Google is getting worse – or at least, that’s what “we” say. The common complaint:  Search is dying, SEO is trash, and Google is nearly unusable.  X, LinkedIn, and Reddit are awash with complaints about deteriorating search quality. The contradicting reality:  Search remains the dominant channel for web traffic.  Google still holds 90% of the […]

Keyword research is one of the most important tasks for both SEOs and paid search practitioners. While there are plenty of robust tools on the market, Google Ads Keyword Planner is a great, free starting point. You can explore keywords, see their search volume, and even get an idea of potential costs – all without […]

BigQuery is one of the most underutilized tools in PPC.  While data professionals have been leveraging data warehousing and Structured Query Language (SQL) for years, many PPC specialists still rely on in-platform reporting and third-party tools such as Optmyzr and TrueClicks.  But with Google’s evolving data limitations, increased automation, and the growing importance of first-party […]

Organizations adopting schema markup at scale often see a boost in non-branded search queries, signaling broader topic authority and improved discoverability. It has also become a powerful answer to a pressing executive question: “What are we doing about generative AI?” One smart answer is, “We’re implementing schema markup.” In March 2025, Fabrice Canel, principal program […]

Sometimes, SEO success isn’t about technical factors, content, or backlinks – or even about adapting to the changes prompted by AI. Many times, companies unknowingly have their SEO investments or efforts sabotaged by internal silos. At best, silos can cause slow implementation and, at worst, missed opportunities and budget that is wasted on the effort […]

Google Ads today announced AI Max, a new tool to reach untapped queries and tailor ads with a single click. Rolling out globally in beta later this month, Google said AI Max integrates its most advanced targeting and creative tools into Search campaigns. Smarter matching. Broad match and keywordless tech help advertisers tap into high-performing […]

Looking to do more with your first-party data? Behavioral marketing offers a powerful, privacy-conscious way to deepen customer engagement and improve performance. This guide from Acoustic breaks down seven proven strategies to help you collect, activate, and apply behavioral insights across the funnel. Whether you’re refining B2B nurture journeys or scaling cross-channel personalization, these tactics […]

In 2023, I said that creator-led content marketing would shape the future of search.  Two years later, that future has arrived – faster and more broadly than expected.  In the past year alone, adoption has surged among consumers and, in turn, brands.  The conversation has grown bigger, faster-moving, and more complex than I initially imagined. […]

ChatGPT announced the addition of shopping features to search last week. But how exactly is ChatGPT search choosing products and ranking them? Here’s what you need to know from OpenAI’s documentation. How product results are selected. When ChatGPT detects shopping intent in a query, it selects products based on a mix of the following: User […]

The U.S. Department of Justice is calling for Google to break up its digital advertising empire after a federal judge ruled the tech giant had illegally maintained monopoly power in the ad exchange market. Driving the news. In a court filing on Sunday, the DOJ said Google should divest its AdX exchange, where ad inventory […]