in its share of content debt. That’s not surprising given the density of companies in the region. But most large enterprises have multinational interests, and content debt is likely being amplified globally from the source. <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:80.86%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/08/image-1786503786276.png" /></figure>Source: “Content Debt: A $4.63 Trillion Business Liability” report There’s also some interesting data on a granular level. For example, executives in the Netherlands report the highest revenue impact from inaccurate or out-of-date content. Meanwhile, when viewed through an industry lens, this same problem disproportionately impacts the education industry. A likely conclusion? Many higher ed websites offer course materials or curriculum details that change frequently, and there’s likely a glut of digital residue left behind. As a result, education organizations report the highest proportion of content budget dedicated to addressing inaccurate or out-of-date content – and you can see below how this stacks up to other industries. <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:82.64%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/08/image-1786503786350.png" /></figure>Source: “Content Debt: A $4.63 Trillion Business Liability” report <h3 id="enterprise-leaders-are-finally-addressing-the-content-problem-">Enterprise leaders are finally addressing the content problem </h3>So who’s responsible for this crushing, out-of-control content debt? There’s plenty of blame to go around, but the bottom line is that brands weren’t motivated to solve the problem because they simply didn’t feel it. Now, after decades of letting it metastasize, enterprise leaders and executives are finally seeing the light. According to the research, 69% say outdated or inconsistent content is making it harder for customers to find, trust, or act on their information.It gets worse. The same number say that the lack of visibility into their content is creating a compliance risk for their organization, while 67% say poor content quality or structure is weakening their discoverability in AI search. This tracks with my own coverage of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/lutzfinger/2025/06/19/answer-engine-optimization-aeo--what-brands-need-to-know/">AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)</a> becoming a boardroom mandate, and how enterprise leaders are demanding enhanced content strategies as part of the new marketing playbook.  Additionally, 89% of respondents say that improving the quality, structure, and governance of their content would deliver measurable business value for their organization. They’re already trying to do this, with organizations spending (on average) 105.4 hours each week maintaining existing content. <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:81.83%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/08/image-1786503786301.png" /></figure>Source: “Content Debt: A $4.63 Trillion Business Liability” report Perhaps the most troubling data point concerns the sheer volume of content that most enterprises are grappling with. According to the data, 78% of respondents say their organization has more digital content than it can realistically maintain as accurate, relevant, and up-to-date. That’s scary.<h3 id="can-the-content-debt-crisis-be-solved?">Can the content debt crisis be solved?</h3>In the report, there’s a question posed to a C-level technology executive, asking what they would do if they had an extra $1 million per year to spend on content. Their answer: “The first investment would be AI tools that update outdated content automatically, so customers always receive fresh and correct information.”This crystallizes the urgency and friction that leaders face when coping with the content debt crisis. But spending more on technology and remediation may not be the answer. Instead, enterprises should prioritize efficiency over reactive buying or strategies.Further, 69% of executives agree that improving their content strategy is more of a technical challenge than a creative one, suggesting that teams are being held back by their CMS and tech stack, not by a skills gap.Governance is also a critical part of the solution, and it helps reinforce the idea of “content confidence.” According to the research, organizations that are less affected by content debt have a higher degree of control over their enterprise content operations, from publishing to managing. Those with the highest confidence are less likely to have their systems and workflows limit their responsiveness, and more likely to exceed their financial targets than those with lower confidence.<h3 id="why-it-matters">Why it matters</h3>As I heard repeatedly at the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect26">Boye &amp; Company CMS Connect 26</a> conference in Montreal, the answer to our marketing woes isn’t more content – it’s better content.“For decades, publishing as much content as possible, hoping it ranks in search, and letting the content and platforms decay has been a business strategy,” said <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/critics/dominik-angerer">Dominik Angerer,</a> CEO of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/storyblok">Storyblok</a>. “It felt good at the time, just like loading up a credit card with a bunch of impulsive purchases and not thinking about the true cost of the debt. But now AI has exposed the scope of the problem, and it can’t be ignored anymore. The bill is past due.”AI has indeed exposed and exacerbated this problem. But how can brands make a dent in a debt the size of Japan’s GDP? As Dominik said, just as consumers need to develop a plan to pay off debt, brands need a “content debt recovery plan” to eliminate the burden. “The fact that they’re already spending so much time and money maintaining content and it isn’t decreasing the overall effects of content debt in a meaningful way proves that what they’re doing isn’t working,” he added. “The companies that audit all of their content, implement new ways of managing it, and measure the results will have confidence that their content is accurate, optimized, visible, and driving revenue in AI and every channel that’s important to them.”In the age of AI, brands are fighting for more than visibility. They're fighting for their lives. Having your content ready to serve an audience of machines is the new imperative, and this data reinforces the scope of the problem we face. Now, we need to take action. And that starts by removing the invisible brake – and hitting the accelerator.  <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:36.69%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/open-source-cms-26.jpg" /><h4 id="open-source-cms-26"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26">Open Source CMS 26</a></h4>October 20–21, 2026 – Utrecht, NetherlandsJoin us for the first annual edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to making open source CMS better. This event is already being called the “missing gathering place” for the open source CMS community – an international conference with confirmed participants from Europe and North America. Be part of a friendly mix of digital leaders from notable open source CMS projects, agencies, even a few industry analysts who get together to learn, network, and talk about what really matters when it comes to creating better open source CMS projects right now and for the foreseeable future. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26/tickets">Book your tickets today.</a> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/joyconf"><img style="width:34.57%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/07/joyconf-2026-logo.png" /></a><h4 id="storyblok-joyconf-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/joyconf">Storyblok JoyConf 2026</a></h4>October 28 - 29, Rheingoldhalle, Mainz (Frankfurt)JoyConf 2026 is where developers, marketers, and digital innovators come together from all around the world, united by one powerful idea: great content isn’t built by tools alone – it’s built by people who rely on systems to deliver their best work to the world. In an era where technology is increasingly shaped by AI, Content Confidence becomes your competitive advantage. When you can create, manage, and scale content that performs seamlessly across channels, platforms, and AI, you don’t just keep up – you win. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/joyconf">Book your seats today.</a> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/"><img style="width:36.36%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/07/sitecore-symposium-2026.png" /></a><h4 id="sitecore-symposium-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/">Sitecore Symposium 2026</a></h4>November 10 - 12, Orlando, FloridaWelcome to “Marketing Rewired” at Sitecore Symposium 2026! Sitecore's annual flagship global conference brings together customers, partners, developers, marketers, and digital experience leaders to explore the latest innovations in digital experience, content management, AI, personalization, and customer engagement. This year's event features keynote presentations from Sitecore executives and industry experts, product announcements, hands-on learning, technical sessions, customer success stories, and networking opportunities focused on helping organizations build more intelligent, connected, and AI-powered digital experiences. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/">Book your seats today.</a>

