Following OpenAI’s launch of ChatGPT Atlas, software company Search Atlas flagged a major issue: the AI-powered browser can interact with websites in a way that looks indistinguishable from real human users, including clicking on paid advertisements. Why we care. Businesses running digital ad campaigns could unknowingly pay for clicks generated by AI agents, not real […]

Google today celebrated the 25th anniversary of its ad platform, first launched as AdWords in 2000. Now known as Google Ads, the platform remains the backbone of the company’s revenue engine. Over two and a half decades, Google Ads has evolved from a manually managed system to a sophisticated AI-driven advertising platform spanning Search, YouTube, […]

In the early days of SEO, ranking algorithms were easy to game with simple tactics that became known as “black hat” SEO – white text on a white background, hidden links, keyword stuffing, and paid link farms.  Early algorithms weren’t sophisticated enough to detect these schemes, and sites that used them often ranked higher.  Today, […]

ChatGPT referral traffic converts worse than Google search, email and affiliate links, trailing on both conversion rate and revenue per session, according to a new analysis of 973 ecommerce sites. Why we care. AI search platforms are starting to refer meaningful traffic to retailers – but not yet sales. For now, Google (paid organic) search still […]

In mid-September, many SEO professionals began noticing unusual drops in Google Search Console (GSC) data.  Impressions were down, average positions shifted, and the number of reported queries changed overnight.  This wasn’t the result of a ranking update but a reporting change – one that redefines how we interpret GSC visibility data going forward. What happened […]

Reddit is taking four data-scraping companies to court – including AI search engine Perplexity and SEO data firm SerpApi – accusing them of illegally using its content via Google search results. The lawsuit. SerpApi, Oxylabs, AWMProxy, and Perplexity “devised a scheme” to scrape Reddit data indirectly from Google, then resell or reuse it to train […]

More than a decade ago, I coined the term brand SERP – the result you get when someone searches for your name or company.  I called it the “digital business card” because I saw firsthand how a messy one could cost a business trust and revenue. That idea shaped how many people think about online […]

Capturing intent at the precise moment consumers are ready to take action has always been the goal in search.  But there’s value – and real payoff – in influencing that intent before the search even begins.  As customer journeys grow more complex and span multiple touchpoints, the need to reach audiences earlier continues to rise. […]

Black Friday is when performance peaks — and so do risks. In 2024, global spending reached $74.4 billion, with U.S. online sales up 10.2% year-over-year. Behind that growth, affiliate competition and coupon activity surged, pushing paid channels to their limits. During these high-traffic days, even a single unchecked campaign can waste hundreds of thousands of […]

Yelp just unveiled its 2025 Fall Product Release, a sweeping AI-driven update that turns the local discovery platform into a more conversational, visual, and intelligent experience. Driving the news:Yelp’s rollout includes over 35 new AI-powered features, headlined by: Yelp Assistant, an upgraded chatbot that instantly answers customer questions about restaurants, shops, or attractions—citing reviews and […]