Organic click-through rates (CTR) for informational queries featuring Google AI Overviews fell 61% since mid-2024, while paid CTRs on those same queries plunged 68%, according to the latest study by marketing agency Seer Interactive. Even on queries without AI Overviews, organic CTRs fell 41%. This suggests users are simply clicking less, everywhere. Why we care. […]
YouTube has removed the “close” button on sidebar panels in some horizontal video ads on mobile, making the ad’s sidebar — often used for shoppable products or sitelinks — permanently visible during playback. Why we care. The change means users can no longer dismiss the sidebar to view the ad full-screen, leaving part of the […]
Google is starting to roll out agentic capabilities in AI Mode as a Search Labs experiment. This update enables AI Mode to find and book restaurant reservations, event tickets, and wellness appointments across multiple websites. Availability is limited, and Google notes this experiment may not be available to everyone yet. Robby Stein, VP of Product […]
Google’s AI Overviews and AI-driven search are reshaping content creation, SEO, and user behavior. As we watch this fascinating evolution of search – and continue to debate what we call this new marketing discipline (HubSpot is opting for AEO, or answer engine optimization) – I interviewed Aja Frost, senior director of global growth and paid media […]
WordPress managed web hosting company Kinsta announced that it is changing how it bills its customers by not charging users for bandwidth related to unwanted bot and scraper traffic. Daniel Pataki, CTO at Kinsta explained: “In the past 12 months we’ve seen bot traffic rise due to the prevalence of both good and bad uses […]
LLM referral traffic has been growing +65% year-to-date. But we should assume 0 in the future. LLM Referral Traffic Is Shrinking LLM referral traffic in B2B grew +65.1% since January – but dropped -42.6% since July. Image Credit: Kevin Indig My December prediction of 50% organic by 2027 is dead: In December 2024, I analyzed six B2B sites […]
AI search isn’t killing SEO. It’s forcing it to evolve into a new, multi-platform discipline called search everywhere optimization, where social and user-generated content (UGC) are the new trust engines driving discoverability. When I presented this concept at brightonSEO San Diego, what stood out wasn’t just the excitement around AI. What stood out was the […]
The holiday this year brings more competition than ever, but the shopper journey is also shifting. Consumers begin research weeks earlier, often starting in October, and rely on conversational AI or chatbot-style searches to compare products. Microsoft’s holiday insights show that shopping behavior kicks off in October, with many November and December conversions originating from […]
The latest Ahrefs podcast shares data showing that brand mentions on third-party websites help improve visibility across AI search surfaces. What they found is that brand mentions correlate strongly with ranking better in AI search, indicating that we are firmly in a new era of off-page SEO. Training Data Gets Cited Tim Soulo, CMO of […]
Search Engine Land is expanding its contributor roster in 2026 – and we’re looking for seasoned experts in SEO, PPC, AI, and analytics to join us. Why we care. Search Engine Land is not just our publication – it’s yours. For 20 years, Search Engine Land has been the go-to source for search marketing insights, […]