Google AI Mode Starts Rolling Out Agentic Booking In Labs

Google AI Mode Starts Rolling Out Agentic Booking In Labs

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 […]

Aja Frost on AI search, content strategy, and AEO success metrics

Aja Frost on AI search, content strategy, and AEO success metrics

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 […]

Kinsta Managed WordPress Host Won’t Charge For Bot Traffic

Kinsta Managed WordPress Host Won’t Charge For Bot Traffic

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 Traffic Is Shrinking

LLM Traffic Is Shrinking

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 […]

The trust engines powering search everywhere

The trust engines powering search everywhere

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 […]

Advanced Strategies For Smarter Bidding, Budgets & Audiences

Advanced Strategies For Smarter Bidding, Budgets & Audiences

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 […]

Ahrefs Data Shows Brand Mentions Boost AI Search Rankings

Ahrefs Data Shows Brand Mentions Boost AI Search Rankings

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 […]

Google AI Overviews guide research, but Search still wins the sale

Google AI Overviews guide research, but Search still wins the sale

Google’s AI Overviews are for research, not buying. A new BrightEdge analysis of thousands of ecommerce keywords (Sept. 1-Oct. 15) found that AI results appear for research and evaluation, while bottom-funnel queries still belong to traditional search. Why we care. Google’s AI Overviews appear to shape discovery, while traditional search continues to drive sales. So […]

Which drives better local leads?

Which drives better local leads?

Google gives local businesses two main ways to generate PPC leads online: Local Services Ads (LSAs) and Search campaigns. LSAs are pay-per-lead campaigns – for actions such as calls, messages, or booked appointments – with a quick setup process that involves verifying your business. After that, Google automates most of the ad and keyword setup. […]