An ‘Invisible Brake’ on AI? New Research Suggests Content Debt is a $4.63 Trillion Liability

<h4 id="-"> </h4><h4 id="listen-to-the-full-episode-of-“the-critic’s-corner”-podcast-&gt;-"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://tinyurl.com/5ymyfwav">Listen to the full episode of “The Critic’s Corner” Podcast &gt; </a></h4> <hr /> The web and the tools that power it are in the middle of a major reset. DXPs have evolved from monolithic suites to composable ecosystems and now into AI-driven systems and "Agentic Experience Platforms." So what actually counts as a DXP in 2026? And how should digital teams evaluate these platforms in an AI‑first world?On this episode of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://tinyurl.com/5ymyfwav">"The Critic’s Corner" podcast,</a> CMS Critic’s lead analyst and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/critics/matt-garrepy">Chief Critic Matt Garrepy</a> sits down with <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/critics/dan-drapeau">Dan Drapeau,</a> founder of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://dxpcatalyst.com/">DXP Catalyst</a> – an independent, vendor-neutral consultancy that advises on the selection and buildout of DXP and martech ecosystems. Together, they unpack what a modern DXP really is and what it’s becoming. From assessment to roadmap to implementation, Dan has spent his career in the trenches with leading CMS and DXP vendors like <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/adobe-experience-manager">Adobe</a> and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/sitecore">Sitecore</a>, as well as open souce projects like <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/drupal">Drupal</a> and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/wordpress">WordPress</a>. Throughout his digital journey, Dan has helped enterprises select, deploy, and modernize their digital experience stacks and manage the complexities. This gives him a keen eye and unmatched perspective on what might lay ahead as DXPs become more AI-powered.<h3 id="the-evolution-to-agentic-cms-and-agent-powered-systems">The evolution to Agentic CMS and agent-powered systems</h3>In the pod, Matt and Dan trace the line from CMS to web experience management to DXP, leading to the rise of AI and agentic systems. Despite all the new features and terminology, they explore why the CMS is still the true center of the digital experience and which capabilities are non‑negotiable versus “nice to have.” Along the way, they revisit the headless vs. monolith debate that captured the market zeitgeist in the early 2020s, and how CDPs, DAMs, and CMPs slid into the DXP stack over years of acquisitions – rendering a new composition for the DXP template.  <figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://youtu.be/aPWv6nHg1Cs"><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:56.2493%"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aPWv6nHg1Cs" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;top:0;left:0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div></figure> <h3 id="how-is-ai-transforming-the-dxp?">How is AI transforming the DXP?</h3>The conversation then zeroes in on AI, starting with the first wave of generative features. Today, the agentic expansion is undeniable, with platforms introducing full agentic layers and multi‑agent orchestration. In the episode, Dan walks through how Adobe, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/optimizely">Optimizely</a>, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/contentstack">Contentstack</a>, Sitecore, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/squiz">Squiz</a>, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/magnolia">Magnolia</a>, and other vendors are positioning their AI stacks as front and center. And while many features are finding parity, there are key differences in how AI agents are being harnessed from system to system. As he says, if your DXP vendor doesn’t offer an agentic layer by 2027, it’s time to get concerned.Matt and Dan also tackle the practical side of DXP selection in the here and now. They cover everything from balancing composability, dealing with multiple CMSs inside universities and large organizations, managing agents and MCP servers, and making sense of AI credit models and total cost of ownership. They also share how real clients are weighting agentic capabilities in RFPs, the importance of discovery around content operations, and why governance and permissions for agents are now just as critical as roles for humans.If you work in CMS/DXP platforms, lead digital or product teams, or manage content operations, you'll find this episode to be hyper relevant and enlightening. And if you're staring down a replatforming RFP or a big AI roadmap decision, Dan brings clear, practitioner‑level guidance to what really matters in a modern DXP – and how to hedge your bets for the next 3–5 years of AI‑driven change. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://tinyurl.com/5ymyfwav">Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts.</a><h3 id="links">Links</h3><ul><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.dxpcatalyst.com ">DXP Catalyst Consulting</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect26">Boye &amp; Company CMS Connect 26</a></li></ul><h3 id="other-articles-by-dan-on-cms-critic:">Other Articles by Dan on CMS Critic:</h3><ul><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/what-is-a-dxp-in-2026">What is a DXP in 2026?</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/where-native-dxp-ai-fits-within-an-agentic-enterprise-strategy">Where Native DXP AI Fits Within an Agentic Enterprise Strategy</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/composable-vs-pre-composed-dxps-in-2026-a-two-track-evaluation-framework-for-modern-dxp-selection">Composable vs. Pre-Composed DXPs in 2026: A Two-Track Evaluation Framework for Modern DXP Selection</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/3-things-to-look-for-in-a-dxp-as-conversational-search-changes-the-game">3 Things to Look for in a DXP as Conversational Search Changes the Game</a></li></ul><h3 id="“the-critic’s-corner”-podcast-with-dan-drapeau">“The Critic’s Corner” Podcast with Dan Drapeau</h3> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://tinyurl.com/5ymyfwav">Listen to the full episode &gt;</a><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cms-critic-the-critics-corner-podcast/id1801794414">Subscribe on Apple Podcasts &gt;</a> <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:66.12%"><a href="https://tinyurl.com/5ymyfwav" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/08/critics-corner-apple-podcast-dan-drapeau.jpg" /></a></figure> <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:36.69%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/open-source-cms-26.jpg" /><h4 id="open-source-cms-26"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26">Open Source CMS 26</a></h4>October 20–21, 2026 – Utrecht, NetherlandsJoin us for the first annual edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to making open source CMS better. This event is already being called the “missing gathering place” for the open source CMS community – an international conference with confirmed participants from Europe and North America. Be part of a friendly mix of digital leaders from notable open source CMS projects, agencies, even a few industry analysts who get together to learn, network, and talk about what really matters when it comes to creating better open source CMS projects right now and for the foreseeable future. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26/tickets">Book your tickets today.</a> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/joyconf"><img style="width:34.57%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/07/joyconf-2026-logo.png" /></a><h4 id="storyblok-joyconf-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/joyconf">Storyblok JoyConf 2026</a></h4>October 28 - 29, Rheingoldhalle, Mainz (Frankfurt)JoyConf 2026 is where developers, marketers, and digital innovators come together from all around the world, united by one powerful idea: great content isn’t built by tools alone – it’s built by people who rely on systems to deliver their best work to the world. In an era where technology is increasingly shaped by AI, Content Confidence becomes your competitive advantage. When you can create, manage, and scale content that performs seamlessly across channels, platforms, and AI, you don’t just keep up – you win. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/joyconf">Book your seats today.</a> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/"><img style="width:36.36%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/07/sitecore-symposium-2026.png" /></a><h4 id="sitecore-symposium-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/">Sitecore Symposium 2026</a></h4>November 10 - 12, Orlando, FloridaWelcome to “Marketing Rewired” at Sitecore Symposium 2026! Sitecore's annual flagship global conference brings together customers, partners, developers, marketers, and digital experience leaders to explore the latest innovations in digital experience, content management, AI, personalization, and customer engagement. This year's event features keynote presentations from Sitecore executives and industry experts, product announcements, hands-on learning, technical sessions, customer success stories, and networking opportunities focused on helping organizations build more intelligent, connected, and AI-powered digital experiences. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/">Book your seats today.</a>

