Author Archives: SocialSignalCounter

Ahrefs released a public dashboard that tracks how much referral traffic websites receive from Google Search versus ChatGPT, with monthly updates. The first dataset covers three complete months across 44,421 sites connected to Ahrefs’ free Web Analytics tool. The Early Numbers For July, the dashboard reports Google at 41.9% of total web traffic across the […]

Advertisers can now see exactly where their Search, Shopping, and App campaign ads are running across the Search Partner Network (SPN), with full site-level impression data. How it works: Reports list all SPN sites where your ads appeared. Impression data is broken down at the site level. Works like existing placement reports in Performance Max. […]

A vulnerability advisory was issued for a WordPress Contact Form 7 add-on plugin that enables unauthenticated attackers to “easily” launch a remote code execution. The vulnerability is rated high (8.8/10) on the CVSS threat severity scale. Screenshot from Wordfence advisory showing 8.8 CVSS severity rating Redirection for Contact Form 7 plugin The vulnerability affects the […]

Google has remained a stable source of traffic to news publishers over the past year. Although many websites have seen their traffic significantly impacted by Google’s AI Overviews, Chartbeat data shows that for 565 U.S. and UK news publishers: Search referrals made up 19% of traffic in July, little changed since early 2019. Google dominates […]

In 2023, I wrote about a provocative “what if”: What if Google added an AI chatbot to Search, effectively cannibalizing itself? Fast-forward to 2025, and it’s no longer hypothetical. With AI Overviews (AIOs) and AI Mode, Google has not only eaten into its own search product, but it has also taken a big bite out […]

Google announced it will shut down the Content API for Shopping on Aug. 18, 2026, officially making the Merchant API the new standard for managing Merchant Center accounts. Why we care. For over a decade, advertisers and retailers have relied on the Content API to push product data into Google Shopping. The new Merchant API […]

Just under one month ago, on July 23, 2025, Amazon vanished from Google Shopping ads overnight. No trial, no warning, no phased retreat. One of the biggest advertisers on the platform simply stepped back, leaving a noticeable gap in auctions. For many retailers, this shift opened the door to new opportunities. It’s tempting to think […]

Google’s Barry Pollard recently explained why website owners see different Core Web Vitals scores in Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX) versus Google Search Console. The short answer: both tools can be correct because they measure different things. Pollard addressed the issue on Bluesky after questions about sites showing 90% “good” page loads in CrUX but […]

AI search is evolving fast, but early patterns are emerging.  In our B2B client work, we’ve seen specific types of content consistently surface in LLM-driven results.  These formats – when structured the right way – tend to get picked up, cited, and amplified by models like ChatGPT and Gemini. This article breaks down five content […]

Google’s AI-generated results reshape how people search, and Google has said that websites should expect traffic fluctuations and that prior success in organic Search does not guarantee future success in the new ecosystem. This is a big claim, and it’s been debated whether “Hidden Gems” are getting more visibility in modern Search and I’m doing […]