Convergence, divergence or something in between

Convergence, divergence or something in between

Over the past two years, AI and LLMs have stepped out of the shadows and into public consciousness.  Not long ago, most people’s understanding of AI was limited to sci-fi references or the occasional nightmare about machines taking over. Now, everyone seems to be talking about it – and naturally, marketers have jumped right in.  […]

What AI means for paid media, user behavior, and brand visibility

What AI means for paid media, user behavior, and brand visibility

AI isn’t just tweaking paid media – it’s transforming it.  What was once background automation is now driving entire campaign types and reshaping how users discover brands. From incremental optimization to transformation AI has, in some ways, always been part of paid media.  Smart Bidding, responsive search ads, and other machine learning tools quietly optimized […]

What The Remedies Really Mean For Search, SEO, And AI Assistants

What The Remedies Really Mean For Search, SEO, And AI Assistants

When Judge Amit P. Mehta issued his long-awaited remedies decision in the Google search antitrust case, the industry exhaled a collective sigh of relief. There would be no breakup of Google, no forced divestiture of Chrome or Android, and no user-facing “choice screen” like the one that reshaped Microsoft’s browser market two decades ago. But […]

Google AI Mode may become the default Google Search experience “soon.”

Google AI Mode may become the default Google Search experience “soon.”

Logan Kilpatrick, lead product manager for Google, said on Friday that Google’s AI Mode will be the “default” search experience for Google Search “soon.” We know Google said AI Mode is the future of Google Search, Liz Reid, the head of Google Search announced that in May 2025. And now that may be happening soon. […]

EU fines Google $3.5 billion over anti-competitive ad-tech business

EU fines Google .5 billion over anti-competitive ad-tech business

The European Commission fined Google 2.95 billion euros ($3.45 billion) for its dominance and anti-competitive ad-tech business. The EU Commission accused Google of unfairly favoring its own display advertising technology services and told Google to end these practices. What’s happening. The Commission also ordered Google to “bring these self-preferencing practices to an end” and “implement […]

SEO in the age of AI: Becoming the trusted answer

SEO in the age of AI: Becoming the trusted answer

For years, I’ve updated my working definition of SEO to capture how the discipline has evolved.  Here’s how those definitions have changed over time: 1998 to 2023 SEO is “the art and science of persuading search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo to recommend your content as the best solution to a user’s problem.” […]

How generative engines define and rank trustworthy content

How generative engines define and rank trustworthy content

Generative AI has quickly shifted from experimental novelty to everyday utility – and with that shift comes growing scrutiny.  One of the most pressing questions is how these systems decide which content to trust and elevate, and which to ignore. The concern is real: a Columbia University study found that in 200 tests across top […]

Your Login Pages May Be Hurting Your SEO Performance

Your Login Pages May Be Hurting Your SEO Performance

Google’s Search Relations team says generic login pages can confuse indexing and hurt rankings. When many private URLs all show the same bare login form, Google may treat them as duplicates and show the login page in search. In a recent “Search Off the Record” episode, John Mueller and Martin Splitt explained how this happens […]

Google Ads API to switch to a monthly release cycle

Google Ads API to switch to a monthly release cycle

Google will switch to a monthly release cycle for the Google Ads API release schedule. This will result in more frequent releases, with more updates more often. This new release schedule begins in 2026. The new schedule. The new schedule will have three to four major releases and several minor releases. This is the new […]