The Critic's Corner Podcast: Dan Drapeau on How AI Agents are Redefining DXP Expectations

<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/critics/mike-spenceley">Michael Spenceley</a> is a DX and Content Operations Leader and a CMS Critic Contributor. <hr /> The pressure to extract ROI from AI is being felt in organizations of all sizes and in all sectors. Over the past several years, many leaders have been pleased with the incremental efficiency gains and cost avoidance that their organizations have achieved by using AI tools. However, if the ROI pressure continues, investors, boards, and the C-suite will set a higher bar for what constitutes successful AI implementation.According to PwC’s latest <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/1/issues/c-suite-insights/ceo-survey.html">Global CEO Survey</a>, only 30% of CEOs are confident about revenue growth over the next year. That’s down from 38% last year. To get ROI, AI has to either increase revenue, or reduce costs (hopefully, both). This leaves us with a lot of pressure and some difficult choices to make about how to proceed. Before we talk about what to do about it, let’s talk about what’s happening right now.What most people are experiencing right now are incremental, individual productivity gains through the use of AI tools like Copilot, Claude, and ChatGPT. Unless a company is actively reducing its workforce, re-deploying people to revenue-generating activities, or using AI to accelerate new product development and increase speed to market, they are likely not getting any measurable ROI.To be clear, individual productivity gains are a good thing, and, in a lot of cases, they improve the employee and customer experience. This is also an important step for everyone to build comfort and proficiency with AI. These are all good things, but if the ROI pressure continues, we’ll have to do more to meet expectations.There’s no perfect answer, but I think a good starting point is to move past incremental productivity gains and start reimagining processes with AI at the center.What does it mean to reimagine a process with AI at the center? Well, now that we know what AI can do, how might we change what people do and how they do it at a more fundamental level? How might we implement AI in ways that break down functional boundaries and surface inefficiencies we didn’t know we had?<h3 id="let’s-run-through-a-simple-example…">Let’s run through a simple example…</h3>An organization that sells products has lots of data and information about its products. That product information is used as an input by different functions. A marketing team uses it to create marketing materials, a sales team uses it as a reference when calling on customers, and a training team uses it to train sales and customer support teams.Especially in large organizations, these might be completely different functions that report into different leaders. Each of these teams are probably using AI in their own way, and I’m sure they collaborate and share information. But is that enough? What if we look across the functional boundaries and reimagine how we execute these processes with AI at the center?First, product information needs to be stored and organized in one central place, with a clear process to ensure it’s accurate and kept up to date (many organizations already do this).After assessing all the ways product information is used, imagine building an ecosystem of AI agents trained to handle various tasks that leverage product information.<ul><li>A marketer can prompt an agent to build content for a social media campaign, or a product brochure for a trade show</li><li>A trainer can prompt an agent to build a product training curriculum, including videos, slides, role-play scenarios, and objection-handling guidance</li><li>A sales associate can prompt an agent to pull product details and create a branded one-pager they can share with a potential customer, tailored to that customer’s unique needs</li></ul>Note: These agents will need to be built and trained to do these tasks and, in many cases, the output will require some level of review, at least for now.<h3 id="will-this-approach-lead-to-a-tangible-roi?">Will this approach lead to a tangible ROI?</h3>It depends on what we do next. Using this approach, we’ve saved time across multiple functions and have streamlined handoffs between functions. Using AI in this way can also lower the barriers to entry for some roles, making it easier for people to be redeployed or shared across functions. This might help us go to market faster, reach more customers, and ultimately increase revenue. We may also have the opportunity to shift people between functions and re-skill them for roles that require a human touch (at least for now).The ROI will also depend on how much it costs to build these tools. Implementing AI increases operating costs, and there is a lot of debate over whether we’re seeing the true costs of AI just yet. On the revenue side of the equation, there is a general lack of confidence about growth, so while all this sounds good on paper, both cutting costs and increasing revenue are difficult to achieve, even if we’re using AI in all the right ways.