Plate Lunch Collective

NOTES / DISPATCHES

This is where we document what most brands miss. Real-world strategy. Sharp observations. No fluff, no funnels—just practical notes from the frontlines of consumer behavior, culture, and communication.

NOTES / DISPATCHES
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ November

Generative Engine Optimization Framework for Shopify Merchants: What Actually Works

People no longer search the way they used to. Short clipped queries have turned into something closer to a confession.
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ November

The Farm & Agritourism Guide to Generative Engine Optimization

A Valley Where the Fields Set the Pace I grew up in the Santa Maria Valley in California. Agriculture was
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ November

Generative Engine Optimization: Field Notes for Early Adopters

Someone at Webflow was looking at attribution data when they noticed something. Eight percent of their signups were coming from
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ November

The Rental Agreement You Never Signed

At 7:12 a.m., the analytics dashboard refreshes and the floor disappears. Yesterday, Hessel Broekstra’s YouTube channel had
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ November

The Loneliness Economy: How Solving for Human Connection Became a Marketing Strategy

The Surgeon General called loneliness an epidemic in 2023. That line should've rewritten every marketing plan in America.
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ November

Loyalty Slithered: What AI Teaches Us About Trust, Reciprocity, and the Brands That Keep Their Promises

Loyalty slithered through my childhood, changing shape in every room of the house. My grandfather was a union grocery worker
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ November

AI Browser Market Intelligence - 11/04/2025

🤔This is an archive of a past report. You can find the most current AI Referral Traffic Report here. Why
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ November

AI Referral Traffic Intelligence in North America Week 44

11/03/2025 We believe in optimizing for the retrieval layer. But we got curious about who's actually
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ November

When Half of Everyone Stopped Drinking

I wrote about payday cycles a while back. How most businesses market like everyone has the same amount of money
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ November

When Your Customers Have Money (But Your Competitors Don’t Know When That Is)

BoohooMAN didn’t rewrite a single ad. Didn’t touch their targeting. They just stopped spending when people were broke.
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ October

The AI Citation Arms Race: Why Your Optimization Tactics Have an Expiration Date

There's a coding bootcamp somewhere that lost 80% of its revenue because someone got mad at them on
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ October

Nobody's Scrolling Your Feed Anymore. They're Searching.

I was talking to a friend today about the recent Instagram changes. Users can now choose interests to fine-tune their
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ October

AI Browser Market Intelligence - 10/28/2025

🤔This is an archive of a past report. You can find the most current AI Referral Traffic Report here. Why
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ October

Stop Competing on Price: Why Authentic Brand Stories Beat Algorithm Hacks

Shadowbanned. Stuck in 300-view jail. Algorithm murdered your reach overnight. Every business owner has a reason their social media or
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ October

AI Referral Traffic Intelligence in North America Week 43

10/27/2025 We believe in optimizing for the retrieval layer. But we got curious about who's actually
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ October

AI Browser Market Intelligence - 10/21/2025

🤔This is an archive of a past report. You can find the most current AI Referral Traffic Report here. Why
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ October

Farm-to-Forgotten: When Your Web Marketing Catches Vibe But Misses Everything Else

A picture is worth a thousand words, they say, but your customers are scrolling past looking for the hundred words
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ October

Why SEO, Social Media, and AI Search Are Now Business Infrastructure (Not Marketing Tactics)

What business owners need to know about discoverability in 2025 There was a time when search engine optimization meant keywords.
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ October

How Many AI Agents Will Be Last-Minute Shopping This Holiday Season?

I grew up in the Santa Maria Valley, long before it became famous for BBQ tri-tip and wineries. Both had
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ October

Instagram Cracked the Spam Problem. Here's What It Means for AI Search

Last April, Mark Zuckerberg testified under oath during the FTC's antitrust trial against Meta. Kyle Chayka, writing in
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ October

AI Browser Market Intelligence - 10/14/2025

🤔This is an archive of a past report. You can find the most current AI Referral Traffic Report here. Why
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ October

AI Referral Traffic Intelligence in North America Week 42

10/20/2025 We believe in optimizing for the retrieval layer. But we got curious about who's actually
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ October

SEO: No Digital Divide When AI Mediates Search

If you reached this post outside of a social share, you probably typed four keywords or less into a search
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ October

AI Referral Traffic Intelligence in North America Week 41

10/13/2025 We believe in optimizing for the retrieval layer. But we got curious about who's actually
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ October

Social Proof in 2025: What Actually Works

Trust became a metric somewhere along the way. Engagement rates. Conversion velocity. Funnel optimization. As if people are water. 42%
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ October

AI Browser Market Intelligence - 10/07/2025

🤔This is an archive of a past report. You can find the most current AI Referral Traffic Report here. Why
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ October

AI Referral Traffic Intelligence in North America Week 40

10/06/2025 We believe in optimizing for the retrieval layer. But we got curious about who's actually
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ October

AEO/GEO Tools Analysis: 24 Platforms Compared Beyond Marketing Materials - Because You've Been Searching for Them

Updated: 10/12/2025 🚨October 12, 2025 Update: Expanded from 10 to 24 AEO platforms with detailed research on funding
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ October

Why 98% of Your Interested Customers Never Buy: Fixing Creator Conversion Funnels

You see a post from a creator you follow, someone whose judgment you trust about coffee makers or running shoes
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ October

The Impossible Math of Authentic Trust: A Business Owner's Guide to the Creator Economy

You open Instagram and there's someone, maybe 47,000 followers, maybe 180,000, holding a water bottle with
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ October

The Intimacy of Intent: What Voice Search Reveals About Who We Really Are

There's a moment, usually late at night, when you're alone with your phone or standing in
2025 NOTES / DISPATCHES
✦ October

AI Browser Market Intelligence - 09/30/2025

🤔This is an archive of a past report. You can find the most current AI Referral Traffic Report here. Why