Cloudflare announced that they delisted Perplexity’s crawler as a verified bot and are now actively blocking Perplexity and all of its stealth bots from crawling websites. Cloudflare acted in response to multiple user complaints against Perplexity related to violations of robots.txt protocols, and a subsequent investigation revealed that Perplexity was using aggressive rogue bot tactics […]
Google Ads’ AI Max reporting now allows advertisers to view search terms, headlines, and landing pages in a single report, offering a clearer window into how AI-powered campaigns operate. Why we care. This update means less guesswork and more control. You can now see what users actually searched for, which landing page Google’s AI sent […]
Google is preparing to scale up ads in AI Mode, by briefing agencies and brands on how the new ad format works and how it differs from traditional search. Driving the news. A new internal document, first reported on by Ad Age, outlines how ads in AI Mode will function. The company says it will […]
OpenAI’s ChatGPT is on pace to reach 700 million weekly active users, according to a statement this week from Nick Turley, VP and head of the ChatGPT app. The milestone marks a sharp increase from 500 million in March and represents a fourfold jump compared to the same time last year. Turley shared the update […]
Google Ads rolled out a new AI Max experiment type for Search campaigns, aimed at streamlining how advertisers test AI-powered features – without duplicating campaigns. Why we care. Traditional experiments require creating campaign copies, adding complexity and delaying results. This new format runs within the original campaign, splitting the budget 50/50 between control and test […]
SEO management platform SE Ranking today announced it has acquired Planable, a social media management platform. This move merges the companies’ SEO and social media tools in one platform to target a combined market that’s forecast to be $117 billion this year. The acquisition expands SE Ranking’s product lineup beyond SEO into social media, which […]
AI is rapidly changing the rules of SEO. From generative ranking to vector search, the new rules are not only technical but also reshaping how business leaders make decisions. Join Dan Taylor on August 14, 2025, for an exclusive SEJ Webinar tailored for C-suite executives and senior leaders. In this session, you’ll gain essential insights […]
You’ve probably seen the headlines like: “AI will kill SEO,” “AI will replace marketing roles,” or the latest panic: “Is your digital marketing job safe?” Well, maybe not those exact headlines, but you get the idea, and I’m sure you have seen something similar. Let’s clear something up: AI is not making SEO irrelevant. It’s […]
Black Friday is a key period for every retail search team. With peak budgets, short buying windows, and mounting pressure to outperform competitors, retail marketers need a solid strategy. Yet many advertisers enter Q4 with blind spots: uncertain what competitors are doing, unclear how market dynamics are shifting, and unsure where ad spend is underperforming. […]
A lot of PPC accounts are built from the bottom up. You start with keyword research, group them by themes or match types, maybe throw in some location targeting, and go from there. But then reporting becomes messy. Budget allocation feels random or reactive. Then, when leadership asks for performance broken out by product line […]