<h3 id="let’s-address-the-elephant-in-the-room…">Let’s address the elephant in the room…</h3>If we reimagine a process with AI at the center, will there still be layoffs?Forrester wrote in its latest <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.forrester.com/press-newsroom/forrester-impact-ai-jobs-forecast/">AI Job Impact Forecast</a> that many companies announcing AI-related layoffs don’t have mature, vetted AI applications that can truly replace people. Additionally, in an <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://hbr.org/2026/01/companies-are-laying-off-workers-because-of-ais-potential-not-its-performance">HBR study</a>, 60% of the more than 1,000 executives surveyed said they made headcount reductions in anticipation of future AI efficiencies.I think the writing is on the wall, and it’s likely that layoffs will continue, whether AI is ready to take over or not. However, if the right tools aren’t in place, companies may not get the results they’re looking for; and quality, employee experience, and customer experience will suffer.There are still a lot of unknowns and a lot to learn, but I think the best next step is to think differently about how we transform a process using AI, moving beyond incremental productivity gains. While layoffs will happen and may bring some short-term ROI; in the long run, companies need to deliver results, either with people or with AI. Hopefully, with a little of both. <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect26"><img style="width:41.96%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/05/cms-connect-logo-26.jpg" /></a><h4 id="cms-connect-26"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect26">CMS Connect 26</a></h4>August 5-6, 2026 – Montreal, CanadaThe best conferences create space for honest, experience-based conversations. Not sales pitches. Not hype. Just thoughtful exchanges between people who spend their days designing, building, running, and evolving digital experiences. CMS Connect brings together people who share real stories from their work and platforms and who are interested in learning from each other on how to make things better. Over two days in Montreal, you can expect practitioner-led talks grounded in experience, conversations about trade-offs, constraints, and decisions, and time to compare notes with peers facing similar challenges. Space is limited for this exclusive event, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect26">so book your seats today.</a> <img style="width:36.69%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/open-source-cms-26.jpg" /><h4 id="open-source-cms-26"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26">Open Source CMS 26</a></h4>October 20–21, 2026 – Utrecht, NetherlandsJoin us for the first annual edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to making open source CMS better. This event is already being called the “missing gathering place” for the open source CMS community – an international conference with confirmed participants from Europe and North America. Be part of a friendly mix of digital leaders from notable open source CMS projects, agencies, even a few industry analysts who get together to learn, network, and talk about what really matters when it comes to creating better open source CMS projects right now and for the foreseeable future. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26/tickets">Book your tickets today.</a> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/joyconf"><img style="width:34.57%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/07/joyconf-2026-logo.png" /></a><h4 id="storyblok-joyconf-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/joyconf">Storyblok JoyConf 2026</a></h4>October 28 - 29, Rheingoldhalle, Mainz (Frankfurt)JoyConf 2026 is where developers, marketers, and digital innovators come together from all around the world, united by one powerful idea: great content isn’t built by tools alone – it’s built by people who rely on systems to deliver their best work to the world. In an era where technology is increasingly shaped by AI, Content Confidence becomes your competitive advantage. When you can create, manage, and scale content that performs seamlessly across channels, platforms, and AI, you don’t just keep up – you win. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/joyconf">Book your seats today.</a> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/"><img style="width:36.36%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/07/sitecore-symposium-2026.png" /></a><h4 id="sitecore-symposium-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/">Sitecore Symposium 2026</a></h4>November 10 - 12, Orlando, FloridaWelcome to “Marketing Rewired” at Sitecore Symposium 2026! Sitecore's annual flagship global conference brings together customers, partners, developers, marketers, and digital experience leaders to explore the latest innovations in digital experience, content management, AI, personalization, and customer engagement. This year's event features keynote presentations from Sitecore executives and industry experts, product announcements, hands-on learning, technical sessions, customer success stories, and networking opportunities focused on helping organizations build more intelligent, connected, and AI-powered digital experiences. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/">Book your seats today.</a>

The ROI Trap: Why AI Needs More Than Individual Productivity Gains

mike-spenceley

Power your CMS on AWS

Manage your websites & apps in the most trusted cloud.

