U.S. impulse buys slipped from 30% to 26% last year, per a Google-commissioned Ipsos study. Shoppers are now spreading their holiday spending from October through January, stretching what used to be a sprint into a three-month season – and Google’s AI Max updates are giving retailers new ways to keep up. Why we care. The […]

Large language models (LLMs) are transforming how consumers discover brands and find answers to both simple and complex questions. For marketers, this shift demands new ways of measuring visibility and impact. Yet unlike Google search, generative engines reveal far less data to guide strategy. This article outlines the GEO metrics you can track right now […]

Major publishers – including Reddit, Yahoo, Medium, and Quora – today announced support of a new licensing standard, Really Simple Licensing (RSL). In theory, RSL gives websites leverage to demand compensation when AI companies scrape and train on their data. Why we care. Until now, publishers could only block or allow bots via robots.txt. RSL […]

After months of work, your website is finally live – but how do you get people to see it? Google Ads looks like the perfect solution, yet many small business owners quickly learn it’s anything but “set and forget.”  The platform is complex, the setup overwhelming, and costly mistakes are easy to make. Having guided […]

AI Overviews haven’t just shifted how Google presents search results; they’re already reshaping the economics of paid search. When AI Overviews appear on your most valuable queries, they: Intercept attention. Push ads down the page. Erode click-through rates. For advertisers, that means revenue leakage even when ads are positioned well. But it’s not all bad […]

Google updated reporting for Demand Gen campaigns, giving advertisers more granular visibility into how YouTube placements perform. Why we care. Until now, Demand Gen reporting lumped all YouTube traffic together, making it hard for advertisers to know whether Shorts, In-Feed, or In-Stream placements were driving results. The new segmentation means marketers can finally align creatives […]

Despite ChatGPT’s explosive growth, nearly all of its users also turn to Google, per new Similarweb data shared by SEO consultant Brodie Clark. In August: 95.3% of ChatGPT users visited Google, 14.3% of Google users visited ChatGPT. Yes, and… International SEO expert Aleyda Solis added additional SimilarWeb data from August in an X post: ChatGPT […]

Google is piloting a new “Sales & Promotions Feature Bundle with Flighted Budgets” in Google Ads, designed to help advertisers push harder during short-term promos without wasting spend. What’s new Campaign Total Budgets: Fix a set spend across 3-90 days. Promotion Mode: Accelerates spend for 3-14 days, prioritizing volume over strict efficiency. Cross-campaign support: Works […]

Repurposing the same creative across Meta, TikTok, and Pinterest Ads may seem efficient, but like many shortcuts, it comes with shortcomings. Creating original assets for every platform takes time, budget, and creative energy – and most teams are already stretched thin. Yet what saves time in production can quickly cost in performance. Each platform has […]

The search and marketing world never slows down. Last week’s inaugural edition of Semrush’s Marketing Countdown, featuring Search Engine Land, explored how the landscape is rapidly shifting under our feet. We unpacked five of the biggest stories making waves: Generative AI is changing search, but Google is still where people start: Study How Perplexity ranks […]