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<hr /> There’s an undeniable “craftsmanship” that underpins <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://craftersoftware.com/">Crafter Software’s</a> success. The name evokes something handmade, deliberate, and bespoke – which most digital experiences aspire to be. And that's what Crafter has always aimed to deliver.It’s not to say that reusable components and DRY principles aren’t part of the unique recipe. They are – along with a Git-based, developer-centric posture that has made this its headless <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://craftercms.com/">CrafterCMS</a> a preferred choice for notable enterprise brands like MasterCard, Marriott International, and eBay.Founded in 2013 as an open source project, CrafterCMS has long reflected the evolving needs of content operations in a cloud-based, multi-channel, highly personalized ecosystem. By 2019, the product and its community were growing by leaps and bounds. After an acquisition by <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.capgemini.com/us-en/">Capgemini</a>, CrafterCMS was “decoupled” from its agency roots with Rivet Logic and spun off as part of the Crafter Software entity. Since then, the company has been innovating hard under the leadership of CEO and co-founder <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikevertal/">Mike Vertal</a>, and a big part of his recent focus has been on AI. The company just unveiled its new <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://craftercms.com/products/craftercms-ai">CrafterCMS AI,</a> billing it as the “Open Source Agentic CMS for the Enterprise.” The new release combines AI skills, content authoring assistance, vector search, MCP integrations, and more. <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:39.69%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/07/image-1784643823358.png" /></figure>Crafter Software Co-founder and CEO Mike Vertal. Source: LinkedIn Now, Crafter is democratizing AI for any website with <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://crafterq.ai/">CrafterQ</a>, an AI agent platform that promises to transform any existing website or e-commerce store into an intelligent conversational experience. It enables organizations to deploy <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://crafterq.ai/blog/website-ai-agents-the-complete-guide-for-business-leaders">AI agents</a> trained on their own content to answer questions, guide purchases, capture leads, and deliver instant self-service directly on their websites."We're witnessing one of the biggest shifts in the history of the web," Mike said. "For years we've optimized websites around pages, menus, and search. AI changes that. Customers no longer want to hunt for information – they want outcomes. We believe every website will evolve from a collection of pages and search results into an intelligent conversational experience."It’s worth noting that Crafter was recently named to the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://crafterq.ai/blog/crafterq-named-to-the-2026-kmworld-ai-100">KMWorld AI 100 for 2026</a>, which highlights companies that are empowering intelligent knowledge management. For more than two decades, KMWorld has been one of the leading publications covering topics like enterprise search, information management, and AI.<h3 id="evolving-the-web-with-agent-power">Evolving the web with agent power</h3>With the rise of AI chatbots, consumers are engaging with brands using natural language – and they expect to receive an answer that’s personalized to their queries. Browsing page after page of results is so 2020. That’s true across every digital touchpoint, including answer engines like <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://chatgpt.com/">ChatGPT </a>and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://search.google/ways-to-search/ai-overviews/">Google AI Overviews.</a> For many brands, delivering this experience at the website level is key, and this is where CrafterQ applies its intelligent conversational layer, helping visitors leap over laborious navigation and avoid sifting through search results. First and foremost, CrafterQ surfaces answers that are trained on your organization's website. That means less hallucinating and more relevant, trustworthy, and brand-consistent experiences. But it can also be targeted at other content sources like your product catalog, documentation, FAQs, and more.CrafterQ supports a broad range of customer-facing use cases like marketing and corporate websites, AI shopping assistants for e-commerce, and product discovery and recommendations. It’s also an easy lift for adding customer support and self-service capabilities and enabling quick answers from sources that are under your organization's control. <h3 id="how-it-works">How it works</h3>In a nutshell, CrafterQ interprets customer intent through a natural language query, identifies the most relevant knowledge, and generates accurate, context-aware responses grounded in your organization's content. As you might guess, this is <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://aws.amazon.com/what-is/retrieval-augmented-generation/">AI RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)</a> but with a proprietary mix of contextual memory and reasoning technologies.  <figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v-XJl9_j2o"><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:56.2493%"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5v-XJl9_j2o" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;top:0;left:0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div></figure> Like similar conversational AI products I’ve covered, CrafterQ can be deployed in minutes with almost no technical know-how. After creating an account (which starts for free), you simply enter your website URL, which is then crawled in the background. I went through the entire process, which was pretty darn seamless.Once you arrive at your dashboard, you’ll notice how clean and intuitive the UX is. Super easy to navigate with zero complexity. Even a novice user could start testing in the sandbox without consulting any documentation – <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://crafterq.ai/docs/index.html">but docs are available</a>, and they’re pretty easy to digest.  <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:86.22%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/07/image-1784643297491.png" /></figure>Source: CrafterQ It works – nicely. I ran it through a few basic queries and was pleased with the overall accuracy. You can also tweak and customize the parameters and refine your agent’s role and responses via CrafterQ’s Playground. <img style="width:85.67%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/07/image-1784643297504.png" />Source: CrafterQ CrafterQ is designed to continuously learn as your website content changes and evolves. It automatically retrains and provides detailed conversation analytics that reveal what customers are asking, where they struggle, and what information they can't find. What stood out for me was the analytics. With CrafterQ’s dashboard, you get clear data on user chats, geographic trends, and other details that can help you improve your customer experience and journey. "Traditional analytics tell you what visitors clicked," Mike explained. “Conversations tell you what people are actually trying to accomplish. That gives organizations a completely new source of customer insight and a better understanding of how to improve their websites, products, and customer experience.” <img style="width:84.79%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/07/image-1784643297447.png" />Source: CrafterQ As I said previously, this goes beyond websites. You can also target CrafterQ at documents like PDFs or Microsoft Word files, which you can easily upload into the system. The platform automatically discovers, indexes, and learns from anything you add.When ready, your CrafterQ agent can be embedded into almost any existing website simply by copying and pasting a single line of JavaScript from the “Deploy Agent” tab. You can also adjust the look and feel of the UI and even add your own avatar. Pretty slick.As with any modern AI product, enterprise-grade control and governance are top of mind. Crafter has brokered a lot of trust over the years, and it’s not surprising that CrafterQ has been designed with security and scalability in mind. Along with the built-in layers of analytics and reporting, there’s SOC 2 compliance and deeper admin controls like MFA that make the solution more performant. CrafterQ also gives agencies and partners access to white-label branding and customization features, as well as REST APIs for more expansive integrations. Available in the advanced plans, it enables connections to business systems like CRM or support tools. You can get more details in the product documentation. <h3 id="real-world-success-with-crafterq">Real-world success with CrafterQ</h3>As far as adoption, CrafterQ is already being used across a myriad of industry use cases. From higher education to public sector websites, it’s an ideal fit for information-heavy sources. But given its enterprise posture and focus on security, it’s could be a good fit for regulated sectors like healthcare, financial, and professional services. Of course, this all comes down to specific compliance requirements on a case-by-case basis.CrafterQ is delivering for customers with some measurable impact. One example is <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.buyrailings.com/">BuyRailings,</a> a manufacturer of architectural and industrial railing systems. The company deployed a CrafterQ AI agent that guides visitors through its complex catalog of railing products and systems.  <img style="width:84.36%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/07/image-1784643297654.png" />The CrafterQ agent customized for the BuyRailings website. Source: www.buyrailings.com According to BuyRailings CEO Ihab Barrawi, CrafterQ transformed its e-commerce website from a catalog into an AI shopping assistant, helping customers find exactly what they need quickly and efficiently. The proof is in the pudding: adding the CrafterQ agent delivered an immediate 12% bump in online sales while helping customers identify the right products more quickly. Impressive.<h3 id="pricing">Pricing</h3>In a word? Simple. I’m a stickler for transparency, and this SaaS-based subscription model offers a range of clear options that should fit almost any website. Try out the Free tier and launch a single agent with some basic limits on messages and storage. It’s just enough to kick the tires. The Solo plan starts at just $29/month, and it’s perfect for small projects or solopreneurs who want real performance and control over agent actions, as well as automated agent retraining for content that’s regularly changing.The Team and Business plans ($99 and $399/month respectively) get serious for serious workloads. You can invite and manage additional users – and the messages, storage, and retraining all step up in size and frequency. And yes, there’s an Enterprise tier with custom options, including private hosting on AWS, your choice of AI model, SSO, advanced analytics, and support with a CSM. You can dig into all the plan details at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://crafterq.ai/pricing">crafterq.ai/pricing</a><h3 id="the-verdict">The verdict</h3>Conversational AI has become an expectation for most website visitors. It’s delivering higher levels of engagement, conversion, and online sales – making the web channel more valuable at a time when answer engines are disrupting search and traffic. Intelligent on-site agents are also mitigating repetitive support requests across industries like retail, manufacturing, restaurants, marketing agencies, and enterprise software. That makes it a must-have for improving productivity across a wide range of applications. I’ve test-driven and reviewed several conversational AI solutions, and the results have steadily improved. They’re addressing a gap in the AI transformation journey by enhancing the web experience with almost zero friction, and making AI attainable for a broader swath of the market. Yes, there’s already parity surrounding the fundamentals, and the performance is fairly on par. But I really like CrafterQ’s ease of use, customizability, and focus on security and scalability. The clean UX further simplifies the build, train, and deploy funnel for new users, and the retraining is automatic, so one less concern to manage. And because it’s backed by Crafter – a respected brand in the CMS and software ecosystem – it marshals greater validation and trust.My Recommendation: If you’re considering options for an on-site chatbot, CrafterQ should be on your list. It’s free to run it around the track, and I encourage you to do so. There are platforms with more robust features, but this one really delivers on the core mission of higher visitor satisfaction and achieving business objectives. If you’re concerned about data ownership and deeper governance, I would recommend a demo and conversation about the Enterprise options. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://app.crafterq.ai/">Start for nothing</a>, or contact <a href="mailto:hello@crafterq.ai">hello@crafterq.ai</a> for details. <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect26"><img style="width:41.96%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/05/cms-connect-logo-26.jpg" /></a><h4 id="cms-connect-26"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect26">CMS Connect 26</a></h4>August 5-6, 2026 – Montreal, CanadaThe best conferences create space for honest, experience-based conversations. Not sales pitches. Not hype. Just thoughtful exchanges between people who spend their days designing, building, running, and evolving digital experiences. CMS Connect brings together people who share real stories from their work and platforms and who are interested in learning from each other on how to make things better. Over two days in Montreal, you can expect practitioner-led talks grounded in experience, conversations about trade-offs, constraints, and decisions, and time to compare notes with peers facing similar challenges. Space is limited for this exclusive event, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect26">so book your seats today.</a> <img style="width:36.69%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/open-source-cms-26.jpg" /><h4 id="open-source-cms-26"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26">Open Source CMS 26</a></h4>October 20–21, 2026 – Utrecht, NetherlandsJoin us for the first annual edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to making open source CMS better. This event is already being called the “missing gathering place” for the open source CMS community – an international conference with confirmed participants from Europe and North America. Be part of a friendly mix of digital leaders from notable open source CMS projects, agencies, even a few industry analysts who get together to learn, network, and talk about what really matters when it comes to creating better open source CMS projects right now and for the foreseeable future. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26/tickets">Book your tickets today.</a> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/joyconf"><img style="width:34.57%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/07/joyconf-2026-logo.png" /></a><h4 id="storyblok-joyconf-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/joyconf">Storyblok JoyConf 2026</a></h4>October 28 - 29, Rheingoldhalle, Mainz (Frankfurt)JoyConf 2026 is where developers, marketers, and digital innovators come together from all around the world, united by one powerful idea: great content isn’t built by tools alone – it’s built by people who rely on systems to deliver their best work to the world. In an era where technology is increasingly shaped by AI, Content Confidence becomes your competitive advantage. When you can create, manage, and scale content that performs seamlessly across channels, platforms, and AI, you don’t just keep up – you win. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/joyconf">Book your seats today.</a> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/"><img style="width:36.36%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/07/sitecore-symposium-2026.png" /></a><h4 id="sitecore-symposium-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/">Sitecore Symposium 2026</a></h4>November 10 - 12, Orlando, FloridaWelcome to “Marketing Rewired” at Sitecore Symposium 2026! Sitecore's annual flagship global conference brings together customers, partners, developers, marketers, and digital experience leaders to explore the latest innovations in digital experience, content management, AI, personalization, and customer engagement. This year's event features keynote presentations from Sitecore executives and industry experts, product announcements, hands-on learning, technical sessions, customer success stories, and networking opportunities focused on helping organizations build more intelligent, connected, and AI-powered digital experiences. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/">Book your seats today.</a>

Cue the CrafterQ: Crafter Software’s Agent Platform Turns Websites into Conversational AI Experiences

Are your AI projects stalling? Acquia Source is priming an agentic engine for marketers

What Is a DXP in 2026?

dan-drapeau

MX to the MAX: Tom Cranstoun's New Book Decodes Machine Experience for Humans and Agents

Diving Deep with Palmata: Contentful Uplevels AEO to Help Brands Understand and Influence AI Discoverability

<h4 id="-"> </h4><h4 id="watch-the-full-episode-of-the-matt-&amp;-matt-show--&gt;"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://youtu.be/3ob-7QyWk8U">Watch the full episode of the Matt &amp; Matt Show  &gt;</a></h4> <hr /> The summer is heating up, and the Matts are back with some hot takes from the road in this unofficial 2026 Halftime Report! Sure, the World Cup might be scoring big on most screens, but AEO is proving (again) to be the real goal in our industry game. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://youtu.be/3ob-7QyWk8U">In this episode of the show,</a> Matt McQueeny kicks things off with insights from <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/vercel">Vercel</a> Ship in New York, driving a conversation about the company’s growth track. From partner momentum to <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://openai.com/">OpenAI</a> and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.meta.ai/">Meta</a> use cases, the two Matts dig into why Vercel continues to be a preferred development platform for building, deploying, and scaling applications. They unpack what this means for agencies, developers, and the growing world of prompt-driven, component-based prototyping.  <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:71.85%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/07/matt-vercel.png" /></figure>Matt McQueeny at Vercel Ship in New York The conversation then heads to Orlando and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.fullsail.edu/">Full Sail University,</a> the site of the latest <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/groups/cms-experts">Boye &amp; Company CMS Experts and Digital Leaders</a> meeting. The Matts were joined by a diverse group of participants and treated to a campus tour that featured world-class facilities for training the next generation of builders. In the pod, they talk about the school’s unique curriculum, the intersection of physical and digital experiences, the growing focus on AI literacy, and the urgent need for better-prepared practitioners in disciplines like cybersecurity (oh, and drone operation!) <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:70.85%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/07/full-sail-meeting.jpg" /></figure>Matt Garrepy and Matt McQueeny in Orlando at the Boye &amp; Company Digital Leaders meeting at Full Sail University During the meeting, Matt Garrepy facilitated a deeper conversation around AI’s impact, with some fantastic use cases across industries like healthcare – where attendees like <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-coyne-55565615a/">Amba’s Stephanie Coyne</a> shared how AI and automation are making an impact in elder care. The group also discussed everything from AI governance and compliance to adtech, making for a truly dynamic session. Throughout the episode, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/in-the-race-to-ai-visibility-are-aeo-and-geo-really-delivering-97-of-digital-leaders-say-yes">AEO – Answer Engine Optimization</a> – is a major throughline, and the Matts discuss how bots now own the largest share of traffic, how websites are adapting, and what AEO success looks like in practice. Matt and Matt also dig into the AEO race in the wake of some high-profile industry moves. From <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/crunch-time-for-ai-visibility-sitecores-acquisition-of-scrunch-gives-brands-an-edge-beyond-aeo">Sitecore’s acquisition of Scrunch,</a> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/bland-brands-beware-optimizelys-new-identity-brings-human-creativity-to-its-agentic-ai-and-aeo-ambitions">Optimizely’s partnership with Conductor, </a>and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/no-more-kicking-the-cms-tires-as-salesforce-acquires-contentful-can-it-keep-the-wheels-on-the-ai-road">Contentful’s</a> launch of Palmata, the landscape is growing at both the top and bottom as more downstream startups like <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/as-ai-generated-search-grows-otterly-is-utterly-awesome-for-marketers-heres-why">Otterly.ai </a>and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.surfacegx.com/">SurfaceGX</a> attempt to challenge this nascent space.  <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75.01%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/07/codegarden-image-1783344921770.jpg" /></figure>Umbraco Codegarden 2026 in Copenhagen Matt Garrepy also reviews his recent stops covering the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://summit.typo3.com/">TYPO3 North American Summit </a>in Atlanta, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://codegarden.umbraco.com/program/">Umbraco’s Codegarden 26</a> in Copenhagen, and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/how-to-thrive-at-25-as-sitecore-charts-an-ai-future-community-remains-its-greatest-asset">Sitecore’s 25th Silver Anniversary</a> event at the Tivoli Gardens in Denmark. It’s a tour of how open source and commercial CMS and DXP platforms are making a stronger play in a competitive marketplace, and where AI is transforming the roadmap for every vendor.  <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75.96%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/07/sitecore-tivoli-event.png" /></figure>Sitecore's 25th Silver Anniversary event at Tivoli Gardens Finally, Matt and Matt explore the reinvigoration of PR, video, podcasting, and other multimedia channels as new engines for AEO and (maybe) even a new CPM measurement: “cost-per-mention.” From transcripts and clips to earned media and “earnfluencing,” they dig into why these content streams are further fueling the answer engines that shape discovery.It’s a packed hour with a ton of insights, a few offside calls, and only a couple of penalties for opinions. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://youtu.be/3ob-7QyWk8U">Listen here and subscribe,</a> and let us know what you want us to talk about on the next episode!<h3 id="check-out-our-latest-stories">Check out our latest stories</h3><ul><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/bland-brands-beware-optimizelys-new-identity-brings-human-creativity-to-its-agentic-ai-and-aeo-ambitions">Bland Brands Beware: Optimizely’s New Identity Brings Human Creativity to its Agentic AI and AEO Ambitions</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/ai-and-accessibility-incredible-potential-inconvenient-questions">AI and Accessibility: Incredible Potential, Inconvenient Questions</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/how-to-thrive-at-25-as-sitecore-charts-an-ai-future-community-remains-its-greatest-asset">How to Thrive at 25: As Sitecore Charts an AI Future, Community Remains its Greatest Asset</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/kentico-opens-its-site-of-the-year-2026-awards-as-first-major-dxp-with-a-best-use-of-ai-category">Kentico Opens its Site of the Year 2026 Awards as First Major DXP with a ‘Best Use of AI’ Category</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/without-cogs-no-machine-moves">Without Cogs, No Machine Moves</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/how-cms-and-dxp-teams-can-use-generative-engine-optimization-to-increase-visibility-in-ai-generated-answers">How CMS and DXP Teams Can Use Generative Engine Optimization to Increase Visibility in AI-Generated Answers</a></li></ul><h3 id="matt-&amp;-matt-meetups">Matt &amp; Matt meetups</h3>The Matts are on the road! Check out where they’re at – and drop us a line if you’re able to join some of our <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/groups/cms-experts">Boye &amp; Company meetings</a> for CMS Experts and Digital Leaders. <ul><li>August 4-5 – Montréal <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect26">CMS Connect 26 Conference</a></li></ul><h3 id="enjoying-the-matt-&amp;-matt-show?-stay-connected!">Enjoying the Matt &amp; Matt Show? Stay connected!</h3> <ul><li>Subscribe today on YouTube: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.youtube.com/@MattMattShow">@MattMattShow</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-mcqueeny-9732493/">Follow Matt McQueeny on LinkedIn</a></li><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattgarrepy/">Follow Matt Garrepy on LinkedIn</a></li></ul><h3 id="have-an-idea-for-a-topic?-wanna-be-on-the-show?-">Have an idea for a topic? Wanna be on the show? </h3>We love our audience, and we want your input. Send us your ideas for future episodes! And if you’re willing, maybe we’ll have you on to talk CMS, DXP, AI, and more! <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/contact">Contact us.</a> <figure class="image image_resized" style="width:28.7%"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@MattMattShow" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/03/image-1774291050198.png" /></a></figure> <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3>  <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect26"><img style="width:41.96%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/05/cms-connect-logo-26.jpg" /></a><h4 id="cms-connect-26"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect26">CMS Connect 26</a></h4>August 5-6, 2026 – Montreal, CanadaThe best conferences create space for honest, experience-based conversations. Not sales pitches. Not hype. Just thoughtful exchanges between people who spend their days designing, building, running, and evolving digital experiences. CMS Connect brings together people who share real stories from their work and platforms and who are interested in learning from each other on how to make things better. Over two days in Montreal, you can expect practitioner-led talks grounded in experience, conversations about trade-offs, constraints, and decisions, and time to compare notes with peers facing similar challenges. Space is limited for this exclusive event, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect26">so book your seats today.</a> <img style="width:36.69%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/01/open-source-cms-26.jpg" /><h4 id="open-source-cms-26"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26">Open Source CMS 26</a></h4>October 20–21, 2026 – Utrecht, NetherlandsJoin us for the first annual edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to making open source CMS better. This event is already being called the “missing gathering place” for the open source CMS community – an international conference with confirmed participants from Europe and North America. Be part of a friendly mix of digital leaders from notable open source CMS projects, agencies, even a few industry analysts who get together to learn, network, and talk about what really matters when it comes to creating better open source CMS projects right now and for the foreseeable future. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/opensourcecms26/tickets">Book your tickets today.</a> <img style="width:35.73%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/05/image-1778200565145.png" /><h4 id="contentstack-contentcon-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.contentstack.com/contentcon">Contentstack ContentCon 2026</a></h4>September 30 - October 1, Amsterdam  /  October 27-28, 2026 – ChicagoContentstack’s annual customer conference is the premier event for executives, marketing leaders, and developers to redefine their digital experience strategy. This is your opportunity to step out of the "status quo" and into "elite" status, learning exactly how the world’s most successful brands are using the technology you already own to do the impossible. Enjoy a full day of interactive workshops, certifications, and inspirational on-stage sessions designed to help you become an expert on cutting-edge digital strategies and how to turn Contentstack's CMS and adaptive personalization tools into your greatest competitive advantage.<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.jdayusa.com/"> </a><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.contentstack.com/contentcon">Book your seats today.</a> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/joyconf"><img style="width:34.57%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2026/07/joyconf-2026-logo.png" /></a><h4 id="storyblok-joyconf-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/joyconf">Storyblok JoyConf 2026</a></h4>October 28 - 29, Rheingoldhalle, Mainz (Frankfurt)JoyConf 2026 is where developers, marketers, and digital innovators come together from all around the world, united by one powerful idea: great content isn’t built by tools alone – it’s built by people who rely on systems to deliver their best work to the world. In an era where technology is increasingly shaped by AI, Content Confidence becomes your competitive advantage. When you can create, manage, and scale content that performs seamlessly across channels, platforms, and AI, you don’t just keep up – you win. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.storyblok.com/joyconf">Book your seats today.</a>

Matt & Matt Show Episode 7: 2026 Halftime Report! Vercel Ship to Full Sail, the AEO Goal, and More

Bland Brands Beware: Optimizely’s New Identity Brings Human Creativity to its Agentic AI and AEO Ambitions

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